HI mm

ft'

HISTORY

OF THE

CHEISTIAN CHUECH

HISTORY

OF THE

CHRISTIAN CHURCH

A.D. 1-600

BY

THE LATE DR. WILHELM MOELLER

Professor OrAinarius of Church-History in the University of Kiel

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY
ANDREW RUTHERFURD, B.D.

LONDON

SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LIMITED

NEW YOEK : MACMILLAN & CO.

1898

FIBST EDITION, July, 1892.
SECOND EDITION, January, 1898.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

IN preparing the Text-Book, the first part of which is now offered
to the public, it was my wish so far as possible to exhibit the course
of the historical movement as a whole in a continuous representa-
tion. In a study which necessarily involves a mass of material of
the most different kinds, there is imminent danger that the view
of the whole should be lost in the storing up and arrangement of
this mass of material in different departments of study. I trust
that I may have succeeded to some extent in combating this danger.
In the second place it was my desire to facilitate to some extent
access to the sources. However little an all-sided and uniform
familiarity with the sources lies within the limits of mere possibility
for students, it is indubitable that it is only in touch with the
sources that a living historical perception can be gained and
nourished. The practice of drawing from them, even though only
on individual points which may have aroused interest, is indispen-
sable for instruction in Church History, and at the same time the
proper way to animate delight in that study.

Finally, questions which at the present time are still unsettled,
and which occupy research, required to be stated, but it appeared
to me to be the duty of a text-book to exercise reserve in relation
to hypotheses which are as yet uncertain and to adhere strictly
to the already assured ground of what is generally recognised.

W. MOELLEB.

KIEL, Easter, 1891.

ABrl A.

Mgr.

LIST OF ABBEEVIATIONS USED IN EEFEEENCES
TO AUTHORITIES.

= Abhandlungen der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften.

=Abhandlungen fiir Kunde des Morgenlandes.
= Abhandlungen der sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften.
= Schenkel's Bibellexikon.
, = Codex.

=G6ttinger Gelehrte Anzeigen.
=Sybel's Historische Zeitschrift.
=Historia Ecclesiastica.
= Jahrbiicher der deutschen Theologie.
= ,, fiir protestantische Theologie.

= Monumenta Germanise.

= Migne, Patrologise cursus completus series latina.
= „ „ „ ,i i, grseca.

= Neues Archiv fiir die altere deutsche Geschichtskunde.

=Eeal-Encyclopadie fiir protestantische Theologie (Herzog & Plitt).

=Eheinisches Museum.

= Revue des Questions Historiques.

=Theologische Studien und Kritiken.

= „ Literaturblatt.

= „ Literaturzeitung.

= Theologisch Tijdschrift.

=Tubinger Theologische Quartalschrift.

= Zeitschrift fiir historische Theologie.

= „ „ lutherische Kirche.

= ,, „ Kirchengeschichte.

= „ „ Katholische Theologie.

= M „ Protestantismus und Kirche.

= „ „ praktische Theologie.

= „ „ Kirchliche Wissenschaft und Kirchl. Leben.

= „ „ \vissenschaftliche Theologie.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

PREFATORY EEMARKS ... 1-26

1. Conception, Arrangement, and Division of Church History . 1

2. History of Church History • 6

3. Introduction to the Knowledge of the Literature and Sources of

Church History .... 16

HISTOEY OF THE ANCIENT CHUECH.
FIRST PERIOD— DOWN TO CONSTANTINE.

INTRODUCTION 26-48

1. The Grseco-Eoman World 26

2. The Jews 32

3. The Samaritans 47

txFiRST DIVISION. PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY ... 49

^A. The Eise of the Community of Jewish Believers in the Messiah . 49

1^2. The First Conflicts .53

J$. Paul's Preaching to the Gentiles. 57

4. Circumstances of the Gentile Communities 62

5. Palestinian Judseo-Christianity from the time of the Apostolic

Council down to the Destruction of Jerusalem ... 72

^6. The Community at Eome and the Neronic Persecutions of the -

Christians ; the Destruction of Jerusalem .... 74

v 7. Christianity in the Eoman World under the Flavians ... 82
8. The Apostle John and the Church of Asia Minor . . . .91
SECOND DIVISION. THE POST-APOSTOLIC AGE DOWN TO THE EMERGENCE

OF THE FIXED FORMS OF THE ANCIENT CATHOLIC CHURCH . 94-184

1. Unbelieving Judaism .......... 94

2. Specific Judseo-Christianity 97

The Elkesaites 100

3. The Geographical Expansion of Christianity in the Empire and

beyond its frontiers, and the manner of its spreading . . 103

4. The Literary Memorials of the Age, from which its picture is to be

drawn • 107

5. Condition and Prospects of the Christian Communities in the

Gentile World down to the middle of the Second Century . .118

6. Gnosticism ........•••• 129

A. General 129

B. The Systems .131

C. The Distinctive Fundamental Conceptions of Gnostic Philo-

sophy • 152

D. General Eemarks on the Significance of Gnosticism for the

Church • 153

x CONTENTS.

PAGE

7. Montanism as it first appeared ... •

8. The Position of the Christians under the Roman Government . 159

A. General •

B. The Procedure of the Individual Emperors . . • 161

9. Heathen Religious Feeling and Culture in their relation to

Christianity .... .167

10. The Defence of Christianity hy the scientifically-educated Apolo-

gists of the Second Century, and the changed conception of
Christianity resulting therefrom . . • 1^2

\y THIRD DIVISION. HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT CATHOLIC CHURCH FROM
ITS CONSOLIDATION DOWN TO CONSTANTINE

1. Transition

2. The Extension of the Field ... .185

3. Pagan Religious Feeling and Culture in their Relation to

Christianity ....
4 The Persecution of the Christians by the Pagan Executive Power 190

5. The Chief Representatives of the Apostolic-Catholic Church . . 199

I. Irenseus and the Asiatic-Roman School . . •

IE. The Representatives of the Latin School 20-

1. Tertullian .... ..... 202

2. Cyprian, Commodian, etc 20-i

III. The Alexandrian School . . -' ^

6. The Development of the Substance of the Faith . . . .217

7. The Development of the Constitution

I. The Clergy .

II. The Organisation of the Episcopal Church (Diocese) within
its own limits, the grouping of Episcopal Churches in greater
unities, and the Unity of the Church in general .

8. Admission into and Discipline within the Church ....

I. The Preparation (Catechumenate) . ....

II. Baptism ... ...

III. Excommunication and the Discipline of Penance

IV. The Controversy on the Baptism of Heretics .... -v''i

9. Divine Service and Religious Customs .... -' 's

I. Divine Service on Sunday ....

II. The Circle of Feasts . . ....

III. Consecrated Places and Sacred Art . ... -T'.i

10 The Fundamental Features of the Christian Life .
11. Manicheism ...

SECOND PERIOD— FROM CONSTANTINE I. DOWN TO THE END OF

THE SIXTH CENTURY.

SURVEY .

FIRST CHAPTER. THE FALL OF PAGANISM IN THE ROMAN EMI-IRH . •_'!"; :'-i 1

1. Constantino and his Sons . ...

2. The Reaction of Paganism. Julian . ....

3. Decline and Fall of Paganism .

4. Pagan Secular Culture on the Defensive and Christian Apologotics :;10

CONTENTS. xi

PAGE

SECOND CHAPTER. THE LEGAL POSITION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE

HIERARCHICAL FORM OF THE CHURCH 315-354

1. The Legal Position, of the Church of the Eoman Empire after

Constantino 315

2. The Clergy ... 320

3. The Metropolitan Constitution 328

4. The Great Synods 331

5. The Patriarchate 337

6. The Eoman Primacy ... 340

THIRD CHAPTER. MONASTICISM AS THE EELIGIOUS-MORAL IDEAL FOR

THE WORLD-CHURCH . ...... 355-377

1. The Anchorites of the East . 355

2. The Monasteries of the East . 357

3. Unecclesiastical Extremes of Oriental Monasticism .... 361

4. The Beginnings of Monasticism in the West 364

5. The Further Development of Monasticism in the West. Benedict

of Nursia and Cassiodorius 373

6. The Legal Position of Monasticism in Eeference to Church and

State 376

FOURTH CHAPTER. THE THEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE DOGMA

OF THE CHURCH 378-470

SURVEY 378

1. The State of Theology in the Beginning of the Period . . . 379

2. The Arian Controversy 382

3. The Eepresentatives of the Theology which had matured in the

Arian Controversy 393

4. The setting aside of Arianism in the Church of the Empire . . 399

5. The Origenist Controversies 403

6. Greek Theology from the close of the Arian Controversy to the end

of the Period 406

7. The Christological Agitations 413

I. Down to the close of the Nestorian Controversy . . . 413

II. The Eutychian Controversy and the Synod of Chalcedon . 419

8. The Monophysite Controversies 422

9. Western Theology and Christian Literature in the Age of Augustine 433

10. Priscillianism ........... 440

11. The Donatist Controversy 445

12. The Pelagia.n Controversy 448

13. The Post-Augustinian Theology of the Fifth Century . . .459

14. The Semi-Pelagian Controversy and the Final Preponderance of

Augustine ........... 462

15. Survey of the Theological and Christian Literature of the West

from the close of the Fifth and in the Sixth Century . . . 467
FLTH CHAPTER. LIFE UNDER THE LAW OF THE CHURCH . . 471- H'l

1. Entrance into the Christian Society. Catechumenate and Baptism 471

2. The Good Works of the Church . 478

3. Ecclesiastical Discipline ....... -1s1'

4. Influence of the Church on the Morality and Customs of Eomau

Society ... 492

xii CONTENTS.

PAGE

SIXTH CHAPTER. THE CHRISTIAN CULTUS ...... 495-531

1. Art in the Service of the Sanctuary ....... 495

2. The Significance of Images for the Cultus ..... 501

3. The Adoration of Saints and Relics 504

4. The Celebration of the Feasts of the Church .... 512

5. The Order of Divine Worship and its Essential Elements . . 520

6. Sacrifice and Sacrament ......... 529

7. Preaching 531

SEVENTH CHAPTER. MISSIONS AND CHRISTIANITY ON THE EASTERN

FRONTIERS OF THE EMPIRE 535-541

1. Christianity in the Persian Empire 535

2. Christianity in Armenia .... .... 537

3. The Ethiopian Church .... 540

INDEX .... 542

CORRECTIONS AND AMPLIFICATIONS . 545

-

\

GHUBCH HIS TOBY,

PREFATORY REMARKS.
1. Conception, Arrangement, and Division of Church History.

THE Christian church is the community of believers in Jesus Christ,
which participates in the benefits of the kingdom of God announced
and brought in by E :m. That which produces it is the gospel, that
which internally holds it together the Holy Spirit, its invisible form
is the body of Christ, the organic connection of all living believers
with Christ the Head, for the restoration of which the means are
given in word and sacrament. According to its outward historical
appeal ->, however, it is first of all the religious fellowship of those
who acknowledge Jesus, which for the purposes of its legal existence
in the world, as well as for its religious self-attestation, expression,
self-assertion, and f.he achievement of its end in the same, develops
forms of constitution and government, clearly defined forms of the
religious life, and forms for the confirmation of morality, and for the
regulation of doctrine and education, and thus produces institutions,
assumes the character of the institutional. It can only develop in
and for the natural ethical forms of life and society, partly pre-
supposing these and making them instruments, partly influencing
them and penetrating them with its spirit ; and so there arises a
rich and many-sided action and reaction between the church and
the rest of the moral ordinances of life, and the church enters as
a powerful fa' tor 'nto human history. Christian belief, Christian
morality, the I -istian view of the world,, of which the church as
a religious sc y ard institution is the focus, as fluid spiritual
elements permeate humanity as it becomes Christian, far beyond the
sphe: e of the church proper ; while conversely the church is not as-
surer . gainst the possibility that spiritual elements originally alien
to '."."y dominate and influence her in their turn. It thus ap-

peal b for the historical treatment of the total operations and

fort i. ->f Christianity in the life of the nations, the title History of
Chri: ity or of the Christian religion has more to recommend it
than t.. -it of Church History; for, in seeking a living view of his-
tory, we cannot stop at making clear (and at the same time making
VOL. i. 1

2 CHURCH HISTORY.

lifeless) the Christian element in the ecclesiastical, much less at the
fortunes of the Christian religious society as such, or be willing
to give up the historical knowledge of the spiritual and moral in-
fluences on the condition of spirituality and culture of the different
ages. But the maintenance of the title Church History is justified
by the fact that the church as the special form of representation of
the Christian religion stands at the centre of all historical operations
of Christianity ; and without constant reference to the definite ex-
pression of the Christian in the ecclesiastical we should run the
danger of losing ourselves amid indefinite and disproportionate
general phenomena of the history of civilization.

As the name of church occurs historically only in the Christian
religion, it cannot well be applied to extra-Christian phenomena of
the history of religion. Elder scholars have indeed often spoken of
a church of the Old Testament ; VENEMA, e.g., has combined in a
unity the church history of the Old Testament with that of the
New. In the same way the conception might be transferred to the
sphere of heathen religion. Of course the antique heathenism of
the classic nations, in the domain of which Christianity began its
mission, also gave to the religious life a visible historical stamp in
definite institutions, acts of worship, manners and customs, to which
the regulations of the Christian church are analogous, and these
religious regulations have exercised a deeply pervasive influence.
But the religious fellowship which generates from itself religious
institutions essentially coincides in the unspoiled antique life with
the national and political society. The religious consciousness is
blended with and dominated by the natural consciousness ; religion
is determined and dominated by the kind and nationality of the
people, and in its existence sustained and contained thereby. It is
regarded as perfectly natural that each nation should have its own
gods. But in that very fact is involved the consequence that the
decay of heathen religion should keep in line with that of the
national life and its independence. The religious consciousness
which is loosed from its natural basis loses its hold. It is only in
the ancient mysteries that there can be discovered a tendency to the
emancipation of religion and its sanctions from national presupposi-
tions, and in the communities of the initiated an anticipation of a
society specifically religious, and, by this very fact, universally human
in its significance, a premonition of a church. Hence their power
of attraction as esoteric societies just at the time of the increasing
decay of the ancient religious. On the other hand the Roman world-
empire, with its mingling of different cults and their propaganda, had

PREFATORY REMARKS. 3

an influence preparatory to the restoration of specific religious com-
munities, which free themselves from the natural basis.

It is nevertheless essentially different in the sphere of Old
Testament revealed religion. Here in virtue of its revealed cha-
racter the religious principle emerges in greater freedom and in-
dependence— not as a mere natural modification of the national
character. Religion as Law and Prophecy here lays claim to place
a people, in its entire inner life and in its civic relationships under
exclusive divine guidance, of such a kind that the nation represents
the people of God, and the national, is at the same time the expres-
sion of the religious society. The thought of the Theocracy makes
itself felt, though at first it is necessarily a particularistic Theocracy.
The consciousness of a universal destiny does indeed most decidedly
live in the people of God, and finds in the prophets its most animated
expression ; but the prevailing view is partly that those who accept
the belief of Israel are also added to the people of God, partly
that the heathen peoples acknowledge the God of Israel and
His law. Here also there is no room for the occurrence of the
specific phenomena of the Church. It is only the belief in the
perfect revelation of God in Christ and the restoration of perfect
communion with God in Him which leads, in Christianity, casting
itself loose from the Old Testament notion, to a specifically religious
society which is linked, not to definite national or popular circum-
stances (not necessarily to these or those), but only to the constituent
religious-moral elements of the faith ; but it is by that very fact one
of quite universal concern, which lays claim to absolute acceptance.
As such, the church, in the consciousness of the absolute power of its
religious principle, now enters into the life of the nations and into
vital interaction with the entire life of the world in its various
characteristics and moral and social forms.

In this living interaction the peculiar life of the church is un-
folded, in accordance with its internal principles of formation, into
an extraordinarily manifold and complicated object of historical
examination. The different elements of which it is composed, the
different forms in which it expresses itself, the different character-
istics in which it works itself out, the different results of a spiritual
and moral sort which it deposits, the different influences on which
it has to react — all these ought to be distinguished from one another,
and at the same time related to and linked with one another. For
this purpose it is necessary to elucidate the general historical move-
ment of the church by the relative separation of certain of its
aspects, without loosening the bond of unity, jl) From small begin-

4 CHURCH HISTORY.

nings the church spreads itself abroad over countries and peoples,
partly by the involuntary impetus of its members, partly by organ-
ized activity with a conscious aim, partly by public measures in the
interest of Christian politics and civilization — History of the Spread
of the Church, z.e., History of Missions. — (2) From mobile beginnings
the church grows into fixed constitutional forms, organizing itself,
creating for itself definite members and instruments for leadership
and self-preservation, and for the regulation of its functions. It
at the same time comes into living relationship and interaction with
the political and civil forms of national life — Constitutional History.
— (3) The church produces from itself the means of its own setting
forth of its peculiar religious life in divine worship, which, on the
one hand, as the fixed institution of worship, is closely connected
with the constitution ; on the other hand, in the means necessary
for exhibiting it, it takes art into its service — History of the Cultus,
of usages of worship, and of Christian art. — (4) It engenders on the
basis of its religious belief a peculiar form of Christian life — History
of Christian custom and morality — and exercises through its regular
organs an educational activity tending to their purification and
restoration — History of Christian Discipline. — (5) It develops the
confession of its faith, under the influence of the general culture of
the age, into a Christian view of the world — History of doctrine as
the history of Dog-ma, and of the Christian science of ethics, and
develops in general, in connection therewith, ecclesiastical science
— History of the theological sciences.

Each of these essential aspects may be treated separately for the
whole chronological extent of the history of the church, and thus
affords partial studies in Church History, which are advantageous
for the advancement of particular research, but unsatisfactory for
the general picture which is to be gathered from them. This
demands a connected view of the different aspects in survey able
chronological periods. Hence, the division of the material accord-
ing to its nature has to be subordinated to a chronological division
into periods, within which the natural divisions may appear, and yet
be held together by frequent references. For this division into
periods it suffices to fix firmly such points of time as appear as
notes of development in the historical life of the church, in which,
011 occasion of the coincidence of altered internal and external re-
lationships, the life of the church takes a decisive turn, Epochs,
which gave their special impress to the periods of time dominate.!
by them. Between two such epochs, the historical movement will
proceed in such a way thai tiv* new historical inllurnrrs which

PREFATORY REMARKS, 5

made their appearance in the first, work themselves out in it, and
simultaneously therewith an onward tendency towards the new note
of development makes itself perceptible. Amid the great difference
and variety of the points of view which may be taken in the rich
multiform life of the church, and its manifold intertwining with
the entire historical development of the world, the attempt to divide
up this constantly changing stream of history into periods will in-
deed lead to very various results, and no such attempt will be able
to raise a claim to absolute validity. A pretty widely accepted
understanding does, indeed, hold as to the most general divisions —
namely, the distinction between the Church History of Christian
antiquity, that of the Middle Ages, and that of the modern time of
the Reformation ; but not only the chronological delimitation be-
tween Christian antiquity and mediaeval Christianity may be vari-
ously determined — and even the delimitation between the Middle
Ages and ecclesiastical modern times has, from the Roman side, for
the sake of opposition to the Protestant estimate of the Reforma-
tion, been otherwise defined (KRAUS) — but (1) and (2), starting from
the determining idea of the church, have been grouped under the
higher unity of the Catholic period, with a view to contrasting to
them the Protestant period (ROTHE). On the other hand, from the
point of view of the relation between the church and the world, it
has been sought to limit the ancient church (HASSEI to the time
down to Constantine, and the division has been made on the fol-
lowing scheme: (1) Independent development of the church for it-
self ; (2) Renunciation of the church to the world (from Constantine
till the Reformation) ; (3) Return of the church into itself, — a scheme
which, however, leaves us in difficulties. Naturally, indeed, it is
usual to regard the conversion of Constantine as an adequate land-
mark, but only as sufficient to divide ancient Church History into
its two chief periods, and to allow the standard for distinguishing
the ancient church from the mediseval to consist in the essential
difference of the position which the church has on the soil of the
ancient Grseco-Roman world, and of the Roman Empire, and under
the influences of its culture, from that which is formed in the Grer-
inano-Roman world of the Middle Ages. From this point of view,
in the centuries-long process of the transformation, and partially of
the dissolution of the Roman Empire, and the development there-
from of the G-ermano-Roman world, and corresponding therewith in
the temporal confusion of the progressive impression upon the church
•of the spirit of the ancient church of the Empire, and the rising new
ecclesiastical forms, it is possible to bring down the limit of Ancient

6 CHURCH HISTORY.

Church History (witi_. HASE and WEING-ARTEN) to the establishment
of the Holy Eoman Empire of the German nation in 800 A.D., or
according to the points of view made of prominent consideration, to
make the mark of division earlier (GIESELER down to the begin-
ning of the Image controversies [722], KURTZ down to the close of
the development of doctrine in the ancient church [680], and the
occurrence of the alienation between the Eastern and the Western
churches [692], BAUR and others down to the end of the sixth cen-
tury— Gregory the Great). We assign the first six centuries to
Ancient Church History, and designate the time from Gregory the
Great to Charlemagne as the transition period to the Middle Age
proper. On the delimitation of individual periods see below.

2. History of Church History.

C. F. STAUDLJN, Geschichte und Lftcrafur der Kirchengeschichte, Hamburg,
1827 ; F. C. BAUI:, Epochen der kirchlfchen Geschichts-schreibung, Tubin-
gen, 1852.

1. We find that there is no Church History of the more compre-
hensive sort until after the church has victoriously surmounted the
struggle with the heathen state power and received recognition and
favour through Const an tine. Then EUSEBIUS PAMPHILI, Bishop of
Csesarea in Palestine (f 340) turned the eye of the church back from
the stage to which it had attained to its beginnings, in his ten books
of Church History, which cover the period from the beginning down
to 324, i.e., shortly before the Synod of Nicaea. (Edition with notes
by H. Valesius, Paris, 1659, and frequently ; F. G. Heinichen, 3 vols.,
Leipsic, 1827 ; handy editions by ZIMMKUMAX. SCHWEGLER, H. LAM-
MER, critical edition by DINDORF, 1871).1 His very panegyrical
four books on the Life of Constantineform an essential amplification,
as also the Panegyric on the Emperor. His value consists principally
in his industrious investigation of ecclesiastical traditions, and in the
communication and utilisation of older sources ; his defect, in the
arbitrary order and uncriticalness of his treatment, in which, how-
ever, he is but the child of his age, finally in his adulatory treatment
of Constantine.

In the first half of the following century, there attach themselves
to him as continuators, SOCRATES and SOZOMEN, advocates at Constan-
tinople, Bishop THEODORET of Gyros (f 457, but his Church History
only reaches down to 428), and the Church History of the Ariau
PHILOSTORGIUS, which has only been preserved in excerpts. In the
subsequent period they are joined by others, such as THEODORUS

1 [Knglish translation in Bohn's Series: London, 1879.]

PREFATORY REMARKS.

LECTOR, EVAGRIUS, THEOPHANES, down to NICEPHORUS CALLISTI
the fourteentli century), who seeks not merely to be a continuator,
but to set forth Church History in its entirety. His work has been
preserved complete down to 610, in lists of contents to 911. For
long, however, the work of the church historians had been paral-
leled by that of the Byzantine, Imperial, and Court historiographers,
who included the church in their view. JOHN of Ephesus, in the
sixth century, produced a Church History in Syriac (all that is im-
portant for the history of his time, published by Cureton, Oxon.r
1853 ; in German by Schonfelder, Munich, 1861. On him R. LAND,
Leyden, 1857).

In the Latin "West the Presbyter RUFINUS (of Aquileia f410) first
translated the Church History of Eusebius, and then added a con-
tinuation down to the death of Theodosius the Great (Cacciari, Romer
1740, the editions of the work of Rufinus by Vallarsi, 1775 sq., and
Migne, tome. 21, only contain Rufinus' own two books).

SULPICIUS SEVERUS, a Gaulish presbyter (f c. 420) in his Cronica
(ed. Halm, 1866 ; in the older editions usually designated Historia
Sacra) linked the history of the Christians immediately on to the
biblical history of the people of God (which occupies the greater
space). His contemporary PAULUS OROSIUS incited by Augustine's
Christian philosophy of history (De Civitate Dei) and to some extent
invited to amplify it by Augustine himself, wrote the Historiarum
Libri VII. (ed. Zangemeister, Vienna, 1882), a first attempt at a
Christian history of the world, with the apologetic purpose of ex-
hibiting Christianity as innocent of the miseries which people liked
to associate with the falling away from the ancient gods. The
Roman statesman in the service of the Ostro-Goth Theoderic,
CASSIODORUS, for the completion and continuation of Eusebius had
the three Greek church historians (Socrates, Sozomen, and Theo-
doret) translated into Latin by his friend Epiphanius, and therefrom
he restored in a somewhat rough fashion a work with his own con-
tinuation down to 518 : the Historia Tripartita much made use of in
the Middle Ages. To the Chronicle of Eusebius (TravToScnrrj iaropia)r
an abstract of the history of the world, with chronological tables
appended — of which the latter have been preserved in Jerome's
translation and with his continuation down to 378 (Eus. Chron., ed.
Alfr. Schone, 2 vols., Berlin, 1866 and 1875)— there were added in imi-
tation and continuation the dry chronological inventories of Jerome
(Prosper's and many other edd.). Alongside, however, there appear
valuable histories of particular nations, such as Jordanis' De Rebus
Geticis (in the middle of the sixth century on the basis of Cassio-

8 CHURCH HISTOR Y.

dorus), partly with definite ecclesiastical contents, such as that of
GREGORY of Tours (f 593), the Historia (eccl.) Francorum, a history
of the Franks, which goes back to the creation of the world, and in
a spirit of ecclesiastical pragmatism. The learned BEDE'S (f 735)
Hittot'ia Ecclesiastka Gentis Anglorum, starting from Caesar's con-
quest of Britain, draws on living tradition and his own experiences,
in a homely narrative of the highest historical value.

2. In the Middle Ages the aim of general church historians is
limited to bare adherence to the ancients. Even the Church His-
tory of HAYMO of Halberstadt only draws on Bufinus and Cassiodorus,
while ANASTASIUS BIBLIOTHECARIUS (j end of ninth century), trans-
lates his Historia Ecdesiaxtica x. Chrotiographia Tripartita from
Theophanes and other Greek sources. What is most valuable for
the Middle Ages both in Church History and history in general,
consists in narratives having a narrower national and chronological
horizon (e.(j. the Gesta Pontificum Hannnaburgensium of ADAM of
Bremen [second half of eleventh century], an ecclesiastical history
of the North of the highest value), the biographies, imperial and
cloistral annals and chronicles, a large number of living narrative
presentations of special facts of high historical value. The Anfjli-
yence Uticenxis monaclii Hixtorice Ecdesia*ticce. libri XIII. of OHDK-
BICUS VITALIS (ed. A. le Prevost, Paris, 1838-1855, 5 vols.), begins
with the birth of Christ, and appends to the chronological abstract
of the History of the Emperors (vol. i.), and of the Popes (vol. ii.),
drawn from sources known to the church, the History of the Nor-
mans and the Crusades, continuing in a broad chronicle down lo the
lifetime of the author (time of Innocent II.). Mediaeval .scholasti-
cism, in accordance with its general tendency to an encyclopaedic
storing up of all attainable material for knowledge, made attempts
in that sort of history too (no separation of ecclesiastical and secular
history). Thus, in the colossal compilation of VINCENT of Beau va is
(Bellovacenxix j 1264), the Speculum Unicersdlc, there is also con-
tained a Speculum Historiale, which begins with the creation of th«
world, and coming down to the lifetime of the author, ends with a
forward glance at the end of all things. At the close of the Middle
Ages ANTONIUS of Florence (f 1459) furnished the much used :m<l
often printed Summa Histortalix, in which, however, ecclesiastical
matter is wrapped up in a general secular chronicle. With tho
Humanism of the fifteenth centur}' the critico-historical sense —
which was but little the property of the genuine Middle Age —
begins to stir (Laureiitius Valla and the Donation of Constant/lie).

The Reformation watchword of return to the pure church of tho

PREFATORY REMARKS. 9

gospel, also necessitated a historical criticism of the aberrations
of the Papacy, and impelled the zealous Lutherans, MATTH^EUS
FLACIUS ILLYRICUS, WIGAND, JUDEX, and many others to write the
so-called Magdeburg1 Centuries (Ecdes. Histot-ia, integrant ecclesice
ideam complectens, congesta pet" aliquot studiosos et pios viros in tirbe
Maydeb., Bale, 1559-1574). From this polemical stand-point,
they described the history of the church, the increasing impurity of
of the papal church in customs, constitution and doctrine, but also
pointed out the textes veritatis, who were never lacking in any
century. This work of solid industry, which under rather unfavour-
able circumstances brought many hidden sources to light, compre-
hends thirteen centuries of the church's history. To it the learned
Oratorian Cassar BARONIUS, who however sat at the sources of the
documentary treasures of the Vatican, opposed his Annales Ecclesi-
astici with the object of defending the Roman church against the
attacks of the Centuriators by bringing forward the facts, in the
conviction that the historical documents did not attest the falling
away of the church from the primitive gospel, but only the per-
sistent identity throughout history of the divinely designed position
•of the chair of St. Peter. On the twelve centuries which were
worked up by Baronius (Rome, 1588) follow the continuations of
Bzovius, SPONDANUS, and especially RAYNALDUS (Rome, 1646, down
to 1566), then LADERCHI (to 1571), finally Augustus THEINEJI (to
1585j. The great and meritorious work of Baronius otfered many
weak points to criticism, even from the Catholic standpoint. Such
•criticism was exercised with great results, especially in matters of
•chronology, by A. PAGI, whose C fit lea Historico-chronologica is
included in the principal edition of Baronius by MANSI (Lucca,
1738, 38 vols. fol. ; New ed. by A. Theiner, Bois le Due, 1864 sqq.,
4to). From the Reformed side, the great work has been subjected to
criticism by the great scholars, Isaac CASAUBON, Samuel BASNAGE,
and also SPANHEIM. The tide of scholarship in the Roman church
of the seventeenth century was mainly fruitful of great historical
delineations in the domain of the French church, under th*<
influence of Gallicanism, and promoted by the great patristic and
literary historical works of the Maurinians, Oratoriaiis, and Jesuits.
'Of such were the Selecta liixt. eccl. capita et in loca eiuxdem i»»ignia
dissertationes hist., etc. (Paris, 1677), by the G-allican Dominican
NATALIS ALEXANDER (Noel), comprising twenty-four volumes, and
reaching down to the Council of Trent. The earlier volumes were
received with great acceptance at Rome, but the later gave such
offence by independent criticism on mediaeval popes, that they were

io CHURCH HISTORY.

condemned to the Index Expurgatorius, and were only freed from
the stigma by Benedict XIII., after RONCAGLI had prepared an
edition with corrections and dissertations in disproof (Lucca, 1734).
The Jansenist Sebastian le Nain de TILLEMONT, whose meritorious
History of the Roman Emperors was already intended to serve as the
foundation for researches in ecclesiastical history, carefully collected
and provided with annotations of the matter of the sources in bio-
graphical form, the Memoir es pour servir a Vhistoire ecclesiaxtlqne des
six premiers siecles, Paris, 1693 sq. and frequently. Claude FLEURY
wrote his copious Histoire ecclesiastique (Paris, 1691 sqq., 20 vols., 1722-
1737, 36 vols. and frequently) without critical rigour, in a charit-
able spirit, for purposes of teaching and edification, and not without
preference for the ancient church of the Apostles and Fathers, and
a distaste for the stiff and starched methods of the Curia. The
famous BOSSUET'S Discours sur Vhistoire universelle depuis le com-
mencement du monde jusqii'a V empire de Charles Magne, Paris, 1681r
4to, may be mentioned as a philosophic treatment of the history of
the world from the point of view of the Catholic church.

Members of the Reformed churches, especially of the French and
French-Swiss (but also the Dutch and German-Swiss) in a spirit
of polemic against Catholicism and its scholarly representatives,
particularly the Jesuits, developed great learning in historico-criti-
cal investigations of ecclesiastical antiquity ; viz. DALL^KVS, David
BLONDEL, SALMASIUS, Samuel and Jacob BASNAGE. In like man-
ner, partly in the interest of Anglicanism, the English theolo-
gians USSHER, PEARSON, DODWELL, BINGHAM, GRABE (a German by
birth), and others. The Swiss J. H. HOTTINGER supplied a compre-
hensive and most learned universal Church History, also bringing
in, however, Paganism, Judaism, and Mohammedanism (Jlixtm-iii
Ecdesiaxtica Novi Testament'^ 9 vols., 1651-1667), from a similar
standpoint to that occupied by the Magdeburg Centuriators in the
Lutheran domain ; Friedrich SPANHEIM the Younger also produced
rich historical matter (in his Suinma histor. eccl., Leydeii, 16S'.),
reaching down to the Reformation). He was the same who, in his
Introducti". in opposition to Baronius, performed important work in
the criticism of sources, chronology, and geography. To this depart-
ment also belong the Exercitationes hint. crit. of Samuel BASNAGE, an
important criticism on Baronius, while his father Jacob BASXAGE, in
his Histoire de VEglixe, Rotterdam, 1699, 2 vols., is rich in material
and effective in the anti-Roman sense. In the llixtoria Ecdeshixticn
duor. prior, sceculorum (1716) of Johannes CLERICUS the spirit of
modern criticism is already alive, and the ecclesiastico-historical

PREFATORY REMARKS. n,

compendia of JABLONSKY and the German TURRETIN are already
above the polemical rigour of the old confessional spirit ; so likewise-
VENEMA (Institution es h. c. V. et N. T., 1777 sqq., 7 vols.).

In the Lutheran church, after the outstanding achievement of the
Centuriators the exclusive cultivation of dogmatics and polemics till
far on in the seventeenth century allowed predominance only to
the utilisation of dogmatico-historical material in dogmatics and
polemics (as in M. Chemnitz's Examen. concil. Trident., Gerhard's
Loci, etc.), and not of researches in Church History conducted from
independent interest in history. New impulses in this direction
were nevertheless already contained in the theology of George CA-
LIXT, in his demonstration of the common foundation of the con-
fessions in ecclesiastical antiquity (Consensus quinquescecularis); and
towards the end of the century there is an increase of the ecclesias-
tico-historical sense along with a certain regress of the dogmatico-
polemical interest, as the former was cultivated by Chr. KORTHOLD-
of Kiel, by K. SAGITTARIUS, Thomas ITTIG, A. RECHENBERG, and
others, and already received a powerful advance as regards the
history of the Reformation in the documental Commentarius histor.
et apol. de Lutheranismo of the admirable Veit Ludwig von SECKEN-
DORF (1688 sqq., in a new revision, 1694 fol.). Pietism contributed
to the emancipation of the treatment of history from bondage to
dogma, inasmuch as it induced a tendency to the appreciation of
Christian phenomena, not so much according to the standard of the
correct doctrinal conception, as by the subjective feelings of pious-
hearts. This tendency was driven to the most one-sided extreme
by the pietist mystic Gottfried ARNOLD in his Unparteiische Kirchen-
und Ketzerhistorie (1699, complete ed. Schaffhausen, 3 vols. fol.) ;
the light is seen to be on the side of the heretics persecuted and
oppressed by the priests and the minister ium ecclesiasticum ; on the
side of the official church are spiritual death and arbitrary and
external principles, and he looks yearningly towards the " first love '
in the true imitation of the first Christians. Arnold, however, with
all his exaggeration and unsound mysticism, powerfully broadened
the view of ecclesiastical history. Among the representatives of the
mild orthodox theology which no longer stands in a hostile attitude
to Pietism, such as BUDDEUS and the elder WALCH (John George),
the tendency of the time away from dogmatics and towards historical
scholarship shows itself in performances of value for the history of
the church, in Chr. Eberhard WEISMANN, of Tubingen (Introductia
in memorabilia eccl., 2 vols., p. 12 (Tubingen, 1718), as a mild
tendency to compromise. But in Johann Lorenz von MOSHEIM

-12 CHURCH HISTORY.

(Professor at Helinstadt, finally Chancellor of the University of
Gottingen, f 1755) there arises the father of modern ecclesiastical
history. Equipped with most comprehensive learning not merely
in theology, a man of genius, of fine aesthetic culture, a master
of language in a high degree, he not only essentially advanced
ecclesiastico-historical research into detail on very many points,
but in a spirit of impartiality and ingenuousness, which did not
however overlook the positive and valuable elements in events,
penetrated the whole movement of ecclesiastical liistory, and set it
forth with lucidity and taste. (Inxtitiitioinini lii*t. fcch'x. (inthiitw et
-recentioris libri 4, Helmstadt, 1755, 4 [2nd ed., 1764]. Institutione*
historice christiance maiores. Scecidtun fir'nnum, Helmst., 173!>, and
the most meritorious Commentarii de rebu* Christianorum ante ('<»/-
xtdutinum Magnum, Helmst., 1753, 4). Following in the footsteps
of his father, the younger WALCH (Chr. Wilhelm Franz i, won for
himself distinguished merit as a scholar by his works in Church
History (X<'tnjxt<j Religionsgeschichte, and others, but especially the
Entwk-klinuj einer coli^d iidi(]en Jlistorie der Ketzereien, 2 parts, 1702
onwards and other yearsj. Johann Matt. SCHIUECKH, a disciple and
admirer of Mosheim, though he was indeed far behind his master in
refinement and genius of style, has supplied in the forty-five volumes
of his Hintori/ i if tlif Christian Church, a work which is broad in
treatment but thorough and trustworthy and of solid sense, and to
this day indispensable (Leipzig, 1772. the latter volumes completed
after his death by Tzschirner). SI.MU-.U'S formless but stirring
•criticism had indeed a destructive but at the same time a universally
inspiring and advancing influence on historical research, inasmuch
-as it placed all importance on the temporary and changeable cha-
racter especially of the doctrines of the church, which it universally
regarded in the light of mere expressions of doctrinal opinions, them-
selves changeable under altered temporal conditions and changing
influences, and by no means to be set on an equality with the
simple religious-moral content of the religion of Jesus or allowed
to bind the right of the individual. Hence was developed the
subjective pragmatism of the ag<- of the illumination, in the temper
of which the otherwise most learned and independent historian
Ludwig Tim. SrrnLn; wrote his (lrtt)idri«t< der chrtxtliclu'ii
Kit-die (1782 and subsequently), a terse, intellectual, and witty pre-
sentation ; H. K. HENKK, of Helmst adt, was the author of a detailed
general history of the church in chronological order (6 vols., Bruns-
wick, 1788 sqq., repeatedly republished, the latter parts with a
continuation by J. S. Vater) entirely dominated by the spirit, of

PREFATORY REMARKS. r$,

reflective rationalism ; and Gottlieb Jacob PLANCK of Gottingen
wrote his works in Church History, which are distinguished by
thorough research and lucidity (Geschichte der christl. Gesellschaft-
verfassung ; Geschichte des protestant. Lehrbegriffs).

In our own century the need has made itself vigorously felt, from
different standpoints, of following the emancipation from the old
confessional bondage by further overcoming the ban of private and.
personal feelings, and of doing justice to the objective understanding
of the ecclesiastical past by loving self-submersion in its proper
content. This is sought, first of all, in the quiet and dispassionate-
collection of documentary matter, as by Chr. SCHMIDT (Handbuch
der christl. Kirchengeschichte, Giessen, 1801 sq.), continued by
ROTTBERG ; and on this method of procedure one of the master
writers of Church History, T. C. Ludwig GIESELER (Lehrbuch der-
Kirchengexchichte, Bonn, 1824 sq., 3 vols. in 8 parts, the first G parts,
in 4th ed., vols. 4 and 5 published posthumously, by Redepenning ;
the latter based on lectures and without reference to authorities) goes
the length of accompanying the simple and somewhat brief text
with copious and carefully and critically chosen matter from authori-
ties ; a work of the greatest merit. The second chief of the science
of Church History, August NEANDER, exhibited a pious tendency
of feeling which turns away from rationalism, and is at least in
touch with Schleiermacher. On the basis of affectionate immer-
sion in the authorities, he is capable in a high degree of doing
justice to the inner Christian life with sympathetic participation in
its manifold forms, of understanding the historical movement of
Christianity as a spiritual development moving on by means of
relatively justified oppositions, of taking delight in the individual
impress given to Christianity by great personalities, of generously
recognising in reference to dogma the religious significance even of
dogmatic struggles. The third of the master spirits is Karl HASE
(Kirchengeschichtl. Lehrbuch zunachst fur akadem. Vorlesungeii, 1834,
llth ed. 1886 ; Kirchengeschichte auf Grundlage akadem. Vorle-
sungen, I., 1885). A master of form, and full of intellectual fire,
with an open eye for all that is significantly impressed on indi-
vidual character, he has accurately and significantly portrayed the
results of his research, and had at length begun to set them forth
on a larger scale. His sesthetic treatment of religious phenomena
shines in references to art and secular literature, of which he makes
more frequent and more intelligent use than most professional
theologians.

MAREHINEKE (Univ&rsalkirchenhistorie des Christenthums, Grundzuge

T4 CHURCH HISTORY.

zu dkadem. Vorlesungen, I. Part, 1806) had attempted to attain for
his time the objectivity in the conception of history, which was
desiderated under the influence of the tendency of philosophy intro-
duced by Schelling. The explanation of the development of the
church was to grow out of the idea of religion, but the attempt re-
mained suspended in abstract formalism. Of much more important,
fertile and mature results, were the endeavours of F. Chr. BAUR
to bring the historical development of Christianity within the
sphere of the law of the process of spirit. Although his presentation
•of the history of the Christian church, as a whole, was only in part
published by himself, Das Christenthum iind die christliche Kir die der
drei ersten Jdhrhunderte, Tubingen, 1853 [3rd ed. 1863] j1 die christl.
Kirche, von 4. bis 6. Jahrh., 1859 [2nd ed. 1863] die christl. Kirche
des Mittelalters, 1861, prepared for the press by himself) ; and in part
•only published after his death, Gesch. der christl. Kirche, 4 vols.
1863 ; Kirchengenschichte des 19 Jahrh., 1862), his epochmakmg
works on the history of primitive Christianity, from which the
most fertile stimulus has gone forth far beyond the limits of his
own school, and on the other hand his works on the history of dogma
have incontrovertibly assigned him a place among the foremost
chiefs of ecclesiastico-historical research. Among independent
•writers of Church History, Chr. N. NIEDNER (Lehrb. der christl.
Kirche ngesch., newest ed., 1866) also deserves special attention. He
has the faculty of vigorously presenting the material drawn from
•original sources under particular points of view, although in a
clumsy style. R. ROTHE'S lectures on Church History (published by
Weingarten, 1875) are of the highest value for constitutional history,
and in particular for the history of Christian life, and also on ac-
count of many striking points of view. The Church histories of
GUEKICKE and LINDNER rather attach themselves to Neander, both,
however, with a strict maintenance of the confession ; R. HASSE
(ed. by Kohler) writes with taste and comprehensiveness, but under
the burden of a plan of treatment which is inadequate to the matter.
The attractive and copious lectures of HAGENBACH also stand under
the influence of Neander, as does also the Jlisfoire dn Christianismeof
CHASTEL, at least in the earlier volumes, and that of the Grerm an-
American Ph. SCHAFF (History <>/' the Christian Church) ; finally also
the Ala-is* i/t'i- ijcs. Kirchengeschickte, by J. J. HERZOG, 3 vols. (with a
completing supplement by KofFrnane), Erlangen, 1876 sqq. From
the standpoint of the Reformed Church : EBRARD, Iliuulhuch </<•/•
Kirchen- u. Dogmengesch., 4 vols., Erl., 1865. The very meritorious
1 [English translation by Allan Menzies, London, 1878.]

PREFATORY REMARKS. !5

text-book of Church History by H. KURTZ/ written from the Lutheran
standpoint, has in its ten editions simultaneously attained external
comprehensiveness and freedom from prejudice. In the assiduous
pursuit of ecclesiastico-historical research at the present time, we
have evidence partly of the influence of the leaders of ecclesiastico-
historical science who have been named, partly of the endeavours
which from the time of Baur have never been set at rest to come
to an understanding of primitive Christianity, in which to the
investigators who are essentially followers of Baur (Lipsius, Hilgen-
feld, Pfleiderer, Holtzmann, Weizsacker) as to those who on the
whole attach themselves to Neander (Lechler, Jacobi, Herzog, and
others), and finally to those who, going 011 their own independent
way by investigation of the sources, seek a positive foundation (Th.
ZAHN), a new position of far-reaching perspective has been opposed
by Albert BITSCHL, from which younger investigators, above all A.
HARNACK, have received most powerful stimulus. Work in Church
History is also influenced by the high development of secular
historical science, especially in the investigation of the Middle
Ages, in which, on the theological side, H. REUTER is equally dis-
tinguished in method and knowledge of his authorities ; younger
talents emulate him with success. Finally the increased theological
interest in the Reformation has given a considerable impulse to
ecclesiastico-historical research.

In touch with German ecclesiastico-historical theology in our
century in the evangelical sphere are both the products of the
Dutch, where, above all others, "W. MOLL following KIST (Geschiedenis
liet Kerkelijke leven der Christenn gedurende de zes eerste eeuven, 2nd
ed., 1855 and 1857 ; Kerkesch. van Nederland voor de Hervorming,
Arnheim and Utrecht, 1864-67) and his school (RoGGE, ACQUOI,
and others) are to be mentioned, as well as the English and American
theology which, especially in the last decades, has been the subject
of a great advance.

The Catholic writing of Church History in Germany in our
century first struck a deep religious tone after the period of
neology, in the History of the Religion of Christ begun by the
convert F. Leopold, Graf zu STOLBERG ; and was afterwards raised
to scientific eminence pre-eminently by A. MOHLER and J. J.
DOLLINGER, both as regards intellectual apprehension and industrious
investigation of authorities ; but also in Dollinger it has made the
transition from ultramontane hostility to the Reformation, to Old
Catholicism, which itself falls under the ban of Rome. Instigated
1 [English translation. 8 vols. London, 1888-90.]

1 6 CHURCH HISTORY.

by them are the Universal History of the Church by ALZOG, the
massive text-book of Xav. KEAUS (Treves, 2nd ed., 1862), which in
its external arrangements recalls that of Kurtz, and the Handbook
of the learned Ultramontane, HF.RGENROTHER (Freiburg, 1876 sqq.).
The main share, however, of Catholic research in Church History
to-day consists in contributions to the special investigation of
mediaeval authorities, such as are recorded in the Year-book of
the Gorres Society and in the Archie filr Literatur- und Kirchenge-
schichte des Mittelalters, published by Denifle and Ehrle (Berlin).

3. Introduction to the Knowledge of the Literature and
Sources of Church History.

For a knowledge of general historical relations: the presenta-
tions of the history of the world, of comprehensive works : BECKER'S.
Weltgeschichte (8th ed. by Ad. SCHMIDT with its continuation by
Arndt and Bulle), SCHLOSSER (in the new revision, 4th ed. 1884), and
especially G. WEBER'S Allgenx>in<> Weltgeschichte fiir die gebttdeten
Stande, 15 vols. (2nd ed. begun since 1881) ; W. OXCKEN, Allij.
Geschichte hi Einzeldarstettungen (written along with twenty-four
co-operators since 187* .

With reference to geography, Sn;r\i<:i;'s Historical Hand-Atlas
(ia38-46), 3rd ed. by MKNKK • 1*71 80), and DHOYSEN'S Allg. hist,
llandathtx, Bielefeld and Leipsic, 18*6. With special reference to
Church History : WILTSCH, Atfn* .sVavr, (-rottmgen, 1848, and his
Kirchliche d'eot/ra^hie /mil Stafixtik, 2 vols. 1846.

As regards chronology, the fundamental work is: J. SCALIOER, De
emend, teniponim, Jena, 162!>. and Diox PETAVITS, De doctrinti tcni-
ponnn, Antwerp, 1703, and especially L'tirf </<• rt'rificr h'x dafi'x. 1th
ed. down to 1770 by St. Alais. ."> ami 15 vols. 1818 aq., 3rd part since
1770 by de COURCEI.I.KS, 1S-J1-11; IIMMK, Iloiulh. dcr ninth. /<>/</
techn. Chronologic, % vols., IS-J.") sq. ; HIMNTKMKIKI;. I'm Li. ll<n/<llni<-h if.
hist., ChroHo/., 2nd ed. Berlin, iss-J; \VI-.II>KNIJACII. <'nlr>i<lnriitii> hi«f.
• 7/r/x/1. int'ilii ct i,<>r/ irri. Ifcgfiisliuv^. IS."),"); GlJOTEVEND, Jltim/h. (/c.<
hixt. c/ir. <!<'* Mittd Alfcrx, Hannover, 1872; A. DKECHSLEU, Kideiidrr-
buchleiti, Leipz., 1801 ; F. PIPKII, Kirchenordnung, 1*11.

Of the different chronological eras the following have to be taken
into account for the purposes of Church History.

1. The Roman ab tir/>: ^-ondita (751 A.U.C. = 1 A.D.).

2. The method of counting according to the years of consulships
and pro-consulships in use in the West down to the sixih century
and in the Greek Empire down to the ninth centur, : ("I.INTON,
./•V/.sV/ Hiniiitiii, iJSi">-r>i).

SOURCES. 17

3. Counting by the years of the reigns of the Emperors and
other princes, particularly of the Popes.

4. Of the eras proper, that from the creation of the world taken
over from the Jews plays a considerable part. It is based on the
chronological evidence of the Bible which, however, is very variously
interpreted. JULIUS AFRICANUS counted down to Christ 5500 years,
EUSEBIUS (Chronicon) 5199, SCALIGER reckoned 3950 etc. ; the modern
Jews count from the 1st Tisri, 3761. For the computation of Easter
the basis was long afforded by the reckoning of the Egyptian monk
Panodorus, 5493 : finally the Byzantine or Constantinopolitan era
reckons 5509 years before Christ, and begins with the 1st Septem-
ber, which the Orthodox Greek Church has retained, with the
exception of Russia, where it was discarded by Peter the Great.

5. The Christian Era. The Roman monk DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS (in
the Easter Tables for A.D. 525) was the first to reckon ab incarna-
tione Domini, in doing which (in agreement with Panodorus) he set
the year 1 at 754 A.U.C., which pretty nearly corresponds to the pas-
sages Luke iii. 1 and 23 ; but, if the birth of Jesus took place during
the lifetime of Herod (Matt. ii. 1 sqq.) this date is put a few years
too late ; v. WIESELER, Chrouol. Synopse der vier Eov., 8vo, 1843 ;
ZUMPT, Das Geburtsjahr Christ i, 1869.

As the birth of Jesus is ascribed to the end of the year 1, while
the date of the Conception is received as the terminus a quo of the
Incarnation, the year runs from 1st January to 31st December, 754
A.U.C. In the further spread of this method of reckoning Beda next
(De ratio ne temporum) and Charlemagne were influential ; in the tenth
century it is already widely spread, does not however penetrate to
Spain till the fourteenth century. Difficulties arose from the dif-
ferent periods of beginning the new year, according as the reckoning
was made now from 1st January, now from Christmas, again from
25th March (or from Easter) ; it was not till the sixteenth century
that the first became universal.

6. For a long period, alongside of the Christian reckoning there
were also added the other chronological characterizations of the
years as they are contained in the Easter tables, I.e. besides the years
of the emperors and consuls, the so-called Indictions (the Roman
tribute numbers), according to the Roman fiscal disposition in a
period of fifteen years which ran from the 1st September, an institu-
tion which can be traced back to Constans, or Constantino the Great.
Only the years of the current indictioii are counted, not the latter
itself, e.g. 1st, 2nd, etc., year of the Indiction. If the institution
of the indiction could be traced back to the time of Christ, th<-

VOL. I.

1 8 CHURCH HISTORY.

beginning of such an indiction -would fall in the year 3 B.C. ; the
indiction of any year A.D. may be found by adding 3 to the number
of the year and dividing by 15 ; the number then remaining indi-
cates the year of the indiction, or if there be no remainder, it is
15. Confusion is brought in by the fact, that subsequently, when
the real meaning of the indiction had long been forgotten, the
reckoning from the 1st September was not strictly maintained, but
combined with other ways of reckoning the New Year.

7. Of other eras, account has yet to be taken of the so-called
jEra Seleucidarum, which begins B.C. 311 or 312, and the JEra Hi*-
pana, which starts from the conquest of Spain by Augustus (38 B.C.),
finally the Diocletian Era. beginning with the 29th August, 284 A.D
The reckoning by Olympiads is in use down to the fourth century
(in isolated cases still later), cycles of four years beginning B.C. 777.
According to the usual acceptation the first year of the 195th Olym-
piad begins on the 1st July, A.D. 1.

A. Among the sources of Church History the place of highest
originality is taken, as in the case of history in general, by monu-
ments and original documents, as their origin is itself a part of the
event.

I. Among the monuments (vid. F. PIPER, Einleitung in die moiiu-
mentale Theologie. Berlin. 1H(>7) account must be taken of:—

1. Unwritten works of art as such, which, if they are not
intentionally devoted to the commemoration of ecclesiastical
events, give involuntary testimony as to the life and spirit of
the church of their age. To this department belong collec-
tions of Christian sculpture, which are the subject of Christian
archaeology, so far as it is an archaeology of art. S. R. GARUCCI,
Storia delict arte crist. nei primi otto .s-ec., Prato, 1873 sqq. ; th<«
literature of the Catacombs, vid. infra (I. Period. Part 2) ; H.
OTTE, Handb. der l-irchliclien Kunxtarchccologie des deutschen
Mittel-Alters, 5th ed., 2 vols., 1883-84. It is dependent on ih<-
statements of general art history. Works of SCHNAASE, KUGLER,
"W. LUBKE, and others ; KRAUS, Realencydopadie der Chrixtl.
Alterthumer, Freib., 1880 sqq.

2. Inscriptions, to which are added coins and seals. Of the
great works on inscriptions, the Corpus Inscriptionum Grcccanuu.
by BOCKH (and his continuators), includes also Christian in-
scriptions, though only a selection (4th vol., part 2, by KIRCH-
HOFF) ; the Corpus I. Lat. by MOMMSEN has almost entirely
excluded them. Here come in a number of older works on
inscriptions, especially G-RUTER, Corpus Inscriptionum.

SOURCES. 19

dam, 1603 sq., FABRETTI and others, and more recently DE Rossi,
Inscr. christ. urbis Romce VII. sazculo antiqiiiores, Rome, 1857 ;
LE BLOUET, Inscr. chret de la Gaule, 2 vols., 1853 sq., HUBNER,
Inscr. christ. Hispan., Berlin, 1871, and Inscr. Brit. Christ., 1876.
Cf. FRANZ, Elem. epigraphices grcecce, Berlin, 1840, and HUBNER,
Handbuch der romischen Epigraphik, Berlin, 1877.
II. To public documents which are especially important for
Church History there belong, among others :—

1. The Laws of States relating to the Church, e.g. those of
the Roman' Emperors (codices of Theodosian and Justinian, vid.
before II. Period), the capitularies of Frankish Kings, the laws
of German Emperors (vid. Periods III., IV. sq.), and the legis-
lation of the various countries.

2. Ecclesiastical Laws, chiefly the proclamations as they
issue from the law-giving ecclesiastical authorities, councils
and superior ecclesiastical officials, in particular from the
Bishops of Rome.

(a) Acts of Councils, specially the collections of HARDUEST,
Paris, 1715, 12 vols. fol. and I. D. MANSI, Sacr. cone, nova
et ampliss. coll., Florence and Venice, 1759 sqq., 31 vols. fol.

The History of the Councils has been made the object
of special research by C. J. HEFELE, Conciliengesch, Frei-
burg, 1855 sqq., 8 vols., the 8th by HERGENROTHER, 1887
(down to 1520), vols. 1-5 in 2nd ed., 1877 sqq.1

(&) The papal Acts, Rescripts, Bulls, and Briefs (papal
communications in less important matters ; the main differ-
ence between Bulls and Briefs was set aside by Leo XIII.
on the 29th October, 1878) ; Bullarium Romanum, Bullarum
privilegiorum ac diplomatum Rom. Pont., ed. C. COCQUELINES,
Rome, 1739, 28 vols. fol. Continuat op., BARBERINI, Rome,
1835, 20 vols. fol., new augmented ed. Turin, 1857 sqq. ;
Append, ad B. Rom. Turin, 1867. The older papal Briefs :
COUSTANT, Epp. Rom. Pontif., Paris, 1721 ; SCHOENEMANN,
Gottingen, 1796, and (down to 523) THIEL, Braunsberg,
1867 sq.

Connected with these are the Regests on all Briefs, Bulls,
Privileges and Councils : JAFFE Regesta Pontif. Rom. (down
to 1198), 2nd ed. by KALTENBRUNNER and others, 2 vols.,
Berlin, 1881-88 ; POTTHAST, Reg. pont. (1198-1304), 2 vols.,
Berl. 1873 ; J. v. PFLUG-HARTUNG, Acta pont. R. I., Tubingen.
1880, and Urkunde der papstl. Kanzlei vom 10.-13. Jahrh.,
Munich, 1882.

1 [English translation, I. II. III. London, 1872-83.]

20 CHURCH HISTORY.

For the history of the Popes, the Regests afford a solid
foundation, for more ancient times in combination with the
so-called Liber Pontificalis, one of various portions of col-
lected history of the Popes (the oldest the Liberian Cata-
logue) from Peter down to the second half of the ninth
century, which gradually arose and long went under the
title of the Library of Anastasius. The best edition begun
by DUCHESNE, Pt. I., Paris, 1886 ; following it is WATTE R-
ICH'S Pont. Rom. qui fuerunt ab exeunte scec. IX.
vitce ab cequaL conscr., 2 vols., Leipsic, 1862 (reaching down
to 1198i. A. BOWER/ Impartial History of the Popes of
J-tome, translated from the Eng. by Rambach, 10 vols.r
Leipsic, 1751 sqq. ; J. J. RAMBACH, Gesch. der rom. Pcipste
seit der Ref., 2 vols., 1779 ; L. v. RAXKK, G<>*ch. der rom.
1'iipxte. 7th ed., 3 vols.. 1878; ~ W\ n KNBACH, Gexch. der row.
, Lectures. Berlin, 1870; L. PASTOR, Gesch. der
xeit deni Ausyang <//'* Mittel-Alters, L, Freiburg, 18S(>
(for criticism on rid. Druffol in G.-G.-A. 1887, No. 12i.

c) The collections of the Corpus juris canon., of which
the first part includes the so-called Becretum Gratiani. and
also the genuine and spurious older papal decretals ; modern
editions by Ric-hter, L<-ipsic, 1833, and Friedberg, ib.r
187(5 sq.

(d) Connected with the papal Acts is the Liber Diurnus
of the papal Chancery, containing the usual formulas of
the papal epistles and communications, according to the
older edition by Gamier in Migne 105, and more exactly
Roziere, Paris, 1869 (5-11 century).

(e) The collection of Concordats by E. MUNCH, 2 vols.r
Leipsic, 1831, and especially Vine. Nussi, Conventiones de >•<•-
bnseccles. inter .v. scdein /-t civil, potest. initai, Mayence, 1871 .

3. The ecclesiastical laws of different countries, in particular
the Protestant Church Ordinances ; those of the sixteenth cen-
tury collected by L. A. RICHTER, Weimar, 1846 ; cf. J. .1. MUSKK.
Corp. jnri* ev. rcr/^/tc, Zurich, 1737 sq., 2 vols. They contain
at the same time especially the liturgical regulations.

Treatises on Ecclesiastical Law are based on the documents
hitherto mentioned ; cf. F. WALTER l^mtex jnri* ei-clrxiii*?-
antiqui et limHi-m/. B<mn, 1861 ; A. L. RiririTn. I.efirh. </<•* katli.
und evunij. Kirc/tennclit, .Sth • d. by D(\<- ;md Kald. ISNii, and
many others.

l Lomloii,
[2 English t:i.n-lation, with Intrcdnction by ]V.\ul>i£n>\

SOURCES. 2I

4. The Liturgies and Laws of Worship. J. A. ASSEMANI,
Codex liturgicus eccl. universalis, Rome, 1749, 13 vols. 4to ;
RKNAUDOT, Lit. orient, coll., Paris, 1715 ; Daniel, Cod. Liturg.
eccl. universalis in epit. red., Leipsic, 1847, 4 vols. ; MURATORI,
Lit. rom. vet., Venice, 1748 ; HAMMOND, Ancient Liturgies, Ox-
ford, 1878. The greater part of the edition is entitled, Liturgies
Eastern and Western. — SWAINSON, The Greek Liturgies chiefly
from original Authorities ; with an appendix containing the Coptic
Order of the Mass, ed. and transl. by Dr. Bezold, Cambridge,
1884; and DENZINGER, Ritus Orientalium, Wiirzburg, 1863,
2 vols. The Protestant Church orders, v. sup. EBRARD, Re-
form. Kirchenbuch, 1848. The more recent Protestant agenda. —
Based on liturgical material are : Guil. DURANDUS, Rationale
diem, offic., 1605, new ed. Naples, 1866 ; BONA, Rer. liturg.
libri 2, Rome, 1671, Turin, 1747 sqq. ; A. M. a CARPIO, Bibl. lit.
compend., Bonn, 1878 ; on it and the regulations of ecclesiastical
law (No. 3; is based Christian Archaeology, in so far as it
affords a history of worship and of ecclesiastical discipline and
constitution. Chief works : BINGHAM/ Origines antiquit. eccles.,
tr. into Latin by Grischovius, 10 vols. 4to, Halle 1722 ; J. W.
AUGUSTI, DerikuxirdigJceiten aus der christ. Archaologie, 12 vols.,
Leipsic, 1816 sqq. (Abstract : Handb. der christl. Archaologie, 3
vols., Leipsic, 1836) ; RHEINWALD, Die Jcirchl. Archaol., 1830 and
other eds. ; GUERICKE, 2nd ed., 1856 ; BINTERIM, Denkwurdig-
keiten der chr. katli. Kirclie, 17 vols., Mayence, 1825 sqq. ; X.
KUAUS, Realencyclo[iadie, v. sup. — ALT, Der christl. Cultns. 2
vols., 2nd ed., 1851 ; and TH. HARNACK, Prakt. Theol., Theorie
und Gesclik-hte de* Cultus, 2 vols., 1877. — Comprehensive consti-
tutional history : G. J. PLANCK, Gescli. der christl. kirchl. Gesell-
schaftsref.. 5 vols. Hannover, 1805 sqq.

5. The Creeds and Confessions of Faith. Those of the ancient
Church in WALCH, Biblioth. symb. vetus, Lemgo, 1770, and A.
HAHN, Bibl. der Symb. und Glaubensregeln, 2nd ed., Berlin, 1877;
C. P. CASPARI, Quellen z. Gesch. des Taufsymbols u. d. Glaubens-
regel, 3 vols. Christiania, 1866-75, and Alte u. neue Quellen, etc
ibid., 1879. For the Eastern Church: KIMMEL, Libri xymbol
eccl. or., Jena, 1843. For the Catholic, the collections of Danz
(1835), and Streitwolf et Klener (1835), and especially DEN-
ZINGER, Enchiridion synibolorum et definitionum qua de rebus fidei
et morum a Conciliis ozcurn. et summis pontif. email., 6th ed. by

1 [Origines Ecclesiastics; or, The Antiquities of the Christian Church. And
other works of the Rev. Joseph Bingham, M.A., etc., 9 vols. London, 1844.]

22 CHURCH HISTORY.

J. Stahl, Wirceb., 1888, as well as the Protestant symbolical
treatises : Lutheran : K. HASE ; J. T. MULLER, in Latin and
German, 4th ed. 1876 ; Reformed : NIEMAYER (1840) and the
comprehensive work of PH. SCHAFF, Biblioth. xymb. eccles. univ.,
3 vols. New York, 1882 (important on account of the Confessions
of the English and American denominations). — Here are to be
mentioned works on Symbolics and Polemical Theology : G. B.
WINER, Comparative Darstellung, 4th ed., 1882 ; the general
Symbolics of J. A. MOHLER (1832), 9th ed., 1884, KOLLNER (1846),
MARHEINEKE (Lectures, 1848), MATTHES (1854), R. HOFFMANN
(1856) ; FR. REIFF, Dei- Glaiibe der Kirchen, etc. (1863) ; G. F.
OEHLER, Lehrbuch. ed. by Delitzsch, Tubingen, 1876 ; SCHEELE,
Th. S., revised by Miehelsen, 3 vols. Gotha, 1881 sq. The Sym-
bolics of the Catholic Church by J. DELIT/>CH, I.. Gotha, 1875 ;
B. WENDT, I., Gotha 1880. — H. W. J. THIERSCH, Vorl<>«u»gen iiber
Protest, u. Kathol., 2 vols., 2nd ed., Erlangeu, 1848. Protestant
treatises against M< >hl<>r : by F. CHR. BAUR, Der Gegenx. d. Oath.
u. Prot., 2nd ed., 1836, and K. J. NITZSCH, Protest. Beantw.,
Hamburg, 1835. — SCHNECKENBURGER, Vergleichende Darstellung
der luth. u. rt'f. Lehrb., 1855, and Lehrbcgr. <lrr kleineren protest.
Kirchenpart., 1863 ; K. HASE, Lehrb. der Polemik, new ed., 1878 ;
TSCHACKERT, EC. 1 Wr////A', Gotha, 1865; N. GASS, Symb. der
griech. Kirchi', 1<S72.

6. The various rules of the monastic orders. Chief work :
Luc. HOLSTENIUS, Coi/f.f fi'tj/i/ar. 'inotiaxt. ?t cation., 3 vols. 4to,
Rome, 1661. Ed. am t. M. BROCKIE, Augsburg, 1759, 6 vols. fol.
The great works of .M \i-.i I.LON, Annales Ord. S. Bened., Paris,
1703-39, 6 vols. fol. ; 2nd ed., Lucca, 1739-45 ; WADDING, Autmh-s
Minorum (Franciscans), 2nd ed., Rome and Anc., 1731-1864,
24 vols. fol., and very many others afford the basis for the com-
prehensive history of nionasticism : R. HOSPINIANUS, De n»»mchis
s. de orig. et progr. MOH., Tig., K'.II'.I; ALTESERRA, Asceticon,
Paris, 1674, ed. by Gluck, under the title Origines rei monasUcw,
Halle, 1782, 8vo ; HELYOT, Hixtoire cles o/v//v.s- man., Paris, 1714,
8 vols., in German 1753 sqq., with continuation by 0. Phil, de la
Madeleine, 1838, 7 vols. 8vo ; G. MASSON, Hist, des on//v.v
Berlin, 1751, 4 vols.; ejusd. Pragm. Gesch. der rom.

orden, by Crone, 10 vols. Leipsic, 1774 sqq. ; HENEION, Hint,
des ordres rel., Paris, 1835, German translation by Fehr. ;
Tiibingen, 1845.

7. Works of the Fathers and Ecclesiastical Authors of all
ages, who are not only witnesses, but also subjects of history.

SOURCES. 23

Besides all separate editions, here belong the great collections
3f the Fathers of the church, and in part of the writers of the
Middle Ages, the Bibliothecae Patrum ; alongside of the old
collection of Paris (Bibl. Magna) and of Cologne, as well as that
of Leyden, which contains the Greek authors only in a Latin
translation (Bibl. maxima), there meet us a great number
of more or less comprehensive collections, which make public
the writings of the Fathers and Church authors, e.g., Cani-
sius-Basnage, Combefisius, d'Achery, Montfaucon, Muratori,
Martene et Durand, Mabillon and others. Next, collections:
A. GALLANDI, Bibl. vett. patrum et antiq. script., 14 vols.
Venice, 1765 sqq. ; much more comprehensive than the latter,
as it not only includes the writings of smaller extent, but also
the collected works of the Fathers and ecclesiastical writers,
mostly in copies of older editions, which otherwise remain, in
individual editions, is MIGNE'S collection, Patrologice cursus com-
pletus, Paris, 1844 sqq.; the Series Grceca, 162 vols. ; the Series
Latina, 221 vols. 4to. The Medii cevi biblioth. patrist. s. patro-
logia, began by HOROY (Paris, 1879), may be regarded as a kind
of continuation for the later Middle Ages (from 1216 onwards).
The Corpus scriptorum eccles. lat., which has been issued by the
Academy of Vienna since 1860, and includes up till now 17
volumes, answers to the requirements of modern scientific
philology. For modern times down to the close of the Middle
Ages literary production covers too wide a field to permit of
the making of similar collections, except in the case of narrowly
limited fields. For the writers of the Eastern church in the
domain of the Syriac language, J. S. ASSEMANI'S Bibl. oriental.,
4to, Rome, 1719, gives details with many extracts. In the
publication of patristic anecdota in our century, AUG. MAI
(Script rett. n. coll., 10 vols. Home, 1825 sqq. [Spicil. Rom.
classic, auct., Rome, 1828 sqq.] Nov. Bibl. pair., Rome, 1842,
sqq.), and PITRA (Spicil. Solesm., 4 vols. Paris, 1852, with its
continuations) have been specially active.

Patristics (Patrology) and Theological Literary History supply
an introduction to the domain of this literature of the Fathers, and
the ecclesiastical writers of the Middle Ages. Its simple beginnings
consist in brief enumerations of Churchmen, with biographical
sketches and information as to their writings : JEROME, De drift
illustr. s. catal. de script, eccles. He was followed by G-ENNADIUS
Mass., ISIDORUS Hisp., and a series of other mediaeval writers, down
to Trithemius (f 1516), and Aubertus Mirseus (f 1640), collected in

24 CHURCH HISTORY.

J. A. FABRICIUS, Bibliotheca ecclesiast., Hamburg, 1718 fol. ; M. DUPIN.
Nouv. Bibl. des auteurs eccl. 47 t. Paris, 1686, and S. "W. CAVE, Script,
eccl. hist, lit., London, 1688, and frequently, Oxford, 17-40 ; R.
CEILLIEE Hist, gener. des auteurs sacres et eccles., 23 vols. 4to (down
to c. 1244), new ed., Paris, 1860 sq., in 15 vols. ; Gas. OUDIN, Comm. de
script, eccles., Leipsic, 1722, 2 vols. fol. (down to the fifteenth century);
Histoire I'M. de la France par des rel. Benedict, de St. Jfaure, contin.
par des membres de VInstitut, Paris. 1733 sqq. (G. LUMPER, Hist, theol.
crit. de vita script, et doctr. set. patruni, 13 vols. Augsburg, 1783-99,
includes only the first three centuries). For the Latin writers down
to Isidorus Hisp. : SCHCENEMAXX. BiU.-liist.-lit. patr. Itttin.. 2 vols.
Leipsic, 1792-94 ; J. Chr. F. BAHR, ffe.^ch. der roni. Lit., Suppl.
I.-III., Carlsruhe, 1836-40; A. EMKIIT, AUg. Gesch. der Lit. de* Mit-
telalters im Abendland; vol. i. : <!e*ch. der christl. Jat. Lit. bis Karl
M., Leipsic, 1874; vol. ii., Lat. Lit. hi* ~nni Tode Karl.* des Kahler,
1880. The more recent Patrologies by Mohler, Fessler, Alzog (3rd
ed., 1876) Nirschl (1882). For the first eight centuries the copious
Dictionary of Christian Biography. Literary Texts and Doctrine, by
"W. SMITH and H. WAGE, 4 vols. London, 1877 sqq. For the whole
domain of Church History here com<»s in the History of the tln-o-
logical sciences: C. M. PKAKF. Inti-ml. liistor. in thcoJ. lift., '.\ vols.
Tiibingen, 1724; J. FR. BiTti>i-:r>. Ixtit/otfe hixt. thcol. <n! tlicol. ttnir.,
Leipsic, 1727; J. G. WALCH. //////. theol. .sW.. 4 vols. Jena, 17(17;
FLUGGE, Einl. in <!/<> <,'<sc!/. d<T th«>I. \\'i.wn*ch., Halle. 17!>!». and
d'<-*clt. </>>r f/ii'o/. ]ri**ri!«clia/t. 3 veils. Hn!li>, 17'.t»i ; ST.vrni.iN. <>'<'*ch.
der f/K'nl. WusenSCkaft, seit V<'rl»-<'ituinj ,/er (dfen Lit., 2 vols.. .">|-<1
ed., Gottingen, 181»».

For Catholic theological literature since the time of the hViorma-
tion, vid. HURTER, Xomenclator lift, recent, theol. 'from the Council
of Trent), 3 vols., 1876-1886, and WKRXEK, GWr/i. der Thenlogie in
Deiitxchlaml, Munich, isr.ii : for the Protestant: G. F. FRANK. '.Y.sr//.
der prot. Theol. , 3 vols., 1865 sqq. : DOKXKI;. fn'sdi. der prof. Theul. in
Deutxchlun<l, l^sij. The general Lexicons of literature, such as that
of Jo( HKU. 4 vols., Leipsic, 1750 sq., with continuations l>y ADEU \<;
and RoTEBMUND(6 vols., 1784-1819), as well as the numerous ones of
particular countries, afford an indispensable assistance to the church
historian. For individual monastic orders similar collections also
exist, e.g. the Bibliotheca Benedictino-Caseinensis, 2 vols. Assisi,
1731-32; QUKTIF ET ECHARD, Kcriptorex onlini* I'ra'ii/catornni, 2
vols. Paris, 1719-21 ; BACKER, Bibilothefjite f/r.s eerirains de la co/np.
de Jesus, 7 vols. Liege, ls:>:{ ill.

B. To the indirect sources belong chieiiy the Historians and

SOURCES. 25

Chroniclers, in so far as they stand in close proximity to the period
depicted, or draw from more ancient sources. Here belong not only
the narrators of Church History, who are in part mentioned above,
but for the most part have to be mentioned in connection with par-
ticular periods, but also the narrators of the general history of the
time. The latter seek to gather together collective works for the
various kingdoms and countries, e.g. B. NIEBUHR, Corp. script, hist,
byzant., Rome, 1828 sqq. ; MURATORI, Rerum Italic, script., Milan,
1723 sqq. ; BOUQUET, Rev. gallic, et frantic, script., 1738 sqq. (con-
tinued by the Academie des Inscriptions), new edition by Delisle,
Paris, 1869 sqq. ; LANGEBECK, Script, rer. Danic. med. cevi, Hafn.,
1772-1879 ; the Monumenta German. hist., begun by PERTZ and
•continued first under WAITZ'S and now under DUMMLER'S guidance ;
Rerum Britann. medii cevi script., London, 1858 sqq. ; BIELOWSKY,
Monum. Pol. hist., 3 vols., 1864 sqq. ; Monumenta Hungar. hist, script.,
Pesth, 1857 sqq. ; Monumenta hint, patriot, ed. jussu Caroli Alberti,
Turin, 1863 sqq. and many others.

Here must also be mentioned the numerous Lives, especially those
of the Saints and Martyrs : RUINART, Acta primorum Martyram
sincera et selecta, Paris, 1689 sqq., it. ed. Paris, 1694, Verona, 1732, 4,
Ratisbon, 1859 ; SURIUS, Vitce Sanctorum, 1570 ; ASSEMANI, Acta ss.
martyr, orient, et Occident., Rome, 1748, 2 vols. ; BOLLANDI etc. Acta
xanct., Antwerp, 1643 sqq., 63 vols. fol, (repeated Paris, 1687 sqq.) ;
MABILLON, Acta SS. 0. Bened., 9 vols. fol., Paris, 1666 sqq. To these
there are further to be added the innumerable biographical collec-
tions, for Germany the Allg. deutsche Biographie by LILIENCRON and
WEGELE, Leipsic, 1875 sqq.

Of the special departments of Church History which extend over
the whole chronological range of the history of the church, there
must be mentioned besides those already touched upon, that of the
History of Dogma. For its entire range see specially HAGENBACH,
Dogmengeschiclite, 5th ed., 1867 ; F. Chr. BAUR, Vorlesungen, 4 vols.,
1865 ; J. THOMASIUS, 2 vols., Erlangen, 1874, and H. SCHMIDT, Lehrbuch
der Dogmengesch., 4th ed. revised by Hauck, Nordliiigen, 1887 ; for
ancient history of Dogma, Fr. NITZSCH, Grtindriss der Dogmengesch.,
vol. i. (only j, Berlin, 1870, and A. HARNACK, Lehrb. der Dogmengesch.,
1886 sqq., 2nd ed.

The General History of Missions : J. A. FABRICIUS, Saint, lux Ev^
Hamburg, 1731 ; C. Or. BLUMHARDT, Verstich finer allg. Missionsgesch.
der Kirche Christi, 2 parts in 5 vols., 1828, and Handb. der Mis-
•siomgescli. u. M.-Geographie, 3rd ed., 2 vols., 1862 ; H. KALKAR,
Gesch. der christl. Miss., revised by Michelsen, 2 vols., 1879 sq.

26 CHURCH HISTORY.

History of Catholic Missions, by HENRION, revised by WITTMAXN,,
3 vols., 1845 sqq., and H. HAHN, Cologne, 1857 sqq. ; Annales de la Pro-
pagation de la foi, Lyons from 1822, German in the Jdhrbucher der
Verbreitung des Glaiibens, Cologne. — Gesch. der evang. Mission, by «L
Wiggers, 2 vols., 1847, 51 ; G. WARNECK, Abriss, 2nd ed., 1883 (RE,
10, 33 sqq., where the special literature may be found).

History of the Ancient Church.

FIRST PERIOD — DOWN TO CONSTANTINE.

Literature: J. L. MOSHEMII, De rebus Christianorum ante Const. M. commen-
tarii, Helmst., 1753, 4; A. RITSCHL, Enstehung der altkathol. Kirche, 2nd
ed., 1857; F. Chr. BAUR, Das Christenthum u. die christl. Kirche der drei
ersten Jahrhunderte, 2nd ed., 1860 [English translation, London, 187S] ;
E. de Pressense, Hist, des trois prem. siecles de Veglise, Paris, 1861. * E.
Renan, Hist, des origines du Christianisme, 7 vols., 1867-81 (down to death
of Marcus Anrelius).

INTRODUCTION.
1. The Graeco-Roman World.

The Roman Empire extended from the Euphrates to the Atlantic
Ocean, from the African desert to the lands on the Danube, to the
Rhine, even as far as the Weser, uniting in the oixov/j-evrj all the
civilised peoples of the age. In the Imperial power there seemed
to have been reached a fitting unity of the great whole, and after
troubles, a condition of comparative happiness. The unity of do-
minion, of government, of the Roman administration of justice
bound the different divisions and nationalities closely together,
admirable means of intercourse and the powerful activity of trade
promoted amalgamation ; the general diffusion of Latin, which was
the official language, and especially of Greek, the language of
culture, which since the death of Alexander had penetrated far E.-ist
and had become naturalised in Asia Minor as well as in Egypt,
caused spiritual contact and interchange; Latin, fertilized by Greek
culture and literature, was in the bloom of the Augustan age.

A manifold variety of religious cults, which touched, mingled,
and assimilated with one another, existed in the empire. The
Hellenistic period since Alexander had carried Hellenic ciilts to tin'
East along with Hellenic colonisation and political institutions (Asia
Minor, the Ptolemies, the Seleucidae). The ancient view, according
to which each people had its own gods, also determined the proce-
dure of the Roman conquerors, who only in exceptional cases sup-

1 [E. de Pressense, Early Years of Christianity, 5th ed., 4 vols. London,
1888-89.]

THE HEATHEN WORLD. 27

pressed national religions (Carthage, Gaul), and as a rule took the
local religions under their protection. On the other hand, they also
held firmly to the principle that foreign worships could not be
introduced without the approbation of the state. To prevent the
intrusion of foreign cults they established the laws against the sacra
peregrina as also those against the collegia illidta. But the ming-
ling of peoples in great centres like Rome broke through the legal
barriers. The world-empire completed the break-up of nationalities,,
even that of ancient Rome itself, and also the break-up of the pagan
national religions which had long since begun. In Greek religion
the original ancient view — essentially that of a religion of nature —
was transformed into that of the world of the Homeric gods, with
their ideals of a purely human life, which found their corresponding
expression in art and its aesthetic subjection of nature by spirit^
its glorification of the sensuous ; at the highest point of Greek life,
Greek piety, in contrast to the merely passive piety of the oriental
(surrender to ruling nature powers — tendency to nature-pantheism)
rises to the instinctive perception of moral powers, and a moral
government of the world (the Tragedians) ; on the other hand, it also
undergoes the critical reflection which fastened on the human weak-
nesses of its mythological world of gods, and the analytical power
of humour besides (Aristophanes). Here already, however, there
begins the antagonism between the educated consciousness and the
popular religion, which was promoted by philosophy (Anaxagoras,
the Sophists), by Euripides and the Comedians. The weaknesses
and passions of the gods (in their original significance symbolical of
theogonic and cosmogonic relationships) become the reflection of hu-
manity itself, in which the merely aesthetically controlled sensuous
finds vent, and the subjection to nature of the divine world, split
up by polytheism which itself degenerates into avdy/crj, can offer no
solution of the moral problems of humanity other than that which is
afforded by the tragic idea of destiny. This is connected with the
idea of the subjection to nature of human personality. The eternal
importance of personality does not attain recognition. Religion does
not point above the earth, not even beyond the nation to the uni-
versal ideal of humanity. Religion turns its attention less to man
as such, than to the citizen of the state, and civic virtues ; hence
where the state is self-determined, the human worth of whole
classes is ignored or oppressed on its account (slaves— women). Greek
popular religion on the whole, however the individual may have
risen superior to its limitations, lacks true ethical teleology ; religion
does not appear as the root of personal morality or as designed for

58 CHURCH HISTORY.

it, but preponderatingly as eudseinonistic, as the condition of the
common welfare and the participation of the individual therein.
Just because of the externality of this relation of the state-religion
to inner personal life, it is possible for philosophy on her side quietly
to permit the former to go on, aud yet create a content of the
educated consciousness entirely contradictory of it, although in the
person of Socrates she had already come into conflict with the
'Greek popular spirit. Plato and Aristotle, each in his way, represent
the highest point of Greek intellectual culture, the former by ideal
explanation of the world in his ideas, which are at the same time
the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, the latter by intellectual
penetration of the entire world of phenomena in their subjection to
law. But, standing on this pinnacle, Plato points beyond it. The
supersensuous as the true essence of things, comes into discord and
opposition to the sensuous reality ; the presentiment of an unsolved
discord between nature and spirit declares itself, and threatens to
undermine the merely aesthetic unity of nature and spirit. Later
philosophy completes this rupture of spirit with nature, but along
with the dissolution of the old synthesis it prepares a higher. Once
more Stoicism seeks the reconciliation of that dualism in its material-
istic pantheism, without however being able to maintain it. Man
directs his thoughts to his own subjectivity, after he has lost un-
constrained unity with nature and ingenuous absorption in the
objective world. At this point there arise questions as to the sub-
jective criterion of truth and as to the highest good for man. In the
Stoic ethics man comprehends himself in his own inner infinitude, and
in so doing comes into direct opposition to the world; in the so-
called life according to nature. i.e. in devotion to universal reason and
her eternal law and in the subordination to the latter of all private
inclination and pleasure, it is sought to reach a condition of passion-
lessness and freedom ; so that the wise man shall be like Zeus, a
king. The ideal indeed remains a hollow one, the moral attitude
to the world preponderating!}' negative, the soul of Stoic morality
rather a renunciation than an ennobling of the world, pride more
than love, and the human personality of the wise man which is
enthroned falls a victim to inexorable destiny. Nevertheless an
important ferment lies hidden in the Stoic ideal ; in particular, inas-
much as it is a universal human and social ideal transcending
national limits — it is essentially a principle which breaks through
the circle of ancient thought.

On the other hand the egoism of unrestrained subjectivity puts
itself forward in ethical eudsemonism, e.g. in that of the Epicureans ;

DEC A Y OF HE A THEN RELIGION. 29,

pleasure or painlessness the highest good, virtue only a means ; and
in Pyrrhonism and the New Academy subjectivity passes into scep-
ticism, which is puzzled as to the knowableness or reality of truth,.
and leaves at the best only probability, and so likewise as to the
reality of a positive highest good in 'Arapa^ta. This discord of the
thinking spirit with the world and with itself also accelerates the
undermining of the ancient faith. Stoic philosophy indeed, which
contains a strong trait of piety, seeks to rescue the kernel of the
ancient religious views by giving to the mythological figures a pan-
theistic significance, and recognising in them the different forms of
the one divine world-life ; but this cannot avail to stay the decay.
Epicurus does not contest the belief in the gods, but dissolves every
living religious relation to them, and his school follows up in out-
spoken manner the aim of freeing mankind from the curse of the
fear of the gods ; and the New Academy leaves the question of the
existence of the gods in the background, although just for that
reason it recommends men to follow tradition with regard to religion
as the safest course.

One sign of the decay of the religious spirit in the sphere of Greek
religion after the time of Alexander, is the emergence of the famous
EUHEMEROS at the time of the Macedonian king Cassander (close of
the fourth century B.C.), who sought to show in his own iepa
dvaypcHpri, a treatise of a romantic form, that all gods were deified
men and the temples their places of burial. The connecting link
lay in the cultus of the heroes and the worship of the KTicrTai in the
colonies, but flattery linked on to this the deification of the mighty
of this earth (earliest known example of the rendering of divine
honours while the object of them was still alive, that of Lysander
at the time of the Peloponnesiaii war), which reached its highest
point of development in the time of Alexander and the Diadochi.
With the destruction of Greek independence all the forces of analysis
acquire heightened activity ; therewith are taken up the hitherto
existing roots of religious life.

The more austere and chaste character of the spirit of the Roman
people and their national morality (domestic virtues), which lent
them the force to conquer the world, hold tenaciously also to
religious usages and duties. Here too religion was a state affair,
but less the object of aesthetic enjoyment and ideal exaltation than
an anxious and scrupulous awe in the presence of the mysterious
powers on which the state is founded, and a legalistic anxiety in
the fulfilment of public and private ceremonies. But the conqueror
of the world was overcome by the vanquished. The wealth and

30 CHURCH HISTORY.

luxuries which streamed in drove out discipline and purity of morals ;
Greek culture and art widened the field of vision, but had also a
disintegrating effect. The same poets who brought Greek poetry to
the Romans and awakened Roman poetry (especially the Apulian
QUINTUS ENNIUS, B.C. 200) also sowed the seed of Greek unbelief
among the Romans and soon brought it before the people in the
theatre. Eunius, at one time in the spirit of Epicurus shows the
blessed gods as careless of mankind, at another follows the insipid
ideas of Euhemeros, at another grasps at the Pythagorean philosophy
of nature ; the Epicurean Lucretius Cams (f c. 55 B.C.) seeks in his
didactic poem to emancipate the spirits of men from the narrow
bonds of religious fear (artis religionum nodi* animos extoh-cre} ; the
Roman satirists of the Imperial age, especially Propertius and after
him Petronius and Martial (and even Horace) playfully take away
from the people its religious faith and give it instead a refined
sensuality.

To the widespread unbelief in the world of heathen gods there
stood opposed, however, in small circles of culture a philosophic form
of belief in God, before which there dimly hovered the idea of a
piety directed towards essential morality. The age is permeated by
a strong tendency to a philosophico-religious monotheism, which,
although wearing a different colour in different systems, yet exhibits
certain common peculiarities, namely, (1) a tendency to refined
representations of the unenvious indefatigable goodness of the
divinity ; (2) the maintenance of a consoling belief in providence
(which indeed is harshly contemned by scepticism and the natural-
istic tendencies, e.cj. by the elder Pliny) ; (3) search after the true
worship of God, not in scrupulous statutes and ceremonies, but in
moral relations as the imitation of the gods in goodness. Universal
humane and moral points of view gain recognition, in which pagan
egoism is as a matter of fact largely broken down ; the glaring
phenomena of the egoism and immorality of the Roman Empire
lead, among philosophical moralists, to strong impressions of
universal siufuluess (Seneca; parallel with Paul !); reflection and self-
examination, self-denial and a return from luxury, are acclaimed ;
people begin to demand universal love of man, the sparing of the
weak, the recognition of human worth even among slaves, the
dignity of women, to preach respect for marriage vows, and the
duty of forgiveness. The state is to become humane, and in actual
fact begins to be more humane in its legislation. In connection
\\ith this moral-religious belief the hope of immortality begins to be
more decidedly grasped

PHILOSOPHIC RELIGION. 31

But this philosophic or natural religion of the educated shows
itself to be theoretically as well as practically untenable, suffers from
inner contradictions in its religious conceptions and from too much
phrasing and declamation; the naturalistic background (the blind
power of nature and chance) on the one hand, and arrogance on the
other, perpetually break out, and there is a want of the simple joy
of belief, and devotion on the ground of a positive religion. Hence
also educated politicians and philosophers are agreed, that the an-
cestral religion on which the state and all the relationships of life
are based, ought to be maintained. The attempts of well-meaning
u illumination," which would like to bridge over the yawning gulf
between culture and popular religion, partly by justification and
philosophic interpretation of the mythological conceptions — Stoic use
of allegory to interpret myths — partly by simplification of the
mtiHifarious world of divinities with the utmost possible limitation
of the superstitious elements and the derivation of the gods from
one highest unity, could not in the nature of things have any great
effect. Even Scsevola (100 B.C.) distinguished the state-religion (i.e.
the sum of religious ceremonies) from the mythological fables of the
poets (the religio nugatorici) and philosophic religion, which neces-
sarily remained unknown to the crowd. In the like manner also
Varro (50 B.C.). " The wise man," says Seneca, " will observe all
these religious usages tanquam legibus jussa, non tanquam diis grata."

At the same time we must not undervalue the still existing power
of the religious usages and conceptions which were intimately
wrapped up with the civic and domestic life of the great masses of
the peoples, as is convincingly shown by the tenacious opposition to
Christianity. Besides, an important force for natures of religious
susceptibility was contained in the Greek and Hellenised mystery-
cults with their mysterious devotions and symbolic usages. Much
more than the plastic forms of the popular mythology, which were
less adapted to religious explanation, did the symbolic representa-
tion of divine incidents in the mysteries seem to invite to a more
general religious speculative interpretation, to afford assistance to
the syncretistic tendencies of the age, and point to a purer and
deeper spiritual faith. They met the need of religious satisfaction
as to the future life, as well as of religious purification and expia-
tion, and finally (especially in the Orphic mysteries) of a speculative
view of nature coloured by religion. Finally the conquering swoop
of the Roman eagles served the turn of the Capitoline Jupiter also,
in whose temple the trophies of the subjected peoples were gathered.
In all parts of the world temples arose to him, — in Gaul he almost

32 CHURCH HISTOJtY.

completely ejected the ancestral gods. Under the peace of the
Augustan age, which saw the popular religions of the Empire
blended together in the Roman Pantheon, there arose an immense
number of new temples, and the zeal for religious ceremonies was
kindled in increased degree.

It was the political point of view also, which, supported by adula-
tion and prepared for by the apotheoses which since the age of
Alexander had made their appearance on Hellenic soil, introduced
the religious worship of the Emperors, in whom the power and the
stability of the Empire were represented. A monstrous irony, and yet
intelligible from the circumstances and the effect of antique ways of
looking at things, but which could only react destructively on the
belief in the gods. But now in this Imperial age, along with increas-
ing immorality and luxury and inward hollowness there appeared
that condensation of religious superstition, in which an enervated
generation sought, partly after wonderful and magical purification
and expiation, snatching especially at the strange and the mysterious
(the worship of Isis in Rome since B.C. 43; the orgiastic cult of the
Dea Syra), partly after supernatural disclosures as to the future
even for scandalous and criminal purposes (Chalclaici, Genethliaci,
Mathematici), partly after magical arts and conjurings.

2. The Jews.

EWALD, Gfsi-h. dfs \'"lkt-s Israel,1 3rd ed.. vols. -1-7 ; .losr. <•>*<•//. der hra< I. scit
der Zeit der Miikl:.. 1S-JO s«|<i., vols. 1-1 : OuVr/. C< s<-h. tier Jitden. vols. 8
and 4, 2nd ed., 1H<>3 and 18G<> ; DERENHOURC, Kssai .stir Vhidoirc. if />t
geogr. de la Pal., Part I., 1807; HOLTZMANN, Judcnf/nim nnd Chrisffn-
thum im Ze.it alter der apokr. itnd in'iiti'stfiini'itfl. Lit<Tatnr (Gesch. </<-.s-
Volkcs fxrael, by Weber and Holtzmann, 2 vols., 18<>7); GKKOKKK. A/.v
Jahrh. d?s //<•//*, 2 vols., 1838 ; LUTTERBECK. Xrnfi'sfinin'iifl. L<'hrl><'ijr/iy<.
vol. i., 1852; LANGEN, Das Jin/mf/i. in I'nl. ~nr Z--t't Christ/. ISCd; KTKXKN.
De godstli' ust r,m Isrdi'l, '2 v«ls.. Is7o; K. Scui I;KII, Lr/irh. dcr itcnti's-
tamentl. ZeitgeschicMe, Leipsic, 1874.- Of the 2nd edition, vol. ii. »nl\.
containinsj; tin- internal circumstances, has appeared, Leipsic, I^M;.

LOVK for the Holy Land and desire for the restoration of their
sanctuary had driven the exiled Jews to return from what were
otherwise favourable circumstances. Under the favour nnd with
the help of Cyrus, Zerubbabel, a scion of the ancient royal house of
Judah, had led the first companies back to Judea, as Persian vice-
roy, in B.C. 535. After long delays Darius Hystaspes permitted
the completion of the temple, and granted moneys for that pur|><
from the royal revenues from the country ; in 515 B.C. it \\
finished. The political and religious restoration was brought to a

1 [English translation, 8 vols. London, 18G9-SG.]
• [English translation, Edinburgh, 1888.]

JEWISH HISTORY. 3J

conclusion by Nehemiah as roj^al vice-gerent and Ezra as supreme
judge. Ezra gave judgment with full royal authority, but on the
basis of the Jewish law. Moreover the Persian viceroy of Syria,
under whom Judea was placed after Nehemiah's death, interfered
little with the internal affairs of Judea.

By Alexander's conquests the little country was brought into
active contact with Western humanity, but also dragged into the
wars of the age of the Diadochi, and several times exchanged
Egyptian (Ptolemaic) for Syrian (Seleucidian) dominion, and vice
versa. Subsequently, when ANTIOCHUS EPIPHAXES urged on the Hel-
lenization of the inflexible people with a violent hand, besieged
Jerusalem in the year 170 B.C. and had desecrated the holy place
with the abomination of idolatry, there arose the Hasmonaean family
of heroes (Maccabees) for the rescue of the religion and the populace.
MATTATHIAS was leader from 167. But his sons, Jonathan and
Simon, although uniting civic power and high priestly dignity in
one person, were obliged all the same to acknowledge a Syrian
superior. Gradually however, from the time of Hyrcanus (B.C. 135),
a genuine independent dynasty developed ; Aristobulus even assumes
the title of king. With increased self-confidence the Jewish nation
appears in the character of victor; under Hyrcanus, Aristobulus and
Alexander Janneus, conquers Samaria, the Palestinian towns which
had fallen into heathen hands, and the neighbouring domains of
Idumea and Iturea, and seeks to enforce circumcision on the subjected
peoples. But the ideal impulses of this Maccabean age quickly fail ;
the horrors of contests for the throne and internal divisions begin
already under Aristobulus. Finally the disputes for the throne
between Aristobulus II. and Hyrcanus II., in which the Idumean
Antipater plays a decisive part, gave the Roman power (Pompey)
an occasion for interference. Jerusalem is overthrown, Judea be-
comes the ally and friend of Rome, Antipater under Roman protec-
tion gains the actual power, while the Hasmonseaii Hyrcanus II.
retains the names of high priest and king. But in the end the
" Idumsean " dynasty mounts the throne (39-4 B.C.), in the person
of HEROD the Great, who was favoured by Csesar (the Egyptian
war), a capable, energetic and crafty ruler, who, unscrupulous
morally in his choice of means, cruel arid passionate, depended on
Rome, and remained a stranger to the religious spirit of the Jewish
people. After his death, (1) his son AKCHELAUS became etlmarch
of Judea, Idumea and Samaria, but was exiled in A.D. 6, while his
country was governed by Roman Procurators: i'2) PHILIP became
the so-called Tetrarch of the north-eastern trans- Jorclanic province

VOL. I.

34 CHURCH HISTORY.

of Batanea, Iturea, Trachonitis and Auranitis (f A.D. 34) ; (3) HEROD
ANTIPAS received Gralilee and Persea. The tetrarchy of Philip
passed after his death to a grandson of Herod the Great, HEROD
AGRIPPA I. (37), who also in 39 received Galilee and Persea (after
the death of Herod Antipas), and finally in 41 A.D. Judea and
Samaria which had hitherto been governed by Roman Procurators,
so that from 41 till his death in 44 he was king of the whole of
Palestine. But after his death the whole dominion was again placed
Tinder Roman officials, only Herod Agrippa II. (son of Agrippa I.)
received in 52 Philip's tetrarchy, along with a certain right of
supervision over the Jewish temple.

By the return from the exile there was established not indeed
a theocratic state, but a theocratic, though politically dependent
community, in which God's law should rule and which should
separate itself from all strangers. In the Law, that is to say in the
establishment of the sanctuary and worship according to the law,
and internal conditions of justice as far as possible in accord with the
law, the people grasps, in and with its religious, its national inherit-
ance also. After the entry of Hellenism and the menacing of t Ir-
religious-national inheritance of the people by Antiochus Epiphanes,
this again became the fundamental conception of the Hasmonaean
rising1 ; zeal for the law of God, separation from all heathenism in the
spirit represented by the so-called Chasidim, the pious tear egox'/i'-
Prophecy is fallen dumb, but in its place there come the Holy
Scriptures, first and pre-eminently the Thora ; the study of the
Scriptures, and especially of the l;iw is developed and gives its
character to pious Jewish life, and also the influent ml and re\vr«-d
class of the Scribes (vo/jLo&iSacncaXot) who are honoured as Rab,
Rabbi. Their vocation is not merely religious, but the religious
juristic exposition of the law as the norm of the whole religiously
correct civic life. This fundamental character explains the weight
which was laid upon traditions as to the exegesis (application,
amplification) of the directions of the law, and the development of
a scholastic doctrinal tradition of eminent teachers of the law.
which was regarded as a binding rule (Halacha, as distinguished
from the Haggada). In the Talmudic conception there is thence
evolved the figure of an unbroken scholastic tradition from the so-
called (alleged) Great Synagogue in the time of Ezra down
through the elder " Sopherim."

The service of the Synagogue was of special importance for the
permeation of the people with religious-legal ideas. Instruction of
the people in the law is the primary aim of these Sabbath assem-

PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES. 35

blies in the " houses of assembly " (JHWIjn JT1), which arise after

the exile, but it expanded into a kind of secondary worship of God

— the school became at the same time a gathering for prayer and

•edification, — an important instrument in the detachment of Judaism

from the temple, But the life of the Jews is now universally

permeated by respect to the whole multitude of legal prescriptions

regarding circumcision, rules as to eating, laws as to purity, tithes,

duties of prayer and sacrifice, feasts. The influential party of the

Pharisees (so-called from the time of the Maccabees, but rooted in

older phenomena) most distinctly represents that spirit of strict and

painful legalistic and therefore exclusive Judaism, and represents

in general the specifically religious (orthodox) doctrines of the

Jewish faith ; and seeking, as it does, to make the spirit of Jewish

scriptural learning practical, it is also especially strongly repre-

sented in the scriptural learning which is suitable to that end, and

strengthens its influence. Its role as a politico-religious party, and

in this sense national, brings it into a certain degree of opposition to

other tendencies of the time. The Hasmonsean dynasty had united

the high-priestly and the princely dignity in one person under Simon

(143-35), under John Hyrcanus had attained independence from

Syria, and his son Aristobulus I. had assumed the title and diadem

of a king. It seemed as though a theocratic state had taken the

place of the theocratic community. The hopes of a theocratic

kingdom, the Messianic idea, must necessarily have made great

strides ; a deep feeling of the religious mission of the people of

God, of the dominion of God and His law on earth — and including

the heathen — took possession of men's minds, but the historical

•environment, the development of the people of God brought along

with it the consequence that with the kingdom of God there was

also linked the idea of political good fortune and glory and the

like. The apocalyptic literature, the fundamental scheme of which

was supplied by the Book of Daniel, took from the fortunes of the

people of God in its conflicts with the great monarchies (Assyria,

Babylon, Persia, Macedonian Greece), the dominant conception of a

succession of ruling world-powers, which should finally be set aside

and dissolved by the glorious Messianic kingdom. Now, from the

beginning the Pharisees were on the side of the national law and

the national religious hopes. But the Hasmonaeans, drawn into the

political interests and conflicts of the time, soon took up a course of

secular policy which little corresponded to the theocratic ideal.

Even in the time of John Hyrcanus this gave rise to great tension

between the ruler and the ruling circle and the Pharisees who

36 CHURCH HISTORY.

formed a popular and religious opposition, the ideal of which really
was the abolition of the secular royal rule. Under Alexander
Jannseus a frightful war of annihilation was carried on against this
powerful party, but in the end it was necessary to make peace with
them and for the rulers to take them into account. The Pharisees,
however, subsequently knew how to make their peace with the
Idumsean upstarts, who in their turn were obliged to respect them.

Opposed to the Pharisees stood the party of the Sadducees, that
of the people of superior rank in the worldly sense, the core of which
was composed of the old ruling families of high-priestly race, what
may be called the Jewish nobility. The same disposition, which iu
the pre-Maccabean era had led to a tendency to Greek manners and
culture, now shows itself — in contrast to the legal and strictly
religious tendency — in the form of lax, freethinking views among
those of higher political rank, governed by secular politics. Hence
the limitation of the law to what is literally contained in the
Mosaic scriptures, the rejection of oral and scholastic tradition,
and the tendency to form civic legislation freely according to the needs
of the present, and above all to set life and the enjoyment of life free
from thf limits of the anxious traditional requirements of the law.
The mind turns away from national-religious hopes, in connection
with them from the Pharisaic doctrine of the resurrection, and
directs itself mainly to the present life. The Sadducees, in the
nature of the case less an exclusive party than the individuals of
a certain social stratum, were little In-loved by the people; indeed
they were often hated as unbelievers and feared as strict (strict in
the secular sense — bureau<Tatic) officials and judges ; in their official
appearances however (in the Sanhedrim and as High Priests) they
were obliged in many respects to accommodate themselves to the
legalistic demands of the Pharisee.

The ES-I.XKS : Along with the Pharisees and Sadducees Josephus
places the Essenes i with Philo usually Essaeans) as a third philosophic
sect of the Jews. These are really a sect, in fact a close order or
community; the name is ]>r<>l>uHy derived from a word which,
though it does not occur in Hebrew and Chaldean, is very commonly
in use in Syriac, Npn, pioitx. At the time of Christ about 4.1 1 K i
souls, partly in separate colonies (as e.g. that depicted by Pliny, ///'*/.
Xaf. v. 17, in the desert of Engedi on the Dead Sea, of which Dion
Chrysostom also knew, probably from the same source as Pliny, v.
Sym'sius' I Hint, Opp. ed. Pet., p. 32), partly in towns and villages.
but in coherent communities, with houses belonging to the order, or
at least meeting-houses for meals. A probation of several years .1

ESSEA^ES. 37

noviciate with two grades) precedes reception into the narrower
society of the order ; children also are received to be trained for the
ascetic life ; strict obedience to superiors and strict secrecy as to the
secrets of the order are required. They live with community of
goods and without marriage, Josephus however (but not Philo)
knows also of an Essene community which distinguished itself from
the others by permitting marriage for the sake of posterity, De
Mlo Jitd. ii. 8, 13 ; but both Jos. De b. Jud. ii. 8. 2 and 18, 1, 5, and
Philo, De Jud. in Eusebius Praep. ev. 8, 11, 14-17, account for the
rejection of marriage from considerations which do not pronounce
sexual intercourse as such to be evil, Jos. I.e. : TOV pev ^a^ov KOI rrjv
e£ avrov Sia8o'%i]i' OUK avaipovvres, Ta? Be ra)v ^vvaiKWv acreA/yeia? d>v-
Xao-o-oyueyot, K.T.\. Iii a frugal life, work divided according to plan
and regulated (agriculture, breeding of cattle and all sorts of peace-
ful crafts — not trade) alternates with religious exercises. Prayer
before sunrise, as it were addressed to the sun praying him to rise,
sacred washings in cold water, and many similar observances pre-
cede the meal, which is partaken of in common, associated with
religious usages and prayers, and celebrated in special garments,
the food having been prepared by their priests. They disallow
•swearing (in spite of the oath of initiation) and anointing with oil.
The Sabbath is celebrated in the strictest manner, and the name of
Moses held in the highest regard ; to blaspheme it is death. At the
same time they seem to have brought offerings to the temple, but
no animal sacrifices, and to have regarded their own religious dedica-
tions as more effective, and therefore to have been excluded from
the temple, and to have carried out their sacrifices for themselves ;
whether by Levitical priests or other chosen persons is doubtful.
The supposition that they had to refrain entirely from flesh and
wine, which is connected with the prohibition of animal sacrifices,
cannot be certainly vouched for, and is for many reasons improbable
(vid. Schiirer, 2nd ed. p. 478, Note 66). Not much weight is to
be attached to the statements of Josephus (and Philo) as to their
conceptions of the relation of the soul to the body, because they seem
to be somewhat modified for the Hellenic public, in accordance with
wide-spread ascetic philosophical ideas. On the other hand it is
more credible that along with the Holy Scriptures of the Jews,
ancient sectarian scriptures of their own were attributed to them, a
special appreciation of the doctrine of angels, occupation with heal-
ing plants and magic cures, as well as a knowledge of the future,
based on the study of the Scriptures and personal purifications
which they appear frequently to have proved.

3S CHURCH HISTORY.

Sources: Fl. Josephus, De bello Jiidaico, 2, 8, 2 ff., Antiqq. 13, 5, 9.15,20,4 f. 18,
1, 5 ; Philo, Quod omnis probus liber, 12-13, and in Euseb. Prcep. ev. 8, 11.
This phenomenon, which by name at all events cannot be found in the
Talmud, but which on the other hand is of the greatest importance for the
history of Christian sectarianism, has been attempted to be explained as a purely
Jewish development (out of Chasidean and Pharisaic Judaism), as a one-sided
exaggeration of certain Pharisaic legalistic requirements, or (Bitschl) as an
attempt at a development of priestly purity and priestly dignity (the com-
munity a people of priests), or (Lucius) as a renunciation by the " pious," during
the Maccabean period, of the temple service, which was then considered illegiti-
mate. But the rejection of animal sacrifices and the peculiar sort of sun-
worship (turning towards the East) nevertheless appear foreign and remark:) lilt-
in Jewish surroundings (cf. Schurer. 2nd ed., l^S sq. and evidence there adduced).
Or it is regarded as a mixed formation, under heathen influences, of Persian and
Buddhist elements (Hilgenfeld), such as the Syrian Palestinian heathenism
(Lipsius), or Hellenic, of the ascetic-dualistically inclined Pythagoreanism
(Zeller, Schurer, and many others), so that we should have before us a com-
munity grown up in purely Jewish surroundings, but which had gone on under
Pythagorean and perhaps Parsee influence, and at that point separated itself
from Judaism. The conception of the Essenes not as an order, but as originally
a family, which, allied with Israel, had in great part retained the patriarchal
manner of life, stood in a merely Ion- relation to the temple at Jerusalem with
its sacrifices, and amid the increasing materialisation of .luilaism retained afresh
breath of the prophetic spirit, and amongst whom in the time of Christ many
sought rest and peace, so that tin- tribe became a sort of order (Hilgei.feld,
ZwTh. I.SS2, 2.">7. -".'•-'. and AV/-r/-//r.vr//. ,/V.s- / 'r.-lirisfi-ntluDUx, p. s7 sqq. esp. '.IS
and 138) lias a very uncertain foundation in Xn.rs. /><• ni<>it,i*t. /'.iv/v/7.. c. M (in
Mgr. 97, p. 721), who refer:- to tin' children of .lonadal). the Rechalntes ulerem.
xxxv.6,8). This cone, pti,,n coiit-radicts not only the passage from Philo from
the Apology for tin- ,Jew> i Ku>eh.. l'r,n-/>. < ,-. viii. 11). which for this very reason
Hilgenfeld rejects a- spuriou>. hut aUo tin- presentation of .l.^ej.lnis (7V hello
Judaic o II. 8, 2-13). and that of I'liilo in ','/"»/ <>,nni* j>r<>/>. I /'!><• r. § 12 sqq.
The hypothesis of Hellenic • Pythagorean) influence had a strong Mipport in the
description of the Therapeutse in the treat i-e !>>• \'ff/i <'<ui1<'in i'I<itir<i as,-ril)ed
to Philo. They appear as an ascetic community of men and women, who
give themselves up to contemplation, are found in other places, hut chietly in
a great colony of huts and village- on the Mareotis Lake near Alexandria.
Those who enter the society give up their goods, live in houses somewhat
separate from one another, of which each has a. >acred apartment x< iiun-lnn or
Monasterium), into which no earthly food comes. Here they live the whole
week occupied with sacred contemplations and theseaivhing out of the allegorical
sense of the Holy Scriptures (Law, Prophets and IValmsi, for which purpo-e
they also make use of ancient, writings, and compose exalted hymns ; they leave
this cell only after sunset, to eat and sleep, l>ui the house ir-elf they never leave
the whole week through. But on the seventh day, when all work ceases, they
come together, anointed with oil, to a common festival, at which, however, the
women (chiefly elderly virgins) and the men are, separated by a partition. The
49th and 50th days also are celebrated by common meals of bread, salt,
hyssop and water, in white robes amid sacred addresses and singing (alter-
nate singing), and by a sacred night festival (iraanni\is\ which is accompanied
by choric dances and singing between choruses of men and women, prolialdy
in imitation of the song of Moses ;ui«l Miriam. Special attention is called to

THE DIASPORA. 39,

the fact that these true citizens of heaven and earth have no slaves, because all
are born free. The disputing of the genuineness of the above treatise of Philo,
by Lucius, Die Therapeuten und Hire Stellung in der Geschic.hte der Askese,
1879, which ascribes it to a Christian author, who in writing it had before his
eyes the beginnings of Christian monasticism, has greatly shaken the traditional
view. Philo's authorship of the treatise had already been denied by others,,
and Gratz (Gesch. der Juden, 2nd ed., b, 463 sqq) had already ascribed it to
a Christian author, who in reality portrayed Christian monks of the third cen-
tury, while others were content to ascribe it to a Jewish author, somewhat of
Philo's school, who had lent to his ascetic philosophic ideal a fictitious reality.
There remain, however, powerful considerations against Lucius' hypothesis (v.
Weingarten, RE. 10, 761 sqq.) which have hardly been all set aside by Harnack
(Ibid. 15, 548 sqq.). And now Massebieau again conies forward in favour of the
Philonic authorship (Le traits de la vie cont. in the Revue de Vhistoire des
religions, 8th year, vol. xvi., No. 2, pp. 170-198). Following Lucius, OHLE now
thinks it possible to go further (ZwTh. 1887, 298-344, 376-394), and ventures
to regard the part of Philo's treatise, Quod omnis probus liber, §§ 12 and 13,
relating to the Essenes, as an interpolation by the same axithor, who here also-
in the alleged Essenes only portrays cowled Christian monks. Indeed he would
make away with the Essenes altogether, seeking to show (Ibid. 1888, 221-275)
that the main relative passage in Josephus is an interpolation. This he hardly
justifies. At the same time certain considerations may be made good against
the Philonic treatise, but would concern it in its entirety. Ausfeld also, De libro
TTfpi roC Trdvra o-TrouSmof dvai eXevdepov qui inter Philonis Alexandr. opera fertur,
Gottingen, 1887 (Go'tt. Dissert.) supposes copious interpolations, not merely in
the part relating to the Essenes. He regards the original treatise as the work
not of Philo, but of a Stoic, but thinks that the interpolator has borrowed from
Philo ; he regards him as a Greek with a strong disposition to monotheism,
deeply tinged with Judaism, but finds it necessary to place him chronologically
very near to the original treatise itself.

Judaism however attained its great influence and quite uncom-
mon importance for the naturalisation of Christianity in the heathen
world, by means of its great Diaspora.

Only a small portion of the Jews had returned from the Baby-
lonian Exile. A great number remained in Babylon, spread over
Mesopotamia and Eastern Syria, first under Persian and subse-
quently under Parthian (the Arsacidse from 256) rule. These
"Babylonian" Jews continued in active intercourse with Jeru-
salem, whither their temple taxes flowed, for the gathering in of
which the common treasuries at Nahardea and Nisibis served. At
an early period Jewish settlements also arose in Arabia.

But, for the Grseco-Roman world, the Jewish colony brought to
Alexandria at the founding of the city by Alexander the Great, and
subsequently greatly strengthened by reinforcements, was of great
importance. From here Jews went to Libya and Cyrene in great
numbers. At the same time in Syria, Antioch and Damascus
were important centres. Jews were settled in districts of Asia.

4c CHURCH HISTORY.

Minor (Phrygia, Lydia) by Antiochus the Great, and hence, as from
Alexandria, the Greek coast-lands were visited and settled by the
oriental strangers. After the conquest of Jerusalem, Pompey
brought to Rome great hosts of captives (among whom were the
Hasmonsean Aristobulus and his sons) who were subsequently eman-
cipated by Csesar (libertini of Acts vi. 9), erected synagogues for them-
selves, and were permitted to have their own social constitution, and
also inhabited a certain quarter of the city on the farther side of the
Tiber.

And all this numerous Jewry spreading over the Roman Empire
remained linked to Jerusalem, its religious centre, regarded the
Jewish Sanhedrim as a sort of spiritual (theologico-juristic) authority,
paid their temple gifts to, and on festal occasions in great numbers
visited, the sacred soil. A singular but solitary exception was
formed by the Temple of Onias Honjah) at Leontopolis in Egypt,
erected by the priest Hon.jah under the protection of Ptolemy Philo-
metor (from 170). Opposition, not to the sanctuary at Jerusalem,
but to the high priest there, who was regarded as illegal, had led
to this course ; hence Jewish orthodoxy pronounced this Egyptian
worship illegal, but did not exactly brand it with the mark of
idolatry. For the rest, it was only a small temple with an unroofed
fore-court, in which stood an altar for burnt offerings.

As the Jews in Egypt were decidedly favoured by many of the
Ptolemies, so in the Roman world their condition was generally a
favourable one, their religion recognised as an ancient national
religion, a certain independence allowed to their internal social
government (with differences of detail). Csesar and Augustus
granted them numerous favours, e.g. freedom from military service,
and such like. In this I)i<ix[)<»-n over the Empire, moreover, they
exercised at the same time their extraordinary powers of attraction
and repulsion, and by that very fact were drawn into the internal
process of transformation of Jl'-llrnism. That peculiar nature of
theirs, tenacious and yet pliable, and their industry fit them to enter
into all circumstances and yet to hold tenaciously to their peculiar
possession — their ancestral religion and law, and the proud feeling
of being God's chosen people — and in this consciousness to hold
firmly together. And however repellently their peculiar nature
worked on the Roman people as a whole, there is in them some-
thing which attracts minds which are religiously unsatisfied and
yearning. The imageless worship of one God, a monotheism not
merely of philosophic reflection, but with the character of posi-
tive historical revelation and distinct moral intention — a religion of

PROSELYTES. 41

confident faith and certain hope, its distinct impress on an ancient
and venerable law, with the statutory commands of which there is
combined a strong general ethical content — the service of the syna-
gogue, with its instruction and edification on the basis of sacred
scripture ; all this was fitted to exercise an attractive power over
yearning religious minds, and did exercise it ; and the Jews never
ceased to approach and to enlist them. As a matter of fact, the long
practised conversion of proselytes was in its fullest vigour at the
beginning of the Imperial age of Rome, and every Jewish com-
munity abroad afforded a centre therefor. In spite of all the con-
tempt of pagans for the repellent customs of the Jews, Jewish zeal
for conversion (the doubtful side of which is indicated by our Lord's
words, Matt, xxiii. 15) had extraordinary results, which may be
recognised from the scorn of a Horace and the lament of a Seneca
(in Aug. De civ it. Dei, vii. 11 : victi victoribus legem. dedemnt) not
less than from the boast of Josephus (c. Apion, 2, 39) ; they attracted
women especially, and willingly and successfully among persons of
rank. It is true that comparatively few passed entirely into the
national community as so-called Proselytes of Righteousness (such
as the princely house of ADIABENE, the small vassal state of the
Parthian kingdom, JOSEPHUS, Ant. 20, 2 sqq., Bell. lud. 2, 19, 2. 4, 19,
11, and passim), the men by circumcision, both sexes by baptism
(plunge bath, r6oj"h and sacrifice (SCHNECKENBUKGER regards the
•so-called Jewish baptism of proselytes as of later origin, perhaps (?)
under the influence of Christian custom, but an imperatively neces-
sary bath of purification for converted heathen was involved in the
Jewish laws of purification). Much more numerous, however, were
the admissions to the condition of Proselyte of the Gate (cre(3o/j,evo<, in
the N. T.). The legal requirements as to the position of strangers in
the Holy Land, to whom residence and trade in the country were
permitted on condition of the observance of certain commands (Lev.
xvii. 8 sqq.), were applied by Talrnudic Judaism to such heathens as
•desired to attach themselves to the faith and the exercises of wor-
ship (synagogue) of the Jews, and accordingly the Talmud enumer-
ates seven so-called Noachic commandments (valid for all Noah's
•descendants, and not only for the people of Grod) , to which the above-
mentioned had to bind themselves (abstinence from idolatry, blas-
phemy, murder, incest, theft, disobedience to authority, eating of
blood). That a similar demand, if also not yet so definitely formu-
lated, was made of the friends of Israel and its faith at the time of
Christ is indirectly proved by the so-called Apostolic decree (Acts
xv.), which obviously applies to heathens entering into the Christian

42 CHURCH HISTORY.

community a practice existing in the case of Jewish proselytes. If
many heathen were really attracted by religious cravings and con-
tentment with the exalted conceptions of Jewish monotheism, there
were others who were not less attracted by the influence of the
superstitious tendency to foreign cults ; and not only fanatical
Pharisees, but also a doubtful sort of dark Jewish natures knew how
(as magicians and seers) to turn this tendency to their own account.

These very successes of the people, whose peculiarities and claims-
were a cause of repulsion, nourished again in their turn the preju-
dices of Hellenic and Roman society against it. Amongst those who-
expressed themselves unfavourably to the Jews in literature, as-
Manetho (beginning of the Ptolemaic epoch ; Hecatseus, on the
other hand, expressed a favourable opinion), and in the last century
Apollonius Molon, Posidonius Rhodius (in Cicero), Chceremon in the-
time of Augustus, and Lj'simachus, had already done, Apion stood
forth prominently as especially odious. He was an Alexandrian man
of letters in the time of Tiberius (cf. Miiller, Frm/n/cntd litsf. < •' ><ec.
Til., 500-10), against whom, as against other attacks from the-
Hellenic side, Flavius Josephus wrote the two books At/dintf Apion
(more correctly, as only a part of the book is specifically directed
against Apion: TT^O? TOIN "E\\rfi>a$ [Porphyr.], or: -nepi TT)<? T&>I>
'lovBaitov np^aiorrjrot; [Orig.] inasmuch as this apology for Judaism as
a matter of fact lays special weight on the proof of the high antiquii \
of the Jewish people). Numerous absurd tales as to their history,
and fables about their religious worship, were in circulation, such as
those about thp worship of an ass's head, and about human sacrifice
(Joseph, c. Ap. 2, 7 ). Their favoured condition under Caesar and
Augustus increased the feeling against them; under Tiberius tli«-y
were only temporarily, and only in Rome, the object of hostile-
regulations. Under Caligula the hatred against the numerous and
influential Jews of Alexandria came to an outburst there on occasion
of the presence of King Herod Agrippa I., a tumult which \\i<-
Roman governor Flaccus favoured. On that occasion the Jewish
embassy, under the leadership of Philo, went to Rome, and to it so
many Roman Jews attached themselves (Phil. Let/, tnl (\iiuni). For
the rest, the death of Caligula next altered the conditions of affairs,
and the expulsion of the Jews from Rome under Claudius (Suet.
Claudius, 25), was also only a temporary regulation and referred
only to Rome. It was not till the outbreak of the Jewish war,
under the Flavians, that the general condition of the Jews was
essentially altered, vid. inf.

The Jews could not have attained their great influence and their

THE LXX. 43<

important religious effect in the Grseco-Koman world, if they had
not themselves, in the Diaspora, exposed themselves to the influence
of Hellenic culture, by means of which a common ground of under-
standing was for the first time created. The disposition of the
Palestinian Jews to all sorts of Greek habits — to the Greek language,
and in connection therewith to an acceptance of the dominant views
of the age, to the extent of disregarding their specific religious-
national heritage — such as repeatedly makes itself felt from the age
of the Diadochi, had indeed found an energetic counterpoise in the
Maccabean rising, but political relations and wars necessarily always
led again to intimate contact with foreign influence. In a still
higher degree however, the Jews of the Diaspora, who came into
active trade and commercial intercourse with the world, were forced
to avail themselves of the Greek language as a means of intercourse^
so that those who were settled in Greek surroundings might gradu-
ally come to lose knowledge of their own tongue. Along with the
use of the Greek language, and participation in Greek culture, the
spiritual horizon was widened, and out of the combined elements,
favoured by the general character of the Hellenistic period, peculiar
views arose. The need of translating the sacred books into the Greek
language was early felt, and this need was gradually satisfied by
fragmentary translations of portions of the Bible for use in the
Synagogue. The beginnings of such translation may, as a matter
of fact, go back as far as the time of Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, B.C.
283 sqq., to whom the legend ascribes the entire Greek translation of
the Bible by means of the seventy-two Jewish interpreters (cf. Ep.
of (the Pseudo) ARISTEAS [Aristseus, Joseph. Antt. 12, 2] in Merx,
Archiv. f. w. Forsch. des A.T., I. 3). The Greek Bible of the Old
Testament, which grew out of such attempts (Septuagmt), itself
already a monument of the beginning of the amalgamation of the
Hebrew spirit with Greek elements, in its turn wrought fruitfully in
this direction, and resulted in a peculiar religious foundation of
culture of immeasurable importance. In the so-called Apocrypha,
it in eluded 'more recent Jewish religious writings, partly originally
written in Greek, partly Greek translations of writings originally
written in Hebrew, in which the documents for the study of this
Hellenistic-Judaism have been preserved for us. Jewish authors
arise, whose aim it is to make known the history of their people in
the Greek language, partly with the expresssed tendency to the
glorification of the Jewish people (Demetrius, Eupolemos, Artapanos,.
with whom this tendency is extravagantly augmented ; every-
thing glorious and great in pagan art and science is derived from

44 CHURCH HISTORY.

Judaism and Moses, glorified in mythological style, — the author of
the epistle of Aristeas), and with the view of recommending Judaism
in the eyes of the educated world ; so finally, after the Jewish war,
Josephus in the Archceology, which, like the treatise Against Apion,
aims at the defence of older Jewish history against pagan attacks,
while the De Bello Judaico sought to set forth the events in which
he himself had taken part in such a form as he himself, after he
had made his peace with Rome, desired that they should present to
Roman eyes. Alongside of these there appeared the Books of the
Maccabees, impregnated with a lively feeling of nationality, the first
probably a translation of a Hebrew original, the second written in
Greek, the third a religious "' Tendeiizschrift :< of the time of
Caligula. Even into the sphere of Hellenic poetry, the Hellenistic
Jew follows. An epic-poet, PHILO, celebrates the Holy City in
hexameters, an Ezekiel writes a drama entitled *El~aja)<y>], on the
Exodus. Under the names of celebrated pagan authorities, Helle-
nistic Jewish authors turn to the pagan world with the view of
working nnder their forms in behalf of Jewish faith, ethical doctrine
•and views of the world. A chief portion of the Sibylline prophecies
is of Jewish origin, in which in hexameters, and with the utilization
of old pagan oracles, and with mingling of Biblical traditions with
mythological ideas, men are called to the true knowledge of God
and a purer life, while at the same time the chosen people is {minted
to as that "which is set as the guide of life for all mortals" 111.
195). From like design springs the poem published under the name
of the old Greek Gnomic poet PHOCYLJDES of Miletus (sixth cent.), in
which, while specifically Jewish principles are kept in the back-
ground, a Jewish (monotheistic) morality is taught, an attempt
therefore to oHcr to the pagan people the universal moral kernel of
Judaism released from its hard shell — something like what was
demanded of the proselytes of the gate u-f. Beruays on the Phocy-
lidean Poem, 1850 ; cf. Collected Essays, published by Usener, I.
192-201. It is, however, not impossible to suppose, with Haruack,
that it had a Christian origin. ThLZ. 1885, p. 10U ; cf. Sehiirer
[•2nd ed.j, p. 824. Funk. Doct. Ihiml. A,«>st.. p. xix.).

Above all, Hellenistic Judaism took possession of Greek philosophy
in the sense of a blending of Jewish religious views with it so as to
form one religio-philosophic view of the world. Already, in the last,
outgrowths of the — still Hebrew — proverbial wisdom one sees the
beginnings of the effects of Hellenic philosophy, for example in
Koheleth in which some people (Plumptre and others) think they
can find Epicurean and Stoic influences, or more recently (E.

GREEK PHILOSOPHY. 45

Pneiderer) Heraclitic elements. But in any case this blending is
more thorough-going amongst the Greek-speaking Jews. The
Alexandrian Aristobulus about 160 (under Ptolemy Philometor ;
fragments in Euseb. Prcep. ev., and Clem. Alex.) sees in the Old
Testament the source of all wisdom, from which Plato and Pytha-
goras have drawn. The names of Orpheus, and Linus, to which
even in antiquity the wisdom of religious mysticism had been at-
tributed (Orphic poems), were made use of by Jewish Hellenism along
with Hesiod and Homer to make them give testimony, in verses
which were partly independently invented and partly twisted to
suit a Jewish sense, in favour of Jewish belief, religious customs and
morality. The religio-philosophical efforts of Jewish Hellenism found
a point of attachment in the still essentially purely Hebrew proverbial
wisdom (Proverbs of Solomon ; Jesus son of Sirach), to which in
form and general groundwork the Greek Book of Wisdom is attached
under the name of Solomon, by an unknown Jewish (Christian,
WEISSE, NOACK, KIRSCHBAUM) author. The ruling idea of the
Divine wisdom which is set forth in vivid personification, as the
radiance of the Divine glory, the principle of revelation and the
Divine world-activity, is rooted in the pure Hebrew doctrine of
wisdom (Job xxviii., Prov. viii., Sirach), but assimilates Platonic, mixed
with Stoic, notions, which like the Platonic doctrines of creation out
of formless matter, the pre-existence of souls, the body as the prison
of the soul, etc., had passed over into the educated consciousness of
the time. The acme of this Hellenistic Jewish religious philosophy
is designated by PHILO, an Alexandrian Jew of the time of Christ,
descended from a noble priestly house, brother of Alexander Lysi-
machus, the Egyptian Alabarch (i.e. a financial officer of high rank,
not the Ethnarch of the Jews, v. Schurer, 2nd ed., p. 540) who
was also highly regarded at the imperial court. A certain date for
his life is afforded by his participation in the Jewish embassy to the
Emperor Caius (Caligula), which had to complain of the regulations
of the Procurator Flaccus. Philo was then (A.D. 39) already of
advanced age. As he appears here as a representative of his people,
so elsewhere he always appears as a believing Jew, exalting the
Scripture above everything, holding fast amid all his philosophical
explanation of it to the obligation of a life according to the law, and
as one who will at least not surrender the national hopes for a
Messianic kingdom. And yet he at the same time lives entirely in
the rich world of Greek literature, including the historical and
poetical, not merely the philosophical. He looks up with reverence
to all the great Greek philosophers, so far as his eclectic philoso-

46 CHURCH HISTORY

phising finds in them food for his religious and ethical speculation ;
therefore above all to Plato, but by no means exclusively, inasmuch
as with him the Stoic is closely associated with the Platonic, and
also the Pythagorean, Aristotelian, etc. It is only to Epicureanism
and religious Scepticism that he takes up an attitude of entire
rejection. Here there is completed that blending1 of Hellenic specu-
lation and Jewish religion which was so decisive for the history of
the Christian Church and the forming of its theology, and there
is produced a philosophy of religion in which philosophy itself is
religious and requires a revelation, but in which religion embodies
itself in a speculative view of the world and in which at the
same time the ideal of the wise man coincides with that of the
man of piety, and moral elevation finds its aim in flight from
sensuality and in the mystical intuition of Deity. On the Divine
revelation, the inspired Holy Scripture, b}' means of allegorical in-
terpretation as applied by Plato, and in a more comprehensive
way still, by the Stoics to the philosophical explanation of religious
myths, there are developed the ideas of God as the highest pure
Being, of the creation of the world from matter by the eternal
Divine powers, of the Divine Logos as the essence of all revelation
and Divine creative activity, of man as spirit, sunk in the alien
sensuous world, of his emancipation by means of ascetic virtue and
exaltation in knowledge and contemplation, etc. Throughout Scrip-
ture is to be found behind the verbal (historical or legal i sense an
assumed deeper sense (speculative, i.e. ethical ideas, higher truths)
which only reveals itself to the pure perception of enlightened piety.
Stumbling blocks which, from the verbal interpretation of Scripture,
give rise to notions which are untrue, unworthy of God or contra-
dictory, are themselves Divine finger-posts directing us to follow the
hidden spiritual sense. Here the positive, historical, revealed religion
becomes the husk of a universal, universally human and philosophical
religion ; its kernel is softened and an alien metaphysic substituted
for it, but yet its ethical monotheism is brought near to the edu-
cated consciousness. Numerous writings (treatises of Philo) are
attached to individual portions of the Pentateuch, especially to the
history of primeval times and of the patriarchs : Trepi tcoo-fj-oTrouti^.
DC iiitinili <i/ii/i<-i>, : a philosophic explanation of the Mosaic history of
creation, Leyis aUcijoi-'ntrum, l/bb. 3: an explanation of the story of
Paradise and the Fall, and so on. Others contain preponderatingly
ethical treatises connected wit lithe Decalogue and the ceremonial
law. The main portion therefore is in the form of free exegetical
treatment ; other portions, such as the lives of Abraham. M"--s and

THE SAMARITANS. 47

Joseph, more in a biographical style. Quod omnis probus liber and
De vita contemplativa are in philosophic form (bat their genuineness
is much disputed). Of the five books on the fortunes of the Jews
under the Emperor Caius, the treatise Contra Flaccum and the
Legatio ad Gaium have survived.

Opp. ed. Mangey, 2 vols. London, 1742 ; small edition by Eichter, Leipsic,
1828-30, and Tauchnitz, 1851-53 ; De Mundi op., ed. Miiller.

On Philo and the Alexandrian philosophy of religion, see the works of
GFRORER, Philo, 1831, and Gescli. des Urchrist., 1838, I,; DAHNE, Geschichtl,
Darst. der jiid. alex. Bel.-Phil, I., 1834; ZELLBR, Philos. der Griechen, III., 2;
C. SIEGFRIED. Philo v. Alex, als Ausleger des A.T., Jena, 1875, and others;
SCHURER, Gesch. desjild. Voiles, 2nded., II., 831 sqq.

III. The Samaritans.

Literature : JUYNBOLL, Comm. in hist.gentis Samar., Leyden, 1846, 4 ; GRIMM.
Die Samar it aner, Munich, 1854 ; HEIDENHEIM, Untersuchungen, in his
deutscher Vierteljahrsclirift, I ; KOHN, Samarit. Studien, Breslau, 1868 ;
Ejsdm., Zur Sprache, Literatur, etc., der Sam., Leipsic, 1876 (Essay in
KDM. V.) ; APPEL, Qucestiones de rebus Sam., Breslau, 1874. Articles by
PETERJIANN (RE.), SCHRADER (Schenkel's BL.), and KAUTZSCH (Eiehm's
Hdb. and EE.2).

After the fall of the kingdom of Israel and the carrying away of
the mass of its inhabitants, Sargon transplanted thither heathen
colonists from the provinces of Babylon, Cutha, Ama, Hamath, and
Sepharvaim (2 Kings xvii. 24 sqq.) to which further additions
subsequently followed. In the mouth of the Jews this people
received the name of Cuthim, Cuthseans. They mingled with the
residue of Israelites, probably not small in number, which had
remained behind, and attached themselves to the religion of the
country. As early, however, as the return of the first body of Jews
under Zerubbabel and Joshua (537 B.C.), the Jews denied community
in Divine worship to this impure mixed people (Ezra iv. 7 sqq).
Thereupon the Samaritans thwarted the building of the Jewish
Temple till the second year of Darius (520 B.C., Ezra iv. 1 sqq.,
24). Even under Ezra and Nehemiah the building of the walls
of Jerusalem (445 B.C.) was only carried out amid perpetual
Samaritan menaces (Neh. iv. 1 sqq.) In the times of the Ptolemies
and the Seleucidse and of Roman dominion they indeed shared on
the whole the political lot of the Jews, but willingly took their stand
on the side of their opponents. They formed an object of hatred
and contempt on the part of the Jews (Sir. 50, 25 sq.), who as far as
possible avoided intercourse with them (John iv. 9 ; Luke ix. 32), so
much the more as they made good their claim on the religious

48 CHURCH HISTORY.

inheritance of Israel. The foundation for the Samaritans of a
temple of their own on Mount Gerizim is attributed by Josephus
(Antiq. 11, 7, 2 and 8, 2 sqq.) to a Jewish priest, Manasse, who being
married to a daughter of Sanballat, the Persian Satrap of Samaria,
was attacked by the Jews because of his foreign wife, and for
whom his father-in-law built the Samaritan temple, in order to
make him high priest there. The transposition of this story to the
time of Darius Codomaimus and Alexander the Great seems to rest
on historical tradition as to the origin of the Samaritan temple,
while in the personalities referred to a confusion with events about
one hundred years old seems to exist (Neh. xiii. 28). "When John
Hyrcanus overthrew Samaria he also destroyed the temple on
Gerizim and the city of Samaria (c. 110 B.C.); Mount Gerizimr
however, remained the place of prayer. As the Samaritans desired
to hold fast by the religion of Jehovah, their Holy Book is the
Pentateuch, and indeed it was all they possessed (in Samaritan, i.e.
ancient Hebrew writing) in a peculiar form differing much from the
Massoretic text, which also shows some tendemiose alterations of the
text (as Deut. xxvii. 4, Gerizim for Ebal). (From this Hebrew-
Samaritan Pentateuch, however, is to be distinguished the Samari-
tan Pentateuch-Targum, which while ostensibly composed in the
first century B.C., probably belongs to the second or third century
A.D.; They hold by the law and circumcision and regard Moses as
the greatest prophet of the one God. Idolatry, especially that the
temple on Gerizim contained the figure of a dove, was reproachfully
attributed to them by the later Jews, but cannot be proved — the
N.T. contains no allusion to it — although the influence of the heathen
elements in the people renders this probable, and the significance of
Samaria for tin- history of primitive Christian sects renders probaMe
the influence of Asiatic religious conceptions and their reception in
a syncretistic sense. The denial of the resurrection (cf. Geiger,
/V.sr ///•/// unit ri'lu'i-si't-'itng der Bibel, p. 128 sqq.) appears to be a
halting by the old undevelop<'<! doctrine of Sheol, a refusal to fall
in with Pharisaic dogma. Their Messiah (Deut. xviii. IS) they ex-
pected from the race of Joseph, the father of their race.

THE PRIMITIVE COMMUNITY. 49

FIRST DIVISION OF THE FIRST PERIOD.
Primitive Christianity.

Literature : The narratives of the History of the Apostolic Age by NEAKDER,
Gesch. der Pflanzung, etc., 5th ed., Gotha, 1864 ; J. P. LANGE, 1853 ; SCHAFF,
1854 ; LECHLER, Das apost. und nachapost. Zeitalter, 3rd ed., 1886 ;
THIERSCH, Die Kirclie in AZ., (1852) 1858; A. HAUSRATH, Neutest.amentl.
Zeitgesch., 2nd ed., 4 vols., 1873-77 ; [English transl. vol. i. 1878 ; vol. ii.
1880, London] ; EEUSS, Hist, de la theol chret. au siecle apost., 2nd ed.,
Strasshtirg. 1860; [English transl., London, 1872] ; WEIZSACKER, Das apostol.
Zeitalter, Freiburg, 1886 ; PFLEIDERER, Das Urcliristentliiim, seine Schr/f-
ten und Lehren, Berlin, 1887; B. WEISS, Bibl Theol. des N.T., 4th ed.
Berlin, 1884.

1. The rise of the Community of Jewish Believers in the Messiah.
Jesus came forward with the announcement of the coming of the
kingdom of God (of which indeed He was Himself the initiator, in
the consciousness of His specific relationship to the heavenly Father,
and His Messianic vocation based thereupon), with the offer, corre-
sponding to the Messianic promise, of the forgiveness of sins and the
establishment of the righteousness of this kingdom of God for all who
attached themselves to Him by repentance and desire for salvation,
finally with allusions to the consummation of the kingdom of God
in judgment and glory to be introduced by means of His surrender
to death and His exaltation. His preaching was addressed to the
whole people of God, and therefore did not in itself exclude the idea
of a restoration of the kingdom of God under the national theocratic
forms of the people of God ; but the unreceptivity and opposition of
the people as a whole necessarily effected the emergence, of which
Jesus saw the prospect (Matt. xvi. 18), of a Messianic community,
not coinciding with the national community, and claiming for
itself all the hopes of the people of God. The circle of disciples
which formed itself around Him, destined to be the salt of the
people of God in so far ss it does not withdraw itself from their
influence, appears as a special community, differentiating itself
from the national community, and at length to cast itself free. It
pre-supposes faith in the crucified Messiah as the living and exalted
Saviour and bringer of the kingdom of God. The closing up of the
disciples, who had been intimidated by the crucifixion of Jesus, into
an inspired and believing Messianic community, is based for them on
the experience that their Master lives, on the self-attestations of the
Eisen One, and on belief in His exaltation and glorification. Tlu-ii-
power and confidence is completed by the out-pouring of the Spirit

4

VOL. I.

50 CHURCH HISTORY.

at Pentecost. This Spirit proceeding from the exalted One, and not
the earthly appearance of Jesus or His doctrine by itself, is the
proper foundation of the Church ; but the emancipation of this
special community from the general religious-national community
of the Jewish nation comes about only as the result of a gradual
process.

Even though the first disciples were mostly Galileans, and though
the oldest evidence points to the fact (Mark xvi. 7 ; Matt, xxviii.
16 sq.) that after the death of their Master, they at first for the
most part fled to Galilee, and there became assured of His being
alive, yet they gather themselves together at Jerusalem, the holy
city of the people of God, and here experience the outpouring of
the new spirit. Jerusalem remains at first the central point of the
Messianic community, which fact is also confirmed by the relations
of Paul to the original community there.

It could not enter the minds of the apostles and disciples and
those who through their word attained faith in Jesus as the Messiah,
that they were anything else than believing Jews, who gave witness
to the fact that the promises of God to His people were and are
fulfilled in Jesus. They saw in the movement of the new spirit a
confirmation of the fact that the Messianic age had dawned, and
sought redemption and salvation in faith in. Jesus, the holy and the
just, established as Lord and Messiah, looked upon His death as the
transition to His glorification, the bringing in of the judgment
and the kingdom of glory, which had taken place according to
the Divine counsel, and earnestly anticipated His coming from
heaven. Living in the faith and hope of Israel, they reproach the
people with the sin of rejecting and putting to death the Messiah ;
but as a sin of ignorance, so that repentance is still possible, and
hope remains for the conversion of the people. As a matter of
course they live under the forms of the sanctified ancestral law, not
only as regards morals and the regulation of life, but also as regards
the worship of God, The sanctuary of the people of God, the Temple,
as the only proper place of worship, is also their sand nary ; indeed
their highly augmented religious disposition, in spite of everything
which in the teaching of Jesus pointed beyond the form of the old
covenant and hinted at its being broken through, must at first have
evoked a specially affectionate attachment to the religious inherit-
ance and institutions of their people, the people of God. They visit
i he Temple at the Jewish times of prayer, take part in the celebra-
tion of sacrifice and feast-day, and find in the halls of the temple
(Solomon's Porch, John x. "23 ; Acts iii. 11, v. 12) the opportunity fur

THE PRIMITIVE COMMUNITY. 51

the exchange of religious ideas and for witnessing to the Messiah
acknowledged, ascended, and about to return. So likewise after the
example of their Master they would visit the synagogues with their
readings of Scripture and prayers, and those who had the capacity (cf.
Stephen) would there appear as teachers (expounding the Scripture)
according to their ability and opportunity, so long as they were not
prevented.

But the certainty of their faith, their entire possession by a
religious spirit, and their cordial spirit of prayer, naturally bind
together these Jews who believe in the Messiah into a special
family-like community. In it their most peculiar religious heritage
reaches expression in prayer, preaching, and the out-pourings of
inspiration ; and it finds in the breaking of bread, in love feasts
which culminate in participation in the blessed bread and cup
according to the bequest of Jesus, its most solemn festivals, which
cherish the feeling of a living mysterious community of life with
the glorified Head. Socially, however, the primitive society was
bound together by a sort of attempt at community of goods.
Jesus' requirement of the sacrifice of the earthly for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven (Matt. xix. 21, 29 ; Luke xii. 31 and frequently),
the ardour of the sense of a common life which strives to abolish the
limits set up by property, and also indeed the fixed expectation
of the coming of the Lord, which was to make an end of exist-
ing human regulations, here work together to engender a lively
emulation in free affection, in the surrender of possessions for the
good of the brethren ; to a certain extent this was a continuation of
the form of life which Jesus had led with His disciples (a common
purse for the defraying of common necessaries). At the same time
we must not think of an abtsract communism, according to which
each man also gave up all that he had earned (by labour) to the
common purse, and received what was necessary from it ; for,
the provision for widows and the poor, which is early met with,
presupposes a permanent difference between such as provide for
themselves and such as are unable to do so. But, moreover, it
seems to be the case that the giving up of their goods on the part of
those who were so endowed, and voluntary contributions on the part
of those who had no property but lived by labour, promoted that
general impoverishment of the Jerusalemitic community which
subsequently drove Paul to his work of collecting alms.

While the body of disciples after the Feast of Pentecost thus
takes on the character of a separate community, at first within the
Jewish nation, which exercises an important power of attraction by

52 CHURCH HISTORY.

the impression of its warm, genuinely Israelitisli piety, and its
preaching based upon the promises of Israel, it is also the custom
to receive into the Messianic community those who adopt its faith
by means of a special act : Baptism. John the Baptist, prob-
ably in view of such prophetic passages as Isaiah i. 16 ; Zechariah
xiii. 1 ; especially Ezekiel xxxvi. 24 sqq., as well as of the symbolic
significance of the Old Testament lustrations, had baptized those
who repented and attached themselves to him, in allusion to the
coming kingdom of God, but had reserved for the Messiah Himself
the baptism of tte Spirit promised in Ezekiel xxxvi. If (according
to John iii. 26, iv. 1 sq.) the disciples of Jesus also baptized during
the course of His life, such baptism had no more than the prepara-
tory character of the baptism of John. But the promised baptism
of the Spirit had really come upon the primitive community on the
Day of Pentecost. In remembrance of a command of their ri<eu
Master they now practise baptism, as the universal form of reception
into the communit}', upon all who in faith and desire turn to\v .ids
it (the hypothesis that at first baptism was only given to the
Gentiles is to be rejected). Baptism is admission into the commu-
nity on the basis of repentance and l';iith in Jesus as the Messiah
(Acts ii. 41, v. 14 1, the community which knows itself to be in
living union with Christ ami permeated by His spirit. Hence the
natural presupposition, that with the reception of baptism, with
entry into the community permeated by His spirit, the individual is
also really permeated by the same spirit.

The rapid e.T,,v,th of tin- eonimunities in the earliest times and
the practical needs arising therefrom, especially in regard to the
care of the poor, lead to a iirst establishment of community organi-
zation in the choice of the seven (Arts vi.). The apostles stood
at the head of the communrv as freely recognised per.-onal au-
thorities, with definite limitations of office. There fell to them
(1) above all the vocation of witnessing, on account of their per-
sonal relationship to Jesus, preaching and the vindication of the
fa it h to those outside ; to this position there might, be attached the
need which soon arose of learned explanation proper, without there !.y
excluding from it in any way the other numbers of the spirit-per-
meated community; (2) the place of heads of the original Christian
family in everything requisite to the guidance of the community.
Their resolution, however, led upon a definite, occasion to the choice
of the seven for the service of tables (care of the poor), i.e. as the
community grows and there emerge two divergent elements in it,
the need makes itself felt of no longer leaving the daily care of the

FIRST CONFLICTS. 53

poor merely to individuals, but with the view of avoiding the in-
equalities which thereby arose, of placing it in the hands of regular
organs, for which special persons entrusted with the confidence of
the community were chosen, as the apostles could not agree to take
this burden on themselves. Here for the first time the difference
between the Hebrew and the Hellenic Christians makes itself felt,
i.e. between the Palestinian believing Jews essentially untouched
by Greek customs and the Greek language, and the Greek Jews
believing in the Messiah, who had been born or had long lived in
the Diaspora, and had adopted the Greek language and in part
Greek customs (the expression also includes Greek proselytes). This
first start of congregational organization was not permanently de-
veloped further, but was broken off along with the whole primitive
existence of the original community.

2. Tlie First Conflicts.

The growth and the confident emergence of the young Christian
community awakened the apprehensions of the priestly authorities,
in whom the Sadducean tendency prevailed. The ruling priestly
nobility, carefully avoiding a strong Messianic movement among the
people, thought it needful to oppose the preaching of the resur-
rection and return of Christ for the establishment of the kingdom
of God as sedition and dangerous fanaticism, especially as it in-
volved a condemnation of the action of the Sanhedrim against
Christ. But in the person of Gamaliel (Acts v.) there also appears
a tendency within the Pharisaic party, which, in opposition to the
worldly view of the high-priestly party, holds out warnings against
violent measures, and is unable to avoid the impression that to
oppose the faith of the Christians which lives in the spirit of pro-
phecy may yet be to oppose something Divine.

The Hellenist STEPHEN roused deep-stirring movements by his
confession of and zeal for the faith in Jesus, chiefly in Hellenist
circles. He was accused of blasphemy against Moses and God, as
also of the assertion that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy the sanc-
tuary of the Temple. His speech (Acts vii. 2 sqq.) proclaims the idea
that the hostile relation of the people to Jesus is only the culmina-
tion of the stiff-neckedness which they had displayed against all the
previous benefactions and saving intentions of God under the
old covenant, and that the Divine revelation of salvation was not
limited to the Temple. Stephen seems, in view of the increasing
opposition of the Jews, to have fastened on the menace of Jesus of

54 CHURCH HISTORY.

the fall of the Temple, therefore to have at least hinted at the
possibility of the rejection of the stubborn people, and to have
pointed to the emancipation of the believing Messianic community
from the national sanctuary and its forms of worship which in that
case stood in prospect. But even so Stephen was a forerunner of
Paul only in a ver\r limited sense.

The persecution of the Jerusalem community — perhaps specially
of its Hellenist part — which followed the stoning of Stephen,
became a means of promoting the spread of the Christian faith to
Samaria, to the coasts of the Mediterranean, to Phoenicia and
Cyprus, at last to so important a centre as Antioch, the imperial
capital of the East. To the winning of the Jews to faith in
Jesus there is already added the reception into the Christian
community of the pious Gentile CORNELIUS, a proselyte of the gate.
Peter arrives at the view that it is God's will that the message of
salvation, namely, the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus,
should be preached to every man without ivspt-ct of persons (not
only to the circumcised Jew, but also to the pious Gentile desiring it),
and he is moved by the actual similarity of phenomena of the
special Christian inspiration in this Jewish proselyte, to recognise
his reception into the Christian community by baptism as the
will of God, which therefore is not to be made conditional on cir-
cumcision. Though this appears in tradition as an individual case
sanctioned by special Divine guidance, in the meantime Hellenist
Christians had already begun to preach the gospel to born Greeks
also at Antioch in Syria, and successfully (Acts xi. r.>-j>U,. BARNABAS
is sent thither from Jerusalem, and begins the important work in
common with PAUL, who had meantime been converted, in a com-
munity in which Gentile-Christians form an important for even
preponderating) part, and for which, according to the erroneously
contested tradition of the Acts, the name of XpiaTiavoi first occurs.
This indicates the fact that it was here that the Christians first
attracted attention as members of a special sect, to be distinguished
from the Jews in general.

During these important first steps in the spread of Christianity
and its expansion by the admission of Gentiles, the community at
Jerusalem, which rapidly gathered together again after the persecu-
tion, must have had comparatively quiet times (Acts ix. 31 ). Probably
the absence of many Hellenists, the element of restless advance,
contributed to mitigate Jewish objection. Besides, under the Roman
Procurators the disposition of the Jewish people turned much more
against Rome. The intention of Caligula, in particular, which was

THE PRIMITIVE COMMUNITY. 55

only given up at the last moment, of causing his own statue to be
erected in the very Jewish Temple, called forth a deeply penetrating
religious-national excitement, in which the Christians of Jerusalem,
although they otherwise kept at a distance from political zelotism,
could only have taken an approving part. It had been- Herod
Agrippa who, only shortly before Caligula's death, had turned him
back from that crazy project ; from Claudius (41) he received, in
addition to his previous possessions, Judea also, so that the whole of
Palestine was once more united under one king. To gain favour for
this policy among the Jews the strongest efforts were made. The
self-confidence of the Jews, which was nourished by this turn of
political events, seems again to have turned more against the Chris-
tians, as adherents of One who had been rejected by the leaders of
the nation, to which result the consequences of the preaching of
Christianity abroad may have essentially contributed. For the sake
of the popular feeling Herod Agrippa laid hands 011 members of the
community, and caused James the brother of John (the sons of
Zebedee) to be put to death by the sword, in the year 44, for soon
thereafter Herod Agrippa died (Acts xii.). Peter also was taken
prisoner, but miraculously escaped and provisionally left Jerusalem.
From this time on, JAMES the Brother of the Lord appears ever more
and more as really bearing rank as head of the Jerusalem com-
munity, while Peter more and more devotes himself to the apostolic
mission abroad, and indeed, more accurately, to the mission in Israel.
At the Council of Apostles (Acts xv. ; Gal. ii.) we indeed find Peter
again with John and James at the head of the Jerusalem com-
munity, but soon thereafter we find him again in Antloch, and
James appears as the head of the community at Jerusalem (Acts
xxi.). In spite of the existence of these personal apostolic authori-
ties the Palestinian communities had need of instruments of leader-
ship originating in themselves : these were the Presbyters. The
name is taken over from the existing civic constitution of society
among the Jews ; here the Presbyters — in idea the older members
of the community — were the members of the local authority
with attributes partly administrative, partly judicial and disci-
plinary. In this judicial quality they form the local Sanhedrims
(Jos. /SoiA.?;, yepova-la}, which must have at least seven members,
and were traced back to Mosaic ordinance (cf. Jos. Antiq. iv. 8, 14,
and Josephus' own arrangement Bell. Jud. ii. 20, 5). They held
their meetings in the synagogues and had their seats of honour at
the synagogue service, irpmoKadeSpiai, (Matt, xxiii. 6 sqq.; here of the
Pharisees in general, but used Luke xx. 46 of the yp jt/^aret?, the

5 6 CHURCH HISTORY.

legal-expert assessors of the Sanhedrims). As in Palestine the
religions and the civic community in the main coincided, all the
concerns of the government of the religious communities too were
in their hands. But in the Synagogue Service, and therefore in the
leading of religious meetings and the exercise of the functions
of divine worship (prayer, reading of Scripture, interpretation,
religious doctrine, preaching, blessing), the seniors as such did not
appear, but only the chiefs of the synagogues (ap^Krvvdyaxyo^^ Luke
xiii. 14; Actsxiii. 15; ap-^wv T/}? away. Luke viii. 41), who conducted
divine worship and supervision over it, invited to lead in prayer,
reading, and preaching, and the attendants of the synagogues,
whose were the subordinate offices (Luke iv. 20). At the same time
it remains very possible that one of the presbyters exercised the
functions of chief of the synagogue, although it cannot be finally
established. Now, in proportion as the Palestinian communities of
Christians were treated by their fellow-countrymen as traitors and
outlaws, the necessity emerged of setting up alongside of their com-
binations for worship a social organ ixation also, which, since for
Christians they must to a certain ex eUt replace the civic social
constitution, most naturally forme- 1 themselves on a certain analogy
to it. Accordingly the evi.leuce of Acts (xi. ."><>. xv. "2, 4, li,
'2'2. xxi. IS si|. as to such presbyters in the original community,
who are eniruste.l with the leadership and representation of the
community, but at the same time of course appear to be bound
to its participation and consent, ha- t hrouglx >\r historical pro-
bability in its favour, and certain disciplinary attributes may perhaps
also be ascribed to them. On the other hand nothing points to the
exercise of teaching or the leading oi' divine worship as attributes
which they had as presbyters. an<l therefore officially. They give
advice (Acts xv.) and join in deciding a i|uestion touching essentially
on the existence of the Christian community, which naturally rests
on a conviction closely comi'-cted with the regulation of belief, there-
fore in a question of the government of the community which to a
certain extent includes a question <•!' doctrine ; but it do , s not follow
that in their character as presbyters they were called upon to teach.
The latter mainly appears as the business of those who were per-
sonally called to and equipped for it, the Apostles and Prophets
(Acts xiii.).

GENTILE CHRISTIANS. 57

I

3. Paul's Preaching to the Gentiles.

Literature: THOLUCK in StKr., 1835, 2; F. CHR. BAUR, Paul, Eng. trans.,
London, 1878-75; 0. PFLEIDERER, Paulinismus [Eng. traus.J, London,
1877; KRENKEL, Paulus, Leipsic, 1869; "W. Schmidt in EE. 11, 356 sqq.,
where the abundant special literature may be found.

1. The incitement to the wider preaching of the gospel in the
Greek world starts from the Christian community at Antioch. For
this purpose Barnabas receives Paul as a companion (Acts xiii. and
xiv.).

SAUL, by birth a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin (Rom. xi. 1 ; Phil. iii.
5 ; 2 Cor. xi. 22), born at Tarsus in Cilicia (Acts ix. 11, xxi. 39, xxii.
3, cf. Gal. i. 21), educated as a Pharisee, and although indeed as a
Hellenist he had command of Greek and had come into contact with
Greek culture and Greek life, yet had not actually passed through the
discipline of Greek culture, was introduced by Gamaliel to the learned
study of the law, and his whole soul was seized with fiery zeal for the
statutes of the fathers (Gal. i. 14). Hence his zealous participation
in the prosecution of Stephen, when the Christian sect appeared to
menace the existence of the Jewish faith, and to point to the destruc-
tion of the Temple and the law of Moses. But, while occupied in this
persecution of the scattered Christians, he is alarmed and converted
by the appearance of the risen Lord near Damascus (Acts ix. 22, 26).
After his stay in Damascus, and in Arabia, and the visit to Peter
(and James) at Jerusalem (Gal. i. 18 sqq.), having gone into Syria and
Cilicia, he was taken to Antioch by Barnabas. He now undertakes
the proselytising journey to Cyprus and the southern districts of
Asia Minor (Pamphjdia, Pisiclia, Lycaonia), preaching Jesus as the
Messiah in the Jewish synagogues. Here Hellenic proselytes of the
gate, men, and especially women, hear the gospel, and this affords
a point of connection for turning to other Gentiles also. Thereby
the Jewish opposition, which had showed itself from the first, is only
aggravated, and the fundamental principle is established : the word
of God must first be preached to the Jews, but where they reject it
and show themselves unworthy of eternal life, the preaching turns
to the Gentiles (Acts xiii. 46).

2. The work starting from Antioch, by which access to the faith
is opened to the Gentiles, the formation of (prepoiideratingly) Gentile
Christian communities, now introduces into the original Christian
development an important problem, which (about the year 52, pro-
bably not later) (Gal. ii. ; Acts xv.j leads to discussions and explana-

58 CHURCH HISTORY.

tions at the so-called Apostolic Council. Within the Jewish
Messianic community, there arises the very intelligible demand, that
the Gentile Christians should submit to circumcision and thereby
take upon themselves the fulfilment of the life of the law. They
must become Jews, proselytes of righteousness ; otherwise they could
not be saved nor have part in the Messianic kingdom of salvation ;
they must be incorporated in the covenant people. Thereby the vital
chord of Paul's gospel to the G-en tiles, whom on principle he did
not bind to the Mosaic law (vid. infra), would be severed. Hence he
appears at Jerusalem on behalf of his gospel, points to his own and
Barnabas' results among the Gentiles, and requests that the Apostles
Peter and John, and James the Lord's Brother, may recognise his
procedure as justified and blessed by God, and that he should be
given the right hand of fellowship and his special task as apostle to
the Gentiles be recognised, while the original apostles should confine
themselves to the mission to the Jews. In this recognition of the
mission to the Gentiles, it was at the same time necessarily involved,
that even for the Jews the real ground of salvation did not rest
upon observance of the law, but on believing trust in the grace of
the Messiah, the Messianic forgiveness of sins imparted to the re-
pentant, confirmed by the reception of the Spirit which was thereby
brought about, and which guaranteed salvation through the Messiah
and reception into the Messianic kingdom. At the same time, how-
ever, it was of course maintained by the original church that the
Jewish Christians remained bound to the life of the law. With
reference to this point, it is required of the Gentile Christians in the
so-called Decree of the Apostles (the epistle of the Apostles and the
Jerusalem community to the Gentile Christians in Antioch, Syria
and Cilicia, Acts xv. 28 sq., cf. v. 20), that they should observe
certain prescriptions which were intended to obviate essential re-
pugnances of legal Jews to Gentile customs, and which recall the
so-called Noachic Commandments subsequently proposed by the
Talmud, the demands made on the so-called Proselytes of the Gate
(p. 41). To the Gentile Christians, thus recognised as participators in
the kingdom of God, there is thereby to a certain extent assigned
the position of proselytes in relation to the believing people of
God (the presupposed proper kernel of the Messianic society). It
indeed soon became plain that the practical difficulties were not
thereby abolished ; forthwith there arises (in Antioch, Gal. ii. 11
sqq.) dissension as to the extent of the purport of the expressed
recognition of Gentile Christianity as free from the law. From the
strictly Jewish standpoint it was thought, that even when one

TEACHING OF PAUL. 59,

recognised the Gentile Christians as brethren in belief in the Mes-
siah, one was yet in duty bound to avoid associating1 at table with
them as uncircumcised persons, so as not to violate legal regula-
tions (Levitical rules as to food) ; a reservation which menaced the
religious social life of Christians in one of its most important points
(Agapes!) Paul however inferred from the recognition that God
had purified the Q-entiles by faith, that all limits must be dropped
and therefore that there must be a certain breaking down of the
legal standpoint even for Jewish Christians.

3. For Paul, who had risen to perfect independence by the
energy of his own peculiar stamp of gospel, there now begin the
years of his powerful activity, in which he not only again visits
and extends his former missionary field in Asia Minor, but gains a
firm footing in Macedonia (Philippi), Athens, and Achaia (Corinth) ;
then on the so-called Third Missionary Journey he exercises a com-
prehensive influence during a stay of nearly three years at Ephesus,
and finally looks from Achaia towards the metropolis of the world.

(a) The character of his preaching was mainly conditioned by
the events of his own personal life and the manner of his conver-
sion. As a Pharisee, an orthodox Jew, he had started from the
view which laid the whole weight of importance on the law as
an all-comprehensive, holy rule of life, by which he regarded the
conscientious fulfilment of its prescriptions, the attainment of the
salvation promised to the people of God, as conditioned. But in
the Mosaic law, the multitude of legal prescriptions (the ceremonial
law) were inseparably bound up and intermingled with essentially
moral and religious requirements. Paul however, because he uni-
versally perceived the voice of the latter side — the earnestness of
the moral requirements, — found no true satisfaction in the greatest
zeal and the strictest obedience to the law, and felt the disparity
between the demand and the fulfilment (Rom. vii.) ; but just for
that reason, he had held to it the more tenaciously and sought right-
eousness in it, and on that account had fanatically persecuted the
Christian faith, from whose influence he feared the undermining of
legal order and ancestral morality. Then the vision of the Lord
is imparted to him ; He whom he persecuted adopts him for His
own. He himself saved by Grace, renewed and called to be an
apostle ; while the law, regarded as the way of salvation, had not
helped him, but had been the very cause which had driven him to'
what now appears to him as his most grievous sin. Thus from
the very beginning Christianity comes to him under the aspect
of freely offered Divine grace, which shows a way of salvation-

•6o CHURCH HISTORY.

Apposite to that of the law, and the exalted Christ becomes to him
the mediator of that grace. This however involves that for the
kingdom of the Messiah, national and institutional presuppositions
disappear as unessential. The Messiah of the Jews is here more
immediately and directly acknowledged as the Saviour of sinners
in general, than had been the case on the soil of Palestinian
primitive Christianity.

(&) Quite similarly his missionary preaching, as to which his
oldest epistles (1 and 2 Thessalonians) permit of some inferences,
naturally started from the common ground of the Messianic idea.
With the establishment of the Messianic kingdom the Judgment of
the Messiah is near: this is the motive for the conversion of the
heathen from idols to the living God. He who has been awakened
from death, and appointed to judge, is also He who can save from
1 he Divine wrath. Tin- glad message invites to faith in this salva-
tion and summons men to it, establishes the requirements necessary
for the life which is turned away from idols and won and dedicated

*

to God, and exhibits the God, who as He is in grace the originator
of salvation, so also in Chris' by means of the Holy Ghost gives
strength and shows himself as a Father in the work of Divine
-race. The gospel is met with special hostility by the unbelieving
Jews, and this hostility will be augmented iill the appearance of
the Man of Sin, the An ti- Christ, whereupon the Judgment on tin-
godless will ensue, when Christ shall return in His glory to estab-
lish with His own the kingdom of glory, to which those who up
till then shall have died .shall also attain.

(c) These simple ground-lines of apostolic preaching, to which
freedom from the denian is of the .Mo>,rc law. the essentially equal
standing of all men as sinners in presence of the Divine grace
mediated by the exalted Christ, ami the dominant place of grace
as bringing and working salvation are already pe. uliar, now in
the ca.se of Paul, amid his powerful missionary activity on 1 he soil
of the mobile Hellenic life, take the peculiar form of the Pauline
doctrine or theology. The latter is represented in his chief
Epistles (Galatians, Corinthians, Romans), and is indeed essentially
modified by the continual struggle with the .ludaistic party, to
refute which the Apostle finds himself compelled to bring for-
ward dialectical proof and to develop his fundamental views.
The Juclaistic party, which had not prevailed at the Apostolic
•Council, attacks the communities free from the law. which had
been founded by Paul, works everywhere against the Apostle,
•demands circumcision of the converted heathen and their snl>-

TEACHING OF PAUL. 61

jection to the Mosaic law, and contests the Apostle's apostolic
authority, because Paul regards his apostolic calling as directly
designed for the heathen as such, and thence infers the justification.
of the freedom of his preaching from the law. The Epistle to the
Galatiaiis exhibits the severe struggles of the Apostle in this con-
nection ; the Epistles to the Corinthians show this cardinal question
linked at the same time with a multitude of other problems and
tasks, raised by the lively apprehension of the gospel of Paul in
the Corinthian community. The most clarified outcome of this
development is the Epistle to the Romans.

Salvation (which is to be revealed in the kingdom of God) con-
sists in righteousness before God, which brings life. It comes first
by means of the gospel ; for all mankind, Jews as well as Gentiles
lack this righteousness ; sinfulness is universal. As the Gentile
world has fallen through sin into the irremediable condition of
estrangement from and hostility to God, so also Judaism, in spite of
its revelation of God, and its sacred law given by God, has fallen
under judgment and stands in need of redemption, — because of sin
men are unable to fulfil the law. The only importance of the latter
is to bring sin to ripeness and reveal its corruption and awaken
the desire after redemption. It has only a passing pedagogical
importance. With the appearance of Christ there has now dawned
the promised time of salvation, the time of grace in opposition to sin
and law and all human merit. The exalted Lord, the Son of God,
is the Mediator of this grace, who by His atoning1 death has recon-
ciled the world with God and redeemed it from sin, and thereby
brought about the result that God justifies out of grace' the man who
turns to Him in faith on the ground of the atonement. This faith-
the work of God in man — is the opposite of the works of the law, and
consists in renouncing one's own acts and merits, and in an entire
confidence in God. By faith man comes into the relation of sonship
and the assurance of all salvation by the Holy Ghost. Baptism is
the foundation of a real community of life with Christ (by death
and new creation), by the imparting of this spirit, which now
becomes the principle of the new life, in which holiness and
righteousness are also actually exhibited. — In connection with the
fundamental idea of the Christian hope for the coming of the Lord to
establish the kingdom of glory, which Paul decidedly held fast, and
under the influence of reflections upon the actual aversion of t he-
Jews as a whole from the gospel, and the actual calling of the Gen-
tiles, there is developed the idea of the temporary hardening of the
heart of Israel, and its final conversion after the fulness of the Gen-
tiles shall have come in.

<5* CHURCH HISTORY.

4. Circumstances of the Gentile Communities.

Literature : R. ROTHE, Die Anfdnge der christl. Kirche, Wittenberg, 1837 ;
WEIZSACKER, ZwTh. 1873 ; W. BEYSCHLAG, Die Kirchenrerfassung im
Zeitalterdes N.T., Harl., 1874; HATCH, The Organization of the Early
Christian Churches, 3rd ed., London, 1888 ; HEINRICI, ZwTh. 1876, 3. 77,
1, and in his 1 Corinthians i., 1880; H. WEIXGARTEN in HZ. vol. 45;
E. LOENING, Die Gemeindeverfassung des Urchristenthums, Eine Kirchen-
rechtl. Untersuchung, Halle, Niemeyer, 1889.

1. The communities of the Jewish Diaspora, in whose synagogues
Paul sought the first entrance for his preaching, strove universally
•over the Empire, and not seldom with some success, after a jurisdic-
tion of their own and internal independence. In Alexandria they
were all subject to one common ethnarch ; elsewhere however, as
it appears, the individual communities were independent of one
another and without any other bond of union than was afforded
them in a common faith, like exclusion from heathen customs, a
lively sense of their common descent, and active intercourse. Here
also Presbyteries (Gerousiai) appear to have presided over them
as leading (civic) colleges of the community, though e.g. in the
case of Rome the name Presbyter is not to be found in the in-
scriptions (ScHURKi;. I)'H' Gemeindeverfassung <l<>r .f/n/i'it in Hom
in der /w//'.:v/-.:v/V. Leipsic. 1879 4). It is found however in the
catacomb inscriptions at Venosa (r. Hvivn /if *///>.. ]>. ill, note 16).
As a matter of fact however the -rrpwroi of the Jews in Rome
(Acts xxviii. 17) may have been some such elders of the community.
The question however, whether anywhere in Palestine, the East,
or the Hellenist-Roman Diaspora, the case may have occurred of a
majority of the members of an existing Jewish community taking
up the faith in Jesus, and so simply mumming itself under the
existing forms now regarded as Christian (HATCH, p. 60 sq.) must
be postponed and may be regarded as doubtful. Opposition soon
drives Paul out of the synagogues, and with him the Jews and
proselytes who were becoming believers ; free Christian com-
munities arise in the midst of the Gentile world. According to
Acts (xiv. 23), Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey
in Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium, seem to have appointed elders
(presbyters) in the converted and assembled communities, several
such for each community. This seems probably connected with the
Jewish and Judseo-Christian arrangements (v. sup., p. 56), in the
very beginning of Paul's activity, when he was still working in
association with Barnabas on the commission of the community at
Antioch; and accordingly we would have to think of them after
the pattern of the presbyters of the original community. On his

GENTILE COMMUNITIES. 63

journey to Jerusalem also, Paul — again in the Asia Minor province —
summons the elders of the community at Ephesus to Miletus, to say
farewell (Acts xx. 17). They stand in the relation of overseers
(eVtWoTTot) to the community as the flock (TTOI^VIOV) entrusted to
them by God. They are to feed and watch the community of the
Lord, which He has acquired by His blood, so that wolves (false
teachers, who practically lay waste the community) may not break
in. He sets up to them as an example his own voluntary renun-
ciation of maintenance by the community. They are to maintain
themselves by their own labour, to assist the poor, and consider the
saying of Jesus, that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Unless the interpolating influence of a later view has interfered
with the rendering of the words of Paul, we have here elders
with functions as leaders of the community, who place themselves
at the service of the community without pay, and in their overseer-
ship over the preservation inviolate of the faith have to watch
against disturbance, without its being involved that even as elders
they have to exercise the teaching vocation.

Alongside of these elders, who are also designated bishops
{eTnWoTroi), there may be placed, on the supposition of the genuine-
ness of the First Epistle of Peter, which again was addressed to
communities in Asia Minor, the elders mentioned 1 Peter v. 1 sqq.,
who are to feed the flock without earthly gain and without desire
to lord it over their charge, after the pattern of the Shepherd and
Overseer (tVtWoTro?) of souls (ii. 25). The contrast of the vewrepoi
(v. 5) with the Trpea/Svrepoi shows that the relationship of natural
piety towards age, from which the position of elders had developed,
has not yet disappeared, as again Peter on the ground of the same
relationship designates himself avpTrpeo-ftuTepos.

Glimpses into the conditions that were arising on Hellenic soil are
afforded us by the Pauline epistles, especially by those to the
Corinthians, which show that if elsewhere the Jewish form of
presbyteries attained influence in the manner depicted, this was by
no means universally the case.

In Paul's ministry household communities which gathered round
the first converted appear as the beginning (1 Cor. xvi. 15). Now
so far as the older epistles of the Apostle permit us to see, it is im-
possible to perceive even in the grown communities any proper
official organization of the communities ; neither an office on the
ground of apostolic appointment, nor on that of election by the com-
munity, whether with the committal of special authority in the com-
munity to its official representatives, or to definite standing com-
mission with the discharge of official duties. As regards the latter,

64 CHURCH HISTORY.

we learn casually, indeed, of the choice of some persons who are
commissioned with the discharge of a certain business (matter of
collecting money) ; but that is the formation of a committee for the
carrying out of a special purpose, not the creation of standing officers.
But apart from that, only such of the believers gained by the Apostle
come at first into prominence, as place themselves and their gifts
and their means at the service of the community, according to the
law of love (1 Cor. xvi. 15, et? Sia/covLav rot? dyiois era^av eauroi;?,
Horn. xvi. 1) ; i.e. such as combined with their Christian zeal the
advantage of a privileged social rank and the corresponding means,
and appear in the character of patrons or patronesses (irpoffrd-n^,
Trpoo-raTt?), caring for, helping, guarding the multitude who belong
to the lower ranks, after the manner of the ancient relation of client
and patron. Phoebe was undoubtedly a irpoo-rdr^ of this sort
(Rom. xvi. 1-27), but the -rrpolcf-rd^voi also (1 Thess. v. 12 and
Bom. xii. 8) nun/ at least be so regarded. At the same tirner
there is now developed a very lively religious-social life, in
which, on the basis of the one i'aiih. a multitude of clidrixnix.
i.e. of gifts awakened, augmented and glorified by the Spirit, seek
and find an opportunity of demonstrating themselves. It is in
these gilts of grace that there rests the original justification for the
personal authorities which acquired recognition in the primitive
communities. This is the fundamental basis even of the apostolic
authority of Paul. Naturally thf word of the apostolic, i.e. evan-
gelical preaching is authoritative lor all \vh.. by this very word have
come to belief; it is the received gospel 1 Cor. xv. 1-3 i, the tra-
dition i-TrapaSoov? i to which lie appeals cf. 2 Thess. ii. L5), tt
which he ha< received from the Lord 1 Cor. xi. 23 , according to
which he has received by his o\\n personal experience of life the
revelation of the risen One, and in it his apostolic calling from
God, not from man (Gal. i. 11 s<j. . So apprehended, he naturally
vindicates it in God's name. For the rest, however, he only vindi-
cates the personal superiority of the spiritual father (1 Cor. iv. 11 sq .
and in this sense claims obedience and adhesion. For hi^ per-
formances, disquisitions and exhortations, he only claims that the
community of the Lord in which His spirit rules should recognise
and acknowledge the same spirit in him alsod Cor. vii. 2.">. 2-1:
Horn. i. 11 s<|. .

Connected with this point is in the next place the portion of
other teachers, who, on the strength of pors..n:il convictioD or
spiritual endowment, come forward as preachers, such as AHM i.os
at Corinth, or of apostolic assistant?, who like TITUS, TIMOTHY, and

TEACHING AND GOVERNING AUTHORITIES. 65

SILVANUS, help the Apostle to carry on his work, under his direction
and on his commission ; and also such teachers as, arising in the
communities themselves, effectively display the gift of prophecy or
of teaching". But all these persons, endowed with the chari»mata of
the Word, Apostles (envoys, in the sense in which Barnabas and
Paul were such, as sent out on mission by the community at
Antioch — not in the narrower historical sense of the Twelve),
Prophets and Teachers (1 Cor. xii. 28) stand partly as apostles (or
rather apostolic assistants) in no organic relation to the individual
community, partly as following the voice of the Spirit in no official
position in it. They contribute each his share, as do others by
other gifts, to the edification and strengthening of the community.
To be sure on one point there is an obvious allusion to the fact
that the position of the Teachers (who instruct in the word, there-
fore in so far as there arises a personal relation of teacher and
scholar), is looked upon as a special calling, which affords ground
for a claim for maintenance (Gal. vi. 6, which claim, indeed, Paul
himself, although renouncing it for himself, vindicates on behalf of
the apostles, 1 Cor. ix. 6 sqq.) ; it is a calling, but not an office.

But alongside of the gifts of the Word (as well as other gifts of
active faith, healing, etc.) Paul also mentions some which are suited
on another side to become the foundation for official functions in
the community, i.e., the avri\i]^ret^ and Kv^epv^a-ei^ (1 Cor. xii. 28).
Here, however, alongside of the personal designations of the bearers
of the gifts of the Word (Apostles, Prophets, Teachers) the Apostle sets
impersonal designations of functions. This however is a sign of
the existence of the fact, namely, helps and succours by those who
were equipped with means and wisdom for the service of the brethren
(among others in the case of the patrons of the communities) and
governing1 functions; but it also indicates that they had not yet with
equal constancy become affixed to definite persons as services ren-
dered as a vocation, or been placed in special official commission. (A
similar impression is made by Rom. xii. 6-8, where ^eraStS., Trpolara.-
/iei/o?, and eXewv, as also the significant and comprehensive Siaicovia
is essentially connected with dvri\. and /cv/3epi»]cr.). In the oldest
epistles of the apostle (Thess. and Gal.) he addresses his exhortations,
not merely those of a general moral character, but those also which
refer to the care and promotion of the life, of the community, to
the community as a whole, or to the discerning, the spiritual, the
advanced or such like, but nowhere to the organs of the community
by vocation (1 Thess. v. 14, correction of the disorderly, exhortation
of those of little faith, care for the weak ; 2 Thess. iii. 6-13 sqq.,

5

66 CHURCH HISTORY.

procedure — even to the extent of expulsion — against those of ir-
regular life). Those " who are over them," i.e.. the patrons (v. xup.}
are to receive in return for their assiduity, guidance and spiritual
exhortation, the free acknowledgment of love. In like manner the
Epistle to the Galatians, in regard to the danger on the side of the
Judaistic emissaries, appeals solely to the Christian consciousness
of the community, in particular to the discernment of those who
are spiritual (vi. 1 sqq.). The total impression also of the Epistles
to the Corinthians not only points, apart from the personal authority
of the Apostle Paul, to self-management and government of the
community in general (especially the decision on exclusion and
subsequent re-admission, 1 v. 1 sq. ; 2 ii. 5 ; vii. 12), but also gives
no perception of any permanent organ of the leadership or govern-
ment of the community. All this makes it appear improbable,
that here in Corinth also the Judaeo-Christian government by
elders was adopted from the very beginning ; of elders we hear
nothing at all. Hence it is that recently, instead of the Jewish
analogy for the shaping of the Christian community, it has been
preferred to introduce a Gentile analogy (WEINGARTEX, HEINKHM .
The existing form of the so-called associations for worship (Qlaaoi,
€pavoi) naturally presented itself to the Christians as a pattern for
gatherings for purposes of free, religious-social association. They
were fellowships for the cultivation of foreign worships and for
social alliance, in which for example the influence of patrons of
distinction also made itself felt ; and further, on Roman soil the
so-called Collegia or Sodalitia, especially the burial clubs, the object
of which was mutual support and friendly union, but which as
a rule had also a religious point of union (Tn. MOMMSKN, De
coll eg tin et wrffl/., Rom., Kil., 1843. P. FOUCARD, Les axxociatioii*
rcligieunes chez hs Grecs, Paris, 1873). In these cultus-associations
the common religious bond brought a collection of persons who were
otherwise separated from one another by differences of rank, into close
and brotherly combination, with equal rights as regards the founding
of laws, the admission of new members and the exercise of discipline
in the society; hence they afforded a pattern after which those who
believed in Christ might organize themselves. Among them there ex-
isted solemn acts of initiation for those who were to be admitted, with
which the baptism of Christians may be compared, and there wen-
feasts for which the common table of the lovefeasi s ;i Horded a parallel.
But the Christian assemblies for Divine worship which stood open 1 o
the uninitiated also, and served to attract them, likewise corresponded
to the procedure of these associations in their exoteric assernbli' s

BISHOPS AND DEACONS. 67

If the form of these associations, though it did not exactly set up
the standard, was yet of influence upon the Christian associations,
it followed naturally, that the instruments which were requisite
for the guidance and management of the affairs of the society
should bear the character of officials of the society, functionaries
chosen by the society.

Now, we may not without further consideration generalise from
the Corinthian circumstances, and must leave open the possibility
that in different places and amid various co-operating circumstances
things may have taken a somewhat different form ; this form was
•everywhere similar only in a negative respect, inasmuch as in the
first place we are not to imagine a definite form of constitution of
the community introduced by the Apostle as obligatory, the bearer
of which was clothed with an authority derived in any way from the
Apostle. It is quite consistent with this, that the persons whom the
communities placed at their heads as leaders were such as enjoyed
the confidence of the Apostle.

If this was the case in the Pauline communities, so much the
more was it so in that at Rome, which did not owe its rise to any
apostolic person. Here however, as the synagogue and the pro-
selytes who were connected with it composed the nucleus, it is
possible that the Jewish presbyteries may have been the pattern,
and therefore that in the Christian community elders may have been
placed at the head, though perhaps at a time subsequent to that at
which Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans, when the community
certainly chanced to be in the first stages of the household-commu-
nity, in which the guiding power is exercised by the personal
influence of outstanding believers (so at least if Romans xvi. belongs
to the epistle and is addressed to Rome, which, in spite of all doubts,
is not impossible). Of the later Pauline epistles, the Epistle to the
Philippians shows that in this community, which was already at
least ten years old, the need of fixed officers had already led to the
creation of Bishops and Deacons (Phil. i. 1), whereupon the following
questions to which we must later return, emerge : 1) Were they
instituted on the choice of the community, or somehow appointed
by the authority of the Apostle ? 2) Were they the only existing
officials of the community of the kind in Philippi (seeing that they
alone are addressed by the Apostle in the epistle), or is there a special
reason why the Apostle only addresses these ? (With reference to
the support afforded by the community to Paul.) 3) If the former ;
1 ) are the eVtWoTroi (several !) of Philippi only nominally and to
extent distinguished from the Presbyters (approximately equis-

68 CHURCH HISTORY.

valent to Presbyters or those Presbyters who, being entrusted with
special affairs of government, are here under consideration) ? In
favour of this view is the obvious identification of Presbyter and
Bishop in the Pastoral Epistles (to be referred to later) and that
noticed at Acts xx. 28. 4) If the latter, however, were there, there-
fore, besides the Bishops and Deacons mentioned, some sort of other
Presbyters, as representatives of some sort of the tcvfiepvija-eis along.
with the avrtXr/i/rei? ? 5) How are the e-rria-Ko-rroi and Stdtcovoi related
to each other ? That their official functions have some similarity is
very probable (cf. the Pastoral Epistles), in which case the distinc-
tion would be defined in such manner that, if besides them there
existed other Presbyters (for the Kvftepvrja-Ls proper), then the Bishops
and Deacons would both belong to the side of the u>"nX?;-vJret9 or
Bta/covia in the broader sense, while the Bishops had the functions
of oversight, and the Deacons the actual serving functions of the
s. So far, however, these are all mere possibilities.

2. Tin- tiltajjiny of flu- /tV//<//'<^/\ Life of the Cuiinn/in/fi/. — Literature: Th.
HARNAI K. Di<- <-hrt'sfl. Ge»i.-Gott<'t<il. nn apnst. nnd naduipost. Zi'/f«n< r,
Erlani^cn, 1854; JACOI-.V. I>ir must. Furtorr,, tf,-,- ,,jt,,st. f .'</., JdTh. 1873, 4;
WKI/.S \CKHR, Die \'erxaininl., .MTh. 187^.3; R. SKVEKL.EN. Der dir/sfl.
Cultiis, ZwTJi. issl.

Of importance for this point was the mixed condition of the
Pauline communities, in which, even though in different degrees in
different places, on the whole the converted Gentiles land proselytes)
were in the preponderance. After the habit of Paul's own life, and
after what numerous < u-ntile proselytes ha<l experienced in the
Jewish synagogues, the example of the synagogue assemblies could
not remain without influence ; on the other hand, the custom of the
Gentile religious associations might also have its eilW-t. But the
new spirit creates for itself new forms, »\- improves those which exist
and fills them with a new content.

For religious meetings th«- opportunity was chiefly afforded by
private houses or hired apartments. From the very first there is
developed a twofold nee, |. /-/';. the need of cultivating the religious
lite l>y means of the Word, and the enjoyment of the celebration "I
religious communion. At the former, after the example of the
synagogue, and in the nature of the case, the exclusion of un-
believers was not required, in factit would have deprived the com-
munity of an important means for the spread of its faith; but t<>v
the second, the holy celebration of communion, the exclusion \va-;
necessary.

In the celebration of the Word in Divine worship, it is nnivevsalh

RELIGIOUS LIFE. 69

to be presupposed that in the Pauline communities the reading of
Scripture, public reading of portions of the Old Testament in the
highly venerated translation of the Seventy interpreters, was taken
•over from Jewish and Judseo-Christian. usage, and sufficed for the
fundamental elements of the preaching of the gospel which grew
up on the soil of the Old Testament revelation. To it there were
appended exegetical and practical addresses ; the freedom to come
forward as a teacher which already obtained in the Jewish syna-
gogue (Acts xiii. 15) is also to be presupposed in the Christian sphere
(Acts viii. 4 ; xi. 19 sqq. ; cf. James iii. 1), so much the more as the
universality of the imparting of the Spirit is characteristic of the
Messianic age. Enhanced and generalised in its application, it
.gained acceptance in the sphere of the mobile spirit of Greece. The
free utterance of the Christian spirit in its manifoldness is presup-
posed by the Apostle in Corinth as the ruling principle, which is
•only to be restrained within the limits of order (1 Cor. xiv. 33) and
•decency (xiv. 40j, regulated by its purpose, the ot/coSo/u,r/ (ibid. v. 26,t,
and guarded against arbitrary abuse. Charismatic endowment is
the foundation for the Christian life and the shaping of the Christ
tian community (p. 65j ; so also is it for the practice of religious
worship, the foundation of doctrine, prophecy, both as comforting
.•and enlightening ; ecstatic speaking of tongues, and singing of
psalms appear in the character of such charismatic utterances,
which are to receive at once their echo and their estimate (criticism)
in the spirit of the community.

It is a question how far, along with the inevitable Old Testament
foundations, the celebration of Jewish Feasts also, in particular of
the Sabbath and the great Jewish Feasts, was taken over by the
Christians. Jewish Christians would observe the Sabbaths and
Feasts even in mixed Gentile communities. But a distinction of days
and seasons, required of all on principle, as commanded by the law,
is excluded by the fundamental principle of the Apostle Paul 'Rom.
xiv. 5 sqq. ; Gal. i. 9 sqq. ; Col. ii. 6). At the same time a signalising
celebration of one clay— only not celebrated as exclusive— in the
week, the free out-growth of the needs of the community, would be
quite compatible with this principle. As the celebration of the first
day of the week as the Day of the Lord (KvpiaKi] faepa, resurrection
day, is universal in post-apostolic times, the mention of this day.
Rev. i. 10, acquires great weight, and the passages 1 Cor. xvi. 2 ; Acts
xx. 7 (cf. John xx. 26) merit decided attention, though they do not
afford strict proof (Th. ZAHX, Geach. dex Xonntag*. Hanover, 1878).
Of the great Jewish festivals, the Jewish Passover most nearly

70 CHURCH HISTORY.

approaches general Christian observance. The passage 1 Cor. v. 7T
written about the time of the Jewish Passover, presupposes that the
Christian community takes a certain interest in it. But the allegory
itself shows that the Christian community is aware that it does
not as such celebrate the Passover. It is possible, but by no means
necessary, to assume the presence already of a celebration contem-
poraneous with the Jewish Passover, but converted to a Christian
significance.

The other Christian social celebration, which in the nature of the
case is exclusively limited to believers, is the Eucharist. The Lord's
Supper, the institution of which (1 Cor. xi. 23 sqqj is determinative
for Paul, the Gentile-Christian communities — at least that at
Corinth — draw into the circle of their Gentile social conceptions.
The fraternal meals could here assume the character of evening:

O

fellowships, on occasion of which, according to the Hellenic custom,,
each of the participants brought his food in a basket to consume it
in company iXenoph., Mi-morub. in. 14; Athenaeus, Deipnos. vii. 7r
68, p. 365a : ra vvv KaXov^sva (iTTo crTrup/Sov SeiTrva). Paul has to-
reprove the grave scandals connected with it, which stood in sharp
contradiction with the idea and aim of the Holy Supper. But
when at 1 Cor. xi. 2'2 the Corinthians are referred to their houses,
where they may eat and drink, we may not infer that Paul intended
an entire setting aside of an evening meal ; his words hold good only
of the removal of whatever suggests the satisfying <>f >tr<>ng ^reed
without regard to a neighbour.

Baptism is the universal rite of admission into the Christian cum-
munity and brotherhood of the "saints." i.f. the dedicated to God.
Baptism is into Christ Rom. vi. .'{ ; Gal. iii. 27j, without giving
along with this expression of its essential reference any -information
as to the formula used. The thought of the appropriation of the
Messianic forgiveness of sins is supplemented by that of the founda-
tion of a life-communion with Christ. Personal belief is presupposed ;
hence the admission of adults. An extension of it to children is
certainly not proved by Acts ii. 36 ; xvi. '.Y.j : 1 Cor. i. 16 ; although
at the same time it is not excluded by 1 Cor. vii. 14. But if it hail
been a universal apostolic custom (established by Paul the subse-
quent opposition of a Tertullian (D« baptism. 18) would be unin-
telligible. (In itself 1 Cor. vii. 14 might be understood in the
sense that baptism was in use only for the admission of those who
had not hitherto been Christians, into the Christian fellowship, but
that the children of Christians had no need of an}' such admission.)

The conditions of Christian life in the mixed Q-entile Christian

MUTUAL TOLERANCE. 71

communities are determined by the fact of the meeting together in
one religious social life of converted Jews and converted Gentiles.
The former were, indeed, for the most part pretty soon loosed from
the connection they had hitherto had with the synagogue, by the
hostile behaviour of the Jews, and the latter obviously remained
from the moment of their conversion at a distance from participation
in acts of heathen worship ; but the amalgamation of the two ele-
ments into a tertium genus could only be completed gradually. Strict
adhesion to the life of the law on the part of Christian Jews led to
conflicts such as that which took place at Antioch. So far as the
Apostle Paul in his own communities overcame his Judaistic oppon-
ents on principle, this process could only lead to breaking down the
strictly legal life on certain points, along with which, all the same, it
was possible that legal customs might be maintained by the Jewish
Christians on certain points, which gave their life a definite Jewish
colouring. On the other hand, those who were used to Jewish cus-
toms must have taken offence at many usages retained by the
Gentile Christians from among their previous Hellenic customs.
The exertions of the Apostle Paul to bring about an understanding
at Corinth as to the use of meat which had been sacrificed are thence
to be explained. The directions in regard to this question given
by the Apostle, agree essentially with the regulations of the so-called
Apostolic Decree, inasmuch as they require avoidance of meat
offered to idols (at least of that which has been shown to be such),
though also from a free — and yet morally motived — regard to caus-
ing offence ; avoidance of offence is, moreover, also the motive in
the Decree. The Apostle, however, makes no express reference to
the Decree, which by the growing activity of Paul, had as it were
become too narrow, and had been outrun. Mutual regard is here to
be strongly recommended : on the one hand, tolerance of those who
to the freer view seem to be weak ; on the other, abstinence from
censorious judgment.

Of great importance here are the religious-theological views of
Paul as to the higher unity given in belief in Christ (1 Cor. xii.
4-6), the new creation, which is perfected in the converted, and by
that very fact overcomes the limits, oppositions, and particular
points of view given in the previous life of nature (2 Cor. v. 17 ;
Gal. ii. 4), the freedom of the reconciled life from the yoke of the
law (Gal. ii. 4). The conviction that the essence of Christianit)r
is spirit, and the idea of the organized and articulated community
of the body of Christ, founded upon the common faith in ChristT
exert a unifying influence. With the religious enthusiasm of the

72 CHURCH HISTORY.

young faith which awaits the coming of the glorified Saviour, there
is bound up the cordial warmth of the brotherly love which is born
of this faith. Social distinctions are not abolished in the commu-
nity which is in process of formation, but bridged over by regard to
human and Christian worth, and subordinated to a higher equality
(1 Cor. viii. 21 sqq. ; Philem. 16 sqq.). Not many wise after the
flesh are called, and not many noble (1 Cor. i. 26) ; slaves, me-
chanics, tradesmen are converted; but nevertheless people of edu-
cation and rank are not entirely lacking, who minister to the
community of their means. There is developed a rich spiritual
life, in which various spiritual and moral problems emerge and
move men's minds. The young community does not, indeed, lack
for hostile attacks from the side of heathenism; rid. 1 Thess. ii. 14,
where hostilities on the part of their own (^Gentile) fellow-country-
men are put in comparison with those which the original community
has to suffer from its Jewish compatriots. On the whole, however,
these still appear to be only rare cases, arising out of special occa-
sions (Acts xvi. 16 sqq. ; xix. 2.'1 sqq.). Conversion to the Christian
faith did not break off hitherto existing intercourse between rela-
tions and friends 1 Cor. x. 37 sqq.) ; it was at first maintained
without impediment, although within it many conflicts were latent.
But, on the other hand, the Christian recognition of the governing
power as ordained of God, and along with it of the honour and
obedience due to it for the sake of God and conscience, does not
exclude the Apostle from indicating contemptuous rejection of
secular judicial aid on occasion of quarrels between Christians (1
Cor. vi. 1 sqq.) as the only attitude compatible with tin- brotherly
league of Christianity, even though the actual life of the commu-
nity does not correspond with it. Within the Christian community
the legal point of view ought properly to become superfluous
through the idea and force of brotherly communion ; much less,
however, ought internal strife to be carried outside.

5. Palestinian Judaeo-Christianity from the time of the Apostolic Council
down to the Destruction of Jerusalem.

Literature : rid. p. 32 sq. and E. KKNAN (p. _'" , vol. 1. /

While Peter (as it appears) is occupied with the work of preach-
ing to the Jews outside of Palestine, the community at Jerusalem,
and indeed the Palestinian communities in general, stand under the
leadership of the brother of the Lord, James, as their recognised
head. They remain strictly in the life of the law, and still hold
securely to the hope of the conversion of the whole of God's pe. .pl<-

JEWISH CHRISTIANITY IN PALESTINE. 73

(which Paul had for the present given up). The mission to the
•Gentiles is indeed recognised, but the manner of its conduct by
Paul and the powerful increase of Pauline communities excite
misgivings and dissensions. For in these mixed communities, in the
presence of what is often a preponderating Gentile element, it be-
-comes ever clearer in what direction the development is pressing ;
that, in fact, for the sake of the higher Christian communion the
legal customs even of the Jewish Christians in these communities
must inevitably be broken down, and general Christian freedom, on
principle, from the commands of the law, gain recognition.

Under these circumstances the party of the Jewish Pharisaic
zealots, with whom Paul had to combat in his communities, must
have made an impression and gained influence in Palestine. When,
Paul came for the last time to Jerusalem, not only was he well
.aware of the grim hatred of the unbelieving Jews against him :
the deep aversion of the Palestinian Christians also to his mode
of action could not remain concealed from him. He came, how-
ever, in order not to fail on his part in anything which might
avert a definite break, and preserve the union between the power-
fully increasing Gentile Church of the Diaspora and the Mother
Church. James, who receives him, directs his attention to the
great multitude of believing Jews, who were all zealots for the law.
It is not necessary, without further consideration, to place them all
•on the same rank with Paul's Judaistic opponents ; the cause of
offence here is not that Paul preaches the Gospel to the heathen
without circumcision, but the fact that they have been informed
that he permits the Jews among the heathen to fall away from
Moses, not to circumcise their children and to live without regard
to the customs of the law (Acts xxi. 21). This was not entirely with-
out foundation in so far as Paul, in the mixed communities of his
domain, laid emphasis on the point that the Jews, for the sake of
•communion with their Gentile Christian brethren, should abate
somewhat of the strictness of the legalistic life and treat the obser-
vance of the law as not indispensable to salvation, and inasmuch
as upon his principles, it was impossible to speak of the indispens-
ability of circumcision for the children of Jewish Christians (although
this point nowhere comes to express statement in. the Epistles — Gal.
v. 2 treats of the Gentiles). It could not, however, be stated as the
•constant procedure, or maxim of Paul. Accordingly, with a view to
produce tranquillity on the subject, Paul allows himself to be induced
by James to carry out a work of legal piety in participating in the
^Nazarite oath of Jewish men and the assumption of the burden of

74 CHURCH HISTORY.

the charges involved, which he could do without the denial of his
fundamental principles (vid. Acts xxi. 22-26 and thereon WEXDT in
his revision of Mayer's Commentary). So little, however, is the
Jerusalem community to be made answerable for the hostilities to
Paul which led to his being taken prisoner (it was spread abroad
that Paul introduced Gentiles into the Temple), that we hear again,
indeed, that in a special manner they took an interest in the im-
prisoned Paul, and moreover that in some way on account of the
alliance with Paul they were drawn under the hostile attacks of
their unbelieving fellow-countrymen. For all that, the fate of James-
shows how little the decided adhesion to legalistic or strictly legal-
istic life was able to silence the hatred on the part of the unbeliev-
ing Jews against those who adhered to the acknowledgment of Jesus
as the Messiah. Universally reverenced by the people on account
of his strict legalism and spec ial asceticism, and on account of his
perpetual prayer for the sins of the people, yet on account of his
acknowledgment of that Jesus who sits on the right hand of the
great Power in Heaven and who is to come, on the instigation of their
spiritual advisers, he was thrown down by the people from the pin-
nacle of the Temple, and stoned. Hi <:K-IIMTS in Euseb. 2, 23, places
this event shortly before the siege of tin city by Vespasian. Josephus,
Antiq. 20, 9, 1 would place the stoning of James earlier, viz. after
the death of the Procurator Festus and before the entry on office of
his successor Albinus, and assigns the cause, with great intrinsii
probability, to the rise of the harsh High Priest Ananus, who be-
longed to the party of the Sadducees. At the same time the very
words which relate to James are strongly suspected of interpolation.

6. The Community at Rome and the Neronic Persecutions of the
Christians ; the Destruction of Jerusalem.

Literature: A. MANLOU. . />/• //«/»< rlirii'f //. s. i/i-srliiclifltche. rbrflf/.s-.sv/ -.-//// </.•//
neu uutiTsuc'if. Marb.. issl: K. SI-:YKUU-:\, Kittst. it. erxtc Hchn-ksuli- ifi-r
clir^H. (,'<•!!>./ n I,'",, >.. Tiili., IS7-1; BKYSCIII, \t. in StKr. 18»;7, I; \Vi;i/>\(-
KKU in JdTh. 1*7';: LIPMI.X Chronol. der r6m. Bischofa lsi;<». p. u;-_> aqq.
and ^ni-lli'ii (/<'/• i-i'in. I'efrnxs(ifi<>,l8T2; HILI;I:NI'KLD, ZwTh. ls7-_><7 y«/.s.s-////
and i-li n lfit HIKJ in <l. X.T.. p. ii'21; J. DKUT/SCII in Srlvr. isTK -Jl.l sqq.
TM n i s. Aimal.. 15, 44; Si-KToxir.s, X>'r» c. 1'i: <'I,I:MI:\> U«>M. n<l <',,,-.. c.
F> :ind •'•: Mioirn> ap. Kn>ol>. :!. 1 '•> sq.; TKHTi'Kl.iAN. Apnl. c. 5 ; Kr>iain 's.
H.R2,2b] Knixrs, -_>. S4 sq.; Sri.i-icirs Si:v. -J. •_'«!: OUOMI-S. ///>/. 7. 7.
— H. Si IIIIJ.KR. (ii-si-fi. <f<'s. ri'nu. Kaixi'rri'ii hs imfi-r AV/v>. Berlin, ls7'_\ :inil
in the Conimentt. publ. in honor. Th. MOMMSKN >•<•/•. Berl., 1H7"> : NI.»I N.
in HZ. 1S71 ; "\Vi;i/.s \CKKU. .JdTli. 187(i; HOLTZMANN. X< TH n. <//<• t'lirixt<-n,
HZ. 1879; FR. AI.XOI.D, Die neron. Chrigtenverf., I.oipsic, 18bs.— K. I!i:\\s-
(p. 72).

1. Of the growing hatred of unbelieving Judaism to the.

CHRISTIANS IN ROME. 75

Christian community proof is given by the stoning of Stephen, the
procedure of Herod Agrippa, and finally the putting to death of
James the Just. But from the very beginning the work of the
Apostle Paul was in a special manner the object of this hatred
(1 Thess. ii. 14 sqq.). What attitude does the Gentile world take
up to this new phenomenon ? That even for Gentile eyes it soon
became apparent that the Christian community was to be dis-
tinguished from that of the Jews is shown by the name Xpia-riavoi,
which appears at Antioch, and which appellation was given, not on
the part of either Jews or Christians, but from the Hellenic side
(Acts xi. 26, and WENDT thereon ; of other opinion LIPSIUS, Ueber d.
Ursprung und altesten Gebrauch des Christennamens. Jena, 1873, 4,
who, on insufficient grounds, throws doubt on the occurrence of the
name so early). The religious inclination of many Gentiles to the
Jewish faith is of assistance to the apostolic mission ; indeed, in
consequence of that fact, a considerable share of the odium which
Judaism bears in Roman eyes falls on the Christians ; the Christian
preaching of a Paul, in so far as it treats of the conception of the-
hope of Israel and the value of the law, is naturally treated by the
Gentile authority as a mere Jewish controversy (Acts x. 12 sqq.).
It was only the winning of Gentiles to the new religion that could
possibly lead to conflicts with the authorities. In this sense his
opponents seek to bring the conversion of Gentiles by Paul under
the reproach of the introduction of foreign cults (Acts xvi. 20
sqq.), or into political suspicion (Acts xvii. 7), but at first without
essential consequence.

Now, however, Christianity reaches the capital itself and makes
itself noticeable there (p. 67). A numerous Jewish community, in
lively intercourse with the mother-country and the most important
centres of intercourse of the Hellenic East, here afforded the point
of connection for Christian preaching. It early reached this point,
but not through the medium of Peter (Acts xii., according to
Roman tradition) or any other distinguished apostolic person. The
important circle of Roman proselytes, which gathered about the
synagogue was vividly impressed by the Christian preaching, and
hence a strong ferment was introduced into Roman Judaism and
the surrounding circle of Gentile proselytes.

It is an impossible legend which relates that the Emperor Tiberius,
©n occasion of the report of Pilate, had already attempted to include
Christ among the Roman gods, and though indeed frustrated by the
opposition of the Roman Senate, had at least threatened the accu-
sers of the Christians (Tertull., Apol. 5). On the other hand it is

7 6 CHURCH HISTORY.

quite possible, even though no stringent proof could be adduced
for it, that a public regulation of the Emperor Claudius (41-54)
against the Roman Jews was occasioned by the fermentation which
had come into Jewish circles at Rome through the preaching of
Christianity. SUETONIUS (V. Claud. 25, cf. Acts xviii. 1) records of
Claudius: •' Jiicheox impuhore Chresto uxxidue tumultuantes J'oum
•expul'd.'' Chrestus, a current Greek and Roman name, may have
been the name of any Jewish disturber in Rome, though of such a
person there is no other knowledge. But the alteration of the name
•Christus, Christianus, into Chrestus, Chrestianus also occurs else-
where (Tertull., ApoL 3, Ad imtiunex, 1, 3. Lact., Die. L>xt. 4. 7. 5).
So SUETONIUS might erroneously have referred to an instigator called
Chrestus disturbances, which the name of Christ, the penetration of
Christianity to Rome had occasioned, although he elsewhere has the
correct name (Vitu AV/'«W.v, 16). Soon after the beginning of his
reign, Claudius, in opposition to the measures hostile to the Jews of
his predecessor Caius (Caligula), hud formally recognised the rights
of the Jews in the Roman Empire (Joseph.. Ant. 19, 5, 1-3), not
without exhorting them to a discreet demeanour. ll»\\vver, he
also, according to I )imi Cassius, M >, li, had taken measures against the
Jewish community in Rome, which had greatly increased : but, on
account of their great numbers, lie feared an outbreak, and had not
expelled them \OVK e%>]\a<Tc /u-ev), but had forbidden their assemblies.3
Whether this may have been an earlier regulation than that which
is mentioned by Suetonius, or whether the expulsion may only have
been carried out in a very modified form, in any case, it did not
long operate. According to Ouosius, Hist. 7, 6, the expulsion took
place in the ninth year of the. reign of Claudius, — about .">(> A.D.
OHOSIUS is indeed in error in appealing to Josephus for the fixing of
this date; but Acts xviii. 2. as a matter of fact, brings us to about
this time (rid. MEYKI;-~\VKM>T /// /.).

Just such internal conflicts in Roman Judaism, flaming up over
the name of Christ, may have contributed to the Roman Chris-
tian community early casting itself loose from the connection with
the synagogue. The converted Gentiles in this community now
appear speedily to have attained the preponderance. Everywhere
in Pauline-Christian circles this Roman Christian community \\ as
known, and Paul took the most decided interest in it, had the inten-
tion of visiting it, and in his Epistle to the Romans expounded to
them his gospel of free grace. Then he actually comes thither, but

1 A bold conjecture of Ewald's: TO> §« fii? mir^iM I'<>/JG> iii.i ;t<l<l.
KC At vfft nf awa6oi

NERO NIC PERSECUTION. 7r

as a prisoner, works for the gospel in Rome, and from this central
point exerts influence by letter in various directions. His case, the
trial before the frentile authority, must likewise have contributed
to make Christianity the object of public remark.

This two years' imprisonment of Paul, even although it cannot be
quite exactly fixed chronologically, brings us to about the period of
that frightful catastrophe, the burning of Rome (summer of 64), and
the persecution of the Christians by Nero which is associated with
it. The fire broke out on the 18th July, 64, in the shops on the
Circus Maximus, and in the course of its six days' duration (after
which it again broke out), of the fourteen regions of the city it
desolated three completely, and seven in greater part. Men and
beasts perished in the flames, criminals availed themselves of the
universal consternation, dark rumours and panic fears took possession
of men's anxious minds. Nero came back from Antium where he was
staying, as the fire was nearing his palace at the Garden of Maecenas,.
and saw his creation sink in ashes. Neither Nero's energetic endea-
vours, first to combat the flames and next to mitigate the frightful
famine, nor the religious ceremonies which were performed after the
fire for the purpose of reconciling the gods, were sufficient to stifle
in the populace suspicion of the emperor himself as the originator
of the conflagration. (It is still an undecided point whether that
suspicion was well grounded.) He then sought to divert suspicion,
by throwing the blame on the Christians, to whom the people
attributed all sorts of infamy. Some individuals were put under
accusation who confessed (i.e. the incendiarism, not Christianity),
either reduced to do so by torture, or as renegades who desired to
restore themselves in the opinion of the Romans. By their means
a great number were given up, who (in the investigation) were con-
victed, not so much of incendiarism as of hatred of the human race,
i.e. according" to the view of Tacitus : they were accused of the
incendiarism, but the investigation afforded fewer indubitable proofs
on this point, than on the evil disposition of these Christians to the
human race. For the comprehension of this difficult passage it is
necessary to remember : 1) the Neronic persecution of the Chris-
tians was really directed against Christians who were clearly to
be distinguished from Jews : it was not a Judenhetze (against
SCHILLER and others) ; 2) they were persecuted, however, not on
account of their Christian confession as such, but on account of the
alleged incendiarism ; but the pretext was afforded by their un-
popularity with the mob, which attributed all sorts of iniquities to
this mysterious sect ; 3) the inquisition upon the great number of

78 CHURCH HISTORY.

those who were given up afforded only insufficient positive proofs
of the crime of which they were accused ; on the other hand people
clung much more to the trait of the odium humani generis, a hostile
disposition to the world, which seemed to find foundation in the
Christian belief and its hopes in a future order of the world which
should make an end of the kingdom of this world, so that it was
thought possible to expect such crimes from them ; 4) it is after all
possible, but entirely without positive confirmation, that Jews may
have directed suspicion and hatred upon the Christians.

The punishment of those alleged to have been found guilty
followed in the most ignominious manner, some being used for
fighting with beasts, sewed up in skins, thrown to the dogs, others
being crucified. On the occasion of the ghastly games in the Garden
of Caligula, while Nero circled about as a charioteer, Christians
flamed as torches, dressed in tow and pitch in the so-called tunica
molexta i.TrvEXAL, Sal. I. 155 sq., cf. SEXECA, Ep. 14) attached by
the neck to stakes of fir. For other ludihria, shameful pantomimes,
for which condemned persons were made use of, reference may be
made to CLEM., Ad Cor. 6.

Though the Neronic persecution of the Christians is in its nature
an individual fact with a special motive, and a regular extension of
it beyond Rome, or rather Italy, cannot be proved, is in itself im-
probable and has no foundation in later notices (Oros. 7, 7 and Sulp.
Sev. 2, 29), the possibility is not excluded that such procedure against
the suspected Christians found imitation elsewhere, or that even
earlier attacks on the part of the Roman authorities had occurred
which led to death 'Rev. ii. 13 ; xx. 4 ; the allusions in first Epistle
•of Peter).

It is probable, however, that Paul fell a victim to this persecution,
though as a citizen he was executed with the sword ; perhaps also
(?) Peter, who is said to have b<-en crucified.1

The Neronic persecution became of deep importance for the con-
sciousness of primitive Christianity. It not only sharpened the
.already existing lively feeling of the opposition between th<- king-
dom of God and the world in which the Prince of this world is
.powerful, between faith and idolatry, but also served the purj>o<,-

1 Tertnll.. />• /'/•<r\o'. /m>/\ '_'<;. — The so-called second imprisonment of Paul
(Euseb.,2, 22) cannot be c-ialjlished on the notice in the Muratoriun < ':ui..n. lin.
38 sq. (Vid. Hr-«>. J>nx /it'"'. /•'/•(//////.. (iirs-.'ii l.sT:: which is foundrd on Uom.
xv. 23, and on Clem., !•:/>. ml Cm'. .">. and is in itself improbable (vid. W. Schmidt.
UK. 11, :•:*•"> sq.).— The so-much-attacked tradition of the coming of IVtrr to
is to be upheld fi,l. 1! Weiss, Knil. nix * '/'.. 1-M s.|.).

FALL OF JERUSALEM. 79

of making that conception of the opposition of the kingdom of God
to the great world-powers, which lay at the bottom of the entire
Messianic expectation, and which had been further developed in
Jewish literature since the time of Daniel, give itself a special
expression for the Christian consciousness, and in reference to the
Roman world-empire, now regarded in the light of Antichrist,
with Nero as its representative. Four years later Rome saw the
tyrant, after the shameless self-degradation of his later years, take
flight in presence of the rise of disturbances, deserted by his troops.
He put himself to death ; but the rumour soon spread in the
changed minds of the people, that he was not dead but had fled to
the Parthians, that thence he would return (Sue ton., Nero, 57 ; Dion
Cass., 64, 9 ; Tacit., Hint. 1, 2. 2, 8), an expectation which hardly
arose on Christian soil, but which all the same was received into the
Apocalyptic picture of the future (Rev. xiii. 3).

Sources: FL. JOSEPHUS, De bello Judaico, libb. 7, and De Vita Sua (Opp. ed.
Haverkamp, Amsterdam, 1726, and Dindorf. 2 vols. Paris. 1845-47, Handy
ed. Bekker, Leipsic, Teubner, 1855, and others) ; TACITUS, Histor. V. 1-13 ;
SUETONIUS, Vita Titi; SULPICIUS SEVEUUS, Chronicon. II. 30, 6-7 (ed.
Halm) and thereon BEUNAYS, Ueber d.Chronik des. Snip. Sev., Berlin, 1861 ;
OKOSIUS, Hist. 7, 9, 6. — The literature vid. p. 32.

2. In Jewish expectation, the belief in the coming and imminent
decisive conflict, the overthrow of the Roman world-empire by the
rise of the kingdom of God, had become more and more confirmed
along with the increased fanaticism of the Jewish Zealots. This
fanaticism drove the Jewish land, in powerless rebellion against the
ruthless government of the later Roman Procurators, ever deeper
into lawlessness and so to destruction, whereat the populace, which
according to the assurance of Josephus did not in its majority desire
war, was filled with anticipations of the coming horrors. The
conflict of the last Proconsul, Gessius Florus, May, 66, in conse-
qnence of which the Jews obtained possession of the Temple and
fortified it, may be regarded as the beginning of the war. Gessius
Florus, however, withdrew to Csesarea. The daily offering for the
Emperor was discontinued. The remarkable retreat of the Syrian
Procurator Cestius Gallus and his troops, who had hastened up, in
autumn, and had suffered a defeat, greatly facilitated a general
outbreak. But in the years 67 and 68 Vespasian gradually
made himself master of the whole country, till the death of Nero
(June 9, 68) and the uncertainty of authority intervened ; finally
Vespasian, being himself (in opposition to Vitelliusj raised to empire
by the legions (in Egypt, July 1, 69), left the subjection of

So CHURCH HISTORY.

Jerusalem in particular to his son TITUS. Here the rule of terror
of the Zealots had begun with John of Gischala and had soon led
to self-laceration under three party leaders (John, Simon Bar Giorar
and Eleazar), till, shortly before the Passover of 70 A.P. Titus
enclosed the city, and now step by step the grisly drama pr<_
ceeded, till amid famine, blood and flames, Jerusalem fell (August 1C
70i. According to Sulp. $ev., who had before him and made use
of the part of Tacitus' Hixtorien which is lost, Titus himself — in
contradiction to the well-known saying of Josephus — had decided
on the destruction of the Temple, and indeed on the entire destruc-
tion of the Jewish and Christian religion : qitippe //</* religioner
licet contrarian */&/. iixdem fa men auctorilxix profecta* ; Chrixtianos
ex Judceis extitiftw : radice xiiHahi xfirpem facile pei-ituram. Tacitus
may have had his information from the book De Judtvi* of Antonius-
Julianus, who himself belonged to Titus' council of war (cf. Mill.
Fel.. Oct. 33). Orosius also asserts, probably basing on Tacitus :
Y/VM.V — templum—incendit. The surviving prisoners were sacrificed
in fights with beasts and gladiators at the games, or had to glorify
the triumphal procession of Vespasian and' Titus 71), on which
occasion the sacred vessels of the Temple were also carried in triumph
(vid. the Arch of Titus).

3. When the Jewish Christians of tin- Holy Land saw this destiny
of their nation in preparation and step by step in process of realisa-
tion, they without donU sympathised with their people. The
news of the Neronic persecution of the Christians in Rome must
have strengthened the feeling common to both Jews and Christians,
of the enmity to God of the Gentile world-power ; but on the other
hand, they felt themselves to be distinct from their fellow-country-
men who had despised Jesus and now expected their political
saviours. The Christians, set free from menaces fas in the death of
James . on the other hand also from enticements to fall away from
their faith, began to regard the rise of the terrors of war as the
times of trouble before the return of the Messiah, and the prophecies
of Jesus Ins so-called eschatological speeches, Matt, xxiv., cf. x.
17 sqq. ; Mark xiii. 1-37: Luke \-\j. ."> ;3(J) which exhorted them
to flee in the time when the abomination of desolation should stand
in the holy place (cf. P>. WEISS, <l. Maffh. Er. a. 8. /,//<v/.s-/V//v///.,
187(!. p. 004 sqq.) began to be agitated among them (at that time
probably recorded not in "the broad-side of the small Apoca-
lypse," but in the \6yia Kvpt'ov of Mat'hc\v. tho apostolic BOUT
of our synoptic (i..sp,-'s). The time seemed no\v < ome for the
Messianic community to sep irate itself from the f.d>e hcpo of

THE APOCALYPSE. 81

its people. According to EUSEBIUS (H.E. 3, 3, 5) a revelation was
vouchsafed to the community at Jerusalem, to flee to Pella in
Peraea (to the mountains;.

4. But that Christians outside of Palestine were not less influenced
by the impression made by these events and their religious treat-
ment is shown by the REVELATION OP JOHN (we shall let pass here
the question of authorship), which was composed in living relation-
ship to the circumstances of Asia Minor a few years after Nero's
death, but before the final destruction of Jerusalem itself. The
eye of faith, under the impression of the Neronic persecution on the
one hand, and of the continuously advancing final fortunes of the
Jewish nation on the other, is directed towards the return of Christ.
A picture is unfolded of the Divine judgment on the Gentiles,
the afflictions of believers before their final perfection, the hostile
appearance of the Gentile world-power destined to final overthrow,
and its seductive world-spirit (the false prophet), in contrast with
the community of God, which bears the kingdom of God in its
bosom and which is regarded as the legitimate continuation of the
ancient covenant people, the true Israel, the ideal nation of the
twelve tribes which is drawn from all the nations of the earth
(Rev. vii. 4 sqq. ; ix. sq. ; xiv. 3), while the unbelieving Jews are the
synagogue of Satan (ii. 9 ; iii. 9).

In the sphere of influence of the mission of Paul (of. the letters
to the seven churches), or at least in lively relationship to that
sphere, there here appears a conception of Christianity which is
related to that of the original apostles. Though by no means
filled with hostility to the Pauline gospel, and especially not with
Pharisaic zeal for the law, much less of hatred of Paul as a false
apostle (mistaken interpretation of ii. 2), it nevertheless makes a
special stand against heathen impurities of life (here following the
standpoint of the Apostolic Decree, vid. ii. 14.20) and against a false
doctrine which gives itself out as a deeper wisdom (ii. 27), alluding
to the pressing in of false speculation.

In the above the essential unity of the Book of Revelation is presupposed.
At the same time the probability of a revision or rather combination of its
component parts is not entirely to be denied, although the hypothesis of repeated
revision of a fundamental original Apocalypse has been advanced unconvin-
cingly by D. VOELTER (Die Enst. d. Apok.. 2nd ed., Freib., 1885), and however
great a failure the attempt of F. VISCHER (Harnack and Gebhardt's Texte u.
Untersuchungen, ii. 3, 1886) to prove it to be a Jewish book with a Christian
revision, appears to be. For the conception of it hitherto, cf. "W. BEYSCHLAO in
StKr. 1888.

82 CHURCH HISTORY.

1. Christianity in the Roman World under the Flavians.

Literature: A. HAUSRATH, Neutestamentl. Zeitgesch., 2nd ed., vol. 4, 1877;
EENAN (p. 26), vol. 5.

The far-reaching activity of Paul probably closed with his mar-
tyrdom at the time of the Neronic persecution, and therefore before
any release or so-called second imprisonment. Peter, whose arrival
at Rome is strictly to be maintained, was likewise called away by a
martyr's death, if not in the Neronic persecution then not very long
after. If this be the case, and if our first Epistle of Peter is his work,
Peter, although he had formerly regarded the mission to the Jews
as his special task, must have turned, in the further developments
after the close of Paul's missionary activity, to the missionary
sphere of the latter and received important influences from him.
The activity of most of the rest of the Twelve and its result arc
lost in quite uncertain darkness. AXDRKW, the brother of Peter,
is said to have received Scythia as his mission field (Euseb. 3,
1) ; hence he is regarded as the Apostle of the Russians. On the
other hand the A eta Andrea* (Tischendorff. Acfn ap., 105 sqq.) would
point to an activity in Achaia. BAKTHOLOMKAV is said to have
worked in India. THOMAS, there and in Parthia. In the saying- as
to PHILIP, reminiscences of Philip the EVAXCKLIST (Acts vi. 5 ; vii. 5
sqq. ; xxi. sq.) are mixed up with those of t lie Apostle : activity in
Hierapolis and Phrygia. MATTHEW is certainly for a long period to
be found on Palestinian soil, but as to his further lot we have only
late and quite discordant and worthless legends. THADD.EUS (Judas
Lebbfeus) seems to have worked in the Syrian East; the Edessene
tradition gives Thaddifiis or AHdai a place as one of the seveniy-
two disciples.

Let us leave out of account the only individual who reaches down
to the close of the century as a certain historical figure. .John the
son of Zebedee, and seek out the other historical traces of Christianity
in the time after the Neronic persecution and the Jewish war. The
Christianity which is represented by the Revelation of John and pre-
supposed to exist in the sphere of Pauline activity in Asia Minor,
(p. 81 sq.) does indeed bear the forms of this Jewish-apocalyptic
conception, sees in the Christian community the true ideal people
of the twelve tribes, and in opposition to Gentile customs and im-
moralities connected with idolatry, takes the side of Jewish customs,
but not otherwise than in the spirit of numerous Gentile proselytes
and of the Apostolic Decree and the abstinence ,dso recommended by
Paul. The controversy on the law and circumcision which Paul
•conducted with his Pharisaic opponents has fallen dumb: nothing

CHRISTIANITY UNDER THE FLAVIANS. 83

points to the vindication of such Jewish legal demands, nor does
anything indeed point to the sharp formulation, determined by
opposition, of Paul's gospel of faith free from the law. How far
tendencies of the former sort still held ground we do not know ;
but dominating or preponderating they cannot have been in this
Gentile Christian sphere. As, however, in the later Pauline Epistles
the belief in the exalted Christ has led to the retrospective expres-
sion of the view of faith in the unique and world-comprehending im-
portance of Christ in His supramundane and premundane Divine
existence, so also in the Apocalypse, the Messiah Jesus in His Divine
glory appears at once as the beginning of all creations of God (iii.
14), the First and the Last, indeed as the personified Word of God
(Xo7o? xix. 13, mainly of course as the fulfiller of the Divine will).
And as, for Paul, the universality of the proclamation of Christianity
is based on the saving significance of the death of Christ, so in the
Apocalypse He is the slain Lamb, around whom the community out
of all the nations of the earth is gathered, the number of those who
have made their garments white in the blood of the Lamb and by
the blood of the Lamb have conquered Satan.

Alongside of the province of Asia Minor, Rome very early
attains to an outstanding importance for young Christianity. If,
as we have supposed, the community here which emancipated itself
from the synagogue was mainly recruited from among the proselyte
circles which had formed themselves around the Jewish synagogue,
if Paul during the years of his captivity, and Peter also influenced
this preponderatingly Gentile-Christian community, we must, how-
ever, by no means undervalue for the Christian community the
continuous influence of Judaism on the Roman world, an influence
which was not lessened but rather increased by the destruction of
Jerusalem. Many thousands of Jewish captives had arrived here
and been sold as slaves — Rome was the greatest Jewish city in the
Empire. Vespasian and Titus, as destroyers of the sanctuary, were
no doubt an object of hatred to the Jews, but they exercised no
oppression ; indeed the Jewish war had brought them into closer
relations with numerous Jewish persons, who, like Justus of Tiberias
(Jos., Vita, 65) and Josephus, had made their peace with Rome and
were on good terms with the Herodian Agrippa II. and his notorious
sister Berenice, the mistress of Titus. Just at that time Judaism
must have played a part of higher importance, have made an
impression on Gentile minds and gained proselytes (vid. Juvenal) ;
and in part it was an enlightened and liberal Judaism. Jewish
Hellenism had already long availed itself of the weapons of Hellenic

84 CHURCH HISTORY.

philosophy and science (history, poetry, even drama, p. 43 sq.) in
order to exalt the Jewish faith, but at the same time to annex
Hellenic conceptions and to allow the ceremonial aspect to recede
behind the essence of a monotheistic morality. Under this stimulus
there was consequently developed a proselytisrn, which was indeed
attracted by that monotheism and the belief in providence and
prophecy and the moral ideas allied therewith, and which also had
a strong tendency to Jewish customs and festivals — especially the
keeping of the Sabbath — but which remained far from binding itself
to a strictly legal way of life in circumcision etc. ^Jos., c. Ap., II.
32, cf. SCHURER p. 645). We may suppose that Roman Christianity
not only also appeared in the character of such a proselytisin, but
also retained from it a certain Jewish colouring.

In proportion as the distance in time from the beginnings of the
preaching increased and the voices of the outstanding witnesses
fell dumb, the need arose of fixing in writing the evangelical
preaching of Jesus the Messiah. In this way, accoi'ding to Papias
\(t/>. Kuseb. 3. •"••J . Mark, i.e. John Mark, the Jew by birth I Acts rii.
12 1 and nephew of Barnabas (Col. iv. 10i, tin- spiritual son of Peter
(1 Peter v. 13; cf. Acts /xissiii/ ', but who also stood in friendly
relations with Paul 'after a previous conflict, Acts xv. 38) in his
mission sphere in Asia Minor, as Peter's hermeneut or interpreter,
gathered together the evangelical preaching from reminiscences of
the preaching of Peter. Apart even from the not improbable but
still doubtful interpretation of Babylon, 1 Peter v. 13, as Romer
ancient tradition points to Rome for the composition of this Gospel
taken by M;irk from the mouth of Peter (the earlier Presbyters of
Clem. Alex.. «j>. Kir-"l>. fi. 14). The proof of Jesus' Mes<iahship is
here specially adduced for Gentile Christian readers from His miracles,
with the single exception of i. "2 sq.. quite without reference to Old
Testament prophecy, while Jewish customs and places, and Aramaic
words are explainer! to the reader who is unacquainted with them:
many points only significant to the Jewish reader are disregarded.

The Gospel of Mark was indeed not written till after the death
of Peter (according to the most natural conception of the words of
Papias confirmed by Irenams I.e.; otherwis • (Mem. Alex. I.e.) but
probably soon after it, namely, still before the d.-st a of Jeru-

salem as the form of the prophecy of Jesus as to the last things, cf.
chap. xiii. '2 1. ."><>. •'<•'>, seems to show..

( "it of the eircles of primitive Christianity there had \ pro-

ceeded through the instrument a liiy of the • M \.im\v Hie

collection of " Logia " in the Hebrew language mentioned al

GOSPELS OF MATTHEW AND LUKE. 85

(p. 82; ; now, not very long after the destruction of Jerusalem, a
Jewish Christian, though certainly scarcely a Palestinian, but some-
one belonging to the Diaspora and in it in intercourse with Gentile
Christians, restored the Greek Gospel which now bears the name
of Matthew, on the basis of Mark and the former apostolic original
document, for the purpose of proving that Jesus had appeared as
the Messiah. This Gospel perhaps already betrays acquaintance
with the Revelation of John.1

The judgment which had fallen upon Jerusalem and the Holy
Land had heightened the objections which were presented to the
Jews who believed in the Messiah by the lagging of the Jewish peo-
ple behind the Gentiles who received the faith. Israel seems to be
deserted by God, and yet its King of David's race has appeared, in
•whose fortunes the prophecies of Scripture, from David onwards, are
fulfilled, in which, however, there is also already a glimpse of the
persecution by the leaders of His people, and on the other hand of
the willingness and desire of the Gentile world according to its
light. Therefore the Gospel proclaims that the nation, betrayed by
its leaders, shall itself bear the blame of the misfortunes foreseen
by Jesus, in consequence of which the kingdom shall be taken from
the Jews and given to the Gentiles (xxi. 43). For that reason the
idea of the kingdom of God, conceived under national and theocratic
forms, here begins to be transformed into that of a kingdom whose
complete realisation can only be hereafter, and of which the Messi-
anic community (e«:«X?;cr4a), which is arising out of the national
community, is the preparation here. And although Jesus recog-
nises the Law of the Old Covenant in its whole extent ( v. 17;, and
•only rejects the Pharisaic tradition (xv. 13), and also presupposes
the observance of the law by His disciples, at the same time the
spiritual and deeper conception of morality, which at the same
time involves emancipation from the slavery of the letter, breaks
through the limits, and Jesus prophesies the destruction of the
Temple, and therewith a great portion of the life of the law. and
in Christ's commands (Matt, xxviii. 20) the free moral kernel of
all Divine commands comes out as the righteousness of the king-
dom of God for Gentiles and Jews. The number of attempts to
give a literary form to the proclamation of the miraculous life of
Jesus, with its saving power and effect, increased. A consider-
able number of them are glanced back at by the author of our
third Gospel, LUKE, the born Gentile (Col. iv. 14, of. ver. 11), the

1 Vid. attempt at a sort of restoration of the original " Logia " of Matthew
irom Matthew and Luke, «/>. WENUT, Lehre Jesu, i. 44,

86 CHURCH HISTORY.

physician, who became an important companion of Paul and the
witness of a great part of Paul's activity. He now makes it his object
to investigate the tradition of the eye-witnesses, and to give a com-
plete history of the life of Jesus, making use of already existing
written portraits, especially using Mark and the apostolic source,
but other sources also along with them. To this history there is
linked on the same author's Acts of the Apostles. On the Gospel
his Pauline universalism is distinctly stamped, without in the least
repressing the strongly Jewish-Christian colouring of a portion of
the tradition. The note, which so frequently echoes through the
Gospel, of the oppressed and suffering condition of the Christians,
suggests the time of Domitian (81-96), to which approximately the
different traces point, without the possibility of fixing exactly the
time when it originated. At the same time it is quite possible to
i.ribute the Gospel to the seventies, and the Acts of the Apostles
to about 80. The important work, the Acts of the Apostles, shows
us how the ideal picture of the original community presented itself
al this time to a Gentile Christian on the basis of living tradition,
and h"W. in the common Christian opinion of the Christian Roman
world of that age, even the struggles and conflicts of the primitive
time involuntarily assumed n mitigated aspect. We have in it, not
a Ti-,itl<-,i::sfliril't. which seeks to balance oppositions of the present
from a party standpoint by lighting up ami correcting the primi-
tive history, but a repivsentat i >n. based on correct tradition. "I
the measure of fundamental unity which really existed between
Paul and the original apost !.•. and (,n tin- practical mutual under-
standing actually tinned in conllict. In its conception it is in-
voluntarily dominated by th nsciousm-ss of a present, in \\hich.

apart from the exclusive KMonites <>t the East, the relations of tin-
con verted Gentiles to the converted Jews had become ever Less
difficult, through the fact that the so-to-say liberal .Judaism \va,s
reinforced from the side of Gentile Christianity by that inclination
to attachment to certain Jewish customs, which was equally distant
from the stringent principle of Paul's standpoint and from tie-
Pharisaic point of view, and which arose ..ut of the original condi-
tions of the proselyte life.

il'-n<e is explained the fact that, although the Christians in the
time of Xei-o had already attracted attention as a special sect inside
of Judaism, in the time of Domitian they could still be classed by
the Roman world along with the Jews, although the l.orn .b-\\s
among them in the K'oman world were certainly in a great minority.
The hard measures against the Jews which were :;ik.-n by Domitian

DOMITILLA. CLEMENT OF ROME. 87

(81-96) affected the Christians also. Inasmuch as the fiscus
Judaicus, the Jewish Temple-tax, which had now been assigned to
Jupiter Capitolirius, was most rigorously exacted, not only were
those Jews ferreted out who sought to evade it by concealing their
nationality, but those persons in Rome who, without professing
Judaism, lived like Jews, were denounced, with success (qui vet
improfessi Judaicam infra nrbem viverent vitam, Suet., Dom., 12).
This struck, along with many others, Gentiles who felt attracted
to the synagogue and its Divine worship, kept the Sabbath, abstained
from meat offered to idols and other impurities (also from the eating
of swine's flesh, Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 96 sqq.), at the Christians also.
Near relations of the Emperor, the Consular FLAVIUS CLEMENS
and his wife FLAVIA DOMITILLA were condemned by Domitian.
Flavius Clemens, according to Suetonius, on account of a trivial sus-
picion (contemtixsimaz inert ice, Suet. c. 15), according to Dion Cassius-
(Xiplril., ep. 67, 14), on account of adeor^ and inclination to Jewish
customs, was put to death, and Domitilla was banished. Christian
tradition (Euseb., Chron., p. 160, Schone's ed., on the authority of
the historian Brettius or Bruttius so nearly contemporary ; H.E. iii.
18, 2 ; here, however, the banished Domitilla is designated the niece
of the Consul) regards them as Christians, for which much may be
said. The "utterly contemptible indolence'' (cf. Tert., Apol., 42 :
infructuosi in negotiis dicimur) would be the mark of a man who,
mastered by the faith alien to the world, had turned away both
from the gods of Rome and worldly affairs to an image-less worship
of God and a retired life. Later tradition (Jerome, Ad Euxtoch.,
ep. 86) pointed out a small island on the west coast of Italy as the
place of banishment of a Christian Domitilla. And the discovery
of the family burying-place of Domitilla, not far from the burying-
place of the Roman bishops of the second and third centuries, and
with Christian traces (DE Rossi, KKAUS, R. Soft., p. 41 sqq.) confirms
the probability that Christianity had found access to members
of the Flavian family (cf. HASENCLEVER in JprTh. 1882). For the
rest, confusion remains as to the person of the Domitilla in question,
wife or niece of the Consul.

About the same time there emerges in a remarkable manner at
Rome the form of that CLEMENT OF ROME, whom tradition makes
bishop of Rome, i.e. whom we must regard as an outstanding pres-
byter of the Roman community. According to HEGESIPPUS and
IEEN^EUS he lived in Rome in the last decade of the first centuryr
and was early, but certainly incorrectly, regarded as the person
referred to by Paul," Phil. iv. 3 (Grig.). The epistle of the Roman

88 CHURCH HISTORY.

community to the Corinthian bears the name of Clement in the
superscription (Cod. Const.), but the address bears that of the Roman
community. Bishop Dionysius of Corinth, however (Eus., H.E.
4, 23), in the middle of the second century already names Clement
as the author. The identification of this Roman presbyter (bishop)
with the T. Fl. Cl. mentioned above obviously suggests itself, but
weighty considerations are against it (vid. Proll. in HARNACK and
GEBHARDT'S edition of the Apostolic Fathers, and FUNK in ThQ.
61, 4 [1879], p. 531 sqq., and in his edition of the Apostolic Fathers).
The epistle, written at the end of the period of Domitiaii (81-1K3),
or probably shortly after his death and therefore under Nerva,
refers to calamities (ch. i.) which the Christians have suffered.
These are to be considered as not only the Neronic persecution,
but probably also the vexations under Domitian. For the rest, the
epistle leaves us to suppose a regulated condition of the Roman
community; we also perceive that the Roman community is con-
scious that it is possessed of a certain weight with other com-
munities, seeing that it calls the Corinthian community to account
for the unlawful setting aside of the elders of the community there.
The exhortations to unity and subordination to their presb}'ters are
prefaced by moral ami religious exhortations of a general kind. In
general the author moves amid the apostolic-catholic fundamental
conceptions, recalls in particular the heroic careers of the Apostles
Peter and Paul, shows the influence of the Pauline doctrine in Ins
representation of Christ and the doctrine of justification, without
maintaining the latter in its i heoretic stringency and exclusiveness,
faith and works being put ingenuously alongside of one another in
the doctrine of salvation; he also gives us glimpses into the con-
dition of church organization a-iil. infra).

Tliis is one of the most iui|M>rt;mt monuments of ancient Christianity, till
our time only known from the important Creek MS. of the Bible. <'oi>.
ALKXANHI:IM-S after the Revelation of John) from which Pat He ins .Inn ins lirst
published if, Oxford, UI33. In it the end is want in-, which we have only come
to kno\v by the discovery at Constantinople of a new complete MS. belonging
to the year 10r>i;, by the Greek Metropolitan I'hilotheos Bryennios (published
1ST.")!. To the name of Clement, which was h^hly regarded throughout
Christendom, a pseudonymous literature lias attached itself, that of the so-
called Clementines, preserved in the Clementine Homilies ..Creek) and t he
Recognitions, etc. (ri<l. inl'rd). besides t\vo much later interpolated epistles
on the virgin life preserved in Syriac. The so-called Second Epistle of
Clement to the Corinthians (in our collection of the Ap. Fathers:, really not an
epistle at all but a homily, itself makes no claim to be by Clement : the frag-
ment however a] ipears to have been early attributed fco Lim. at least Kn-eb.. U.K.
'•. :;s. knows, besides the famon-s letter, of another Attributed to him with doubt-

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 89

ful correctness, which, is probably to be referred to our one. It appears to be
quoted as an epistle of Clement to the Corinthians in Pseudo-Justin's Qucest. et
Rexp. ad Orthodox., 74 (vid. however, OTTO ad h.l. Op}). Just. F., p. 108 sq. annot.).
This fragment is also contained complete in the MS. of BRVRNNIOS (vid. infra).

Among the writings most frequently made use of in the epistle
of Clement is the Epistle to the Hebrews, a monument of the second
Christian generation (ii. 3 ; xiii. 7) of great importance in other
respects, and not necessarily to be placed before the destruction
of Jerusalem. The author is a Jewish Christian of Hellenistic
culture, not a Paulinist, but one who, starting from the apostolic
primitive Christian standpoint, has attained entire freedom from all
Judaistic elements. He regards the Christians as the direct con-
tinuation of the Old Testament people of God, and the gospel of
Christ as the completion of the Old Testament institution of salva-
tion, which in itself was imperfect ; sees especially in the O.T.
priesthood and sacrificial arrangements (with an abundant applica-
tion of the theory of types), the imperfect and shadowy types of
the complete redemption through Christ, regards the latter as the
•closing of the perfect revelation and reconciliation, and from this
standpoint warns Jewish Christian readers against falling away
from their original lively faith ; anticipating the danger of Christians
becoming lukewarm, he is obliged to warn them against desertion
of the Christian assemblies, which had already become customary
with many (x. '25). The hypothesis formerly dominant, that the
•epistle was intended for Palestinian Jewish Christians who were in
•danger of falling back into Judaism, seems somewhat shaken by
recent investigations. The question is not so much of falling back
into legal Judaism, as of religious lukewarmness in general, which,
particularly under attack and persecution, is in danger of turning
away from belief altogether. But the epistle is important and of
great consequence on account of the Hellenistic culture of the author,
by means of which he understands how to. cast much light on the
O.T. from his Christian standpoint, and so peculiarly paves the way
for Christian scriptural learning.

If we follow the First Epistle of Clement, and in addition to it
take further the special evidence of the so-called Pastoral Epistles,
it becomes possible to draw certain conclusions and express certain
.surmises with regard to the further development of the state of
church organization. The Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles,
at least in their present form, lies open in actual fact to most cogent
scruples from most various sides. What can be said, on prudent
deliberation, in favour of the Pauline authorship with full recognition

90 CHURCH HISTORY.

of the great considerations against these epistles, is now shown by
WEISS (Meyer's Comm., 5th ed., but an entirely new work ; of. also
E. KUHL, Die Gemeindeordnung in den Pastoralbriefen, Berlin, 1885) •
on the other hand it is impossible to bring them down beyond the
close of the first century.

The Epistle of Clement asserts (chap. 42 sqq.), in desiderating
order and subordination in the community, and adducing therefor
the example both of military subordination and of the definite fixed
Old Testament priestly functions performed by definite persons at
definite times, that the apostles, entrusted by Christ Himself with
the gospel, had instituted in individual localities the approved first-
ling's of their converts as bishops and deacons of the future believers.
They had, however, foreseen that strife would arise over this over-
seership (liri rov 6]'6/j,aro^ r?;? eVicr/coTr?/?) , and hence had also made
arrangements with regard to it for the future, that after the death
of those whom they had instituted other approved men should
succeed them in their service t\€irovpyui). It would be unlawful
and sinful, to set aside such persons, either instituted by the
apostles or subsequently l>y other notable individuals with the ap-
proval of the whole community, and who blamelessly performed l
their service (Xeirovpyta') to the iloek of Christ. The presbyters al-
ready fallen aslr.-p are accounted happy in not having survived to
experience this.

We may arrordiugly suppose, that ..iu of the original personal
position of outstanding first fruits of tin- communities i <•///. xii/mi, p.
64 si|.|.! who had been recognised in their position of leadership l.\
Paul and th ..iniissi.med by him, there has been developed a

permanent < < <\\L_ : egat ional ofiice of the eldership as appointed by the
community, in which the next generation with good grounds
recognised an order desired by the Apostle, and that the manner
in which the Corinthian community had displaced elders from their
position appeared to the more aristocratic Roman community as a
violation of this good order. A- the office of these presb\ -NT.- is
itself designated as eVto-/ro7r>/, and as. in the Pastoral Epistlrs. the
same persons in .1 recognised measure are called now Presbyter and
again Bishop Tit. i. •"». 7: 1 Tim. iii.l: iv. 14: v. IT-l'J) — alongside of
whom with similar requirements stand the Deacons -we shall be
inclined to see in Bishops Presbyters and Deacons the same instru-

1 According to the fundamental underlying figure of the priest, it. is .^;(\<\ of
them that they offer up the i;iit-- .if their oversecrship ; hy thi.> is hardly to !».•
understood t h. .-rist: tlieir services to the community arc the sacrificial

i;ifts wliic.h t ln-y nflcr up.

JOHN AND THE CHURCH IN ASIA MINOR. 91

ments of churchly Kvfiepvijaets and avn\i]^e^ as we have already
seen in the Epistle to the Philippians. On the other hand the
•f)yovfj,evoi (Heb. xiii. 7) now appear, not on the side of the fixed
congregational office, but plainly on the side of the Prophets and
Teachers (cf. Acts xv. 22, 32), whose vocation rests not upon the
calling of the community but on the evidence of the Spirit.

8. The Apostle John and the Church of Asia Minor.

Literature: The literature of the Johannine controversy, vid. ap. B. WEISS.
Einl. iris N.T., p. 586 sqq. ; HOLTZMANN, Lehrb. der Einl. iris N.T., 1885,
p. 419 sqq. As to John's stay at Ephesus, vid. against KEIM, Gesch. Jemi
von Naz., I. (1801) ; SCHOLTEN, Der Apostel Johannes in Kleinasien, 1872 ;
and HOLTZMAXX, in Schenkel's BL. (Johannes), especially STEITZ, in StKr.
1868, 3; HILGENFELD. Einl. iris N.T., 1875, p. 394, sqq.; KRENKEL, Der
Apostel Johannes, 1871, and many others.

One out of the number of the original twelve, John the son of
Zebedee must have survived pretty well on into this period, until
the last decade of the century; at first as one of the pillars of the
community at Jerusalem (Gal. ii. 9), how long we do not know.
Acts xxi. is silent regarding him, also in Acts xv. when he was
certainly at Jerusalem, he is not mentioned ; perhaps at the be-
ginning of the Jewish war, perhaps even earlier, in any case after
the close of Paul's personal activity in Asia Minor (58), he appears
in Ephesus as the head of the Church in Asia Minor. The tra-
dition of a banishment to Patmos under Domitiaii seems to have
originated in Rev. i. 9 ; there is no historical foundation for the
legend of his martyrdom by boiling oil at Rome (Tertull., Prceso:,
36). Polycrates of Ephesus, who knows his grave in Ephesus,
designates him (Epistle to Bishop Victor of Rome) one of the great
lights of Asia, a Priest who has worn the high-priestly fillet, a
witness and teacher. The first epithet may be regarded as a
designation of his exalted position as over-pastor (Euseb., 3. 31, 5, 2
sqq.). In Asia Minor John had to keep down both Jewish and
Gentile false doctrines, and held the church together with burning
zeal (the meeting with Cerinthus at the bath, Iren, Hcer., 3, 3. 4) ;
his zealous love sought out the lost (Clem., Quit cliv. salv., 42) ; he
died under Trajan at a great age with the bequest of love on his lips.

The attempt to overthrow the whole ecclesiastical tradition of the
activity of John in Ephesus and in Asia Minor in general, and to
refer it to a confusion with the Presbyter John (Eus. 3, 39), as
made first by LUTZELBEKGER, and more recently by SCHOLTEN. KKIM
and others, does violence to historical traditions (vid. against it
briefly MEYER-WEISS. Comm. z. En. Jo/?., p. 3). The question is in-

92 CHURCH HISTORY.

volved with that of the authorship of the Revelation of John and
of the Gospel and of the mutual relations of the two. If the
Apocalypse is by the Apostle John (from which presupposition as
a starting-point Baur's criticism against the Gospel operated), it
naturally attests John's activity in Asia Minor (hence the criticism
of Scholten and Keim gives up this position) ; but even if it were
the work of the Presbyter, who is certainly to be distinguished
from the Apostle, the ecclesiastical tradition which ascribes it to the
Apostle can only be founded on general knowledge that his sphere
of work was in Asia Minor. Of course the Gospel of John shows
an essentially different character of conception, and would point, if
the Apocalypse and the Gospel were written by the same Aposii". 10
a very significant inner advance within a few decades, which, though
indeed not absolutely impossible, would be a most remarkable phe-
nomenon, and one which from the nature of the case it is impossible
stringently to demonstrate. The Gospel. however, must undoubti dly
have been regarded as the distinct impress of Johannine tradition,
consequently as Johannine in a more secondary sense, even though
the authorship by the Apostle himself could not be victoriously
maintained.

If at the time of the Apostolic Council John still looked upon him-
self as an Apostle of the Jews (i,d. ii. '. i . the catastrophes which
overtook Jerusalem, the fellow-hip which was entered into with Paul,
the entry into the Asiatic sphere of the latter, and on the other hand
the increasing embittermenl ot the Jews may perhaps have led him,
as perhaps also Peter, beyond that standpoint, and at the same,
time may have matured in the important sphere of Asia Minor,
views such as we lind developed in the Gospel. They are. indeed,
thoroughly and entirely rooted in Old Testament ideas, and conceive
of Jesus and His work in thoroughly organic connection with the
Old Testament revelation, and there, is nothing which they less
exhibit than an anti-Judaism which should emancipate itself from
the Old Testament. But the actual fact that the Jews, as a whole,
had hardened themselves against the gospel of Jesus, and that a
community of believers from the whole world, without regard to
national descent, had found sonship in faith on Jesus, causes the
Apostle to speak of -'the Jews'' as aliens, representative of the
world which is alienated from God. To him also .Ie.Mi> is the
Messiah : but the relation of sonship to the heavenly Father is
deepened into a conception of the perfect, sell- presentation of <«od
in the Son. the Messiah, and the relationship receives a tran-
scendent background in the notion of the original being of the Son

THE LOGOS.

93

with the Father, of His unity with Him ; He becomes the Eternal
Son of God, and the elucidatory conception for this relationship is
afforded by the idea of the Logos.

These expressions do not start from a priori speculation as to
the being of God and His eternal disclosure in the Logos as the
principle of revelation ; but, as in the case of Paul and the Epistle
to the Hebrews conclusions are deduced backwards from faith in
the exalted Christ to the eternal divine being of the Son, so in
the Gospel of John, starting from the impression of the personality
of Jesus as the most immediate manifestation of God, there is a
contemplative ascent to a pre-temporal or eternal existence in God.
At the same time it is always very possible, that the expression
Logos, which is not put into the mouth of Jesus Himself, but only
used by the evangelist to explain the secret, may have been taken
from the Alexandrian Jewish philosophy of religion, since it is not
purely Hellenic, but a Hellenistic- Jewish expression, which is partly
rooted in a Jewish theology based on Old Testament ideas. At
all events, apart from the ideas which moved Hellenistic Jewish
circles, it may well be directly and entirely derived from the Old
Testament (creative word of God, etc. So WEISS and FEANKK,
d. A.T. &. Joh.} ; but the manner of its introduction makes it appear
like a definite and known terminus techmcus. The correct observa-
tion also, that the Johannine representation of this Logos by no
means coincides with the special Philonic speculation, does not at all
exclude the possibility that it was taken up from the consciousness
of the age in the circles of Hellenistic Judaism. To me the ques-
tion is an open one. If the Messiah thus reveals Himself as the only
begotten Son of the Father, who is seen in the Son as the Word
become flesh, the Life which has appeared, the main weight for the
apprehension of Christian salvation falls not so much 011 the hope of
the future coming of the (Messianic) kingdom of God — although this
is not set aside — but on the eternal life which has already appeared
in Christ and which is to be appropriated by believers, and which
has already triumphed over death.

Both ecclesiastical tradition as to John (his meeting with
CERINTHUS, Iren., Adv. Hceres., 3, 3, 4, of. Euseb. 4, 14, 6 and 3, 28, 6)
and allusions in the first Epistle already point to conflicts of the
Apostle with false teachers (enemies of God— Antichrists, who deny
that Christ has appeared in the flesh), in which the beginnings of
Gnosticism are to be recognised, and it is just in a spiritual
struggle excited in this way that we may find the explanation of
the speculative tendency of the Gospel of John (vid. in/'.}.

•94 CHURCH HISTORY.

FIRST PERIOD.— SECOND PART.

The Post-apostolic Age down to the emergence of the fixed
forms of the Ancient Catholic Church.

1. Unbelieving Judaism.

-Literature: MUNTER, Der jitdi^-lK- Kritg intfer Trajan innl Hadrian. Alt. and
.Leipsic. 1821. The general works on Jewish History, vid. sup., p. 32; and
H. L. STRACK, Thalmud (RE. 18, 297 sqq.).

JERUSALEM was destroyed, the Holy Land down-trodden; !>7.»>i)0
captives were carried off, part of whom went forth to perpetual
imprisonment in the mines, part were worn away in combats with
beasts and in public works. The whole province was confis-
cated to the Emperor, and parcelled out for sale or the use of
veterans. The contribution, which till now had been sent in by
all Jews of the Roman Empire to the Temple at Jerusalem (the
Temple-tax), was now to be paid to Jupiter Capitolinus, i.e. to the
imperial treasury. This led next 1«» extortions, and especially under
Domitian to espionage directed against those Jews who sought to
escape the tax by denial of their nationality itVto-Trao-fids0). The
fearful war also resulted here and there in tin- (Hellenic) Diaspora
"in outbursts of hatred against the Jews; scattered remains of tin-
party of the Zealots were suppressed in Egypt and Gyrene.

After the war, however, forbearance was exercised towards the
remainder who stayed in the country ; the powerfully spread Dia<-
pora (the Eastern. Semitic, and the Western, Hellenic secured the
continued existence of Jewish life, \\liieh in its religion possessed
a tenacious vitality. A dark grudge against the Roman deso-
lator of the sanctuary led under TKA.IAN to a frightful insunvetion.
While Trajan was busied against the Panhians in the East, and
after the first and not very productive expedition had sent con-
siderable forces to the East, the Jewish rebellion firs' raised its
bloody head in C3^renaica and Egypt. The fanatic Jews perpe-
trated incredible atrocities, which were reciprocated by the Greeks
in Egypt when they gained the upper hand. Simultaneously the
insurrection raged in Cyprus (over 200,000 Greeks are said to have
perished in Cyrenaica, and as many in Cyprus j. So also the .lews
iii Mesopotamia rose, until the Mauretanian prince Lusms \iuietus,
at the command of Trajan repressed the insurrection with wild
ferocity (Marcus Turbo in Cyrenaica ; how and by whom the ivpre-
sion followed in Cyprus is unknown). Whether Palestine already
took part in the revolt at this time is unknown : at all events, peace

REVOLT OF BARCOCHBA.

95

was re-established in the first year of Hadrian.1 HADEIAN'S initial
forbearance and gentleness filled the Jews with hope (even with
that of the restoration of the Temple, cf. Ep. Barnab. c. 16), but
soon gave place to an opposite method of procedure : in stead
of Jerusalem there was to be raised a new pagan city with a
pagan temple ; he forbade circumcision (as appears not in conse-
quence of the revolt, but these regulations contributed to calling it
forth). Then in A.D. 132 there broke loose the revolt of the pseudo-
Messiah Barcochba (son of the star, according to Num. xxiv. 17 ;
after his failure, Barcosiba), who was recognised as the Messiah by
the celebrated teacher of the law, Rabbi Akiba (who by his jour-
neys spurred up religious fanaticism). The Procurator T. Annius
Eufus was unable to master the revolt, which rapidly spread over
all Palestine, including Jerusalem 2 itself ; it was only Julius
Severus, called in from Britain, who gradually succeeded in con-
fining it to the fortress of Bitthir, not far from Jerusalem, and
destroyed the latter, when Barcochba lost his life (135 A.D.). The
losses of the Romans were great, but Judea had again become a
wilderness. Jerusalem, now ^Elia Capitolina, becomes a city with
pagan edifices and temples ; Jews are forbidden access to it ; harsh
commands are issued against the exercise of the Jewish religion ;
circumcision, the celebration of the Sabbath, and the teaching of the
law are forbidden ; espionage directs itself against acts of religious
significance. Under this pressure an assembly of Jewish scholars
under Akiba at Lydda, resolved to permit transgressions of the law
to the people in order to preserve it (only not idolatry, incest and
murder). Akiba himself and others were executed. With the
death of Hadrian the persecutions and the prohibition of circum-
cision ceased ; but even Antoninus Pius renewed the prohibition to
visit Jerusalem (not till the post-Constantinian age does this cease).
With the subversion of political existence, the learned schools of
Jaw now acquire a great importance for the future, as a dominant

1 VOLKMAR, Das Buck Judith, 1860, HITZIG, GRAETZ and others ascribe the
origin of the Book of Judith to these circumstances : Judith =Judsea, Nebuchad-
nezar = Trajan, Holofernes — Lusius Quietus, who was recalled from Palestine
under Hadrian on suspicion, and on the journey was put to death by command
of the Eoman Senate against Hadrian's will. Vid. contra this quite flighty
hypothesis : FRITZSCHE in SCHENKEL'S B.L., III. 444 sqq., and SCIIURER in EE.
2nd ed., I. 504. The conception also, apart from this definite explanation, that
the book originated (was fabricated, HARNACK) amid the opinions of th;n rimo
stands on very weak support ; the fiction with its historical impossibilities pro-
bably belongs to the times of the Maccabees.

2 Vid. SCHURER, N.Tl. Zy., p. 358, against JOST.

96 CHURCH HISTORY.

and unifying spiritual power for the maintenance of Judaism.
Accordingly., the school at Jamnia ( = Jabneh), between Joppa and
Ashdod, not far from the sea, was at first the centre. Already
during the Roman war there gathered here a number of Rabbis as
spiritual and juridical authorities ; to them there attached himself
the famous master, the younger Gamaliel of Jerusalem. From
hence the celebration of the feast days was determined accord-
ing to the law. Since the ruin of the nation by the renewed war
under Hadrian, the president of the school has become the spiritual
head of the nation, Xasi ; a spiritual court of civil justice, a Sanhe-
drim of seventy-one members expert in the law, is established. Later,
Tiberias becomes its chief seat. The need of fixing the tradition of
the law which had so long only been handed on from mouth to
mouth leads to written collections : even Akiba seems to have de-
vised such a thing. Of these, that which was instituted by Rabbi
Jehuda Hakkadosch Hannasi in Palestine (ob.c.:2'2i I and hi.-> disciple,
under the title of the Mischna ot^Tep&jcrt?= n^>«'ttth> sc. legix, though
the name is also otherwise explained re.-.-ived general recognition (six
.><></(! rim —ordinances, with altogether sixty-three tractates — Massae-
ket, Massikthoth ; the contents almost entirely Halacha. although
there are two Haggadic trartates [the famous one : the PirkeAboth]
and various Haggadic explanations. The language is Hebrew .

Rabbinical casuistry, however, further compelled the amplification
and explanation of the substance (of the law , whence arose the so-
called Gemara T^ bring to an end : completion of the DeuterosU, :
viz. \ The Palestinian or Jerusalemite ; it contains the discussions
of the Palestinian school, and was iwised at Tiberias before the
extinction of the latter about \.\>. :;.">!>. 2) A disciple of Jehuda
iiad transplanted the Misehii.-i to Susa in Babylonia ; the sum total
of the material brought together here by scholarly activity was
brought to a close in Susa about 5")!)— and formed the Babylonian
Geniara. Both are written i n Aramaic (though with different shad
of di.i nd have acquired general recognition (cf. ScHflBEB and

STKACK I.e.).

Alongside of these expositions of the law, which were properly
dominant, and in the main regarded as binding, the - also the

frc ramped exposition oi the Hai^adie Midraschini, aiming

at religions edilieation and do^ni • t ism.

The Jews, shutting themselves up in th-ir law. were pursued by
the intelligibly deep hatred of the Christians, who in Barcorh

revolt, even when they \\ere horn Jew-;, na-urally kept a]-
*rom all Jewish endeavours. The Jewish Christians were locked

JEWISH CHRISTIANITY. 97

upon as apostates, against whom a peculiar imprecation is directed
(the blessing on heretics, D^DH J"G~O).

Hence arose slanders of Christ and Christians, odious stories (cf.
Just. c. Tryplio. Celsus ap Origen).

2. Specific Judseo-Christianity.

Sources: JUSTIN., Dial. c. Tryph., c. 47; IREN., Adv. hser., I. 26, 2; HIPPOL.
Eef., 7, 34 ; Ps. TBRTTJLL., Adv. Hseres., 11 : ORIG. c. Gels., 5, 61 ; PHILOSTR.
Hser., 37 ; EUSEB., H. E. 3, 21 ; EPIPHAN., Hser., 30. — Literature in HILGEN-
FELD, Ketzergeschichte, 421-426. Ejdm., Judenthum und Christenthum,

1886.

In the Jewish war and the destruction of Jerusalem (70), the faith
and hope of the Palestinian Judaeo-Christians had separated from
those of their non-Christian fellow countrymen. They had gone
forth to the trans-Jordanic Pella. And these trans- Jordanic neigh-
bourhoods remained the gathering points of Judseo- Christians even
after the war (Epiph., Hcer., 29, 7. 30, 2. 18. 40, 1. 53. and Jul. Afric.,
ap. Euseb. H.E. 1, 7, 14), whilst others soon returned again to the
Holy Land, — to Galilee, Samaria, and even to the ruins of Jerusalem
(Epiph De mensur., 14, 15. Euseb., H.E. 3, 35, Demonstr. ev., 3, 5,
p. 124). Obviously, as members of the Jewish nation, they remained
faithful to the life of the law. Like James the brother of the Lord,
till his death, other members of the family of Jesus subsequently
occupied leading positions among them. So Simeon, the son of
Clopas, who is said to have died a martyr's death under Trajan
(Heges., ap. Euseb., 3, 32). According to tradition, he is regarded as
the bishop who, after the destruction of Jerusalem, was appointed
by the apostles themselves as the successor of James in the headship
of the community at Jerusalem (Euseb., H.E. 3, 11). But also the
two grandchildren of Judas, the brother of Jesus, who in the time
of Domitian were given up as Davididse, and were set free again as
not dangerous (Eus., 3, 20), were now set over the Church, according
to Hegesippus, as being martyrs and relations of Jesus.

Even Vespasian seems to have inquired after the descendants of
the Jewish royal race (Eus., 3, 12, cf. Oros., Hist., VII. 10). In
the case of the above-mentioned two brothers this was the reason
of their being brought before Domitian; but their condition as
small cultivators working the land with their hard labour (horny
hands), (their 39 plethra were valued together at 9,000 denarii) gave
a reassuring confirmation to their expressions as to the unearthly
character of the kingdom that was to be expected, when Christ
should come to judge the living and the dead. In the case of

7

98 CHURCH HISTORY.

Simeon also, his Davidic descent appears to have been an element
of consideration.

Amongst these Judseo-Christians in their comparatively isolated
circumstances, the views and principles both of apostolic Judseo-
Christianity and of the Pharisaically minded opponents of the
Pauline preaching to the heathen, seem to have made progress.
Nevertheless there was much, both in their position and in the
circumstances of the time, which was fitted to deepen the gulf
between them and the rest of the Jews, and to further an approxi-
mation to the Christians who had come from paganism. Legal
Judaism, which sought to keep the nation together after the war
v. *i(p.)j persecuted the Christians as heretics (Mhthn) with its entire
hatred. Thrice on the day of the Sabbath assemblies the Nazarenes
are solemnly cursed. The prayer of imprecation is attributed to
Rabbi Samuel the Less and the authority of Gamaliel II. (80-117), cf.
Justin., Dial. c. Tr., 16 and Otto's note II. p. 60). Traces are not
entirely wanting, that Jewish-Christians, individuals who expelled
demons in the name of Jesus and who engaged in religious question-
ings with Jews, were not always treated so roughly (v. REX AN, Orig.
d. Chr., V. 433 sqq.) ; on the whole, however, the spirit of animosity
prevailed. To the famous Rabbi Tarphon, one of the lights of the
law schools at Jabneh and Lydda after the destruction of Jerusa-
lem, the Talmud, in which he is reputed to have knowledge of the
Gospels and books of the Minim, ascribes the saying: a persecuted
man ought rather to take refuge in an idol temple than in the
houses of the Minim ; for the idolaters deny God without knowing
Him, the Minim deny acknowledged truth. Their books are to
be burnt even though the name of God occurs in them rid. the
passages in REXAX, Lex. »ri</., V. 71 j.

From the circle of these Juda?o-Christians there proceeded the
collection of logia of Matthew, above mentioned.

The outbreak of the Jewish war under Hadrian, wliirh ended in
the complete annihilation even of Jewish social existence, and trans-
formed the re-established Jerusalem into a pagan city LEIia Capito-
lina) into which no circumcised person might enter, was bound
still more to separate Christian J<-ws from Judaism. Inconsequence
of it, as a matter of fact, some of the Judseo-Christians seem to
have made ever closer approaches to their brethren from paganism.
Nevertheless a considerable portion still persisted in exclusive-
ness towards the Gentile Christians, hardened itself in its old
.ludaistic manners and Judaeo-Christian views, and the longer it
existed the more it took on the character of a sect, cutting itself off

EBIONITES. 99

from the development of the church. The former tendency, how-
ever, seems to have preponderated in the great Judseo-Chris-
tian Diaspora of the Roman Empire, the latter in the Semitic
East.

Thus Justin Martyr already distinguishes such Judseo-Christians
as held fast as far as possible to the life according to the law, but
did not wish to make a similar demand on believers from among
the Gentiles (Xpia-riavoi,), [and these he will acknowledge willingly
as Christian brethren, although not all Christians, i.e. Gentile Chris-
tians, so decide, but many will have no community (intercourse
and hospitality) with them] —from such as would compel all Chris-
tians to the observance of the law as necessary for salvation ; the
latter, who do not recognise free Gentile Christianity, he also on his
part will not recognise (although thereby he does not mean exactly
to deny salvation to the Gentile Christians who allow themselves
to be induced to accept the life of the law). In Irenseus, Tertul-
lian and Origen the name Ebionites or Ebionaeans occurs as
the sect-name of these Judseo-Christians, who on principle hold
themselves aloof from the Gentile Christians, a name which the
teachers of the church falsely derive from a founder of the sect
called Ebion. Irenseus knows nothing as yet of an Ebion, but only
of 'Efiiajvalot, and 'H/3<Woi (4, 33, 4). It is assuredly an ancient
Jewish-Christian designation of (Jewish) Christians in general, as
the Ebionim, the poor, oppressed, humble, devoted members of the
people of God (in contrast to the haughty, wealthy, wicked), in
justice for whom the Messiah would concern Himself (Isa. xi. 4). On
the approximation of the apostolic Judseo-Christians to the Gentile
Christians, the name remained attached to the party which separated
itself in a sectarian manner from the main body. Even Epiphanius
knows that the Ebionites were proud of this name as the successors
of those who had laid their goods at the disciples' feet. Origen also
seems to know nothing of a personal founder of the sect of this
name ; he knows the word only as an appellative, and explains it
from the poverty of their dogmatic conceptions. His expressions
correspond to the above explanation, in so far as " Ebionceans " some-
times designates those Jews who have accepted Jesus as the Christ
(c. Gels., 2, 1) ; but again it is asserted of the Ebionites that they
denied the birth from a virgin ; hence (c. Cels., 5. 61) he speaks
of SITTOI '.E/3., who are specially distinguished by their attitude
to this dogma. Vid. the passages in HILGENFELD, Ketzergcscliiclite,
p. 424. In a curious fashion Hilgenfeld is now not disinclined to
believe in a founder of the sect named Ebion, on the ground of a

ioo CHURCH HISTORY.

quite late passage in Anastas. Presb., in the seventh century, whicli
contains an alleged quotation from Ebion's treatise on the prophets
Ebion, however, is a later type of many heretics. — Naturally, along
side of their strict maintenance of the Mosaic law as universally
obligatory, we find among them the old enmity to Paul, the enemy
of the law and apostate, and the retention of the Messianic hope in
chiliastic form ; in addition, they also hold a common Jewish concep-
tion of Jesus as a mere man, naturally begotten, who was dedicated
to the Messiahship in the baptism of John, in opposition to the primi-
tive Christian conception of Jesus' supernatural birth. The tradition
adhered to by HEGESIPPUS, that the church was a pure virgin till
the time of the martyrdom of Simeon the son of Clopas (inasmuch
as such false doctrines as existed up till that time only crept in
the dark, but since then had raised their heads after all the apostles
had left the scene), may refer to the time of this sharper emergence
of the antagonism between apostolic Judgeo-Christians and heretical
Ebionites (Heg., ap. Euseb., 3, 32, of. 4, 22).

The survival down to a later age, of a Judaeo-Christianity more
closely approximating to that of the apostles, but through its
isolation and seclusion taking on the character of a backward sect,
distinguished from the more abruptly heretical character of the
Ebionites, is attested by the fact that Epiphanius in his age dis-
tinguishes, under two names which were originally general names
for Christians, between Nazarenes and Ebionites. With this also
the judgment of Jerome on the Nazarenes of whom he had per-
sonal experience, agrees.

Epiphanius, however, in his portrayal of the Ebionites, had
certainly in view phenomena which show the general Jewish
fundamental character of the sect under strong modification, and
point us to other influences which are here still further to be re-
ferred to.

Elkesaites.

Sources: EPIPH., Haer., 9. 17-19. 30; Hiri-ui.., Refut, 9, 13 sqq. In HILGBN-
FELD'S edition of the Pastor Herm., 2nd ed., 1881, p. 228 sqq. ; Uhlhorn in
EE.2, IV. 184.

The Christian heresiologists allude to a complex breaking up of
Judaism at the time of Christ into different sectarian opinions, and
also to the influence of Samaritan syncretistic conceptions ; and they
make both gain influence in the church and result in heretical
opinion. But in particular the Jewish sect of the Essenes, or an
Essene party extending beyond the exclusive limits of the sect, seems

THE ELKESAITES. 101

early to have made way among the Jewish converts to Christianity.
Traces of it may perhaps be found in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom.
xiv., abstinence from flesh and wine in the general Judeeo-Christian
character being designated by the Apostle as a prejudice of the weaker
which was to be indulged), more decidedly in Colossians, where
Paul has to confront with severity those who require circumcision,
strict Jewish observance of the Sabbath and feasts, and particularly
observances as to meats and the laying of weight on special doctrines
of angels and their worship. Others have also wished to recognise
Essene Christians in the heretics of the Pastoral Epistles (MANG.).
At the same time, however, the influence of pagan elements makes
itself felt, to which Eastern (trans- Jordanic) Judaism was greatly
exposed (cf. also ROSCH, StKr. 1888, 2, 265 sqq_.). Under a multitude
of names, and without clear separation of individuals, which may
only be different names of the same sect, Epiphanius mentions
Jews and Judseo-Christian sects — Ossenes, and Jessaians = (Essenes),
Sampsseans, Nasarseans, distinguished from the Nazarenes and
Elkesaites, whose name he derives from a false prophet Elxai
(HX^ao-at), who had also been honoured among the Ebionites, who
adopted some of his doctrines. This prophet Elxai is said to have
arisen in the time of Trajan. Probably, however, this name is not
a personal name at all, but the name of the book which was highly
esteemed in the sect, and it means, as Epiphanius, in spite of his
reference of it to a person, rightly explains, hidden power (^DD /TT).1
For the rest, according to Epiphanius, even in the time of Con-
stantine two women, Marthus and Marthana seem, to have been
designated his descendants. The book makes reference to the
Emperor Trajan's expedition against the Parthians ; hence it was
said that Elxai had also brought it from Parthian Sera, where he
had received the revelation of an angel of colossal size alongside of
whom stood a female figure (spirit) ; it must apparently be explained
from the circumstances of the Jewish insurrection under Trajan and
in the time of Hadrian. A certain Alcibiades of Apamea brought
the book to Rome in the beginning of the third century, and on that
account Ritschl and others have placed its origin in that period, but
incorrectly (vid. HiLGENFELD,^er2er#esc7i.,433,andmy article Ossener,
RE. 1st ed.). HILG-ENFELD has collected and explained the fragments
that have been preserved in Hippol., Ref. //«?>-., IX. 15, 39, and
Epiph., //ter., 19 and 30.

1 According to KLOSTERMANN, Probleme, 20, 'DD 7'ri properly "3 ?X (Sama-
ritan translation) is the God of secrecy, the alleged brother of Elxai : 'Ie|J<n- or
'If£al/s, not 'D3 IT but 'DU^n, i.e. secret life.

102 CHURCH HISTORY.

The strictly retained fundamental traits of a Jewish character,
the maintenance of the life according to the law (with an important
exception), especially of the Sabbath and circumcision, are here
modified to the extent that bloody sacrifices and the eating of flesh
in general are rejected, and in direct opposition to the fire of sacrifice,
a special purifying and atoning significance is attributed to wash-
ings ; repeated lustrations, to which moreover physical and magical
influences are ascribed, here take the place of Christian baptism. It
is impossible to ignore pagan mythological and cosmological influ-
ences, to which that portion of the Jews who dwelt east and north-
east of the Holy Land was specially exposed, in the forms of oaths
and in the witnesses appealed to, as for instance in the interpretation
of the stars and magic, which were favourite practices. Christian
thought, however, gains recognition in the Messianic significance of
Jesus. In what relation it stood to the doctrine of the birth from a
virgin, is not quite plain. But they baptize in the name of the
great and highest God and of his Son the great King, i.e. Messiah,
for the forgiveness of sins ; and they see in Adam an incarnation of
the ideal Adam or original man, whom they also designate the
highest archangel, the one alongside of the other, so that Christianity
is conceived as a special revelation and yet as essentially identical
with Judaism.

Ari'KXiux : Influences of the Elkesaite Ebionitism have been preserved in the
literary material which is romantically worked up in the so-called Clementines.
There have been preserved 1) the (20) Clementine Homilies, ra KAi?/uiT(a, to
which in their present form an Epistle of Peter to James, one of Clement to
James, and the so-called faanaprvpiti have been prefaced (the Greek text still
imperfect in Cotelerius' ed. of the Apost. Fathers, I., and in Schwegler's ed.,
more complete according to Cod. Ottob. by Dressrl, Gutting., 1S.~>:;. after new
collation of MSS. ; Clementina ed. de Laganle. L865). 2) The so-called Recog-
nitions (dvayvwpKTum} only extant in Rufinus' Latin translation (after older
editions in < 'OTKLKUU'S and others above mentioned ; finally GKKSDOKK, Leipsic,
ls:>8). 3) Lastly, the Epitome in two versions, published by DUKSSEL, Cl"nicn-
tinorum epitomce dtice, Leipsic, 18(51. A Syriac form ed. by de Lagarde,
Leipsic and London, ISill. — A romantic story has here attached itself to tho
celebrated name of the Roman Clement. Clement is the pagan seeking the truth,
Peter the representative of pure Christianity (coinciding with true Judaism),
who follows step by step Simon Magus (the representative of Magic and Heresy,
particularly Gnosticism, but who also bears characteristics of Paul, who wa>
hated by Ebionism) and overcomes him in argument. Miraculous events in the
history of Clement's family are woven in. In Peter's doctrinal discourses the
Elkesaite-Ebionite views above i-eferred to make themselves felt, but the elements
of heathen mythology and theurgy are repressed. The universality of Chris-
tianity is recognised, but so mediated by Jewish belief, that Christianity is
only to be looked upon as the re-establishment of pure Mosaicism, and both as
essentially identical appearances of primitive religion. In Adam, pure religion

THE CLEMENTINE LITERATURE. 103

|

is already revealed, hence also the historical Adam is characterised as the
appearance or the bearer of the ideal sinless original man, of the Holy Spirit of
Christ, who then appears again under different names in the different periods
of the world's history, until he finally appears in Christ and gives universality
to the original religion. He was specially present in Moses, whose religion
was supplemented in subsequent times by many additions and then restored in
its purity by Christ. The very putting down of the law in writing is here
looked upon as a corrupting of the pure Mosaic revelation with impure
elements. The whole is moreover permeated by a religio-philosophical meta-
physical theory, which, while opposed to Gentile Christian Gnosticism, yet
makes concessions to its speculative spirit with a view to coming to terms
with it; hence this party has been designated Gnostic Ebionism. Alongside of
strict maintenance of Jewish monotheism there is developed a theory of cosmo-
gony in which Stoic influences may be recognised : origination of the world by
a transformation of the divine substance, in which also the origin of evil is
to be explained without going the length of dualism. Syzygies, i.e. correla-
tive opposites bound to one another move through the whole system of the
universe, beginning with the opposition of the devil and the Son of God. — The
relation of the two forms, of the Homilies and the Eecognitions to one another,
has led literary criticism to the hypothesis, that there is underlying them an
older Gnostic-Ebionitic treatise which has been worked up independently and
in different ways by both, by the Clementine Homilies with polemic against
the Marcionite Gnosis, by the Recognitions in a style more approaching to
ecclesiastical Christianity. Even if this fundamental treatise bore the title
Krjpvypa Jlerpov, its identity with the treatise referred to elsewhere in the ancient
church under the same title remains very problematical. Cf . A. SCHLIEMANN :
Die Clementinen and die Ebioniten, 1844 ; A. HILGENFELD, Die Clem. Rec. und
Homil., 1848 ; UHLHORN, Die Homil. und Rec. der Clem. Rom., 1854; J. LEHMANN,
Die Clem. Schriften, 1868 ; LIPSIUS, Quellen der rom. Petrussage, 1872 ; UHLHORN
in RE.2, 2, 277 sqq.

It must be doubted whether the views which prevail in the Clementine
Homilies were ever the definite confession of an established party in the Grseco-
Roman Church. The Clementines are usually attributed to the second half of
the second century. Decisive grounds for so doing are however wanting, and
there is much which seems to argue for a later time, — about the beginning
of the third century.

3. The Geographical expansion of Christianity in the Empire and beyond
its frontiers, and the manner of its diffusion.

At the close of the first Christian century we must not only pre-
suppose the presence of the Christianity which issued from the
districts of Palestine in the countries of Pauline, Petrine and
Johannine activity, but we must now look upon Alexandria also,
along with the other great central points of the Empire, Antioch,
Ephesus and Rome, as already affording shelter to Christianity, what-
ever may be the case as to the traditional activity of MARK there.
In Palestine, the sea-coast towns also with their essentially Hellen-
istic population and culture, after the destruction of Jerusalem, and
again after the war under Hadrian, were the most important points

104 CHURCH HISTORY.

not of specially Jewish but of general Christian significance. Such
particularly was Csesarea Palestine (Stratonis Tunis, not to be
confounded with the Csesarea Paneas in the North, at the foot of
Lebanon), at one time provided with splendid buildings by Herod,
chief seat of the Roman government under the Procurators, after
the destruction of Jerusalem the capital of the country and chief
community of Palestine, alongside of which nevertheless an essen-
tially Gentile Christian community also arose in the new Jeru-
salem of Hadrian (.ZElia Capitolina). The great Eastern chief town
of the Empire, Autioch on the Orontes, early becomes one of
the most important centres, and a medium for missionary efforts
eastward, to inland Syria, Mesopotamia, and even to the Parthian
kingdom. In the district of Gararnsea, i.e. the neighbourhood east
of the Tigris and south of Little Zab, therefore south-east from
Mosul, there were Christians before 170 A.D.1 In the dominion
of Osrhoene, which originated in Grscco-Macedoman colonisation,
the chief town Edessa early becomes the centre of a Syrian form
of church and Syriac ecclesiastical literature. To the former
testifies the legend of a correspondence between Christ and King
Abgarus, and the work of Thaddaeus, who appears in the character
of one of the seventy disciples under this name, or (in Syriac) as
Addai. According to Christ's promise he was sent after His
ascension by the Apostle Thomas to the then king, Abgar (royal
title) Uchomo. The legend, which was already known to Eusebius
(from the Caesarean library), now lies before us in the Syriac
Doctrina Addict Anuxtnli. which was edited by G. PHILLIPS, Loud.,
1876, from a St. Petersburg codex, a form of the legend which has
boen fixed at the latest about the middle of the fourth century
(Lips.), perhaps even earlier (end of third century. ZAHNI (Lirsirs,
Die edess. Ah<j<ir*(t(j<>. Brunswick, 188(1 Matthes, 1882. Lirsius,
Apoltr. Apostelgeschichte u. J/>o.v/r//^/rm/e», II. 2, p. 178. TH.
ZAHN, GGA. 77, no. 101. rni-schmwn, I., Erlangen, 1881, p. 360).
Tatian has already been active in the Syrian East, and tmvanls the
end of the second century the Christian prince Abgar Bar Manu is
in Edessa, and is the friend of the Christian Gnostic Bardesanes
(cf. the works of HILGKNKKLD and MEKX on Bardesanes, and A. v.
GUTSCHMID, Die K<)n/;/^i/itinen hi </oi ajxilcr. Apostelgeschichte, Rhein.
Mus. N.F. XIX. 171 sq.). \Ve find Edessene coins of this period
with the sign of the cross, and the Edessene chronicle ascribes
to the year 2U2 the destruction of a Christian church.

1 Vi<l. ('. HOITMANN. Ausxu^c ;ius s\ rix'heii Akten persischer Miirt yn-r. Alili.
f. K. d. M. VII. :;. P. I''.. NoLDEKErGGA. 1880, p. 878.

DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 105

In Asia Minor the southern and western coast districts are
specially prominent, and Ephesus and Smyrna assume important
positions ; but Christianity has already penetrated to the inland
districts (Cappadocia : Csesarea and Paphlagonia : Amastrys). In
Greece Corinth continues to occupy the most important position,
where in the time of Marcus Aurelius the Bishop Dionysius stands
in alliance with other churches, of Athens, Lacedsemon, communities
in Crete (Gortyna, Gnossus), etc. (Euseb., 4, 23).

Next to Antioch Alexandria ranks as the most important centre
of the Hellenic oriental empire. Christianity first began its activity
in the country among the Jewish and Greek population of the Delta,
but gradually also among the Egyptians proper (the Copts) as may
be inferred from the Coptic (Memphytic) translation of the N.T.
(third century). In the second century, Gnosticism, which had its
chief seat here as well as in Syria, and, secondly, towards the close of
the century, the Alexandrian Catechetical School, show the impor-
tance of this centre of religious movement and Christian education.
From Lower Egypt, Christianity passed upward to Middle and
Upper Egypt — so that even by the time of the persecution of
Septimus Severus we find Christians in the Thebaid.

In close connection with Hellenised Egypt stands the highly civil-
ised western district of Cyrenaica, which had already however begun
to retrograde, and in which Christians are to be found as early as
the middle of the second century. On the other hand, with many
points of relationship with Egypt, stands Arabia, where we may
probably suppose that the apostles (Matthew and Bartholomew)
made a beginning, furthered by the presence of numbers of Jews.
Later it is probable that from Alexandria Christian influences went
out to Arabia Petrsea (from the time of Trajan a Roman province
with Bostra [Nova Colonia Trajana] as its capital), a development in
consequence of which we already find Christian synods here in the
third century, in which Origen took part. The first known teacher
of the Alexandrian Catechetical School at Alexandria, Pantsenus
(end of the second century) laboured as an evangelist, it is said, in
India; probably Yemen = Arabia Felix is thereby meant. For at
that time the designation India has many significations. Besides
India proper, Arabia Felix is so-called, and indeed along with it
the bordering Asiatic and neighbouring African districts : Ethiopia.
(Besides also India Minor s. yEthiopica : the neighbourhood be-
tween the Euxine and the Caspian reaching to the Palus Maeotis.)

In the West, Rome remains and indeed becomes ever more and
more the xedes Apoxtolica, by far the most important centre, where,

lob CHURCH HISTORY.

alongside of the Roman element, there are to be found elements
streaming together from all points of the Empire. Greek names, and
the long lasting (still dominant in the second century) maintenance of
Greek as the written language of Roman Christianity, are here note-
worthy ; likewise the evidence of the discoveries in the catacombs
that Christianity was not entirely confined to the lower strata of the
populace, but even at an early period had obtained access to the
very highest, and that members of families of rank became the sup-
ports of the Christian community in life and in death (Coimeteria)
(HASENCLEVER in JpTh. 1882). Rome was the point of departure
not only for Italy and the Western Provinces, but without doubt
also for Proconsular Africa, where in turn Carthage becomes the
centre of diffusion. Numidia and Mauretania are early attached.
Tertullian, even if he does draw rather a long bow, testifies to a
wide diffusion: Apol. 37: Ile.tfcnii maun*, et vextra omnia implevintiis,
ttrbes, insulas, caxtella, m/oiictpia. Ad. Scap. 15: Carthage would
be decimated if a persecution of Christians were to be carried out.
Under Agrippinus, the oldest known Bishop of Carthage, at the
beginning of the next period (c. 200-220), we know of a synod of
seventy African and Numidian bishops.

The tracing back of the Spanish Church to apostolic foundation
(GAMS, A'. G. >'/>r////V//x, I.) has its one historical link in Paul's ex-
pressed purpose of visiting Spain (Rom. xv. 24), the fulfilment of which
presupposes the very doubtful release of Paul from his first Roman
imprisonment. At the same time the early spread of Christianity to
the province which stood in lively intercourse with Rome, is testified
to by Irenaeus and Tertullian in the course of the second century.

In Gaul the first communities of historical importance met with
are those in Gallia Lugdunensis, Lugdunum and Vienna (Provence),
the aged bishop of which, Pothinus, suffered a martyr's death under
Marcus Aurelius in 177, and over which the celebrated IrenaBus
subsequently presided. Its origin however points not so much
to Rome as to Asia Minor (the home of Irenaeus), with which
(Smyrna) the communities stand in intimate relationship. For the
other Roman Provinces (Britain, the Roman lands on the Danube,
Rhsetia, Noricum, Pannonia), the possibility of Christian beginnings
was afforded by the Roman legions and the Roman government, which
had their fixed points there ; nothing however can be certainly proved
with regard to this period. As regards the lands on the Rhine, it
perhaps may be to them that IrensBus refers when he speaks of
Christian Germans ; but the latter may perhaps rather be sought
in single instances of Christian beginnings in Germania cis-Rhenana.

DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 107

The declamations of the Christian authors, especially where they
speak generally and rhetorically, are to be accepted with some
caution. Justin (Dial. c. Try ph., c. 177) has specially iii mind the
entrance which the faith has found among barbarians, among the
waggon-dwellers (Scythians), the nomads and dwellers in tents,
amongst whom may be reckoned Arab Bedouins as well as Ethiopian
and Numidian clans, 011 the whole in accordance with the facts ; on
the other hand, Tertullian's utterances (Adv. Jud., 7. cf. Apol. 37)
are of course held in a very rhetorical sense (Britannorum inaccessa
Roman-is loco). No value can be attached to the legend (Beda, Hist,
angl., I. 4) of the British king Lucius, who is said to have begged
the Roman bishop Eleutherus for instruction in the gospel ; it rests
on the Felician sixth-century catalogue of the popes — (Eleutherus
received letters from Lucius, ut Christianus efficeretur per ejus
mandatum).

The diffusion in the Grseco-Romaii world as a whole goes first
to the more important towns and from these gradually over the
country. At the same time, the famous letter of the Younger Pliny
to Trajan shows a pretty wide diffusion over the district of Bithynia.
The instruments however of this mission are by no means ex-
clusively apostolic men, who pursue missions as their calling, and
subsequently become church presidents and bishops in their respec-
tive districts ; every Christian becomes a witness in his own circler
and intercourse and trade bring Christians hither and thither, and
along with them their Christian -faith (cf. TH. ZAHN, Weltverkehr
und Christenthum, Hanover, 1878). Still there appear to have
been, in the age of which we speak, not a few missionaries, desig-
nated Apostles, evangelists, who made the spread of the faith
their life's task, as is shown by the /liSa^r/ rwv 8ca8. aTroa-r
which has lately been made known. Apostle here appears as the
general designation for a whole class of people ; they are the mis-
sionaries. "When they come into already existing communities,
they may remain one or at most two days, not longer (otherwise
they are false prophets), and are to receive from the communities
only bread sufficient till their next resting place, but no money.
We recognise in them the evangelists of which Eusebius speaks
(H.E. 3, 37, 2. 3).

4. The Literary Memorials of the Age, from which its Picture is to be

drawn.

"With respect to the question of the sources from which a living
picture of that age is to be gained, regard must of course be had not
only to Contemporary documents, but to later writings also from which

io8 CHURCH HISTORY.

we can infer the past age, and especially to Ireneeus, Tertullian,
Clemens Alex., etc. ; but at the same time contemporary docu-
ments are of special value, even though they only give us pieces of
information which require combination and completion.

I. THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS.

Literature: Opp. ed. Cotelerius, Paris, 1672, 2nd ed. by Clericus, 1724; GEB-
HARDT, HARNACK, and ZAHN. ?> vols. Leipsic, 1877-78. As a new ed. of
HEFELE'S, ed. : F. X. FUNK, Tubingen, 1878 (2nd ed. with the Didache, 1881
and 1886) ; A. HILGENFELD, Die apost. Vater, Halle, 1853 ; J. DONALDSON,
London, 1874; A. HAUSRATH in the smaller writings, Leipsic, 1883; ZUGLER
in ZwTh. 1884 ; F. OVERBECK, Di<- Aufange der christl. Lit.. H.Z. 48 Bd.

The name presupposes a connection of the author with the apostles. It has
however become a collective expression for a series of writings, which as a
whole belong to the transition period between the apostolic literature and
theological literature proper, which begins with the Greek Apologists. Its
line of demarcation in the direction of religious writings of the X.T. which
.are not by the apostles themselves, such as the Epistle to the Hebrews (vf<l. p. MM.
and other so-called Antilegomena, is a fluid one, even though in individual
cases the difference of value is thoroughly recognisable; on the other hand the
name is inexact, as personal relationship with the apostles cannot be proved.

As we shall here regard them purely as sources for the history of the church,
let us take along with what are commonly called Apostolic Fathers, other
documents which according to time must be classed along with them.

1. Cl.EM. RUM., riil. >•;//<. p. SS sq.

2. Glimpses into the circumstances and views of Roman Christianity are
.also anbrded by the remarkable Shepherd of Hermas. The author preaches
& message of repentance to the Christian* of his time, clothed in visions and
prophecies. In the I. Book he makes tir>t the church under the form of a
vision of an aged woman, and then the angel of repentance who appears as a
shepherd, give utteranca to these revelations ; hence the name of the book from
this chief personage in it. The present division of the book into parts (5
Visions, 12 Mandates, 10 Similitudes), which moreover does not quite corre-
spond to the contents, does not proceed from the author. The present, before
the near approaching perfecting of the church, the appearance of the judgment
and the kingdom of God, is still the time for repentance. Hence numerous
•exhortations of a moral sort are given, warnings against the love of pleasure
and an earthly mind, and against apostasy in the persecutions. Inclination to
ambition, dissension and insubordination among the leaders of the community
are also reproved, and they are exhorted to distinguish between true and false
prophecy. The author is not a Jew by birth, but a Gentile, and although
showing in his Greek the influence of Biblical Hellenism (Jew-tire .do. he is
not a Judseo-Christian in the party sense; the former peculiarity is to be ex-
plained by the great influence of the Greek Bible of the O.T. The conviction
of monotheism is maintained with great emphasis; Christ however is the pre-
existent Son of God who has appeared in the flesh, or, the IMvine Spirit. He is
indeed preponderatingly regarded as a law-giver, not however in the sense of a
giver of Mosaic rules, but of commands for the ethical, moral life, which am
inculcated. The Christian community appears as the true people of God called
to His kingdom and awaiting its rise, whose purification from >ins ( 'lirist lias

HERMAS.

log-

effected, in which baptism has taken the place of circumcision, and which must
by repentance prepare itself for perfection.

The treatise was held in high esteem by the Fathers of the next age, who
found nothing in it contradictory of the Catholic faith. Irenseus quotes it
(Adv. Hcer., IV. 20, 2) as f) ypafyr) • CLEMENS ALEX, and TERTULLIAN, before he be-
came Montanist, speak of it with great reverence (Eusebius places it among the
Antilegomena along with the Apocalypse of John and the Epistle of Barnabas).

In Vision II. Hermas makes mention of a certain Clement, to whom the
copying of the book is entrusted, and who in accordance with his office shall
spread it among foreign to\vns. One seems compelled to think of the Roman
Clement (the author of the I. Ep. to the Corinthians), and in that case either
the book must be assigned to his time (Tn. ZAHN), or we must suppose that the-
author desired to be taken for a contemporary of the well-known Clement with
whom he was closely connected, perhaps for the Apostolic Hermas (Rom. xvi.
14), although indeed the hj'pothesis of such a fiction is not absolutely necessary.
An important ancient witness for a somewhat later date of authorship is that
of the Canon of MURATORI (belonging in any case to the second century),,
which names the brother of the Roman Bishop Pius as the author. According
to the subsequent conception of the episcopate, tradition ascribes to Pius the
period from 139 to 151 ( ? others, 144-156) ; as this however belongs to the
later conception of the (monarchic) episcopate, we may unhesitatingly stretch'
somewhat further back the period in which Pius exercised a remarkable
activity in Rome. The zeal against the secularisation of the church, the
insistence upon a serious discipline of repentance with regard to the coming
Parousia, even a certain irritation against the leaders of the church, finally
the importance which is attached to prophetic revelations, are characteristic ;
similarly an opposition to the errors of the Gnostic sort by which individual
teachers caused disturbance. The appearance of the great heads of the Gnostic
schools at Rome and the splitting up into sects which followed therefrom can-
not yet have lain within the author's horizon.

The original Greek text of the treatise, which was formerly only known in
an ancient Latin translation, was in great part (as far as Mand. IV. 3, 6) made
known by the Cod. Sin. discovered by Tischendorf. The three leaves of an
Athos MS. of the fourteenth century stolen by the Greek Simonides, and a copy
of the remaining part of the MS. prepared by the same person, gave the Greek
text of the remainder also, with the exception of the close of Simil. IX. 30, 3.
Lambros has himself collated the Athos Codex (A collation of the Athos Codex
of the She^rfierd of Hermas, with an introduction ; translated and edited with
a preface and appendices by J. Arm. Robinson, Cambridge, 1888) from which
the three leaves were purloined, and has thus been able to correct it by
Simonides' bad copy. On the other hand the pretended genuine close of the
Greek Hermas (Jon. DRAESEKE in Hilgenfeld's ZwTh. 1887, p. 171 sqq., and
HILGENPELD, ibid., 1885, and in the new edition of Hernias, 1887), is a forgery
of Simonides. There were found besides a second Latin version, and one in
Ethiopia Text in HILGENFELD (N.T. extra can. rec. Fa.sc. 3. 2nd ed. 1881). in
HARKAOK and GEBHARDT. — Cf. TH. ZAHN, Der Hlrt des Hermas, 1868. The
Introd. in HARNACK and GEBHARDT, Patr. Ap. III. and HARNAOK in ZKG.
III., 79. P.BAUMGARTNER, Die Einheit des Hermas-buchs. Gekronte Preis-
schrift, Friburg, 1889.

3. Perhaps also among Roman surroundings, but in any case pointing to
similar views, is the so-called II. Epistle of Clement, more correctly the oldest
known Christian homily, as is placed beyond doubt by the complete text made-

no CHURCH HISTORY.

known by BRYENNIOS. It has been placed at Rome and about the time of
Hermas (130-45) (HARNACK) ; Zahn would prefer to transfer it to Corinth, but
also regards it as very ancient. Hilgenfeld would ascribe it to the Alexandrian
Clement, of the period about 180. It has been written down by the author and
so delivered to the congregation. It contains moral exhortations to repentance
and to good works (alms, fasting, praj-er), with reference to the future judg-
ment and the eternal life. Its high antiquity is attested by the unrestricted
use of the apocryphal Gospel tear Alyv-n-Tiovs, subsequently rejected by the church,
which surpasses the freedom in this respect which still prevailed in Clement of
Alexandria ; likewise his views bordering on Gnosticism which are still
anterior to the sharp opposition between the Church and Gnosis. Alongside
of the pre-mundane heavenly being, Christ the Son of God, there stands a kind
of feminine aeon, the eKo-hyo-ia £a><ra as the a-vfryos of the heavenly man ; no in-
fluence of the doctrine of the Logos. Cf. especially HARNACK in ZKG. I. 264
sqq. 329 sqq. and TH. ZAHN, Das dlteste Kirchengebet und die alteste kirchliche
Predigt, in ZPK. 1876, 4th Number.

4. The remarkable epistle, which bears the name of BARNABAS, and has by
many been really attributed to this apostolic companion of Paul, but which
Eusebius already counted among the unauthentic writings. His aim (in the
main portion of the epistle, as far as ch. 17) is to lead the Christian reader to
perfect knowledge (yvioo-is), and to show how the O.T., especially the ceremonial
law, had its true significance from the very beginning in its allusion to re-
demption by Christ; while in the second part (ch. 18-21) there is a representa-
tion only loosely attached to what goes before, of the two ways, of Life and
Death, i.e. the following and the rejection of the pious Christian life. In the
former and chief portion the pedagogic character of the law is not emphasised
as it is with Paul, nor in the manner of the Epistle to the Hebrews is the rela-
tively imperfect character of the Old Testament institutions, which as types
point beyond themselves; but the whole literal explanation and observation of
the Mosaic law by the Jews is boldly and fearlessly designated an error
caused by the devil, and set aside by means of wliat is often a very bald alle-
gorical exegesis, which claims t<> he profound wisdom. Christians are the true
and only covenant people. The Jews are not the people of God at all, for, on
account of their idolatry, a real conclusion of a covenant between God and
them was never attained. On the other hand, the author insists, probably to
meet pagan objections, that the Son of God, the Lord of the circle of the earth
to whom God said, "faciamus homincm " (ch. 5), must have appeared in the
flesh.

The time when it was written is hard to determine; while some exponents
regard 4.4. 5 (the llth horn) as referring partly to Nerva (96-97) (Hn.i.i:\i i.i.m
or Domitian, partly even to Vespasian, chap 1G (prospect of tin- rebuilding of
the Temple) seems to point to the early reign of Hadrian (HAKNACK), which
seems to me to have the preponderating probability. Karlier attempts
(SCHENKEL) to regard the epistle as made up of different j.an^. and also tin-
more subtly advocated view of HEYDECKE (Brunswick. IsTI) have not been
able to establish themselves. Recent attempts have been instigated by the
relation of the Epistle of Barnabas to the treatise on the Two Ways, which has
been set in a new light by the discovery of the Didache. J. Weiss seeks to
demonstrate sufficiently, not the excision of certain chapters, but a thorough
revision (Der Barnabaxbrief, kr/tisch mitersucht, Berlin, 1888). (Cf. Lirsir^.
Jenaer Lit.-Zeit , 1875, No. 28 ; WKI/.S u KER in Schurer, Theol. Lit.-Zeit., 1876,
No. 8.) On the other hand, the discovery of the Didache (see below) confirms

THE DID AC HE. in

irom another side in reference to chaps. 18-20 (the Two Ways), the theory that
in our Epistle of Barnabas a composition of originally heterogeneous elements
has taken place.

In the earlier known MSS. (all sprung from one) of the original Greek text,
the beginning, including part of the fifth chap., was wanting, and so far was
known only from the Latin translation. The Cod. Sinaiticus, a Greek MS. of
the Bible, was the first to give the full Greek text, whereupon VOLKMAR. and
especially HILGENFELD in the N.T. extra canonem receptum, fasc. 2, Leipsic,
1866, published the Epistle, as also with a commentary, J. G. Mtiller, Bale,
1869. In addition the exact revision of the old translation in HILGENFELD,
ZwTh. 1871. To these was added the knowledge of the Constantinople MS.
(the same from which Bryennios published the Clement and, recently, the
Didache), which was made use of by HILGENFELD in his 2nd ed., Leipsic, 1877,
and by HARNACK and GEBHARDT in the smaller ed. of the Patres App., 1877,
and in the second issue of the larger ed. (I. 2), 1878. Many treatises on parti-
cular points.

5. The AiSaxn rwv 8&)Sf»ca a.TTo(rr6\u>v which is connected in a peculiar way with
the Ep. of Barnabas, and for the knowledge of which we are also indebted to
the Metropolitan (formerly of Sarrse, now of Nicomedia) Philotheos Bryennios :
^i8axn K.T.X. tv Kcofo-rai/ni'owroAei, 1883. Immediately issued in many forms.
HILGENFELD, Nov. Test, extra com., fasc. 4 : Evangeliorum sec. Hebr. etc., quo
supersunt. Addita doct. duod. apostoL, Leipsic, 1884 (2nd ed. of the fasc.) ; A.
HARNACK, Lehre der 12 Apostel nebst Untersuchungen zur altesten Geschichte der
Kirchenverfassung und des Kirchenrechts : in Texte und Untersuchungen by
GEBHARDT and HARNACK, vol. ii., pt. 1, a. u. b. Leipsic, 1884; Id. Die Apostellehre
und die jildischen beiden Wege, Leipsic, 1886. One of the most important
modern discoveries. The treatise is first demonstrably made use of by CLEM.
AL., Strom. I. 20, and indeed quoted as scripture. EUSEBIUS, Hist. EccL, 3, 25
mentions TWV cnro&Tokfav al Xeyo/ie'i/at StSa^at in close connection with the Ep. of
Barnabas, among the Antilegomena and indeed in the second class of them =
the voda, and in the Canon of Athanasius (the list of sacred books appended to
the 39th Festal Epistle of the year 367) where the scriptures which are, under
Ila, designated by Eusebius deutero-canonical, are entirely mixed up with
the KavovL^op-fva, and the avayivoxrKo^va distinguished from them. Here, among
the scriptures which are destined to be read to those who desire to come near
and to be instructed in the word of holiness, the Teaching (sing.) and the
Pastor stand alongside of (apocryphal) O.T. scriptures, with the express remark
that they contain nothing heretical. The treatise consists of 1) the ethical
part, which treats of the most important precepts of Christian morality under
the scheme of the two Ways (of Life and Death), but in addition of 2) impor-
tant precepts regarding the worship of God and the regulation of the com-
munity.

In the at Starayat al 8ta KA^/nei/roy Koi Kavoves eWATjtrtatrTiKoi raw ayiwv air6rrTO\<i>v =
Ducz vice, vel judicium Petri (Hilgenfeld I.e. p. 111-119) or the so-called Apostolic
discipline, first edited by BICKELL (Gesch.des Kirchenrechts, 1.87 sq.)then by de
LAGARDE (Reliq. juris eccl. antiquiss., Leipsic, 1856, p. 74-79), we now recog-
nise a revision which produces the first part of the Didache (chap. 1-4, The Way
of Life), freely treating the individual parts as sayings of the twelve indi-
vidual apostles, and then — departing altogether from the Didache, making the
different apostles — (Peter again indeed making a beginning) give directions
for the discipline of the Church, which belong to a considerably later point of
view. We likewise now recognise that in the Apostolic Constitutions, VII.

ii2 CHURCH HISTORY.

1-32 we have before us a free revision of the whole Didache, which set aside
much which no longer corresponded with the subsequent conditions of church
government, and replaced it with other matter.

The content of the first part of the Didache, the Two Ways, also meets us
again however in the Epistle of Barnabas, chaps. 18-20. A. HARNACK and
many others regarded Barnabas in the relative chapters as the source of the
Didache, against which the mode in which these chapters are attached in the
Epistle of Barnabas shows tha£ they are here externally patched on : Mcra/3o>/ifi/
8f (cai eni trepan yvtotrw Kai SiSa^i/ (as though what followed contained in
general further yvaxris in the sense of what had gone before!) and it is obvious
that here already a SiSa^i? had been made use of. Hence Th. ZAHX (Forschungcn,
III. 310 sqq.) and many others supposed the reverse relationship ; as however not
all the phenomena of the text could be explained without violence by the
hypothesis, HOLTZMANN'S way out of the difficulty seemed an obvious one, that
both were based on a common foundation. Now KRAWUTSKY (ThQ. 1SS2, )>.">!>-
445) — even before the publication of the Didache by Bryennios, had inferred
from Barnabas and Ap. Const. VII. 1-21 the existence of an ancient book of
ecclesiastical instruction, " The Two Ways." This appeared to be found in the
Didache, i.e. in c. 1-6. It affords us the subject matter which must be supposed
to have lain before both the author of our Didache and Barnabas. By compari-
son of the different forms, it became further probable that in the original form
of the Two Ways the portion 1, 3-6, 2 must have been wanting, as is confirmed
by the fragment of a Latin translation discovered by GERIURDT (in HARNACK,
Texte, etc., II. p. 275 sqq. 1884). This original form WARFIELD tried to restore
(/>//>/. StK'ra., 1886, p. 100-161). To it was again attached the still very uncer-
tain hypothesis of C. TAVI.UI; ('/'/n- Ti'iiffifnif of the Tied re Apoxtlcx irif/i illus-
tration* from the Taliinnl, Cambr.. L886) which regards the Two Ways as origin-
ally a .Jewish writing, an instruction for proselytes. In 1, 5, and therefore
according to the supposition in the portion of our Didache subsequently inserted
in the original Two Ways, it touches on HKU.MAS, M,ui<l. 2, 4-6. For the rest,
whether the " Two Ways " in the sense of Did. 1-6 ever really existed s.']>ar-
ately as Harnack, Bratke (JprTh. 1886, 302 sqq.) and many others suppose, or
much more probably from the ver}- beginning was associated with the content
of Did. 7-16 (as Warfield makes pmliahle.:. remains doubtful. In the latter case
Taylor's hypothesis would at onco fall to the ground.

After the title above quoted 818. T. 8. an. the text in the MS. begins with the
designation at length 818. Kvplov 8in TO>I/ 8. an. rmt tdvftriv. In view of this it is
at least doubtful, whether this treatise really pretends to be written by tin-
apostles, and not rather to be merely a representation intended for Gentile
Christians of the teaching of Jesus as it was transmitted by the apostles.

6. To Bishop Ignatius of Antioch, who, being condemned to tight with wild
bea>ts under Trajan, was transported to Rome and martyred there (/•/</. infra),
there are ascribed a great number of epistles, which were at first known in
a Latin form, the majority of which (twelve ; three known in Latin only) were
subsequently discovered in Greek, and edited by Pacteus, Dillingen, 1557 ; accord-
ing to another MS. by Andr. Gesner, Zurich, 1559. Lively controversies immedi-
ately arose as to their genuineness. The spuriousness of the three which were
only known in Latin became plain at once: with regard to the others which
appeared to favour hierarchical ideas, and to be of especial value to prove the
high antiquity of the episcopate and its dignity, BELLARMIN, e.g. declared for
genuineness, but the Jesuit HALLOIX against it, CALVIN dubious, the Magdelmrg
CKNTITKIATORS for interpolation, etc. etc. VEDELIUS already in his edition

THE 1GNATIAN EPISTLES. 113

(1623) separated the seven expressly mentioned by name by Eusebius (H. E. 3,
36), from the other five, but regarded them all as interpolated. There was now
found and published by USSIIER. Oxford, 1646, a shorter Latin text of seven
Epistles, and just those called Ignatian by Eusebius. In the same year ISAAC
Vossius published six of these shorter Epistles after a Medicean Greek codex,
Amsterdam, 1646 ; and the Greek text of the seventh, which was still wanting,
was subsequently supplied by RUINART (Acta Martyr, sincera, Paris. 1689).
With the giving up of the five others, only extant in the longer recension,
which apart from this had attracted the greatest suspicion, opinion turned
entirely favourable to these seven in their shorter Greek text ; so specially
PEARSON Vindicias. epist. St. Igna'ii, Cantabrig., 1672, against the attacks of
DALL^US in : De scriptis quce sub Diony.v. Areop. et Ignatii Ant. nomine cir-
cumferuntur, Geneva, 1666. Only a few have since then attempted to main-
tain the longer recension of the seven Epistles (MEIER, StKr. 1836), which is
now universally given up. On grounds involved in their general view of the
development of the ancient church, the seven epistles, even in the shorter recen-
sion, were attacked as spurious by BAUR, SCHWEGLER. and others. While R.
ROTHE (Anfange der christlichen Kirche, 1837) very decidely, DUSTERDIEK (De
Ignat. ep. authentia, Gott., 1844), HUTHER (in Niedner's ZhTh. 1851) and others
declared for authenticity. NEANDER regarded them as essentially authentic,
but would admit interpolations ; others considered that in the shorter Greek
recension (on behalf of which ARNDT also appeared, StKr. 1839) they could
recognise the form which stood nearest to the original text. A new turn of
the controversy again arose through the discovery in the Nitrian Desert (in
1819 and 1843) of three Epistles in Syriac (Polyc., Eph. and Rom.), and pre-
served in a still shorter form (CuRETON, The ancient Syriac version of the epp.
of S. Ign., Lond. and Berl., 1845, followed by the attempt of the same scholar
to restore the Greek text accordingly in his Corpus Ignatianum, 1849; cf PETER-
MANN, St. Ign. epp. collatis edd. Greeds versionibusque Syriaca, Armen. Latinis
Tec., Leipsic, 1849). While in general the form of the three epistles is still
shorter, the epistle to the Romans only contains a few passages which are
wanting in the Greek text. BUNSEN (Die drei echten und die vier unechten
ignat. Briefe und Ignat. von Ant., Hamburg, 1847) thought he had discovered in
them the genuine kernel of the Ignatian literature ; and although BAUR (Die
ignat. Briefe und ihr neuester Kritiker, 1848) immediately contested the point,
LIPSIUS also (Niedner's Zeitschr., 1856, and in the Abhandl.f. d. Kunde d. Mor-
genl., 1859), and WEISS (Renter's Repertor., 1852, and in HoUenberg's deutscher
Zeitschr. f. christl. Wissenschaft, 1859, No. 47) maintained a greater originality
for the Syriac text, and in support of their view held that a series of considera-
tions against the Ignatian Epistles in general (developed conception of the epis-
copate, Christological conceptions and reference already to Gnostic Docetism)
could be set aside by going back to the Syriac text of the three epistles as the
original kernel. As however the latter is only too easily recognisable as an
abstract, there only remains the expedient of regarding the three S3'riac epistles
as a direct abstract from the three genuine epistles, the seven (shorter) Greek
epistles as an interpolated revision, originating about the middle of the second
century in the interest of stricter hierarchical order and with some anti-
heretical references. But the whole attempt to fall back on the three Syriac
epistles as the genuine kernel is now universally given up as impossible. Even
LIPSIUS, Ueber den Ursprung (und altesten Gebrauch des Christenthums, Jena
1873) has given the matter up ; and so, on the one hand, a return has been made
to Baur's hypothesis of the spuriousness of the Ignatian literature in general

8

j i4 CHURCH HISTORY.

(MERX, Meletemata Ignatiana, Halle, 1861, cf. EWALD, Gotta A.., 1862, HILGEN-
FELD), on the other to a decided defence of the genuineness of the seven Epistles
already mentioned by Eusebius, which is also maintained \)y UHLHOKX (Nted-
ner's Zeitschr., 1851), P. VAUCHER (Recherches sur les lettres d'lgnat., Geneva,
1856); DENZINGER ( LTber die Echtheit des bish. Textes, etc.. Wurzburg, 1859).
The most important contribution to this opinion is that offered by TH. ZAHN in
Ms most valuable monograph Ign. von Antioch (Gotha, 1873), and in his edition
in the Apostolic Fathers of HARNACK, GEBHARDT and ZAHN, vol. ii. Cf. also,
FUNK, Die Echtheit der ignat. Briefe, Tubingen, 1883, and in his edition of the
Apostolic Fathers ; and, more recently, especially LIGHTFOOT, TJie Apostolic
Fathers, II. 1 and 2. London, 1S86. As the objections, for the most part arising
from the fact that the epistles seem to show a somewhat later time than the
death of Ignatius under Trajan (circ. 115 ; various views, i-id. infra), where it is
placed by tradition, were admitted, and 011 the other hand very weigh ;t points
in favour of the genuineness of the epistles can be made good, A. HAKNACK
attempted by investigation (Die Zeit des Ignatius und die Chronologic <I<-r
antiochenischen BischSfe, 1878) of the succession of the Bishops of Autioch to
fix a later date for the martyrdom of Ignatius; the attempt however was hardly
successful, and even if it obviated some difficulties, would create others. On
the other hand, VOLTER (Die Lnsung der ignat. Fraye, ThT. iSJSt!) would help
matters by discarding as spurious the Epistle to the Romans, which gives rise to
the greatest objections (since here the MS. tradition also varies), and by distin-
guishing from the man who died a martyr's death at Antioch (not at Rome), and
placing in the middle of the second century, the Ignatius who is the writer of
the epistles (who is characterised as Bishop of Syria only in the Epistle to the
Romans — in the rest does not appear as a bishop). The latter hypothesis is
very doubtful.

The epistles are compositions by Ignatius, written to various communities,
with one to Polycarp, during his transport to Rome. They exhibit a very
lofty desire for martyrdom, and forcibly exhort the communities to unity, and
for its sake to decided subordination to the bishop as the representative of
Christ. They exhibit the influence of Pauline and Johannine views, and argue
polemically against Judaism as well as against Docetic views of Christ's suffer-
ings and resurrection. The exaltation of the episcopate raises doubts— at the
same time (vid. infra) the monarchic position of the bishop ma\ have been
arrived at earlier in one portion of the church than in others. So likewise it
is thought that the polemic referred to above relates to Gnosticism, the emerg-
ence of which points to a somewhat later period; but it is not necessaiv to
think of the later Gnostic system-, and Zalm in particular has shown the sup-
position of a reference to a specific Valentinian expression (-V'.'/' i /•/</. Zahn on
the passage Ad Magnes.8, 2) to be erroneous; the beginnings of Gnosticism are
also to be traced much further back on other ground-.

7. POLYCARP, Bishop of Smyrna, according to Irenseus who was closely asso-
ciated as a youth with him in his old age, was still a disciple of tin- apo>tles,
and according to the same authority tin1 author of various epistles. Irenaeus
:;,:;."> mentions of them one also to the Philippians. Such an epistle already
known to and quoted by Kfsi-;r.irs (:>.:;<; has been piv^.Tved ; in Italian by
FAUKK STAITLKNSIS in 1498, in Greek by HAD. MIX. and afterwards l.y lTssin:it
and others, and in all collections of the Apostolic Fathers. \Ve have tin- epistle
complete however only in the Latin text: in the Greek, chaps. 10-12 and the
closing words of 13 and 14 are wanting. The epistle, an answer to the Philip-
pians. full of moral exhortation, with numerous pa^;iures of scripture i.i

THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. PA PI AS. 115

of Matthew and Luke, Acts, Pauline Epistles, including the Pastoral Epistles
and numerous quotations from 1 Peter, etc.). Reference is made to the fact
that a presbyter of Philippi has been guilty of fraud, and the reference shows
that the position of a bishop, superior to the presbyter, is not here presupposed.
Reference is made to the martyrdom of Ignatius, and in such a way that the
epistle cannot be put at a great chronological distance from those of Ignatius.

The genuineness of this epistle, which is so well externally attested (by
IKEN^EUS), must be disputed by all who declare the Ignatian epistles to be unau-
thentic, seeing that it refers to them. DALL/EUS endeavoured to explain the dif-
ficulty by declaring chapter 13 to be interpolated ; BUNSEN recently fell back on
this hypothesis along with his preference of the three Syriac Ignatian epistles ;
this hypothesis which shows itself to be so impossible of confirmation, was
revived in a more far-seeing and comprehensive form by RITSCHL, Altkath-
Kirche, p. 584 sqq. of the 2nd ed., likewise in connection with preference of the
Syriac epistles ; according to it the forger of the Ignatian epistles must also
have interpolated several passages into the Epistle to the Philippians. But
the hypothesis also falls to the ground along with the exaggerated valuation
of the Syriac epistles (cf. against them ZAHN, Ignatius, p. 479 sqq.) and the
question arises whether they are genuine, or in spite of such important testi-
mony, spurious ; indeed it may be said that the Epistle of Polycarp becomes a
strong support for the genuineness of Ignatius. But VOLKMAR and HILGEN-
FELD (ZwTh. 1885, p. 180 sqq.) still hold on to the possibility of solving the
difficulty by the excision of interpolations, inasmuch as thereby both the direct
references to Ignatius and his fate, and the references to the ideas which Igna-
tius had at heart, are set aside.

II. FURTHER LITERARY FRAGMENTS.

J. E. GRADE, Spicilegium Patrum, t. 1 and 2, Oxon,, 1714 ; M. J. ROUTU, Re-
liquiae Sacree, 4 vols. 2nd ed., Oxon. 1846; BUNSEN, Analecta Antenicaena,
4 vols. in his Christianity and Mankind, Lond., 1855 sqq. ; the collections of
apocrj^phal writings so far as they belong to this period : FABRICIUS, Codd.
apocr. V.T., Hamb., 1722, and N.T., Hamb., 1719 ; THILO, Cod. Apocr. N.T.,
I., Leipsic, 1832; C. TISCHENDORF, Ev. apocr., 2nd ed.,Leipsic, 1876, Acta ap.
Apocr., Leipsic, 1851, Syrische apokr. Apostelg., ed. by Wright, London, 1871,
and several others. — CERIANI, Monumenta sacra et profana, Milan, 1861
sqq. ; RUINART, Acta martyrum sincera, Paris, 1689, 2nd ed. Amsterdam,
1713 and frequently.

All the treatises mentioned, with the exception of the Didache, and very
frequently with, in addition, the so-called Epistle to Diognetus (vid. infra),
are usually collected in the editions of the so-called Apostolic Fathers. We add
however the following documents as analogous sources : —

8. The hitherto scanty fragments which have been preserved of PAPIAS,
Bishop of Hierapolis, in Phrygia Minor. He is designated ap^alos avr^p by
S, Adv. Hcer., V. 33, 4, as a hearer of John and companion, or friend
of Polycarp ; all the same it must always remain doubtful according
to the view taken of his words in Euseb. 3, 39, whether he himself had heard
one of the apostles, in particular the Apostle John ; it certainly militates
against the probability of this, that he zealously exerted himself to collect the
expressions of the oldest apostolic generation from the mouths of their disciples
by living tradition. Of his five books: Aoyuuf KvpuiK<ov 'E^y^crts-, thjre unfortu-
nately remain only scanty fragments : the well-known saying as to the origin

n6 CHURCH HISTORY.

of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, a fantastic passage about the exuberance
of natural blessings in the millennial kingdom quite in the style of Jewish
apocalyptics, a fabulous delineation of the bodily condition of the traitor Judas,
and several others. Fragments in ROUTH I. and in HARNACK, GEBHARDT and
ZAHN'S edition of the Apostolic Fathers, I. 2. The Papias problem has recently
been much discussed by Th. Zahn. Steitz, Weiffenbach, Hilgenfeld, Leimbach,
H. Liidemann and many others ; vid. art in RE. 2nd ed. (by Leimbach).

9. HEGESIPPUS, a Christian of Jewish descent (as Eusebius 4, 22 concludes
from his quotations from the Gospel of the Hebrews, from Syriac and Hebrew
and also from verbal Jewish tradition), about the middle of the second century
visited various Christian churches, came to Rome by way of Corinth in the
time of the Roman bishop Anicetus, and survived till the time of the Roman
bishop ELEUTHERUS ( — 189). He already therefore belongs quite to the time of
the Greek Apologists (vid. infra), and even to the beginning of the time of
Irenseus, etc. He comes under consideration here as a witness to the older
ecclesiastical tradition, and in any case remains quite uninfluenced by the
theologico-philosophical style of the Apologists. He wrote a treatise, vno^v^ara,
(5 Books), from which Eusebius has taken many valuable historical notes. In
these annotations according to EUSEBIUS (4,7 and 4, 21) Hegesippus defended
the truth against numerous heretics, by opposing to them the true tradition of
the apostolic preaching. He can therefore hardly have written a Church
History (JEROME, but not according to his own view) or even memoirs on the
circumstances of the church according to his own views, but a defensive treatise
against heretics, which however obviously lai'l \vrjght on the historical investi-
gation of pure apostolic tradition, and accordingly on historical memories. On
his journey to Rome he came into contact with many bishops, and in every
dftiducfii- and town found the condition of affairs in accordance with the
teaching of the Law and the Prophets and the Lord (i.e. with the Holy Scrip-
tures— the Old Testament — and evangelical tradition); with regard to the
Corinthian community he attests in reference to the Epistle of Clement, that
down to this time they had remained in the right doctrine (upObs Xoyor). Un IT
the influence of BATH'S presuppositions, Hegesippus was long regarded as
disposed to Ebiouism; and this was made to serve as voucher for the wide
spread of the Ebionitic mode of thought in the church of the second century,
seeing that the author who was familiar with the old Jewish Christian tradi-
tions found a similar attitude to the "Law" in wide circles of the church
(whereas in the passage referred to nothing is expressed beyond the common
Christian conviction of the age as to the authority of Old Testament Script mv
(Law and Prophets] in their agreement with the preaching of our Lord . Tin-
Jewish Christian who designates the ecclesiastical agreement found in Corinth
and elsewhere as that which had already been attested by the Epistle of
< 'i I.MF.NT of Rome to the Corinthians, could certainly not be of Ebionitic depo-
sition. On the whole, there is nothing of an anti-Pauline character; for. tho
polemical reference to the saying 1 Cor. ii. 9 (Stephan. Gobar. ap. PHOT. Bibl.
232, p. 288 b) cannot possibly, with his relations to Corinth and Rome
(Epistle of Clement) be designed for Paul, but must be aimed against a heretical
and probably Gnostic estimate of him (according to Origen he was mentioned
in a treatise attributed to ELIAS). Hegesippus accentuates quite the point of
view which the Catholic church began to take up in presence of Gnosticism. —
Fragments in ROUTH, Reliq, sac., I. and HILC;ENFELD, ZwTh. 1876 (cf. the notice
by Th. ZAHN in ZKG. II. 280 sqq.). For more recent discussions, vid. the
literature in WEIZS.VCKEK'S article, RE. 2nd ed.

CHRISTIAN APOCALYPTJCS. 117

Just as the Christians attached themselves to the celebrated Greek translation
of the Seventy Interpreters, and willingly received what Hellenistic legend
narrates concerning them, so also the literary activity of Jewish Hellenism in
the province of religion exercised an important influence on Christian circles
and began to excite imitations with a Christian colour and tendency. In
direct relation to Jewish apocalyptics (Daniel), Christian apocalyptics had
arisen in the Revelation of John. Jewish products of the apocalyptic tendency
and treatment of the world, of much less religious value, were read or used by
Christians; thus the Book of Enoch, (published in Ethiopic, Leipsic, 1851,
next ibid. 1853 in a German translation by DILLMAX — for its literary character
vid. Schiirer, Gesch. des jild. Volkes, p. 616), which originated in the first
century B.C., is quoted by the author of the Epistle of Jude ver. 14, who in ver.
9 appeals to legendary matter, which Origen still found in the Jewish apocalyp-
tic treatise, the Assumptio (dvdX^ts) Mosis, which certainly originated in, the
first Christian century ; of the latter we have only a portion in an oltt Latin
translation, derived from a Greek one (the question whether the original was
in Hebrew or Aramaic is open). (Text first in CEKIANI, Monum., fac. I. 1861,
next in HILGENFELD, N. Test, extra can., 1, 1866; VOLKMAR, 1867; MERX'
Archiv, 1868 ; FRITZSCHE, Libri apost., 1871. Attempted retranslation in HIL-
GENFELD, Messias Judceorum, 1869 ; the literature ap. Schiirer, p. 630). Here too
must be mentioned the 4th Book of Ezra (SCHURER, 560), about the time of Domi-
tian, and the Book of Jubilees (the so-called little Genesis) which must have
originated not long after the middle of the first century, originally in Hebrew ;
the latter (SCHURER, p. 677) is the oldest known Midrasch, which explains and
fabulously continues the Biblical primitive historj' in the spirit of later Judaism.

From the stem of such Jewish literature there sprang the Testament of the
Twelve Patriarchs (testamentum duodecim patriarcharum ; in GRABE and
FABRTCIUS and frequently, most recently by SINKER, Cambridge, 1869) which
has received a Christian impress, at least in its present form. After the example
of Genesis xlix. it puts prophetic words into the mouths of the sons of Jacob,
to which are added moral exhortations and glances at Christian perfection, at
Christ's appearance and His atoning death, at Baptism and the Lord's Supper,
at the conversion of the heathen by Paul and the entry of the Christians into
the position of the O. T. Covenant People, at the destruction of Jerusalem and
the incoming of the kingdom of God. The book, which was already known to
Origen, is ascribed to the end of the first Christian century or the first half of
the second (vid. the older literature in RE. 12, 361 sq.). SCHXAPP (Die Test,
der 12 Patr., Halle, 1884) and similarly BALJOU (De. testainenten, etc., ThJ. 1887,
208 sqq.) attempt to prove various hands, and would point to the hypothesis
that a Jewish writing had been subjected first to Jewish and then to Christian
interpolations.

Alongside of the fixing of the evangelical tradition and of those Gospels
which attain universal recognition in the church, there already emerge
Apocryphal Gospels, which in part merely answer to the need of the expansion
of pious tradition and its naif and miraculous adornment, but in part follow
out certain tendencies of belief. Among the oldest and most widely spread is
the Protevangelium Jacob! niinoris, which goes from the birth of Mary down
to the massacre at Bethlehem, and was perhaps already known to Justin and
Clement, but certainly to Origen. Likewise belonging to the oldest p'eces are
the Acta or Gesta Pilati (Just. Mart., Apol., 1. 35) which was subsequently amal-
gamated with the later Descensus Christ I ad inferos under the title of the
Evangelium Nicodemi. A Jewish-Christian author seeks to confirm the

n8 CHURCH HISTORY,

history of Christ by the testimony of those of His enemies who took part in
His death (text in TISCHENDORF ; cf. LIPSIUS, Die Pilatusakten, Kiel, 1870).
This sort of writing, however, wantons most luxuriously in the hands of hereti-
cal, and especially of Gnostic, sects, which took possession of the early emerging
notion of the division of the different countries among the apostles (CLEM.,
Recogn. 1, 43. 9, 29 ; Apollonius ap. EUSEB. H.E. 5, 18, 14) and now sought to
obtain admission for their speculations in legends about the wanderings, deeds
and doctrines of the apostles. That writings of this sort proceeded from the
side of Ebionisin is attested by EPIPHANJUS, Hcer., 30, 23, and proof is added by
their further romantic development in the Clementine literature (vid. supra) ;
with them however the Kt'ipvyna Uerpov, frequently quoted by Clem, of Alex.
( i-;,l. passages inHilgenfeld, Evv. .sec. Ifrbr., etc. ,2nd ed., Leipsic, 1884, 55 sqq.),
has nothing to do.

The documents which were produced by the rise of Gnosticism ought further
to be mentioned here, but they will be better touched on in their place ; also
several apocryphal and pseudepigraphical phenomena which will be more
suitably referred to in a larger connection. To the accounts and acts of mar-
tyrs, for which there is a con jecture of their greater credibility (genuineness)
and which are distinguished above the crowd of later fabrications, there belong
chiefly, the letter of the Christians of Lyons and Vienne on the persecution
under Marcus Aurelius (177) in Euseb., H.E. 5, 1, and the Martyrdom of S.
Polycarp Rriv\KT, and now ZAUN, Aj>/>. IV/Vc/-, II. p. 1 :'>:'> sq.) in the form of
an epistle from the community at Smyrna to that at Philomelium, which al-
ready lay before Eusebius and of which he has embodied the essential part
in his Church History (4, 15), and especially a considerable portion on the
martyrdom of Polycarp. In>pit.-,.f tie- attacks of Ln-sirs (ZwTh. 1S74) and
especially of KKIM (.lux (/>•)» r/-i-/ir/s/,-/iff/ui/i. 1870, p. 90 sqq.) it is essentially
to be regardfd as a narrative by the community of Smyrna, written soon after
the event; although comparison with Kust-liius It-ad* to tin- supposition of
several additions interpolated later, and the chronological addition is frequently
doubted by those who otherwise .-.ii|>port the martyrdom (cf. in ^i-m-ral ZAUN
in the Proll.,p. xi,vm. sqq., and WiESBLER, Christenverfolgungen der Cds., is7s.
:'•( sqq.). Finally for the martyrdom of -Irsris, rnl. /nh;i.

III. A new sort of Christian literature now begins gradually from the close
of the time of Hadrian and develops under the Antonines, conditioned on the
one hand by the encroachments of the state power, and on the other by the
interest which Hellenistic culture begins to take in Christianity, — that of the
Christian Apologists. Before treating of this subject, we must attempt to gain,
from what has already been discussed, a picture of the views and circumstances
of the Christian communities, as formed while still essentially untouched by
this new element.

5. Condition and Prospects of the Christian Communities in the Gentile
World down to the middle of the Second Century.

1. Pliny, in the well known letter to Trajan (X. Of>, or rather 97),
found the Christians in his province of Bithynia widely spread even
over the rural districts, and among them some declared that the}'
had already been Christians for twenty years. Country and towns,
villages and palaces were full of Christians ; all ranks participated,
nobles and slaves, women and children. The temples began to

GENTILE CHRISTIANS. 119

stand empty, the sacrificial animals were no longer bought. And
although, it is true that here pagan indifference was a co-operat-
ing cause, Pliny must have had reason to recognise in Christianity
a powerful and dangerous ferment. Of such as, on occasion of their
being denounced, allowed themselves to be intimidated and con-
fessed that they had been Christians but were so no longer, it was
asserted that their whole guilt or error consisted in the fact that they
were in the habit of meeting together early, before sunrise, on a
particular day (stato die), and singing together (secum inincem) songs
to Christ as God, and taking sacred vows (sacramento) not with any
criminal purpose, but to commit no crime such as theft, robbery or
adultery, and to guard themselves against unfaithfulness ; and then
they again assembled for an innocent common meal. Pliny, in order
to get at the truth, further subjected two female slaves confessedly
Christians (who were ministrce, i.e. deaconesses vid. infra), to ex-
amination by torture, but could discover nothing further to in-
criminate them except evil and immoderate superstition. But at
least the obstinacy of the confessors, those who did not allow them-
selves to be frightened into denial, seems to him worthy of punish-
ment. We recognise Christian worship of God with divine reverence
paid to Christ and a strong moral purpose ; we get a glimpse of the
holding of love-feasts, and in the superstition we may see an allusion
to the representations of the belief and expectations of the Christians
(in this connection it is to be remarked, however, that at the time
Christians would observe reticence in their expressions as to important
and decisive points). Of what sort these latter may on the average
have been, we may surmise from hints in the literary works described
in the previous chapter. They give us little that is purely Judaic,
and belong preponderatingly rather to the Gentile Christian ten-
dency; but at the same time show how much the peculiarly Pauline
ideas have retreated and how much, even where the influence of
Pauline writings has been active (e.g. Clem. Rom., Ignatius, Polycarp),
his ideas have been obliterated. Even in his decisive exposition of
the 0. T., Paul is not understood, but not at all because the Christ-
ians were drawn into Judaistic (Ebionitic) prejudices, — much rather
because Gentile Christianity in general accepts the Greek Bible
of the 0. T. as a Sacred Book and makes use of it, but on the
whole is not able to conceive it organically. Inasmuch as they
have accepted the preaching of the coming kingdom of God, of
Christ as Him who shall come to judge the world and establish His
glory, the faith in one God of heaven and earth as one who wills to
seek men in grace, who calls them to His kingdom as the kingdom

120 CHURCH HISTORY.

of future glory, immortality and resurrection, appealed powerfully to
their sympathies (Herm. Hand. 1). As Christians they feel them-
selves entitled, without any further qualification, to apply to them-
selves the Biblical (0. T.) notion of the chosen and called people of
God (Clem. I. ad Cor. 29) ; here and there (Barnabas), even to the ig-
noring of the historical redemptive place and task in history of Israel
(excluding the latter); and moreover this idea is so turned, that the
notion is rather that of the future condition of d(f)dap<Tia, the
future life glorified in the resurrection in opposition to this world of
evanescence and decay, whether the representation be now formed
on Judseo-chiliastic (Barnabas) or again rather on transcendental
lines. Christ, to whom according to Pliny the Christians already
sung songs quasi deo, appears in divine dignity, as is universally
held, although the ideas which according to apostolic example were
developed on this basis as to the ante-mundane kernel of His being
remain somewhat fluid. Practical motives come plainly to the front
in the beginning of the second Ep. of Clement (II. Clement 1) ; " He
who thinks little of Christ the judge of life and death, also hopes
and expects little from Him, and forgets from what condition, and
by whom, and for what place we are called, and how much Jesus
Christ has suffered on our account."

Xow although the redemption and forgiveness of sins brought by
Christ appear in the character of a possession of salvation won by
Him and especially by His death, and which is to be received in
faith, yet the Pauline idea of justification by faith is nowhere to be
found pure and clear, because the presuppositions necessary for it
in Paul's disagreement on principle with the 0. T. law are lacking.
Inasmuch as faith is founded on Christ as the divine revealer, and
on the call to the kingdom promised by Christ — the eternal life
which is received in baptism, there emerges alongside of it the con-
s.-ijuent demand to obey His will, the new law, and to renounce
this world and its works in repentance and conversion and in faith
in the promise of the future world and eternal life. Faiih in the
revelation of God in Christ, comes under consideration only as a
religious motive for the moral strife, and as that which makes that
strife a surrender of the world for the sake of the (future kingdom
of God. There thus arises what, as compared with Paul, is a decided
tendency to favour the works of the law, not at all however a
Judaistic-legal tendency, but one which is purely of the moral
law. In the moral conception, however, there operates on the one
hand an ascetic tendency to flee from the world and accentuate
freedom from sensual tilings • <i-/veia), the struggle with the sensual.

GENTILE CHRISTIANS. 121

especially with, sexual lust, covetousness, etc., on the other hand
the mighty commandment of love in its evangelical expansion to
the love of enemies, and on the other hand its inward intensifi-
cation to brotherly love ; in consequence of both, self-denial, con-
tentedness, humility and patience encouraged by the prospect of
future glory, as well as a perpetually ready almsgiving. In this
way the precepts of morality, following the ideal demands of the
Sermon on the Mount as well as other sayings of our Lord, and
evangelical precepts, are set up in the Didache 1-5 as the Way
of Life, and contrasted with the Way of Death in transgressions,
and moreover with special reference to such as should be under-
taken at Baptism and as its obligations (Did., 7, 1, ravra Trdvra
Trpoenrovvres ftaTTTiaare of Just. M., Apol., I. 61 : " those who have
been convinced and believe that what we teach is true, and pro-
mise to live in accordance with it ; " on the contrary Herm. Fz'tf.
III. 7. 3, " those who have heard the words and desire to be
baptized, but then let them remember the a^/veia of the truth and
become of another mind ! ") From the fact that the Didache only
contemplates evangelical instruction in morals, but not a similarly
extended instruction in articles of faith, before baptism, the inference
naturally is not to be made that no such form of instruction took
place; the desire for baptism could only arise in such heathens as,
being generally convinced in faith in the one God and His son Jesus
Christ and the salvation brought and revealed by Him, were anxious
to participate in the spirit which lived in the community (cf . the
words of Justin above). They must therefore in some way or another
have come under the determining impression of the convictions of
Christians, but nevertheless a definite dogmatic instruction on the
basis of the confession of the faith does not appear as yet to be pre-
supposed. It was just the confession of faith itself however which
here formed a firm support, and which in the trinitarian baptismal
formula gradually took 011 more fixed forms (c,l.Vetu*tiwimum ecdesice
Romance fymbolum e Scriptis virorum Christianonini qui primo et
altero p. Chr. n. xceculo vixerunt illustratum in HARN. et GEBHARDT.
Pair, apost., opp. I. 2, p. 115 sqq. and BORNEMANN, Das Taufoymbol
Justin* d. I/., in ZKG. III. 1-29 ) and as the precipitate of which
the oldest form of the Apostles' Creed is to be presupposed with
probability from about the middle of the second century. In
general from this standpoint, religious satisfaction proper is less to
be sought in learned disquisitions than in the forms of devotional
life, in the acts of which also the conceptions of the faith, in
many still so fluid ways, assume a definite conformation. Thus

122 CHURCH HISTORY.

the Didache already exhibits the baptismal formula in the name
of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost (7, 1) and shows by 9, 5, that
this baptismal formula may also be present where (as in Herm. I.e.)
baptism in. the name of Jesus only is spoken of, while Hennas I.e.
still speaks of baptism in the name of the Lord and therefore seems
to presuppose this primitive original Christian form. So also espe-
cially, the sacred meals (vid. sup. Ep. of Plin.), with their eucharistic
prayers, are the specific expression of the highest religious life of
the community, only accessible to believers ; with regard to this
subject, the eucharistic prayer before the Agape (Did. 9), and before
the eucharistic act in the narrower sense, which follows the Agape
(16, 19, so also ZAHN agst. HARNACK), may possibly be the oldest
memorials which we possess. In the prayers of thanksgiving before
the Agape, first of all in reference to the cup (cf. Gosp. Luke), God the
Father is thanked for the Holy Vine, "David Thy servant (TratSo?)
which Thou hast made known unto us by Thy servant Jesus;" then
in reference to the bread, thanks are given for the life and know-
ledge which " Thou hast made kno\vn to us by Thy servant Jesus,"
quite in accord with the manner in which in II. Clem. 20, 5, at
the close of the homily, God the Father is praised as the Father of
truth, who has sent us His Son as Saviour and bringer of immor-
tality <a(j)0apo-.), through whom He has made truth and eternal life
known to us. But again: "As this broken bread was scattered
on the hills (as grain; and was gathered together into one, so may
Thy church be gathered together from the ends of the earth ; for
Thine is the honour and the power through Jesus Christ for ever."
This meal is already called Eucharist (as a meal of thank-offerini;
of which only the baptized may partake, so that what is holy may
not be given to dogs. But next, after hunger is satisfied ( 6/^X770--
6>jvai) the prayer of thanksgiving" follows once more i ^u^apia-relv} :
" We thank Thee, Holy Father, for Thy holy name for which Thou
hast made a dwelling-place in our hearts, and for the knowledge
of faith and immortality which Thou hast made known unto us by
Thy servant Trat?) Jesus; to Thee be the honour for ever. Thou
Almighty Ruler hast created all things for Thy name's sake, food
and drink Thou hast given men to enjoy in order that they may
give Thee thanks, but on us Thou hast graciously bestowed spiri-
tual food and drink and eternal life. Above all things we praise
Thee because Thou art mighty. To Thee be the honour for ever.
Remember, Lord, Thy Church, to redeem her from all evil and per-
fect her in Thy love and bring her together from the four winds,
her the holy one, into Thy Kingdom which Thou hast prepared fur

FORMS OF WORSHIP. 123

*

her. For Thine is the power and the honour for ever. May Thy
Grace come and may the world pass away. Hosannah to the God
of David (const. ©e&>, or according to an obvious conjecture via), to
the Son of David), i.e. Christ. He that is holy let him come hither,
he that is not let him repent. Maran Atha! Amen."

The author, who gives these prayers as patterns, says expressly
that the prophets shall be at liberty to offer thanks freely as much
as they wish, as indeed Justin also alludes to a certain freedom of
the leader (00-77 Sum/it?).

If we here get a glimpse into the celebration of the Eucharist, in
the close of the I. Ep. of Clement to Cor. B9, 2-61 3, we catch sight
of a church prayer, which at least lets us see on general lines what
sort of a thing it was. Conspicuous is a great fulness of expression
in praise of God the Creator, who exalts the lowly, and casts down
the lofty, slays and makes alive, who from among the multitudes of
the peoples He has brought forth has chosen those who love Him
through His Son Jesus Christ, " by whom Thou hast taught,
sanctified, and adorned us with honour." He is entreated for
help in affliction, for the raising up of the fallen, healing of the
weak, etc., " that all the world may know that Thou art the only
true God and that Jesus Christ is Thy vrat? and that we are Thy
people and the sheep of Thy pasture." Further, God is besought for
the forgiveness of sins and failures, for purification through this
truth, and for strengthening in the good, for peace and concord
" for us and all the inhabitants of the earth ; " on that account there
follow also petitions for ruler and governments, with acknowledg-
ment of the Christian duty of obedience to them, and prayers that
He will turn their hearts towards good.

Finally, II. Clement appears to be the oldest homily used in
public worship which has been preserved, although it cannot be
decided whether or no it presupposes the choice of a particular
biblical text (ZAHN : Acts x., Cornelius ; a conjecture which cannot
be proved ; in any case the saying of Isaiah liv. 1 quoted in chap. ii.
cannot be looked upon as a regular sermon-text). Characteristic on
the one hand is the strong accentuation of the fact that it is not the
saying of " Lord, Lord " which is of consequence, but the earnest
doing of the will of God ; at the same time the whole exhor-
tation rests 011 the consideration of the greatness of what has
been received through and promised by Christ, hence also the whole
object of life is to maintain baptism, which is the seal of it, holy and
inviolate : on the other hand the author expatiates with a certain
freedom, which reminds us of Gnostic speculations, on the represeu-

J24 CHURCH HISTORY.

tation of the eternal pneumatic church (as it were the female
•corresponding to Christ as the male).

For the representation of the religious life which was nourished
in the Christian communities and of the instruments by means of
which it was nourished, we also receive remarkable disclosures as
to what we may designate the survival of the charismatic teaching
officers, namely the Apostles, Prophets and Teachers (cf. 1 Cor.
jxii. 28 sq., Eph. iv. 11, 13). The former now essentially coincide
with the Evangelists, the first apostles being withdrawn ; the name
Apostle, which even originally was quite a general appellation, re-
mains in use for all evangelists (cf. Euseb. 3, 37, men, who accord-
ing to the Lord's command had given up their goods to the poor
and now everywhere laid the foundation of the faith, but after
doing so passed on elsewhere, rid. sup. p. 107 sq).

Alongside of them however stand the prophets, who partly (like
the apostles — only in already existing communities i travel about from
place to place and are also without possessions, partly however settle
down in their communities, and in that case have a claim on the
communities, like other teachers, to receive a support in tithes, " for
they are your High Priests." As little as the apostles and also other
teachers are these prophets elected officials, but come in the strength
of a divine vocation and charismatic endowment, either temporarily
•or (Prophets and Teachers j for permanent stay in the communities.
And so seriously does the author take the matter of their divine
claim, that he will have it regarded as a sin against the Holy Ghost
if these prophets are subjected to any test regarding the matter of
their preaching ; they are to be judged entirely by their life, whether
they have the 773677-0? of Jesus or are led away by selfish aims. It
has been sought to discover in this very exaltation of the prophets a
sign of Montanisin, and thereby considerably to bring down the date
•of the treatise, but incorrectly so. In HKRMAS also, Maud. 11, 7 sqq.,
we have a perfectly similar point of view (that a prophet is to be
judged by his life). The point of distinction between the Prophets
and Teachers is found in the speaking eV -rrvev^ar^ therefore in an
inspiration which goes beyond the degree of ordinary intelligible
speech — without thereby implying speaking with tongues. The
teachers also are partly regarded as travelling teachers, partly as
settling in communities, and in that case entitled to their subsis-
tence. These form an important factor in the intercourse and con-
nection of the communities which as yet were not bouiid together by
.any adequate form of systematic organization, but they also afforded
.an element of mutability and subjectivity in the conception of

ORGAN2ZA TION. 1 25,

Christian ideas, which might become sufficiently influential in the-
time of the Gnosticism which was now preparing.

What was the manner of organization in these communities? (of.
mp. p. 62 sqq.-89 sq.) It is obvious how important an influence
these prophets and teachers (the charismatic teaching-office) must
have exercised upon the communities, as a very important authority ;
on the other hand however, it is also obvious that fixed official organs
of leadership and government were not thereby made superfluous.
As such we have hitherto seen on the one hand Presbyters, and on
the other Bishops with the Deacons ; and important instances are
known to prove the original identity of Bishops and Presbyters.
In favour of this latter, the Didache supplements the evidence of
the Pastoral Epistles and Clem. Rom., inasmuch as it does not once
name presbyters, but only Bishops and Deacons, to which offices,
according to ch. 13, capable and approved men are to be chosen ;
Hermas may be understood in a like sense, inasmuch as he pre-
supposes a college of Presbyters at the head of the community (Vis.
II. 4, 2 and 3, III. 1, 8), and on the other hand names the eVtWoTro?
along with Apostle, Prophet and Teacher (Vis. III. 5, 1) without
naming Presbyters along- with them, as on the presupposition of their
difference one would necessarily expect. At the same time the
different titles may be so explained that Presbyter, in accordance
with the meaning of the word, designates rather their position of
honour as the representatives of the community, bishops (a Greek
designation) rather their official professional activity. Hatch (p. 62)
decides otherwise, and also Harnack, who follows up his view. They
make out that the functions of the two were originally different :
the college of presbyters for the leadership or government proper
of the community, with jurisdiction and disciplinary power, and
bishops with assisting deacons as officials for the administration of
the communities, including the leadership of worship, but whose
chief occupation was the care of the poor, the sick and strangers,
with, the management and administration of finance. Gradually
however both kinds of congregational organization were amalga-
mated, as the bishops with their practical influence and importance
received seats and votes in the presbytery, and finally indeed (vid. sup.)
the presidency and casting vote. Many circumstances seem to favour
this view, among others the early and frequent close collocation of
e-TriWoTrot and 8td/covoi, and where the bishop's name appears, the
frequent reference exactly to care of the community, hospitality, ser-
vices to the poor and widows, etc. (cf. Herm. Sim. IX. 27, 2). At
the same time, there are still weighty considerations against this view.

J26 CHURCH HISTORY.

In any case there appears at this time the beginning of that
development which led to the promotion of the bishop to the head-
ship of the college of presbyters, at first in the sense of a president
in conducting business (primus inter pares), but gradually in a more
monarchical sense. To this, along with the growing need of com-
prehensive unity in the leadership of the communit}^ there may
also have specially contributed the fact that it was hardly possible
to avoid friction between the leaders of the community and the
charismatic office of teacher and prophet, which might very easily
have made use of its entirely free authority in a manner calculated
to bring about confusion, and which might be dangerous to the
simple apostolic faith of the communities. Now, although the office
of presbyter and bishop as such, originally and officially had nothing
to do with teaching, the need was soon experienced, and accordingly
expressed in the Pastoral Epistles, that the bishops designate should,
where it was possible, be also apt to teach (Titus i. 9), and that a
double honour was due to governing presbyters when they also
laboured in the word and teaching. Inasmuch as the bishops who
were already leaders now also united the leading authority with
their office, and thereby limited the disturbing influences of free
prophecy and teaching, there hereby accrued to them a greater
authority.

For this development at this period the decisive witnesses are the
Ignatian Epistles— if they are genuine. They testify to the very
early entry of this development into one part of the Church (the
Syrian Asian), while elsewhere the old relationship continued longer ;
if they are not genuine, still in any case they testify to a period
about the middle of the second century. They are never tired of
most expressly emphasising subordination to the bishop, and thereby
guarding the unity of the community. Whoever does anything
without the bishop, the presbytery and the deacon, is not pure in
his conscience (Trail. 1 . Divisions are presupposed, inasmuch as
parts of the community separate themselves and celebrate the
Eucharist for themselves (J'/iilml. 3 sq.), and as the causes of divi-
sion we are without doubt to infer specially, diverging (hereti< ;ih
opinions as they gain ground through the efforts of individuals who
come forward as teachers (prophets). Without the bishop it is not
allowed to baptize or hold the agape (>•'//////•//. 8 ; cf. Phil. 4). Who-
ever does not go along with the decision (JVW/J.TJ') of the bishop,
strives against the decision of God (Eph. 3 sq.) The bishop stands
in the place of Christ, the presbyters in that of the Apostles (cf. Clem.,
Horn. 3, 60 : " the bishop sitting in the chair of Christ " .

DISCIPLINE.

127

Discipline. For those who had entered the church, who were
called to the kingdom of the coming Lord, baptism abolished the
sins of their previous life, but also laid upon them the obligation
never again to forsake the " Way of Life," the commands of the
Lord. But high-pitched moral demands, particularly on the side of
asceticism and self-denial, early created a vivid impression of the
fact that there were many, even apart from scandalous cases of
graver sins, who lagged behind the ideal of the legally conceived
commands of the gospel : so there begins, even thus early — a result
of the legal tendency — the view, which in its further development
was so full of consequences, that it is "necessary to distinguish
between a higher degree of perfection and a lower which is suffi-
cient for the greater multitude. Thus, Did. 6 : ''If thou art able to
bear the whole yoke of the Lord, thou shalt be perfect ; but if thou
art not able, then do at least what thou canst " ; and II. Clem. 7, 3 ;
"Let us strive, that we may be crowned, and if we cannot all be
crowned, at least that we may come near the crown." So especially
with reference to what is often regarded as alone properly corre-
sponding to Christian perfection — absolute sexual abstinence (vid.
the passages in Harnack's Commentary on the Didache), or, in the
case of milder and more considerate views on this subject, at least
from second marriage (Herm. Mand. 4, 4).

Moreover the strength is in the end admitted of the sound feeling
that all Christians, even in their Christian capacity, err in many
ways, and so, in spite of the fundamental conception that to fall into
sin separates the sinner from the Christian community, we hear
the impressive recommendation of fierdvoia (corresponding to the
fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer), and the emphasizing of its power
for those who stand within the Christian community, in I. Clement,
and II. Clement, and many others ; the exercise of continual inter-
cession for forgiveness of sins becomes usual in divine worship, e.g.
in the " Church-prayer " at the close of I. Clem. ; even the Didache
already places at the close of its positive moral precepts : "In the
congregation confess thy transgressions and go not to thy prayer
with an evil conscience," and sets up the demand, which for this
period cannot be elsewhere expressly verified, that when the
Christians come together on the Lord's Day to break bread and to
give thanks, they should beforehand confess their sins, and espe-
cially in the case of any misunderstanding with their neighbours,
should seek reconciliation in order that their offering may be pure
(14, 1). But the more that there now come into conflict a strict
conception of the community of Christ as a community of saints on

t28 CHURCH HISTORY.

the one hand, and a greater moral laxity 011 the other, so much the
more does the view prevail that at the coming of the Lord, which is
now so soon to be expected, only he who is found to be pure can
participate in the hoped-for salvation, and that there is still time
for repentance, though not for long. In this sense the Shepherd of
Hermas proclaims that the Church is in need of repentance and
that repentance is still possible, that God has yet appointed a delay
until the completion of the spiritual building of the Church ; soon
however, it will be too late. Accordingly an earnest appeal is made
for repentance, in view of the near return of the Lord and the
severe persecutions whicn are to be expected. But at this point
there emerges the particular question, how to deal with those who
have fallen into notorious sin. The exclusion of such from the
Christian community as from a forfeited privilege rested upon
apostolic ordinance. Can such an one, who has not preserved pure
the seal of his baptism, again find acceptance ? The example of
Paul at Corinth seemed to say, Yes. In particular, alongside of
gross excesses of other kinds, it is sexual sins and the case of denial
of the faith which here give rise to deliberation. And here (case of
adultery I Hermas admits that such fallen Christians should be per-
mitted once more to return by repentance (Mand. 4, 1, 8).

In the circumstances so far depicted there lie the points of attach-
ment for various phenomena in the life of the Church. 1) In a
time of religious excitement, the most various religious ideas could
seek attachment to the faith of the Christian communities, which
was still present in very fluid forms of presentation, and thereby
reduce the communities, which as yet had no firmly founded system
of organization, to a state of confusion and great internal strii'--
(Gnosis). 2) The free authority of the prophets which was so
highly prized, the burning expectation of the coming of the Lord,
and in view of it, increasing demands for the maintenance of the
purity of the communities in U-giil strictness, lead to phenomena
of ecstasy and eccentricity i Montanism). 3) In proportion as t he
religiously directed and interested philosophic culture of the time is
attracted, and acquires a love for Christianity, it transforms the be-
lief of the community which it represents before the world, while
holding fast by its historical tradition and its connection with the
O.T., into a religious philosophy and view of the world, and gives to
the Church Theology (Apologists).

GNOSTICISM. 129

6. Gnosticism.

Sources : IREN^US, Adv. haer. 11. 5 ; HIPPOLYTUS, Refutatio omnium haeres.
11. 10 (e\eyx°s KrX. = the so-called Philosophumena). The lost Syntagma of
Hippolytus (a-vvrayfjiu K. TT. alp.) is recognised in the appendix to TERTUL-
LIAN, De prescript, hseret. (usually : Pseudotertullian, Lib. adv. omnes
hsereses [also in OEHLER, Corpus hseres. I., Berlin 1856]) ; CLEMENT of
Alexandria, Strom. ; ORIGEN, Opp. in many passages, especially in the tomi
in loannem. TERTULLIAN'S antignostic writings : De prsescr. heeret. ;
Adv. Valent. ; Adv. Marcionem ; De carne Christi ; De resurrectione earn is;
De anima, also De baptismo. EUSEDIUS, H. E. passim ; PHILASTRI BRIX. L.
de hseresibus (in OEHLER I.e.) ; and EPIPHANIUS, Adv. hseres. (iravapwv).
The pseudo-Origenist Dialogue ADAMANTIUS, De rectu in Deum fide in
the Works of Origen (Lat. by RUFINUS in CASPARI, Kirchenhistor. Anec-
dota I., Christiania 1883) ; cf . Th. ZAHN in ZKG. 1887, 193 sqq. ; THEODORETI,
Fabul. haeret. comp. and the later Hseresiologists ; PLOTINI Ennead. II., 9
(ed. Kirchh., Leipsic 1856 II., pp. 33-60).— LIPSIUS, Zur Quellenkritik des
Epiphanius 1865 ; Ejdm. Die Quellen der alt. Ketzergeschichte, Leipsic
1873 ; A. HARNACK, Zur Quell, der Gesch. des Gnostic., Leipsic 1873, and
ZhTh. 1874. — Of Gnostic writings only very numerous fragments are
extant besides the comparatively late Pistis Sophia (ed. Petermann, Berlin
1853) ; the most complete collection is that of HILGENFELD in the Ketzer-
geschichte des Urchristenthums, Leipsic 1884. — Of the most extensive
literature on Gnosticism the following are specially to be mentioned among
the older writers: MASSUET, Dissert, prsevise, in his edition of Irenseus,
and MOSHEIM (Comment, de rebus Christ, ante Const. M. Helmstadt 1753) ;
among the more modern NEANDER, Entw. des gnost. Syst., Berlin 1818 ;
MOHLER, Ursprung des Gnostic., 1831 (collected writings I.) ; MUTTER,
Hist. crit. du gnost., and in German by DORNER, Heilbronn 1833, 2nd
French ed. Paris 1843 ; BAUR, Die christliche Gnosis, Tubingen 1835 ; LIP-
SIUS, Der Gnost., Leipsic 1860 (Article out of Ersch and Gruber's ENC. s.v.) ;
MOLLER, Gesch. der Kosmol., Halle 1860; JACOBI in RE.2 V. 204, where,
as in NITZSCH, Dogmengesch. I., 1870, numerous special literature ; THOMAS
MANSEL, The Gnostic Heresies, ed. Lightfoot, London 1875 ; HILGENFELD
in the above mentioned works ; A. HARNACK, Lehrb. d. Dogmengesch. I.,
1886, p. 158-197 (2nd ed. 1888) ; JOEL, Blicke in die Eeligionsgesch., L,
1883, p. 161-170.

Gnosticism.
A. GENERAL.

Christianity had made its appearance as the gospel, the procla-
mation of the kingdom of God, and of Jesus Christ, the Lord and
Mediator of this kingdom, and had developed itself chiefly in the
practical preaching of salvation on the basis of the O.T. belief in
God (unity of God the Creator, His purposes and arrangements for
salvation with a chosen people, His moral demands on men, etc.).
However, from the beginning, it always involved the necessity for
theological reflection on the positive principles of belief contained in
this proclamation. Hence, just as, on the basis of the religious ideas
of the O.T., there had already been developed a Jewish theology

9

130 CHURCH HISTORY.

which sought to develop the conceptions of God, His relation to the
world and to men, His demands upon them, as well as His purposes
of salvation with them, into a kind of religio-philosophic view of the
world, — and as these attempts had taken a peculiar flight through
connection with Greek philosophy in Hellenistic Judaism (Philo), and
claimed to reveal to those who were adapted or called thereto a
deeper knowledge of religious truths and religious institutions, so
also the N.T. proclamation, so far as it was forced to enter upon a
dialectical analysis in vindication of itself (as in Paul), had at the
same time entered upon a theological (notional) conception of itself,
so as to distinguish from the simple, popular or undeveloped stand-
point of mere Christian faith, that of a higher or deeper insight
into religious truth and its secrets. So it was with Paul (cf. the
charisma of gnoxix, 1 Cor. xii. 8, distinguished from that of croc^/a,
in which the element of practical wisdom of life rather predomi-
nates, 1 Cor. viii. 1 sq. : knowledge of the secrets of God, Col. ii. 8).
So also the Gospel of John, in the speculative doctrine of the Divine
Logos become flesh, had developed the ground lines of a higher
gnosis out of the immediate religious impression of the revelation
of God in Jesus. Bur as the question is of religious knowledge,
which develops itself from positive religion, the elfort of this gnosis
in general (e.g. in Pliilo) is directed towards the grasping of the
deeper sense (the ideal worth) of its histories or myths, its mysteries
and commands, and t<> getting behind the letter of the religious
records. Hence we find in the Christian sphere too, that the name
Gnosis is used with special preieivnrr for this investigation of the
deeper sense of the positive religious commands, and the development
of the deeper meaning of Scripture, for which (in the Christian
sphere) in the recognition of the O.T. as the record of revelation, the
opportunity was so much the more suggested as the conditions for
historical interpretation were lacking K.-f. the expressions of Barna-
bas on TeXeta yywcrt? as allegorical explanation of the Mosaic cere-
monial law, but also Clem. Rom. Ad Cor. .'36. 40, and passim. Just.
Mart. Dial. c. '/'/•//////. 112). In the Christian sphere, however, the
evangelical proclamation itself, the evangelical history of salvation
in connection with the Israeli) ish history of salvation (the gospel
in its connection with the O.T.) had itself also to become the object
of this gnosis, with a view to the apprehension of its ideal \\<>rth
and to the development of the sulotance of belief, with the help of
other religious conceptions and elements, into a religious cosmology.
Of wide-reaching significance for this purpose was Jewish Hellen^m
(Philo) on account of its blending1 of the views of Jewish religion

GNOSTICISM. I3i

with the conceptions of Greek philosophy, which also prepared the
ground for the Christian attempts to develop the simple Christian
saving faith into a religio-philosophical view of the world. This
purpose was most favourably met by the tendency in the Hellenic
world to seek out the deeper religio-philosophical content under
the mask of mythological religious forms and mysteries (cf. the
Stoic explanation of myths, as also that of Plutarch, De Iside et
Osiride, and others), and to give to those very oriental cults, which
appeared in the light of a revelation of primitive antiquity, an inter-
pretation in the sense of the religious philosophy of the time. In the
great religious ferment of the time there was further contained the
tendency to seek similar religious ideas amid the different mytho-
logical religious forms and to mingle them syncretistically. This
religious ferment was still further increased by the original content
of Christianity, that mighty leaven, which announced a religion
destined to the redemption and perfecting of the world, and by this
means a like direction and tendency was imparted to various other
religious views likewise. The exciting and moving effect of Gnosti-
cism on the Church depended at the same time on the fact, that its
representatives practically apprehended Christianity in the manner
of the antique religious mysteries, and in so doing sought to lean upon
the Christian communities and make themselves at home in them,
according as their religious life and usages seemed to invite them,
and to establish in them a community of the initiated and perfect
(WEINGARTEN, HZ. 45. Bd., 441 sq. KOFFMANE, Die Gnosis nach Hirer
Tendenz und Organization, 1881) ; an endeavour which the powerful
ascetic tendency in the church exploited and augmented in its own
sense, and for which the institution of prophecy, which was so highly
respected and powerful in the communities, afforded a handle. In
this way the initiated were able to make for themselves a basis in the
community on which they could depend, while the religio-philosophi-
<cal speculations, which are always intelligible only to a few, at the
same time propagated themselves and branched out scholastically.

B. THE SYSTEMS.

Christianity was met quite early in its career by phenomena, which pi-oposed
to themselves to reach the same end by other means, and thus came into a cer-
tain rivalry with it. Of such are especially the phenomena in the field of
Samaritan religion, where, from the very beginning, there had been added to
the Jewish element a strong mixture of the heathen. SIMON MAGUS (Acts viii.)
had here played a prominent part as a pretender to the Samaritan Messiahship.
Chronologically, however, he is preceded by DOSITHEUS, a contemporary of
Jesus and the apostles, according to the Clementines a disciple and follower of
John the Baptist, who gave himself out as the Hestos (divine manifestation),

r 32 CHURCH HISTORY.

but was destined to be set aside by Simon by dint of bis higher skill in magic
(Homil. II. 23 ; Recogn. III. 8 sq.). According to ORIGEX (c. Gels. I. 57) he gave
himself out as the Christ promised by Moses (Deut. xviii. 15. 18), or the Son
of God (c. Cels. 6, 11), and left writings behind him. His adherents believed
that he was not dead (In lo. 1. 13, 27). Later Arabic sources know the Dustan or
Dostan as a Samaritan sect (distinguished from the Kuschtan), who differ from
the rest of the Samaritans in the reckoning of tbe calendar (every month has
thirty days) and the corresponding fixing of the feasts, and, for the rest, are
remarkable for their exaggerated strictness in observing the Sabbath and strict
fasting (as is asserted in both points by the Christian writers of their
Dositheus). That sect howover seems to have had its origin in the time of the
Maccabees; for which reason the existence of Dositheus at the time or Christ
becomes somewhat doubtful, and the relation of Simon to him may perhaps be
explained from a reminiscence of the former's connection with this already
older Samaritan sect. A confirmation of Dositheus as a Samaritan Messiah
or miracle worker (of which the above Arabic sources seem to know nothing)
would be found in the opns f*(f)cai>r)0f'is rols Sa/znpeiVats of Ei'Loi.irs, if we were
here to suppose a real disputation with existing Dositheans, and not merely the
literary fiction of such a thing.

SIMON appears in Acts viii. as a man who by his magical arts had procured
a great following among the Samaritans, and passed for " the great power of
God,'' (or [?] the power of revelation of God — the Me-yaX^x'PiS or ^Sd ''"'•
KLOSTKUMAXN. Problem? hn A/>"sf, Ifcj-f. 1S85, p. 18). The Christian preaching
of Jesus the Messiah here comes into contact with the Samaritan sorcerer, and
from this contact appears to have been developed and perfected his pseudo- or
anti-Messianic position. That as such it must have played an important part,
is attested by Justin Martyr, himself born on Samaritan soil at Flavia Neapolis
(the ancient Sichem), according to whose account (Apol. I. 2i>. 5t!: Dial. c. Tryph,
1'JO) the greater number of the Samaritans honoured him as the highest God,
and his companion Helena as God's tirst (world- creating) thought (twoia) ; /.«'.
in the worship of many of the Samaritans the whilom miracle worker, who in
the course of his professional travels came also to Rome in the time of the em-
peror Claudius, became not only tin- Messiah, but the incarnation of the God-
head, and moreover, under the influence of tlio syncretism which was so po\\> r-
ful in the Samaritan field, Simon and Helena were treated as incarnations of a
male and a female divine principle in the manner of the Syro-Phomician myth-
ology (the Syrian sun-god Baal, Melkart, and the moon-goddess, though aU<>
in a Hellenic transformation, cf. .TrsriN. Apol. I. 2(>, 64. p. 97 B. Zeus and
Athene). To this was added the further gnostic utilization of these tignr-'s. tins
descent or appearance of tin- divine powers in human form for the purpose of
Redemption, which effects exaltation and emancipation from the world-powers
which enslave the soul. This redumption however is lien1 sought through the
caricature of religion, magic, for which the higher knowledge (yw<m) renders
fit.

Like Simon, his disciple MKNAXUKK i> a l>o\-e everything else a sorcerer, who
1)\- his magical means and magiral liaptism desires to give freedom from the
world-powers, the world-creative angels (Iren. 1. '2:!, r>). and from death.

Having entered into the stream of Christian Gnosticism in the second century,
the doctrine of the Simonians took such a form as to result in a syncivtistic
amalgamation with Christian thought, a disposition to tolerate the worship of
<'hrist. SIMON is the highest power, i.e. the Father existing overall things,
who allows himself to b« named by men by whatever name they may call him

SIMON MAGUS AND MENANDER. 133

(i.e. in all divine manifestations there is the same Godhead under different names).
Helena however, his Ennoia, is the mother of all, by whose means he seizes the
the conception of creating angels and archangels. Descending into the lower
regions, she brought forth angels and powers, which then formed the world,
but also, being ignorant of their father, out of envy kept Ennoia a prisoner in
the lower sphere so that she should not exalt herself and return ; they them-
selves would much rather have appeared as independent world-powers. She
appeared in successive female incarnations, at one time in that of Grecian Helen
but now in that of her whom Simon took from a brothel at Tyre. Accordingly
the highest dynamis appeared in Simon for the purpose of freeing the lost
sheep in this his Ennoia. He has passed unrecognised through the different
spheres of the world, assimilating himself to them, and has appeared as man,
and apparently suffered in Judea. In this way he has conquered the world-
powers which strive after supreme power, has freed the Ennoia, and with her
mankind, to whom he gave salvation by the knowledge of himself.

Thus in Simon and Helena there is mythically or typically set forth the
emancipation of the human spirit (which is of divine origin) from the bonds
of finitude, which fundamentally completes itself everywhere under different
names. It is said that Simon gave himself forth as that principle which
appeared among the Jews as the Son, among the Samaritans as the Father,
among the rest of the nations as the Holy Ghost.

As regards morality, contempt for the moral law — which proceeded from the
world-ruling angels and not from the highest God — and unclean magic are as-
cribed to these Simonians.

These Simonian ideas appear entirely transformed (sublimated) into a specu-
lative theory of the renunciation of the world by the spirit, its unfolding in
the world process, and its return to itself in gnostic knowledge, in the later,
ostensibly Simonian treatise diro^acris /ieyaX?; in HIPPOLYTUS, liefut. VI. 72 sq. ;
cf. my K'>smologie in der griechischen Kirche, p. 284-317.

2. In the doctrine of Simon and Menander there already appear in combination
with the thought of the Incarnation or phase of revelation : a) the conceptions
of heathen, and especially Syro-Phoenician Cosmogony, 6) the factor of the
astrological view at that time widely spread and rooted in the East, which had
also found willing acceptance and use in the Hellenic sphei'e. Under the in-
fluence of this astrological point of view, man and all the lower sphere of crea-
tion appear under the ruling influence of the stars, i.e. of the stars conceived as
world-ruling spirits standing higher and yet deeper than the Godhead, and the
religious notion of redemption here receives the colour of emancipation from the
force and oppression of the finitude in which these world- ruling powers would
fain keep the spirit. From another quarter there come into activity here also
c) ideas of Jewish origin, particularly from the world of the Jewish sects of the
time touched with the spirit of syncretism. To them belong the conceptions
of Jewish theology and the doctrine of wisdom, of the mediation of all God's
world-creative and revealing action by divine powers of revelation, behind
which the Godhead itself remains in secret, and in particular the conception
that the creation of the world and the giving of the law was brought about by
the mediation of the angels, a conception which may very easily enter into
combination with the above astrological ideas. It is thus possible that the secret
wisdom having to do with the names of the angels, ascribed to the Essenes,
also that ascetic Judseo-Christianity at Colossse, there exhibiting a certain
worship of angels in combination with strict Jewish celebration of feasts, an
addiction to the o-rot^eta TOV KOO-/HOU with which Paul had already had to do,

134 CHURCH HISTORY.

may have been one of the co-efficient factors. The conception, familiar ia
Jewish and Judseo-Christian circles, of Adam Kadnion, the first man, as the
returning bearer of revelation (vid. sup. Clem. Homil.) does not gain less in
importance as a factor in Gnostic speculation. In a general way the Elke-
saitism depicted above, with its mingling of Jewish and heathen elements, is
one of the important phenomena of this period. Also in probably near connec-
tion with the Essenes are the Hemerobaptists (i.e. daily baptizers), designated
as a Jewish sect by JUSTIX (Baptists), as Samaritan by HEGESIPPUS, with whom
the legend of the Clementines connects John the Baptist (jJjtrpo/SaTTTMmfc), in
order thereby to connect the story of Dositheus and Simon Magus.

Of special importance for the genesis of Christian Gnosticism and also its
Jewish roots is CEKiXTiirs, who according to the account of Irennnis, based
upon Polycarp's narrative, was in personal relationship with the Apostle John,
and therefore goes as far back at least as the time of Trajan and the close of the
first century, and who therefore also wrought in Asia Minor. John, visiting a
bath in Ephesus, heard that Cerinthus was there, and immediately rushed forth
without bathing, filled with horror, and calling out: "Let us flee, the bath
might fall in, since the enemy of truth is inside." (Iren. III. 3, 4). Justin and
Hegesippus seem not to know him. Hippolytus makes him get his wisdom out
of Kgvpt. which does not conflict with his activity in Asia Minor. The dis-
tinguishing feature of his doctrine is ' that the world was not created by the
highest God, but is the work of a much inferior power represented as an angelic
being (connection with the Jewish doctrine of wisdom, the T/ienlofjuvtennn of
creation and giving of the law through tho mediation of angels as divine
revealers ; the gnostic tendency however consists in this, that the world-
creating angel shall not know tho highest God). Jesus was a man naturally
begotten, but distinguished by righteousness and wisdom, and therefore very
powerful, into whom, after the baptism. <'hri<r ( = the U<>ly (I host, Epiph.) de-
scended in the form of a dove from the highest Godhead (divino power), to
proclaim the unknown Father and \vork miracio. Finally however Christ again
separates from Jesus; the latti-r suffers in order to rise again,- the former, as a
pure spiritual being, is free from Mit'li-Hug. Ncverthelo^ ( Vrinthus (according
to P8BUDO-THRT.=HlPPOL.?) maintained a .ludseo-lugal standpoint (circum-
cision and the Sabbath) and (according to ('AITS. RUM. who attributes tho
Johannine Ap»c:ilypse to him) a sensuous chiliastic conception, rejected the
Apostle Paul and made use of a garbled Gospel according to Matthew (on
account of the history of the infancy, the supernatural birth). If this be
correct (and not an inference from his rejection of the supernatural birth) it is
an important proof of a transference of originally Jewish views into Gnostic
ideas, and has already been so reganh-d by Lipsius. But the subject is by no
means free from doubt. The story about the Apostle John bears the distinct
stamp of deep hostility to the DOCKTIC element in Cerinthus.

1 According to IiiEN.Krs I. 2(5, 1, and the o-vvTaypa to be inferred from Psicrno-
TEUTULLIAN 10 and EIMIMIANITS, Irenseus III. 2, 1 is not to be applied to him, but
to the 'Gnostics' who have only received their origin from him as from the
Nicolaitane. We have no right to refer what is said of the Monogenes and the
Logos in the sense of Irenseus to Cerinthus.

2 The latter is also asserted by HIPPOI,. (VII. 33) with IUEN., but omits it
EPIT. X. 21, and the representation of EririiAxirs going back to HIPPOL. I.
asserts that Cerinthus only made Jesus rise again at the general resurrection
probably correctly.

SA1URN1NUS. THE CARPOCRATIA^S. 135

3. SATURNINUS of Antioch. By IREN.EUS and TERTULLIAX, De Anima 23,
definitely traced back to the influence of MENANDER the disciple of Simon, and
therefore to that of the Judseo-Samaritan mixed sphere, which afforded in any
case an important intermediary. The relationship with Menander would lead
back to about the same period as in the case of Cerinthus, possibly also to the
age of Hadrian, to which also the Alexandrian Clement attributes the rise of
the heresies (specially also Basilides, who in like manner is linked on to Men-
ander and designated by Hippolytus as a contemporary of Saturninus), and
THEODORET expressly that of Saturninus.

Like Menander, Saturninus teaches that the highest God, the One Father un-
known to all, created angels, archangels, powers, and dominions. By seven of
them, of whom the God of the Jews was one — the number 7 has astrological
significance (planets) — the (visible) world was made; man also is their creature.
An image which radiated down from the highest God, which the angels could
not retain since it immediately escaped above again, occasioned the creation of
men after this image, to which they emboldened themselves in the words : Let
us make man, KOT' fiKova KOI KCI& O^O'IUXTLV (without i^eWpai/ !). But they were
not able to set up the human image; then the higher power took pity of that
which was formed after his own image, and sent a spark of life, by means of
which it lives, but which after the death of the man returns thither whence it
sprung, whilst the other component parts resolve themselves into their elements.
Over against the world-creating angels and the God of the Jews at their head
stands Satan in hostility who also however is an angel (fallen?) ; opposed to the
good race of mankind which cherishes the divine spark in itself, there stands
an evil race supported by the demons. In the prophecies (of the 0. T. indeed ?)
the one is descended from the world-creating angels, the other from Satan.
Marriage and begetting of children are of the devil, the eating of flesh like-
wise, according to one party of these Saturninians. Although however Satan is
the opponent of the God of the Jews, and the latter therefore stands on the side
of the relatively good, redemption must raise man above these oppositions of the
finite life ; God desires to do away with (lead up above the dominion of the
limited world-powers) the God of the Jews along with the other angels, and for
that end sends the uncreated, bodiless and formless Soter, Christ, who is only
in appearance man, and frees those who believe in Him from the dominion of
the demons.

The principle of dualism is not taught ; the conception of the subordinated
world-creating angels may be at least connected with similar doctrines in
Cerinthus and likewise with a Jewish schema (at the same time Parsee influence
is not excluded).

4. While in Simon Magus the spirit of Samaritan syncretism attached itself
to Christianity, and in Cerinthus there was completed the development of
gnostic ideas out of Judaism, in the Carpocratians we see similar Gnostic
ideas develop themselves from Hellenic heathenism in contact — although very
external — with Christian thought. Here also, as in the case of the Simonians,
an historical personality, viz. EPIPHANES, the son of the Platonist Carpocrates,
early mature, already at seventeen years dead, is deified as exalting himself
gnostically above the world-powers, the originator of monadistic Gnosticism.
Clement of Alexandria knows the extraction of Carpocrates and the mother of
Epiphanes, and narrates that in his maternal home of Same, on the island of
Cephalonia, a sanctuary (sacred house and museum) was dedicated to Epiphanes
and an offering made and hymns sung by the inhabitants at the new moon
(which cannot be referred, as it is by VOLKMAR and LIPSIUS, to a mere misunder-

136 CHURCH HISTORY.

standing of a moon-goddess). In his treatise " On Righteousness " a commun-
istic antinomianism is taught, and based on the community and equality in
goods and enjoyments vouchsafed to all Toy the God and Father of all ;
the prohibitions of the laws (the legal morality) are regarded as arbitra^-
unrighteous-limitations, cuttings down of the eternal divine law of nature
and foolish rebellion against all-powerful natural tendencies. (Fragments of
Clement of Alexandria.)

Nothing can here be perceived of the Gnostic theory which Irenseus ascribes
to Carpocrates (not to Epiphanes), but Ireneeus also attests the antinomianism;
the law does not bind the gnostic, he has to transgress it ; nothing is in itself
good or evil, but only according to the limited standpoint of an arbitrary com-
mandment; the gnostics are redeemed not by works, but by faith and love
only. These commandments however are here referred — and this may be the
sense in Epiphanes also — to the world-creating and world-ruling angels who
stand far beneath the unbegotten God. So likewise it is quite possible that
Carpocrates, who apotheosised his son, may have completed that combination
of gnostic ideas with the practical tenets of Epiphanes and at the same time a
relation to Jesus as a spirit of religious emancipation. Jesus, a man like other
men, but of greater elasticity and purity, remembers what lie had seen in the
divine circle of souls (PLATO, Phcetlni.s). Therefore a power is sent him from
above in order that his soul may escape the formers of the world, and passing
through all things and having become free in all, may attain to God. The higher
night of Jesus is seen in the fact, that, educated in Jewish morality, he despised
it (as commandments of the world-powers), from which very fact there accrued
to him powers to annihilate tin- sntll-rings of men which were laid on them
as punishment (the mii-acles of healing). All souls which, remembering their
heavenly origin, take the same direction as Jesus, and like him despise the
world-powers, receive also like capacity, indeed it is possible in this respect to
surpass Jesus and his apostles (thr al!< ^rd magical effects a pa nil lei with Jesus'
miracles of healing!). But the world-powers have the right not to let the souls
out of their power before " they have also paid the uttermost farthing," i.e.
have passed through every experience on earth. For this purpose the accuser
(the uiTi'&cKot, Mark v. 25), leads departed souls before the first of the world-
formers, who condemns them to re-incarnation until they have accomplished
every action, when at length they are able to exalt themselves in freedom above
all the world-powers Powerful souls however, are also able, by unlimited
abandonment to the life of world, to raise themselves at once to freedom from
the law and to avoid the transmigration through many bodies. But as .lesus
is only the ideal type of this exaltation of the spirit above the limits of the law,
other great spirits also stand alongside of him, and the image of Christ, alleged
to have been restored by Pilate, is set up for worship along with the images of
Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle— just as Epiphanes also receives divine honours.

5. OIMIITKS. — Litimtti re : L. MOSHKIM, (rV.sr/i. der Schlangenbrttder, Helm-
stadt, 2nd ed. 1748; FULDXER, De Ophitis, Rudolstadt 1834; J. A. Lu-sirs
in ZwTh. 1868; HILGENFELD, Ibid. 1862; J. X. GUI-HICK. 7>/V <>i>}t/'f<-n,
Wurzburg 18' !4.

By those who found on tin- Syntagma of Hippolytus, the name is l>a~-rd on the
fact that these Gnostics worship the serpent as the being to whom we owe the
knowledge of good and evil, hence they even prefer it to Christ. On account
of its might and majesty Moses set up the brazen serpent to look on which
brings healing, for which reason Christ also makes reference to it and imitates

GNOSTICISM. 137

its sacred power. Hence also the use of the serpent for the consecration of the
eucharist. Nevertheless, the motto of Gnosticism: eritis sicut deus scientes
bonum et malum, — the saying of the serpent in paradise, — is evidence in favour
of derivation from the biblical figure. But the figure is at least very soon
immersed in the spirit of cosmological syncretistic speculation, which decidedly
gains the greater power, and indeed only makes use of the biblical serpent as a
welcome connecting link. In the mythological sphere the serpent appears in
widespread cosmogonic significance on the one hand as Agathodaemon, on the
other as Cacodsemon, and according to the turn given to it both sides in the
speculation explained could be referred to the common idea of the world-soul.
In the construction of the Ophite system Syro-Phoenician as well as Chaldeeo-
Baby Ionian ideas of cosmogony come plaintyto the front, but there is also linked
with them the spirit of Hellenic syncretistic speculation, which overmasters
them, and other mythological elements, doctrines of the Orphic mysteries and
especially of the mysteries of Asia Minor.

The Gnostic doctrines, given by IREN^EUS (I. 30, 1-31, 2) without further par-
ticular designation, must by universal consent be regarded as Ophite.

Fundamental ideas : The original being, the primal light, without limit, is at
the same time designated and addressed as Man (original man) ; his thought
(eWota) as his son proceeding from him ; Son of Man or Second Man. After
them, as a third, there exists the Holy Ghost above the Elements, Water, Dark-
ness, the Abyss, Chaos. The latter however is conceived as female, is the first
Woman. The first and second man illuminate her with their light, and so
beget in her, the Mother of Life, the third male principle, Christ who as the right
power is exalted on high with his mother, the eternal ^Eon, and with the Father
and Son forms the Holy Community (ecclesia).

But the overflow of the Mother of Life with the Light has also deposited a
left product, the male-female Sophia, Prunikos ; it passes down into the depth
and from it assumes a body ; inasmuch as everything throngs about the light-
dew or Semen, it is detained. It strives backward, but is unable to attain, yet
raises itself, and by expansion forms the heavens out of its body (and so con-
ceals at the same time the higher light in order that it may not become the
object of attack). Finally she exalts herself to her Mother. However she also
produces a son (perhaps to be identified with the outstretched heavens), who
now also begets other beings ; thus there arises a set of seven, a sacred Hebdo-
mas, with which the Mother forms an eight (Ogdoas) ; the first is Jaldabaoth,
then Jao, Sabaoth, Adoneus etc. (Heavens, powers, Angels, Creator, the seven
spirits of the planets). Jaldabaoth despises his mother, but is himself
opposed by his sons ; for which reason he looks in dejection upon the lowest
matter and begets in it a serpent-formed son (o(/H<V°P$os')> Not)y twisted in the
form of a serpent, from whom are descended spirit and soul, and all worldly
things, but also all forgetfulness, wickedness, rivalry, envy, and death. Under
his influence Jaldabaoth regards himself as the highest God, but by a word
from the Mother from above is reminded of the Father of all, Man and the Son
of Man, and thereby ashamed, and now endeavours to draw away the attention
of the world-powers thereby excited, by the invitation: Let us make man in
our image. The six world-powers, under the influence of their Mother make an
immensely large man, who however is only able to crawl till Jaldabaoth
breathes into him the breath of life ; he by doing so however empties himself
of his power, while man, now endowed with spirit and Enthumesis, addresses
himself and his thanks above his creators away up to the first Man. In
jealousy Jaldabaoth seeks to empty the man by means of the woman, who

138 CHURCH HISTORY.

however is deprived of her power by Prunikos. But with the woman created
by Jaldabaoth, whom the world-powers call Eve, these sons beget angels.
By contrivance of the Mother, the serpent now seduces Eve and Adam to trans-
gress the commands of Jaldabaoth, and Eve accepts the seduction as from the
" Son of God." Adam and Eve acknowledge the higher power, and turn away
from those who made them, to the joy of the Mother, who sees the Father above
whom Jaldabaoth had denied, acknowledged, and the woman at the same time
become an adulteress.

Jaldabaoth casts Adam and Eve out of Paradise, his mother withdraws from
them the light-dew from above, in order that the spirit sprung from the world
above may not be touched by the curse and rejection of Jaldabaoth. The
serpent also, because it does not answer to the aims of Jaldabaoth, is cast down
into the lower world, here makes itself master of the angels (begotten by the
sons of Jaldabaoth with Eve), himself begets six sons, so that a lower Heb-
domas, that of the seven world-demons, with himself at its head, is opposed
to the upper sacred Hebdomas (the seven planet-spirits). The overthrown
serpent is called by the double name Michael (as the representative and son
of Jaldabaoth, particularly = the God of the Jews, the guardian angel of
God's people) and Sammael (as the diabolic adversary). Adam and Eve now
bear heavy dark bodies; Prunikos however has compassion on the powerless
souls and gives them again a breath of the grace of the withdrawn light-dew,
so that they come to remembrance of themselves. The opposition of Jalda-
baoth and the sacred Hebdomas to the demonic world now moves through the
history of mankind, but in such a manner that the silent influence of the
Mother is directed to the maintenance of the light-dew in the souls, and domin-
ates the relative opposition of the world-powers. The Law is attributed to
Jaldabaoth, at the same time however the seven-planetary powers, correspond-
ing to the seven days <>f the week, have each choice of their special worshippers
and preachers (Jaldabaoth : Moses, Joshua, and others ; Jao : Samuel and
Nathan etc.). In prophecy also, however, Sophia gains expression and
proclaims the imperishable light, the Man from above, and the descent of the
Christ to the terror of the princes. To their influence on Jaldabaoth is to be
referred the birth of John from the barren, and that of Jesus from a virgin.
On the supplication of Prunikos, who has rest neither in earth nor in heaven,
her mother, the first woman, takes pity and requests of the first man that
Christ may be sent to her help. Observing this, the lower Sophia announces
his advent by John and prepares a pure vessel for him in Mary. Christ
descends through the seven heavens, assimilating himself to their sons and
drawing their power to himself (the whole humectatio hnniiiis), then married
witli his lower sister, he comes in the baptism of John to the pure son of
Mary, prorlaim> the unknown Father and himself as tin- Son of the First
Man. Thereupon Jaldabaoth and his sons bring about the erucilixion of .lesus.
Christ however and Sophia ascend to the eternal world. But the crucitied is
awaked by Christ in a psychic or pneumatic body (seemingly consisting of
that which Christ had a>-mned at his descent from the HobdomaM. lie n,,\v
for eighteen months reveals the mysteries of Gnosis by enduing tho^e who are
Christ-worthy with Sophia, and is then exalted to heaven, where Christ unre-
cognised) sits at the right hand of .laldabaoth. in order to draw the souls of all
knowers to himself and thereby enter Jaldabaoth, till he has no more holy
(pneumatic M.uls to send into the world, but only such as are of his own suit-
stance. Perfection arrives at the moment when the whole light-dew of tho
spirit is gathered together and withdrawn into the vEon of eternity.

GNOSTICISM. NAASSENES. 139

The observation of IREN^EUS, that according to several of these gnostics, Sophia
herself became the serpent, met the former of Adam with hostility, and imparted
gnosis to men, is worthy of observation.

Immediately connected therewith is the doctrine of the Cainites, who re-
garded Cain, Esau, Cora, and even Judas as the true pneumatics. They exhort
to the destruction of the works of the Hystera (the demi-urgic power), and
introduce universal libertinism.

6) Amongst those who are depicted by Hippolytus (Rcfutatio) there appear
as the first priests of the serpent-doctrine :

The Naassenes. With them there appears alongside of the spiritual formless
ovcria, the original principle or primitive seed : the Primitive Man in whom
everything is potentially conceived beforehand, the root of all ^Eons, powersr
thoughts, in short of all objective being. This form is itself here conceived
under the figure of the serpent, chiefly as a nature principle (as a moist sub-
stance), that which penetrates everywhere (mythically as Attis, Osiris, Hermes
Ithyphallicus). Creation is transformation ; the seven robes of Isis are the
seven planetary spheres. The original Man (Adamas) has everything
potentially in himself (therefore also the ^oWdi/) and is conceived as herma-
phrodite; from him proceeds the great stream of becoming. As, in virtue of
the chaos poured out at first, he is the substantial presupposition of all being,
so, in virtue of psychical potentiality, he is the condition of all concrete'being.
As Demi-urge of the finite world there appears the fiery God, Esaldaios
(El-Schaddai or Jaldabaoth?), the god of generation, as the fourth (the third
participator=Chaos? HILGENFELD seeks the third and fourth among the
planetary spirits).

Here also we have the unfolding of a world rich in ^ons, Powers, Ideas,
Gods, resting however on the original evolution out of Chaos. Man proceeding
from the earth, formed by many powers, like a statue, but according to the
image of the Adamas above ; the endowing him with a soul is to a certain
extent a retention of the Adamas above, the essence of the soul being derived
from the Adamas above, in the world of lower mixture and generation. Here,
as it were, Adamas himself is detained ; but on the other hand he introduces the-
return backward, emancipation, which is at the same time the surrender of
community of sex. The original Man at first realises the material and psychical
potencies in order through them to attain to pneumatic, concrete spirit as the
proper aim of the world. Here the process of the spirit is looked on from the
universal point of view ; however, although loosely (illogically) Jesus is at the
same time left his redeeming position as the microcosmic man.

c) The PeratSB distinguish the Father as the comprehensive principle, the-
uncreated, the Son as a\iroyfvvr]Tov= Logos, as the compend of the ideas, and the
quality-less and formless Hyle. The Son appears here as the Serpent which
now in mediating movement turns to the Father and receives power, and again
turns to the Hyle on which it impresses the ideas which it has received. It
is the Archon or Demiourgos which receives these forms from the Son and
generates the Finite, that which is subject to death (he is the murderer of man
from the beginning).

Gnostic consciousness gives exaltation above the necessity of becoming and
decaying ; the gnostic recognises himself as the Father's stamp, and thereby,
as of the same essence as the Father, returning to the heavenly home. It is the-
Logos (Serpent) who brought down the Idea, who also raises the "Awakened,"
who have become hypostatic copies of the Father, out of the dwrroaTarov. Here
the Logos is not even a material principle, but only the principle of the essence

J4Q CHURCH HISTORY.

of things lying in the ideas and forms ; for this reason it is not here conceived
.as hermaphrodite.

The life of the world is essentially referred to the Logos, the great apx*) ; in
him was Life, Eve (the Mother < f Life) ; on the other hand however, in so far
.as it is transitory, it is referred to Kronos, Water as the destructive principle.
The (true) gnostics are the Peratse, who out of Egypt pass through the Red
.Sea, who escape the sidereal powers of destruction, the biting serpents of the
wilderness, in virtue of the great universal Serpent (xadoXiKos o$iy) of Moses,
who also by means of Eve, the Mother of Life (Edem ?) incites man to the Fall
from the lower God of creation (vid. the author's Kosmologie, p. 2130).

The God of this world (as the God of perishable generation), the murderer of
man, who receives Abel's bloody offering, but not Cain's bloodless one, is the
•God of the O. T. ; Cain and Esau are representatives of Gnostic rebellion against
the God of this world. Jesus is conceived as a microcosmic phenomenon, an in-
strument for carrying out the separation, i.e. the rescue, of those who are from
above and the destruction of the lower powers (cf. R. BAXMANX, ZhTh. I860).

d) In the system as represented by the Sethites there appears a roughly
impressed Dualism of Light and Darkness, from the mingling of which all
things arise, and whose rirst meeting generated heaven and earth as the first
great seal-impress. A threefoldness however is maintained here also, inasmuch
.as a middle principle, pure spirit (m/fv/za axtpmov)— a kind of world-soul—
mediates between light and darkness. But the serpent here appears on a
.lower plane as the lower generative principle which moves chaos. It is the
Father from beneath to whom, as the corresponding female pi'inciple, the lower
(f)V(TLs stands opposed, which is also capable of receiving the Light which
streams down from above (the mingling of the principles is indeed the primary
presupposition). The formed vnvs or perfect God is the spiritual element in
things which reaches concentration in man. Tims the Father from beneatli
is father of vnvs, a more perfect being, which is not his own according to its
proper essence.

The perfect Logos of the upper Light, however, imitated the (lower) Serpent
in order to free the vovs from the captivity of the body and the dominion of the
lower Father, and entered into the niHterial body of impure generation (the
impure mysteries) in the Virgin, came out of her, washed itself (baptism) and
drank the cup of the living >]iriiig water, and this each one must do who
desires to take on the form of a servant and the heavenly robe

Here therefore enters the highest Light in the concent rat el form of the
Logos, and his task is to loose the spiritual from intermixture, that each may
come to its own place.

Finally, e) with JUSTUS there appear three principles: 1) the Good, the final
• or highest originator of all things, foreseeing all things; 2) and 3) a couple
standing in the relation of man and wife. Elohiin, the Father of all things
that have come into being, the cosmogonic potency, and the corresponding
female principle, Edem, half-virgin, half-serpent ; from their union have pro-
•ceeded twelve father and twelve mother angels, who form Paradise. In man,
who is brought forth as the symbol of unity and harmony, the soul is by
Edem, the spirit by Elohim.

After the completion of creation, Elohim exalts himself with his angels into
the higher regions, here looks upon the Light which is preferable to that which
he has brought forth, recognises that he is not himself the highest Lnnl. and,
although without his angels, is received by the Good and set on his right hand.
'The Good restrains Klohim from again destroying the world (in order, as he

GNOSTICISM. BASILIDES. 14 r

desired, to free his spirit which is in man) ; the process is not to be violently
broken. Edem in vain adorns herself with her angels in order to entice Elohim.
to herself ; for this end she now persecutes the spirit of EJohim in man,.
seduces men by her angel Babel- Aphrodite to adultery, and causes them to be
tormented by her third angel Naas ; the latter represents antinomianism, while-
the other female angels are only representatives of passion. Her activity is
opposed by the male angel Baruch, sent by Elohim to the help of men, who in
Paradise ( = in the midst of the motherly angels) forbids to eat of the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil ( = Naas), i.e. they may obey the other mother
angels (representing the ndBif) but not Naas. Baruch is now continuously
active in the organs of the revelation of Elohim, who applies himself to the
human spirit, while the serpent angel on the other hand influences the souls
which proceed from Edem, and to such an extent that even in Moses and all
the prophets he overshadows "the command of Baruch "and makes his own
effective. In like manner the prophet Heracles, chosen from the foreskin
of Elohim for the struggle with the mother-angels of creation, who in his
twelve deeds combats the angels which rule the peoples, is seduced ~by Omphale
( = Babel and Aphrodite) and subjected to the might of the lower potency.
Finally Baruch is sent to Jesus the son of Joseph and Mary, who in his twelfth
year feeds the sheep, reveals to him all about Edem and Elohim, and Jesus
follows him, the first of all the prophets — steadfastly in spite of all the entice-
ments of Naas, who in the end crucifies him ; Jesus however bequeaths his
body to Edem ("Woman, behold thy son "), but he himself, his spiritual nature,
ascends to the Good. Him all follow who obtain initiation into this mystery,
and take the oath to keep it, and not again to turn round from the Good to
the creature. They look on that which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, etc.,
and receive the spirit-baptism, not with earthly water.

6. BASILIDES.— Literature : The treatises of J. L. JACOBI on the Basilidean
System, Beii. 1852, and ZKG. L, 4; G. UHLHORN, Gottingen 1855; GUNDERT
in Z1K. 1855 sq. ; X. FUNK, ThQS. 1881.

In the Ophite system it is already evident that the spirit of Greek philosophy
had been modified under Oriental influence, had taken hold of cosmological
ideas and transformed them into the bearers of speculative ideas more in accord-
ance with Hellenic philosophy. This is the case in a still higher degree with
the following gnostic names of distinction, which make an important impression
on the Church : Basilides and Valentinus.

BASILIDES, whom JUSTIN (Dial. c. TV. 35, p. 253 D) knows as head of a sect,
and mentions between Marcion and Valentinus on the one side and Saturninus
on the other, is by Irenseus attached to Menander along with Saturninus, and
indeed in such a manner that he makes Basilides appear in Alexandria while
Saturninus appears in Antioch (the fact that Basilides was a disciple of Me-
nander does not involve his Syrian birth and only subsequent arrival at
Alexandria).

The common relation of Basilides and Saturninus to Menander lays, as can-
not be denied, a certain weight into the scale for that form of the doctrine
ascribed to them, given by IREX.KUS I. 24, 3-7, essentially agreeing with the
(lost) (Tvvrayna of Hippolytus, from which the PSKUDO-TEUTITLLIAN (De Hczres.
in the addition to the preface), TIIEODORET, PHILASTK., or rather EPIPHANIU&
have drawn, and which is exactly based on IREN.EUS ; for a certain affinity in
the fundamental lines between this doctrine and that of Saturninus may still be
recognised. This would be of still greater importance if it could be proved

142 CHURCH HISTORY.

that IREN^EUS, in his representation of the Basilidean doctrine, had made use of
tha (lost) vvvrayna of Justin, which however is by no means certain, as LIPSIUS
himself has perceived.

But the genuineness of this Basilides is already made suspicious by the
circumstance, that HIPPO LYTUS (Refutatio), who elsewhere, alongside of the
gnostic source which he uses (as according to the hypothesis in the trtWa-y/ia),
also makes use of the tradition represented by Irenseus (according to conjecture
going back to Justin), here in contradistinction sets the latter entirely aside;
still further, the fragments and criticisms in CLEM. AL. (according to uni-
versal opinion the source of our most certain knowledge of Basilides) can
only \vith difficulty be harmonised with the presentation of Irenteus, on
the contrary in characteristic expressions they directly connect themselves
with the Basilides of Hippolytus (II.). According to the presentation of
Irenseus, the scheme, which is related to that of Saturninus, is expanded by
the astrological extension of the series of world-creating star-princes or angels
and their heavenly spheres to 3G5 heavens, indicated in the mystic word
'A/3pua<i£ ('Appdgas) by means of the numerical value of the letters, and by the
fact that the creation of these world-powers is brought about by an immanent
self-evolution of the highest unnameable Godhead into the five Potencies:
Xous, Logoff, Phroncm's, Dynamis, and ,sV;/>///</.' which represent the transition
of the Godhead from absolute rest through thought to action, and to a certain
extent allow themselves to reveal the closed primeval cause. These so-called
primitive aeons however do not yet at all belong to the world-spheres prop3r,
but are mere immanent potencies of the absolute personality. It is only by
Dynamis and Sophia that " the first" princes and angels and "the first heaven"
are brought forth.

Abrasax is the my si ii-al name not of the highest Uodhead (PsEuno-TERTTTLLlAN
and JEROME erroneous), but as Irena-us quite plainly shows, of the /<?•///<•»•/).«,•
coeZorum of the 365 world spheres (the highest Archon of these world-spheres,
as is confirmed by HiiM'ui.YTrs 11. [//»;/*. 7, 2f>]). Hero also are the seven last
angels or Star-spirits, which comprehend the lowest heaven (corresponding to
the Planets) the originators of the visible and of the human world. Hera also
stands at their head the God of tin- Je\\-s. the angels having divided the peoples
up among themselves ; here also the opposition and strife of the angels repre-
senting the different nations with the God of the Jews, who seeks to bring
the other nations into subjection. Here also this deadly strife of the subordi-
nate world-powers is overcome by the inexpressible Father, who .-ends his tirst-
born Nous as Christ, to free those who believe on him from the dominion of the
world-powers. His appearance on earth is purely docetic, in accordance with
which also Simon of Cyrene. to whom he had given his form, was crucilied in
his stead, while he himself, in Simon's form stood by and then ascended to the
Father, smiling at those who thought to keep him; hence the gnostic exalts
himself above knowledge of the Crucilied.

Taking the presentation of litKN.i.rs without blending it with other data
(from Clem, and Orig.) Basilides appears to be almost the double of Saturninus.

A fundamental conception of quite another sort dominates in the Jiasilides
of the l-'Ii'iirlius of Hippolytus. He starts from the primitive and original
Nothing, above all names and determinations, which is not matter, not sub-
stance, not spiritual, not sensuous, not human, not God, but pure Nothing.

1 Dikaiosune and Eirene (Ci.KM. Strom. IV. r>:',!» are wrongly adduced here
by Neandcr ; they belong to another . <>nnection altogether, rid. /;//'/•</.

GNOSTICISM. BASILIDES. 143

Since then Nothing existed, the non-existing God desired to create a world —
but willing itself is already an improper figure, he willed without reason, will
or mind — and brought forth a World-seed, which being itself nothing definite,
yet contained everything potentially and in unseparated mixture in itself, i.e.
the primitive beginning is here conceived entirely cosmo- and theo-gonically;
the opposition of God and the World itself emerges from the primitive and
original Nothing, which is potentially all things, but also in such a manner
that God still appears as not-being (pure potentiality of the content), the World
as the universal seed (Trai/o-n-e/j^ua).

In conscious opposition to the notions of emanations (no vrpo/^oX^!), Basilides
on this first foundation makes everything strive from below upwards, from
the worse to the better, since nothing is so foolish as contrariwise to strive
from the better to the worse (downwards). The principle of development is
hence not emanation, but evolution, the separation of the undistinguished
mixture of the original iravo-rrepiJiLa, the separation and restoration of each to its
definite place (fls ra oi«I;j) (Hipp. VII. 27, p. 244, Id. p. 378, 33 sq., cf. Clem.,
Strom. II. 8, p. 448 P. 20, p. 488 P.). The all-seed also contains the tripartite
sonship (V'IOTIJS) which is entirely of one and the same essence (6fj.oova-i.os) with
the non-existing God, and aspires to the latter on account of his superlative
beauty and grace (the non-existing God — pure potentiality — at the same time
represented as the Final Cause). First the finest part of the sonship releases
itself from the mixture, and with the speed of thought exalts itself to the non-
existing (in him, therefore, the divine potentiality is already become actual).
The second and coarser sonship requires for its exaltation, as it were, one of the
wings of the Holy (ministering) Spirit, which, self-raising, is yet at the same
time exalted by the second sonship, yet can only attain to the border of the
non-existing God and free sonship, and hence is left in the vicinity of souship
and that blessed and unnameable place, but as it were retains an odour of son-
ship in itself. The Spirit as nvevna pe66pu>v forms the limit between the supra-
mundane and the mundane, for the highest division of all things is this between
KOO-H.OS and virepKoo-pia (VII. 22, p. 364,8; 27, 33, p. 378, 33; cf. Clem., Strom.
IV. 2fi, p. 639 P.). The third sonship, that which requires purification, remains
behind, giving and receiving benefits. Out of the -rvava-Trfp^la the Great Archon,
the Head of the world, now exalts himself up to the firmament, and forms, with-
out knowing that there exists what is even higher than himself (the supra-
mundane, as the pneumatic element in the all-seed), the visible world. He
begets for himself first (always out of the mass of the world-seed) a son, who is
greater and wiser than himself — this takes place according to the pre-determined
counsel of the non-existing God — and places him, in admiration of his beauty,
at his right hand in the Ogdoas (the sphere of eight — above the spheres of the
seven planets — as the upward limit). In the formation of the entire heavenly
(ethereal) world, his whole creative activity as Archon or Demiurge, is inspired
and guided by the wiser Son. Then there ascends a second Archon, lower, but
still to be designated as unnameable, whose place is the Hebdomas (the highest
of the planet spheres, including the latter in itself) and who likewise forms a
Son out of what is subject to him, who is greater than himself (at this point
may be attached the amplifying of the heavenly worlds to 365, and the desig-
nation of the highest Archon as Abrasax, with regard to which it remains
doubtful whether HIPPOLYTUS took it from Irenseus or his sources, or found it
himself in his own sources ; in any case it is incidentally brought in). The
real kernel of the exposition consists in the redemption and restoration of the
third Sonship, which still remained behind in the Travairfppia (the human and

444 CHURCH HISTORY.

pneumatic in distinction from the Divine and sidereal), the groaning creation.
The latter has hiiherto remained in the earthly •world-sphere (Siao-rrj/za) in order
to do good, to inform and perfect those souls which, according to their nature
are destined to remain here below. It has also remained here below to receive
benefit, which may be sought in the upward wrestling of the spirit towards
things or souls (cf. my KoamoL, p. 364). The restoration, however, takes place
by means of the gospel, which introduces a new world-period, after the period
of the Great Arch on, the Ogdoas, has lasted from Adam to Moses, that of the
lesser, the Hehdomas, from Moses to the Gospel, to which latter the revelation
to Moses and all the Prophets down to the Soter is referred. The Gospel came
into the world and passed through all (heavenly) dominions and powers, but
not in such a way that a real descent of the blessed Sonship took place, but in
such manner that a spiritually distinct influence proceeded from the non-existing
God and the First Sonship (as the gleam of the distant fire lighted the Indian
Naphta). Hence the Gospel is exactly explained as 17 ro>i/ i>7rfpKooyii'o>i/ yviao-is. ^v
n fteyas t'ipx^v OVK T)7ria-raro (VII. 27, p. 376, 7). It is first grasped by the Son of
the Great Archon, who reveals it to the latter (he is here also designated as the
Christ who sits beside him), so that the Archon in astonishment and fear
repents (Hipp. VII. 26, p. 372; in agreement with Clem., Strom. II. 8. p. 448 P.
ap\r) a-ofpias (po,3os itvpiov !). In like manner the procedure is reproduced in the
Hebdomas. Finally the restoration of the still unformed Sonship in the earthly
sphere is made good. The illumination comes down from the Hebdomas on
Jesus, the son of Mary, whose life is related in accordance with the gospels.
The alleged crass Docetism of Ba>ilides, which is quite incompatible with this
teaching, is also excluded by the reference to the Baptism in CI.KMKNT (Strom.
I .21, p. 40s P.; cf. Exc. Theod. 16, p. !'•_>•_' P., the Spirit as ftuuroyor). By the
illumination of Jesus there is perfected in and by him the separation and puri-
fication of the remaining Sonship, and the clear separation of those destined
to the different spheres. He is the first-fruit of the (frihoKpivjmr TU>V a-vyKfx<>p(vo>v
(378, 16 sq.)- In the microcosmic being of Jesus the corporeal suffered and was
sacrificed to the earthly world (the d^op0ui) : the psychical arose from death
and was led to the Hebdomas as its sphere. The rest belongs to the sphere of
the Great Archon and the dominion of the limiting Spirit, and falls to them;
the real Sonship attains to blessed Sonship above. But from Jesus as the first-
fruit the separation goes farther, till the whole Sonship is exalted and trans-
planted into the Heavenly, and each thing comes to its own place. And this
latter is the finest and the most powerful, so that it, strengthened l.y the light
which shines from above, can of itself exalt itself like the lir-t.

Corresponding to the fundamental type of the system is its aim, not of a
dissolution of the world, from which the Spirit has been withdrawn, but an
eternal calming of the Kosnios which ha> been completely developed from
seminality, after everything has come to its own place and thus all world
pangs have been overcome. Over every decree of the Kosmos a great un-
certainty is poured out, by means of which no degree aspires beyond that
which is natural to it. Cf. the corresponding dism — i..n of Basilides ,i/>.
Clement, Strom. II. 3, p. 433 P. as to the t*Aoyr) i'7re^Knrr/Jt<»$ and the degree of
faith and hope corresponding to every cosmiral degree in nature.

To this I believe may be referred Ck-ni.. Strum. IV. •_>:,. p. r,:!7 p.; Ba<r.
iKuKHrvvrjv rt KOI TT)V Svyarfpa avrffs r!/v elpr^vrfv 6iroXaf*/9iivr< ii> jydoadi
Mtumraynivas. For it is said of the Ogdoad, VI 1. L'7. p. .">7'i. !'<> *'\<\.. that
the Great Archon also and all the creations subject to him will be sej/ed by
Agnoiii, that in. tiling .strives after that which is against nature .W.un.r. !> ami
nothing is attracted to suffering (<lpT)vrj).

GNOSTICISM. VALENTINUS. 145

7. VALENTINUS AND HIS SCHOOL. — Literature. : EOSSEL in his Theol. Schriften II.
1847 ; HEINRICI, Die Vol. Gn. u. die hi. Schr., Berlin, 1871 ; LIPSIUS in
JprTh., 1887.

This it is which IREN.EUS has specially in view in his refutation of the false
Gnosis and which became specially dangerous to the church, so much the more
that in spite of its false speculation, in regard to religion it was more just to
the spirit of Christianity. IREN^US regarded the doctrine of Valentinus as a
higher resume (recap itulat to, i.e. avuK^aXaluxris) of all heresy — he who refutes
it refutes them all (Adv. Hceres. IV. prsef.) — and Valentinus as the first who took
the principles of the sects of the so-called Gnostici and transformed them into
a scholastic doctrine of a peculiar stamp (!REN., Adv. Hcer, IV., prsef. 2; cf. the
similar expression regarding Tatian, Adv. hceres. I. 28, 1).

According to EPIPHANIUS, who still found Valentiiiians remaining in Egypt
in his time, Valentinus came from the sea-coast of Egypt and had received
Hellenic culture in Alexandria. Under Bishop Hyginus (c. 140) he came to
Home and also remained till the time of Anicetus (155-166) ; his complete and
definite break with the church however is said only to have taken place sub-
sequently, in Cyprus (cf. also Philastr.). At the same time JUSTIN already
adduces the Valentinians as heretical (Dial. c. Tnjph. 35), and according to
TERTULL., Adv. Vol. 5, combated Valentinus himself as a heretic (in the Syn-
tagma, written before the first Apolog3T — before 147 ?), according to which the
above notice of EPIPHANIUS must rest on an error. It seems rather that
Valentinian must even in Rome have come to a real break with the com-
munity of the church ; it may have been here that Valentinus, in any case
an important personality, was near to becoming bishop (TERTULL., Adv. Vol. 4),
though another who was respected as a confessor was preferred to him (perhaps
Pius?).

In an artistic and profound manner Valentinus makes the hidden and un-
fathomable original essence (Bythos) open and unfold itself into a fulness (into
a TrA/ypoj/xa) of divine potencies (JEons), and moreover according to the law
of the syzygies of male and female, pairs of mutually related seons. The
conception of the syzygies goes back to the naturalistic cosmogonies, which
make the procreation of all things proceed from the male and female elements ;
this conception however is here sublimated, carried over into transcendental
speculation on the ontological and metaphysical moments of the self-unfolding
of the Godhead, which plainly shows the influence of Pythagoreo-Platonic
philosophy.

From the Bythos (=7rpoapxi7, n-poTrdrcup), alongside of which stands Sige or
Ennoia as syzygos, there proceed, by the mediation of the latter, Nous
( = Monogenes or Pater) and Aletheia, and form with the former the primitive
quaternity, the original parent or root of all things. From Notts and Aletheia
there now proceed the pairs Logos and Zoe, Anthropos and Ecclesia, and further
sets of 10 to 12 (5 and 6 pairs), as to whose derivation from the previous pairs,
somewhat different accounts are found in the narratives. According to the
representation ascribed to Valentinus himself (!REN. I. 11, 1 sq.) one of these
.ZEons (doubtless the last female aeon, Sophia) fell out of the Pleroma: the
Mother, and now gave birth in remembrance of the higher world, to the Christ,
but with a shadow (moment of defect, of fmitude). Christ, of male nature,
frees himself from this shadow and hastens back into the 1'Jrroma (cf. the
second Hyiotes of Basil.). The Mother, however, left behind with the shadow

10

146 CHURCH HISTORY.

and emptied of pneumatic substance, gives birth to the Demiurge or universal
ruler (rrai/To/cpdrajp) of lower things, and at the same time to another, the Left
(just as with the Gnostics, i.e. the Ophites, or rather Barbelognostics. = Cosmo-
crator). These two, as the Eight and the Left (psychic and hylic) rule the
lower world. One Horos separates the Bythos from the other ^lons, a second
Horos the Mother from thePleroma. The decisive evidence for the Valentin! an
conception lies in the case of Sophia. The latter however, in the view whi<-h
is to be traced back to PTOLEM.EUS (Ireu. I. 2, 8) is somewhat differently con-
ceived, and here the Valentinian view is completed in the following manner,
so that there arises the form of a duplicated Sophia, upper and lower.

The female Eeon of the lowest syzygy, Sophia, strives with unrestraijied
desire, by leaping over limits to throw herself headlong into the Bythos (to
unite herself with him in knowledge), which in its infinite greatness Nous
desired to reveal to all seons. but was prevented by Sige. The movement
called forth by <ro<£uz is opposed by Horos (the principle of the maintenance of
legal limits); he restrains Sophia from her mischievous beginnings, separates
her exceptionable thoughts (eWota) by his -rrddos. and this Ennoia now sinks down
from the divine Pleroma into the Ktvatpa. In the Pleroma however tin- harmony
thus disturbed is restored by two new irons begotten by Nous, the Higher
Christ, and the (female) Holy Ghost. In this restoration there is involved at
the same time the explanation of the limits of the individual seons. the know-
ledge that their duration (their eternal persistence) is founded on the incom-
prehensible element of the Father, but their individual existence and shape on
his comprehensible element. In gratitude therefore the entire world of icons
now bring forth — at the same time as the highest glory of the divine life — the
common product, Soter. or Jesus. The unfolding of the divine life has there-
fore here already led to a process of an ideal sort, in which the moment of the
finite, of destruction is already placed alongside the other, and to a restoration
and completion mediated by this moment of linitude, which now at the same
time places the beginning of the real world-process in the extrusion of the un-
ripe fruit (eKTpco/in) of Sophia.

This, the lower Sophia or Achamoth (ni^onn Prov. ix. 1, but the meaning
transposed? vid. Lips.) is formed by Horos. but left behind in the Kenoma in
a condition of consuming yearning. The Soter Jesus is then sent to her as
helper i TrapczifXrjroj), he separates from her her suffering conditions (sorrow, fe.i..
recklessness); from them there arises the sensuous (hylic) world. Her suppli-
cation takes on the form of psychical nature, but is itself at once pneumatically
impregnated by the angels which accompany the Soter. In this way she comes
to the head of the visible development of the world. Her unconscious instru-
ment is the (essentially psychical) Demiurge( = God of the Terosj, the former of
the psychic and hylic (right and left), who creates seven heavens or spirits
(angels), for that reason is also himself railed Hebdomas. so that the Snph'.i
Achamoth, who is enthroned above him, is also called Ogdoas. From the
psvhic and the hylic he forms men, into whom, through Sophia, the pneu-
matic also enters. On the whole Heathenism represents the Hylic, ,1ml..
the Psychic, but in both, under the influence of Sophia Achamoth, there o< •< ar
pneumatically gifted natures, such as the kin^s and the prophets set over his
people by the Demiurge. The Demiurge sends to his people the Messiah who
is of a psychical nature (for the rest secretly pneumatically equipped by
Achamoth), with whom the heavenly Soter is united in liaptism (till the cruci-
fixion). The latter unites wit h himself the pncumatie ^n»>tic) natures, sepa-
rates them and the psychic from the hylic, and loads the emancipated Sophia

GNOSTICISM. VALENTINUS. 147

Achamoth as his syzygos into the Pleroma, followed by the Pneumatic natures,
while the psychic souls along with the Demiurge are exalted to the middle
place, but Hyle falls victim to consumption by fire. Pneumatic and psychic
souls are related to each other as the higher gnosis and simple faith.

The outstanding importance of Valentinus shows itself in the branching out
of his school. A distinction is made between an Italian and an Anatolian
school, whose most important doctrinal difference consists in the maintenance
of the original doctrine of Valentinus of one Sophia, and the supposition that
the Soter only descends to redemption in a pneiimatic body on the part of the
Anatolian school, and in the maintenance on the part of the Italian school of
the distinction of the Higher and Lower Sophia, and the supposition that the
Soter also assumed a psychical body (union with the psychical Redeemer of
the Demiurge). This Italian school is chiefly represented by a PTOLEM^US,
from whom the above construction of gnosticism is derived, but who also shows
in the Epistle to Flora on the conception of the Old Testament (in EPIPH.,
Hcer. 33, 3 sqq., also in STIEREN'S Irenseus I. 922 sqq. ; in GRABE, Spicilegium
Pair. II. 692 sqq., and in HILGENFELD, ZwTh., 1887, 214-230), as do also
the fragments of Valentinus himself (in STIEREN I. 209-921 ; HILGENFELD,
Ketzergeschichte, 293-305), how in practical religious literature the speculative
construction retires more into the background ; and by HERACLEON (according
to HIPPOL., Bef. V. 35), of whom we possess important fragments in Origen's
Commentary on the Gospel according to John.

To the Anatolian school belong the excerpts from Theodotus (« rSav Qeo86rov
Kal rrjs dvaToXiKTjs Ka\ov/j.evr]s SiSatTKaXi'aj Kara rovs OiaXeirtVou ^•poi'ous- eViro/nai Opp. p.
966-989) preserved in the works of Clemens Alex., as also the otherwise
unknown Axionicus in Antioch. (TERTULL., Adv. Val. 4 ; HIPPOL., 1. 1,) and
Ardesianes (Bardesianes ?). In these excerpts §§ 29-42 especially give a con-
nected representation, which seems to approach more closely than the Ptole-
maic expansion to the original system of Valentinus (cf. Lipsius in JprTh.,
1KH7, 629 sqq.).

Among (Italian) Valentinians are also to be reckoned Marcus and his school
(Marcosians) who (according to the view of IREN^EUS based on personal obser-
vation) on the one hand run off into abstruse play upon numbers, and on the
other and practical side into wild and impure magical arts. Others also, with-
out strictly maintaining the Valentinian doctrine, show the fructifying influ-
ence of Valentinus, e.g., the Docetists (vid. my Kosmol. p. 323-335).

8. CERDON AND MARCION. — Literature: A. HAIIN, De gnos. M. antin., Regiom.
1820-25 ; A. HARNACK in ZwTh. 1876 and Dogmengeschichte I. 197-214.

The distinction of the creator and God of the visible world as a being sub-
ordinated to the highest God, and the revelation of this hitherto hidden God in
Christianity is a thought which universally occurs in Gnosticism. It occurs
however in an entirely new practical light in Marcionitism, in which it is made
the support of faith in the redeeming love of God revealed in Christ, as some-
thing entirely new, individual, and hitherto concealed. In vivid consciousness
of how little the Gospel in the Gospel was recognised in the common ecclesias-
tical moral-legal Christianity of the time, it is sought to found the Pauline
opposition of the Gospel and the Law on the above metaphysical opposition.

At the same time the derivative character of even this highly original and
practically important phenomenon of the gnostic spirit must not on that
Account be ignored. It finds expression in the relation (entirely cro.diblv

j4S CHURCH HISTORY.

attested by IREXJEUS arid TERTULLIAN) of Marcion to the Syrian Gnostic
CERDON, who came to Rome in the time of Bishop Hyginus (c. 136-140) (Iren. I.
29. 1) and there at one time raised offence in the community by his doctrines, and.
again attempted to maintain his connection with it (!REN.. Adv. Hcer. III. 4, 8).
He already taught that the God proclaimed by the Law and the Prophets, was not
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to him must be ascribed the architec-
tonic of the system which Marcion appropriated as the basis on which to make
icood his religious ideas.

M Ail' 'ION, born at Sinope in Pontus, designated the ship-master (powtXijpos),
came to Rome under Antoninus Pius in the time of the Roman Bishop Pius (c.
140-155. sub Pio hnj»'nt> [Tert] probablj- in the beginning of the forties ; per-
haps lie first became a Christian here, at all events " In the first glow of faith
(Tert.) he presented a considerable sum to the Roman community." Other, but
probably less certain ancient accounts, make him in fact the son of a bishop in
Sinope. and make out that he was there expelled the community on account of
the seduction of a maiden.) In Rome, having come under the influence of
Cerdon, he fell out with the Roman community, which is said to have given
him back lii- money. In the end he is said to have been ready to be recon-
to the Church, which however demanded, as the condition of hi- readmission,
that he should bring back those whom he had been the means of leading astray,
ami to have been overtaken by death before it was fulfilled (?).

Man-ion wa< still flourishing under Anicetu- (c. — in:1!). The words of
( ILEMI \ r X//v///>. IV. s. C,(\, p. 5!i:;t do not absolutely require us to think of him
i ill living when the passage was written, although this sense seems at first
to suggest itself.

The God of the Old Testament, of < 'n-ation and the Law, appeared to him not
only as the hard, righteous. pi-- innately angry <Iod. but only as the producer
of evils c'tj" xii in * i >/' i-ii ml 1 1 in 1 1 hi in. he says himself in the ( ).'!'.). us finding plea-
sure in war. as petty in his regulation*- and contradictory in his purposes (he
can repent), as the creator of a by no means perfect world (iihnlriun </rnn<tr
<>l><ix c/ </. o iliijninii innniliis .' scoff t he Maivionif '

This <!od '>f the .lews and the Law does QOt -land opposed as the absolutely

evil prin o the highest and good < io.l. but as t he smaller and more limited
(KO<r/iOKpara>p, IIIKN.KTS. corn ^ponding to the meanini; of this expression in
Syrian Gnosticism, cf. also JUSTIN'S scheme to the higher i pm-el \ supra-mun-
dane i 'od. and on i 1 flier hand he -tands in ehc-e connection with matter, m

II e, out of which he forms the world t! , le cosmogonic principle; CLEM.

Strom, in.::. 3, p. 516; Tim.. .I-//-. Marc, I. 16; HIIM-.M... /,'.;/•. /•:/*//. X. l-.i;
later writers: Ki-ni: AIOM. TIII;MI>..|M , ESNIO ''/,/. ,,,\- l\,,s>,n>l. :;TS) perhap.-,
colours the Latter view niythically al.-o). I'.oth. as tin- eh idly world-formin-
power-;, have behind and above them the hi !. hidden (><»\. who | . r-

] in eternal rest, who besides has a othegeneral

('•no- me ) a hi-'her heavenly world aliout and undi -r !i im 'the ej-,

lit forth greater thin-- than the world: .IrsT.. .\/">l. I. -'•
TERT., I'/''. M.u-<-. I. l.'.j. Suddenly and without ' < ration i fi.r t he ( ).T be-

lon'4- ;" the God of the Jews, and does not even contain scattered n"

of the higher God) the good, loving, graciou- <!oil sends down his Son Christ,
the SpirituS Sdlutaris (T;;in-., A</r. M,n-<-. \. \'n in an a| parent body, who ap-

8 in Judsea, in the time of Pont iu-; Pilate, reveals the g 1 God and ati -

him-elf by his miracle^. A- he undid the Law and the Prophets and all the
works of the World-' Ye.i tor, he was crucified by the princes of tin- v.

(1 Cor. ii. 8), tli slic powers of the < 'r>:,: r: he him -elf however, as in-

GNOSTICISM. MARCION. 149

corporeal, was not affected. He announces the religion of love and freedom from
the Law of the Creator, not however in the sense of antinomian libertinism.
On account of the strictness of his life, Marcion is called by TERTTLLIAN
stoicae. studiosus, by HIPPOLYTUS a Cynic. Believers to whom the good God
is revealed must, so far as possible, refrain themselves from the good things
and enjoyment of this world of the Creator, especially from intercourse of
the sexes and, the eating of flesh, as again the body has no part in salva-
tion, but only souls, of those, namely, who attach themselves to the Gospel.
Weight being mainly laid on faith in Divine love, he makes Cain and all the
evil-doers of the O.T. and all the heathen to be redeemed by the Saviour
who descends into Hades, as they all turn with desire towards him. while
all the legally pious of the Old Covenant who are accustomed to be led into
temptation by their God, can reach no trust in the preaching of the Gospel, and
therefore remain in Hades.

The Gospel, which was early falsified by Judaists, is to be restored in its purity.
He sets up the Gospel of Luke, purified from the alleged falsification, as the
genuine Gospel (in which all that treats of the birth of Jesus and whatever in
the words of our Lord, makes the Creator appear as the Father of Jesus, is set
aside) along with the epistles of Paul similarly amended (aTroo-roAoj, the ten Pau-
line without the Pastoral Epistles;, accompanying them with his Antitheses
which are intended to point out the contradiction between Gospel and Law.
(Attempt to restore the Gospel and Apostolos of Marcion in HILGENFELD,
Ki-t't. Unters. iiber das Eoangelium Justin's, der clem. Horn. u. Marc ton' a, 1850,
pp. 389-475, and ejusd. Theol. Jahrbb., 1853, 192-244, and ZTh., 1854. 426-484,
of the Antitheses also in A. HAHN, Antitheses Af.,Begiom. 1823. Of a commen-
tary of Marcion's on the Gospel we find probable traces in EPHRAEM, Evtmydii
concordantis expositio in Lot. trans, a. J. B. AUCHER, ed. Moesinger. Venice
1876 ; cf. A. HARNACK in ZKG. IV. 471 sqq.)

For the determination of Marcion's special position in Gnosticism his rejec-
tion of the allegorial exegesis of the O.T. is very important (Orig. in Matth. torn.
15, 3), and the fact that in opposition to the rising dixciplina arcani he allowed
the catechumens to pray along with the believers, and admitted them to the
celebration of the mysteries (vid. the passages in Hilgenfeld, 530).

Marcion had a considerable number of disciples, who however, as it appears,
while at one with him in their fundamental religious tendency, permitted
themselves man}7 variations in the theological constructions which were
brought to the aid of the former (as a matter of fact they were here qxiite
secondary matters, theoretical substructure for the practical religious attitude);
the fact that several of them expressly spoke of three principles (the Good, the
Righteous, and the Hyle -so Syneros) was, according to the above, no really
essential variation, only another mode of expression ; so likewise when Prepon
spoke of a good and an evil principle, and of the just as an intermediate one.
On the contrary, one of the most outstanding disciples, Apelles, who for the
rest recognised the unattainability of human conceptions just of the highest
divine things, desired to hold on to the voice of faith, to avoid strife, and to
concede salvation to all those who set their hopes on the Crucified, if only they
were found occupied in good works, and emphasized the fact that for his part
he maintained the unity of the divine principle. This he sought to attain
as follows : while Marcion opposed the righteous God as Creator to the highest
God without any reflection on their original relation of derivation, on his part
in analogy to other Gnostic conceptions, he expressly makes the creator of the
world an angel (indirectly derived from the higher world of the highest God)

150 CHURCH HISTORY.

(anyelus inclytus, Tert.) who has created the visible world according to the
pattern of the heavenly world, but in an imperfect manner only, and hence
experiences regret over its failings ; from this latter, the Creator, however,
he distinguishes the God of Israel as the fiery G-od of lower generation,
who has enticed souls down into sensuality from the higher (he is probably
identical with the Trvevpa avTucelnevov in Rhodo). If to him there is besides
ascribed a cause of evil, therefore, in spite of the assertion of Apelles (in Rhodo)
of the maintenance of the unity of the principle, there are here taken into
account four principles (of Hippolytus), yet three of these principles fall back
into the category of derived (angelic) world-powers, somewhat after the type
of Saturninus or the Ophites. ! The great importance of Marcionitism is
shown also in the specially solicitous opposition offered to it by the teachers
of the Church, who, just because of its much richer religious-ethical and
practical content, recognised in it a specially dangerous enemy, as blasphe-
mia creatoris, threatening to shake the foundation of the Christian religious
view of the world. JTSTIN MAUTYU already combated it in a special work:
Bishop Dionysius of Corinth (from c. 177) warned the community of Nicomedia
against it; Theophilus of Antioch, Philip of Gortyna and Modestus wrote
against it (also, against Marcion's Doeetism, Melito of Sardes. -n-tpl <rapiabo-ems
X/MOTOV, according to Anast. Sinait. //<"/<</. /'// A<-,'j>li,i/us. c. i:1.), ><> likewise
Rhodo (fragm. in Kiiseh.). Alongside of IREN.KUS, TKUTCI.I.IAX (Adr. Mart-ion.
5 books) is specially valuable (L<it<r forks: the PSBUDO-TflRTULLIAN's poem
against Marcion, cf. on it HifKsTADT 1>>7.~>. and thereon HiuacxrKU). ZfwTh.
H7i'>, apparently a production of the third century; the pseudo-Origan,
Dial. Aininuiiitii •/>' orf/i"<l. fit/'-, cf. now I'ASI-AKI. l\>rf/n-iihisf. A/n, •,/,,(,! 1
ls,s:; an.l 1875; ZAUN. 7A\( • . IX. L98). EsNIG, Armenian IJishop. D.-sh-in-fnni
of Hx Heretics, tran-.late,l l>y Nriiiuaiiii. Xli I'll. IX'-I. and \V. \ViM>iM'ii.\i ANN in

the Bayr. Annalen fur \'<it<'rl<ni<lskiiu<i<-. L834 (25. Jan.) ; in Frcncli : \.v. \"\n.-
i.AN'i !«K FI.OKIVAI. I'a ri> 1 .s.'i: I ; cuifii'la t ions on the latter by Hi" I;M:HMANN.
at>. Hil-.-nfeld. Zu'l'h. 1876, p. -I -q.).

Tin-; LAST FORMS OF (T.NO-TICISM.

1. In the Syrian K.i-r of the Church, under yet ini|perfect ecclesia^t ical con-
dition-, tin' ap"io.Lci^T TATIAN. a tlisriple of .lu-iiu Martyr i in the Ka-i since
172) had gained entrance with his Haniiuiiv «>f tlie U(»|iels. although in the
\V> -r he had already given offence by hi> (Inostic opinions, \vhich were
connected with his Encratite (riif. ////'/•-/'. i.e. harshly ascetic attitude (rejection
of marriage ;uid the use of tle>h and wine), depreciating the visible matei-ia!
creation and not referi'ing it to God Himself. He taught the existence of a
Demiurge, distinct from the lii^he>t God, and who in the work of creation
spoke the word : Let there be light ! not as a command, but as a supplication
or desire. Moreover he denied salvation to fallen Adam, whom even his
Apology regards as having lost the higher -pint and along with it the divine
image. All the same his Harmony of the Gospels remained for centurie>
uninterruptedly in use in the Syrian Church (and was only entirely set aside
in the lirst half of the fifth century .

2. (Hli.<!KNrr;u>. /•'<'/•</,•>.. <lcr li-f-tf (ln»st.. Leip-ic ISM.' S. likewise

unalil.3 to adopt the conception of Apelles In A. H\I:N\«K. l><

v / tjJ/i>)/f?*/'/IJ/v/ 1 Si <

l.sT I.

LAST FORMS OF GNOSTICISM. 151

what later on, BARDESANES in Edessa, while holding undoubtedly Gnostic ideas,
takes a decidedly influential position in the Church. Born at Edessa in 154,
and probably brought up at the court of the Prince as a man of the world,
he survived the overthrow of his friend Abgarus VIII. (A. bar Manu) by
Caracalla (217), and the rule of Antoninus of Emesa, called Elagabalus (218-222),
and died at a great age. (The confusion of this Antoninus with Marcus Aurel.
Ant. will explain how it was that, according to EUSEBIUS, the Greek sources
put back to some extent the date of Bardesanes and made him flourish c. 170,
while the correct date is to be gathered from the Edessene chronicle [AsSEM.
Bibl. Or. I. 389], with which Porphyry and the Armenian chronicler Moses of
Chorene agree ; cf. A. v. GUTSCHMID in the Rhein. Mus. N. F. XIX.). Bardesanes
exercised an important activity in the Church, and preached Christianity in
Armenia also, although without result, and for a time withdrew himself into
the fortress of Ani near Ivars. HIPPOL., Ref. VII. 31, hence calls this contem-
porary of his an Armenian. He became the father of Syrian Church-song, and
his hymns had such vitality, that even in the fourth century Ephraem Syrus
sought to replace them by orthodox compositions, on account of their Gnostic
colouring; he wrote a treatise against idols, an epistle to the Emperor (in the
interest of Christianity), and likewise a treatise against the Marcionites (the
Marcionite Prepon wrote to him, vid. HIPPOL. I.e.), but also one on the Secrets
and on Light and Darkness. In his Gnostic views, which found a hardly
demonstrable expression in the hymns above referred to (vid. A. HAHNT
Bardesanes Gnost. Syr arum primus hymnologus 1819 ; cf. MACKE in ThQS.
1874), may be recognised a doctrine of ^Eons and Syzygies, which the ancients
regard as Valentinian (but THEODORET, Hcer. fab. comp. 22 as very simplified
Valentinian doctrine), and many modern scholars as rather based on Syrian
Ophitism ; further, a Docetic view of Christ ; his opposition to Marcion how-
ever is based on his harsh rejection of the Old Testament. The extensive
fragment of a treatise ascribed to Bardesanes which is handed down in
Greek by EUSEBIUS (Prcep. Ev. VI. 10), and which treats of Fate, belongs to
the treatise which has been discovered complete in Syriac, the Book of the
Laws of the Countries (CURETON, Spicil. Syr. 1855, translated and explained
by MEUX, Bardesanes, Halle 1863), which, speaking of Bardesanes in the third
person, proceeds from his school, and which, while it maintains the view of a
certain influence of the stars on human acts and fortunes, is yet anxious to
guard human freedom. It probably indicates the part of his school which
approximated to the monotheistic and ecclesiastical conception, while another
appears to have heightened his dualism, and subsequently to have taken on
Manichee influences. The sect appears in later times to have extended far
eastward, even as far as China (cf. Schahrastani and Fihrist, the latter in
FLUGEI,, Mani 192 sqq.).

3. The original formative power of Gnosticism proper expires with the close
of the second century, but Gnostic ideas flourished on exuberantly for a longer
time. A witness to this is the only complete Gnostic production which has
been preserved (apart from the gnostically coloured Apocryphal Gospels), the
Pistis Sophia belonging to the third century (P.S. opus gnosticum Valentino
adjudicatum, e Cod. Ms. Coptico Londin. descriptum tatine vertit M. G.
SCHWARTZE, ed. J. H. PETERMANN, Berlin 1853), in which the fall and redemp-
tion of vSophia were set forth on an Ophite-Valentin ian basis. A richly amplified
doctrine of emanations is pre-supposed, and yet the interest turns rather on
the practical doctrines of Sin and Repentance, and the different degrees of the
purification of the soul.

*52 CHURCH HISTORY.

C. THE DISTINCTIVE FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTIONS or THE GNOSTIC

PHILOSOPHY.

These may be comprised in the following principles : —

1. Christianity, which is a practical doctrine of salvation, is in-
terpreted in the sense of a religious speculative view of the world,
as religious knowledge of the world-process, which leads to the
redemption of the spirit.

2. With the separation of the world-creator (and law-giver) from
the Highest God, the essential basis of the Old Testament revealed
religion, on which Christianity rests, is destroyed: the blasphe-
mia creatoris ! In place of the Old Testament conception of
creation, which, was foreign to all the rest of the ancient world,
their comes that of a world-process of a theo- and cosmogonic sort,
which starts with evolutions and emanations of the divine original
basis, and whereby the present world is reached mostly by a cata-
strophe, which is always somewhat of the nature of a fall of the
spirit into the material, or of an original destiny, in which sub-
divine or anti-divine powers bring about the world as it presently
subsists, in which that which is of divine origin is held in alienation
from the divine, as it wer<' Against its will.

3. Accordingly the Christian thought of redemption (exaltation
above the world and emancipation from the world) appears under
the point of view of the dissolution of the world-process, the con-
quest of cosmical powers and emancipation of the spirit from matter.

4. Hence a dualistic trait is universally to be observed, although
the two primitive principles are not by any means everywhere dis-
tinguished in the same manner. Rather, we find a whole gradation
from a coarsely conceived material dualism up to one which is philo-
sophically sublimed, and which conceals the dualistic moment in the
unfolding of the divine powers themselves, and in parti, nlar up to a
pantheistically coloured derivation of the opposites from the indiffer-
ence of the original basis of things. The purely religious contrasts
of the world and the kingdom of God, of the flesh and the spirit,
are enlarged and transformed into oppositions of cosmic |>o\\-t-rs:
thereby they are on the one hand transferred from the ethical to
the physical, on the other hand the idea of redemption is on tin-
point of being dissolved into the coming to itself of the spirit.

5. Christ is placed in the turning point of the religious history of
mankind, but the latter is raised to the turning point of the whole
cosmic development. Christ indicates the entry and revelation «>f
the divine spiritual principle into the visible world, and so the

GNOSTIC PHILOSOPHY. 153

revelation of the hitherto hidden God, and therewith the rise of
the new life for all who accept this revelation (or are able to com-
prehend it) and subject themselves to the necessary ascetic and
mysterious conditions.

6. As the Godhead (although in various manners in the different
systems) unfolds itself in different divine potencies (xEons), so in
Christ one of these potencies appears in the visible world, or rather
is conceived as flashing up from the intermixture; but this heavenly
potency is universally in some way distinguished as redeeming
agent from its visible appearance — whether it be that the latter is
conceived as a real man who is a transient bearer of the heavenly
Christ, or that Christ's own bodily appearance is only a heavenly
(psychical, not properly material) image, or finally in such a way
that the human appearance is a mere phantom — Docetism.

7. The distinction between the pneumatic as the true community
of those who by nature are capable of receiving the revelation of the
spirit and the divine life, and the hylic who are doomed to extinction,
and finally with Valentinus and also others, the psyfliic, as those who
indeed are not suited for the proper revelation of the spirit, but for whom
in the popular belief (pistisas the preparatory step to gnosis}, a certain
knowledge of the divine, and the corresponding felicity, are attainable.

8. Gnosticism turns itself away entirely from the whole realism of
the original Christian eschatological hopes (visible return of Christ,
resurrection of the body and Christ's glorious kingdom). To it the
final aim is the emancipation of the spirit from the sensuous and
the pangs of finitude.

9. The dualism of the fundamental conception is reflected in the
ethical views ; the opposition of spirit and sense is metaphysically
made absolute. The powerful, practical-ascetic tendency of ancient
Christianity receives a theoretical (metaphysical) foundation, and is
thereby intensified and driven to a head. The alternative is that
spirit regarded in contrast with the material, as the essential, causes
the sphere of sensuous expressions of life to appear as indifferent;
thus there arises a libertinism on principle, or at least a tendency to
conformity to the world.

D. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GNOSTICISM FOR

THE CHURCH.

1. The Gnostics sought in the first place to obtain recognition and adherents
-for themselves and their doctrines in the communities, and were partly able in
the Eastern districts even to give to the young Christianity of the communities
a Gnostic colouring, or to get themselves respected in them (Tatian arid Bar-
<lesanes in the Syrian Church). Tn the Grseco-Roman sphere they sought to

154 CHURCH HISTORY.

work in the communities as esoterics, and formed schools or conventicles (nostra.
suffodiunt ut sua cedificent, TERT. De Prase r. 42). so that their adherents still
sought to maintain a certain connection with the communities, and regarded
themselves as the pneumatic elite of the church. But the great representatives
of the Gnostic schools are here early rejected from the church as intruders, and
their sects from now till far on in the third century form a continual source of
disturbance for the church. Yet, with the growing discordance of their opinion*,
and the individual arbitrariness of their speculations, they show on the whole
little stability and power of resistance. On the other hand. MARCION come*
forward with the demand for reformation of the church itself and its restora-
tion to its true original foundation, and the Marcionite Anti-Church, in which
the Gnostic theory only appears a- a support for a religious evangel, develops
a much more tenacious power of life. On both sides however, as well against
the above threatening internal decomposition as against this attack from with-
out, the church is compelled to gather itself together more stringently, on a
more definite foundation than heretofore, and to secure itself against falling-
away into discordant opinions .and the dissolution of the tirni stability of tin1
community.

2. The (Jnostics see themselves obliged to seek a support for their ideas,
which were contradictory to the common Christian views, and which yet they
wished to establish as the higher sense of Christianity, in express resort to the
sources of ecclesiastical tradition. They appeal to alleged apostolic men. who
had transmitted to them genuine religious truths from Jesus, as P> \sn.i IT.*
appealed to Uhuikias. an interpreter of Peter (CLEM. .S7/v>///. VII. l()ii *.|.), or to
Matthias i lltri1. //< /. //</•/•. 7. 2O , Val>-utiim> to Theodas. an acquaintance of Paul
(Ci-io.M. Aucx. l.c.j, the Ophites to Mariainne and through the latter to Jaine*
the brother of the Lord ^Hii'i-. /,'</'. .",. 7. 10, 9) and many others. They make
appeal to a secret tradition from .le>us himself till now, which did not impart
everything to all, but only certain things to a few chosen prr*on-> TI:KT. /><•
.Pw.sv/-. [i. •_'.">; Iui;\.i:r* frequently). But rhey had to conif to an understanding
with i he existing written memorial* of t he Apostolic a-v. They begin to explain
tin- existing written lixation of the evangelical tradition according to their
own ideas l>y means of allegorical interpretation, which in the case of the Old
Testament was indeed in universal use among Christians. Hence the Gnostics
are the first in tin- church who apply exegetical im-thud* to New Testament
scriptures (BASILIDES' _' l Books of t^yi/rocii on tin- <io*pcl. EBRACLBQN'S Commen-
tary on tin- Gospel of John. Marcion's Explanations of the Gospels, V. H AUNA< K.
in ZKG. 4,50n - and who appeal to Apostolic writings as authoritative
(rnl. the use and explanation of apostolic pa--a._;i^ along with those from the
Gospels in the extracts from Gno*tic writings referred to by Hii'i'oi.Y'rr*.
RfJ'nlittin, the ewi-r/>ffi <'.i- wrf/ifis Tin-mint! \\\ Clem Alex, and th- Kpi-tlc
of the Valentinian I'tolmiieu* to Flora, Epiph., J/'i-r. 33). Both are treat' 1
with extreme arbitrariness (cf. JACOHI in the I)<-nfscln' Z<-!tx<-hrift /'. '•/(/-. IT.
lsf)l. 28 sq. is:,:;, -jj gq. ; SCIKU.TKV, Die <'ilti-sl<-u Z<->/</,,, hi-tr. ili>- X lir(p< •><
<!<•* A'./'. iihiT*. rnu. Munchst. lsi,7: HKFSTEDE DE GROOT, Basil ><1cx <//\ erster
Zeuf/i- et€. isii;;. ami especially- G. HEINKICI. I)i>- \',tli-i,t;,ii,ni>x<-lii- dims!* in/if
<//'<• In-iliijc Scki-'ft, 1ST1). Therewith there is connected further the falsification
of scripture with which they are charged, particularly the alteration of the
Gospels by omissions and additions (TEKT. I'rtrscr. 17. ii8; DIONYS. COK. in
Eusebius 4, 23; < YK.M. Xtrvni. \. i; ; OKK;. c. Gels. 2, 27). By the transformation
<>f the evangelical tradition the heretical tendency -ains credence.

To this period, along with the so-called Gospel of the Hebrews 'vid Wi:i*.>,.

GNOSTICISM AND THE CHURCH. 155

Einleitung ins N.T. p. 495 sq.). which pretended to have been written by
Matthew in the name of the twelve Apostles, there belongs especially the
evayyfXiov KO.T Alyvirriovs of which the Naassenes (Hipp. Ref. G, 7) and the Encra-
tites (CLEM. AL. 3, 13, 93 ; 3, 9, 63) made use, the Gospel of Thomas among the
Peratse (Hipp. Ref. 5, 7)1 the Gospel of Peter (Euseb. 6, 12) and others. la
general the practice of apocryphal authorship nourished (p. 118; cf. IREN 1,20, 1).
Along with the Ebionitic Apostolic legend, which glorifies James and Peter at
the expense of Paul (p. 102 sq.), and the heretical tendency of which afterwards
appears neutralised in the church interest in the Acta Petri et Pauli, there now
arise Apocryphal histories of acts of the Apostles of a Gnostic-ascetic tendency ;
such are the Gnostic Acts of John (Th. ZAHN, Acta Joannis, Erlangen 1880,
193-252), which found on the authority of John's disciple LEUCIUS, to whom
subsequently were ascribed the Tre/at'oSot TU>V d-rroa-To\o>v (Acts of Peter, John,
Andrew, Thomas, and Paul) which were highly regarded by Gnostics and
Manichees.

The Acts of Thomas, which has been preserved in a Catholic redaction (M.
BONNET, Supplement, cod. apocr. I. Acta Thomse, grtece etc. Leipsic 1803) in
which A. VON GUTSCHMIED (Rhein. Mus. N.F. 19. Bd.) thinks that a Buddhist
legend has been made use of, still permits recognition of the Gnostic-encratite
character of the original Leucian document, as also the Acts of Andrew, which is
extant in many different revisions. For the rest, this sort of writing passes over
into luxuriant legends and romantic tales of miracles, in which the determining
sentiments are the desire for the miraculous and the glorification of ascetic
holiness. In one case we know that the pious fraud was unmasked by the-
church ; a presbyter was deposed as the admitted author of the Acta Paul? et
Theclce (aid. F. SCHLAU, Die Akten des Paulus und der Thekla, Leipz. 1877). —
In general vid. LIPSIUS, Die apokr. Apostelgg. Leipsic 1883, 2 vols.

Moreover the Gnostics appealed to prophetic authority (EcSEB. H. E. 4. 7 :
IREN. 1, 14, 1). But lastly they applied criticism to the Apostolic authorities.
Like the heretical Judpeo-Christians, so also Cerinthus, and later the Encratite
Severians (EUSEB. 4, 29) rejected the Apostle Paul. But MARCION in particular,.
taking his ground indeed on Paul as the genuine Apostle, rejected the original
Apostles and the Gospels which proceeded from the circle of the original Apostles,
and desired to hold by " the Gospel " of which Paul alone had knowledge
(p. 149). He for the first time set up a closed canon of Apostolic writings in
the 10, though expurgated, epistles of Paul.

The whole procedure of Gnosticism with the Apostolic legacy drove the
church on to the closing of the canon of inspired Scriptures, and to the definite
delimitation of ecclesiastical tradition.

3. With regard however to its content, the religious-philosophic speculation
of Gnosticism compelled the church to enter upon a redaction of the simple
practical belief of the community in accordance with the scientific ideas of the
time, and to form it into a theology, to oppose to the heretical Gnosticism
a church Gnosticism, while preserving the positive historical character of
Christianity.

1 In the known Gospel of Thomas (TISCIIENDORF, Eo. Apocr. p. 134 sqq.). which
seems already to be made use of by the Marcosians, and which is known to-
Origen, the expression here quoted is not to be found.

.156 CHURCH HISTORY.

7. Montanism as it first appeared.

Literature: EUSEB., H.E. 5. 14, and 16-19; HIPPOL., Ref. Hteres. 9, 9. 10, 25
sq. ; EPIPH., Hser. 48. 49. and the writings of TERTULLIAN (vid. infra) ;
PSEUDOTERT., Adv. Efer. 21 : PHILASTR., De Hser. 49 : DIDYMUS, De Trin.
3, 41 Mgr. 39, 984 sqq. Collection of the sajnngs of Montanist prophets in.
BONWETSCH, Gesch. des Mont., Erlangen 1881, p. 197-200, and in HILGEN-
FELD, Ketzergesch. p. 591-5^5. Of the general literature : SCIIWEULER,
Der limit. 1841; RITSCHL. AUI:nth»l. AV/r/jp. 2nd Ed. 1837; BOXWETSCII.
1. c. ; HARNACK, Dogmengesch. 2nd Ed. I. 353-367.

While 011 the one hand Christianity is subject to the danger of
Taeing dissolved in the exuberant variety of religious speculation
and mysteriosophy, and of being dragged down into the wastes of
mystery-trafficking and magic, but, on the other hand, stands
ready to come to terms with the interest in religion and morality
in Greek culture, wherein in its careful preservation of its his-
torical tradition it gains a sort of rational theology (fid. the lollop-
ing chapters), in MONTANISM there arises an elementary religions
movement, which advances the claim to exhibit a new and higher
degree of the spiritual life of the chun-h, l>ut in truth appears at
the same time as a reaction of the coarse, supranatnralist, rcsiatic
spirit of ancient Christianity against the beginning which Chris-
tianity had made in sharing in the culture and life of the world.

Immediately after the middle of the second century (vid. Box-
WKTSCII, p. 140 sqq. according to others Soyres) considerably earlier,
•according to VOLTES in ZtwTh. 1*14^23-36, and HH.<;K\FKI;D, not
till 172, which certainly cannot be upheld and cannot be coniinned
from Eusebiiis). M<>vr.\\rs. a nc\v convert, who seems formerly to
have been a hcnthcn priest, mad.- his ajip 'arancc in Phrygia -Aula-
banum on the borders of ]\1 ysia ., in the character of an ecstatic
prophet, the originator of a powerful movement Montanisis or
Cataphrygiansj. Inspired pni])hctcsses attached themselves to him :
Prisca or Priscilla and Maximilla. In this new prophecy of an
ecstatic and visionary sort 'in which i he man sleeps ami the spirit,
wakes, the man is liken. -d to the lyre and the Holy (ihost to the
plectrum; the promises of the Paraclete in the (i<»p"l according to
John were to be fullilled. in whom the Father and Son shall make
dwellings in the believers. This was to be the linal and highest,
appearance of the revelation ol the Spirit, although linking on to
the survival of the apostolic c/xirixiiHifd and the continuous chain of
prophets, from the time of Agabus 'Acts xi. 2S, xxi. 10) and the
daughter of Philip (xxi. 9) down to (^nadratus Euseb. H. K. .">. X7.
6,17).

MONTANISM. 15 7

In Montanus the Paraclete proclaims the immediate proximity
of the return of Christ and that the heavenly Jerusalem will de-
scend at Pepuza in Phrygia, and calls on believers to gather them-
selves together from all the world to this kingdom ; Montanus,
indeed, already lays hold of practical regulations for organising this
society of those retiring from the world, and knows how to make
money flow (gifts of believers) for this purpose, as well as for the main-
tenance of his preachers. To the highest revelation of the Paraclete
there correspond heightened demands upon spiritual Christians, sharp-
ened ascetic strictness of life, virginity or the dissolution of already
existing marriage, or, among the admirers of the virgin prophets at
least, disdain of second marriages, increase arid legal fixation of the
use of fasting, which up till now had been left pretty free in the
church. The discipline of repentance, however, particularly accords
with the last time, — a discipline which will have nothing to do
with the beginnings of regard to human weakness, and will not
vouchsafe to the fallen re-admission into the society of the church
—ne et alii delinquant. Where such prophets are listened to as
immediate organs of God, they (the Spirit in them) must naturally
form an authority essentially equal to that of the traditional
words of the Apostles, and in its presence all authorities con-
structed by human ordinances and in human forms must fall
back.

The movement seized upon large sections of the Church in Asia
Minor, and kindled also elsewhere, as in Thrace, but necessarily also
awakened opposition. Synods about and against Montanism were
held, the first ecclesiastical synods known. In presence of the
uncontrollable authority of the prophets, the universal priesthood of
the free spirit, the need began to be experienced of finding protec-
tion and support in the constitutional and institutional forms of church
representation by the bishops and an objective standard in the
fixed word of scripture, which justified a criticism of this '• spirit " ;
hence now also a strong change arose in the direction of sobriety in
judgment of the value of the ecstatic form of prophecy, so that
people were now inclined to see in this ecstatic prophecy not a
divine but a demonic inspiration (possession), which was to be com-
bated by exorcism. Men of eminence, Claudius Apollinaris, and
Miltiades (both among the earliest apologists of the Church, vid. hifni
Ch. 10) opposed Montanism in literature, the latter in the treatise :
"That the (true) prophet may not speak in ecstasy" (Trepl TOV /i?>
Selv Trpofajrrjv sv eWracret \aXetv, Euseb. H.E. 5, 17). As their 6X-
tremest opponents, there appeared the sect subsequent!}' known by

i58 CHURCH HISTORY.

the nickname Alogl (Epiph. Hcer. 51), who, in opposition to Moii-
tanist prophecy and dualism, rejected the Johannine Apocalypse,
and along with it the Gospel of John on account of its promise
of the Paraclete (Iren. III. 11, 9). The question of the authority of
these prophets, who, however, in the further progress of the movement
moderated their claims, occupied the church in large circles. The
communities of Southern Gaul, which stood in close relationship with
Asia Minor, and which informed the communities of Asia Minor of
their persecutions under Marcus Aurelius (177) by letter, also wrote to
Asia Minor and Phrygia on this question of the new prophecy, and
on account of the same matter sent their hitherto Presbyter (sul>-"'-
quently Bishop), Irenseus, to Rome. We have ground for supposing
that their judgment was not unfavourable, at least very mild, that
on account of the extravagances of the new prophets they would not
give up their belief in the spiritual gift with which Christianity
had in these, its last times (Iren. I.e.), been endowed. In Rome
however, Bishop Soter (c. 166-174 1 had already declared against the
Phrygian phenomenon (Pra'dextin. 26), Later on there appears to
have been a desire there to judge more favourably, perhaps under
the influence of the Gallic embassy under Bishop Eleutheros, Inn
perhaps not till the time of Victor, when the Monatvhian Praxeas
came to the capital from Asia Minor and revealed the aspects of
Montanism which were of importance to the ehuivh. so that the
Roman bishop (according to convincing hypothesis Kleutheros, but
perhaps Victor, cf. HILGEXFKLD. l\<'l~<-r<j<-sch. .~>(;s sq.) retracted the
already finished letter of peace, and the Roman presbyter Gains
decidedly opposed in Rome the Montanist Prod us Proculusi. On
the other hand Montanism was met by a very sympathetic dis-
position in the province of North Africa, so far as regards the
predominance of certain views and dispositions in common with
Montanism : namely, exaltation of ecstatic prophecy and visions, the
explanation of these recently increased proofs of the Spirit by refer-
ence to the nearness of the end of the world, and insistence on
sharpening of church discipline in combat with the growth of
relaxation in Christian mnralc ; a source of information on this
subject is afforded by the Acts of the martyrs Perpetua and Feli-
citas (RuiNART, Acta Mart. N/mvm. p. 90 sqq., also in MUNTEH,
I'riiiiurilid Ecd. Afr. 227 sq.). On this soil Melanism made its
greatest conquest in Tertullian, to whom we return later on. And
this happened at a time when it was already (from the end of
the 70 years) more and more forced back into its own home, and
finally, amid constant opposition (by Sera|>i<>n and Apollonins who

CHRISTIANS UNDER THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT. 159

wrote in the fortieth year (Euseb. 5, 18, 12) after Montanus' appear-
ance [about 196]) had been separated from the church, and had
become a special schismatic community in itself.

8. The Position of the Christians under the Roman Government.

A. GENERAL.

Literature: A. SCHMIDT, Gesch. der Denk- und Glaubensfreihe.it im erster
Jahrli. der Kirchenherrschaft 1847 ; THIBL, Rom. Reclitsanscli. etc. etc. in
ThQ. 1855 ; LE BLANT, Les base* juridiques etc. in the Comtes rendus de
1'academie des inscript., Paris 1868; FR. MA ASSES, Grunde des Kampfs
etc. etc., Vienna 1882 ; OVERBECK in the Studien zur Gesch. der alt. Kirche
I. 1875 p. 93-157 ; KEIM, Rom u. d. Christenthutn 1881.

1. Hitherto the internal conditions of Christianity have been kept
In view. But even from the time of Trajan the Roman authorities
began to take up a legal position against these new religious societies
which began to cause a stir among the heathen population. The
impression must have been a mixed one. On the one hand the
cheerful, confident, religious conviction must have exerted its power
of attraction in a time when religions were uprooted, and which was
eaten away with doubt and yet ever desiring religious satisfaction ;
and it was a religious conviction of moral force, which guarded
itself in reformation of life, in self-mastery, dominion over sensuality,
and in Christian heroism under the persecutions, and at the same
time eame forward in support of human worth, and the dignity of
woman, and bridged over the strongest social differences by the
family spirit of the Christians among themselves. At the same
time this faith contained, although in accessible popular forms, the
loftiest problems of an intellectual kind.

These tendencies were met by the analytical process going on in
heathenism, the decayed condition of the old popular religions,
partly even in the West where they had relatively greater tenacity,
and by the widespread tendency to monotheism and other influences
adduced above, p. 26 sqq.

But there were also no slight limiting influences by which it was
met ; the barbaric origin and world-fleeing morals amid the prevail-
ing laxity and dissoluteness ; the absence of many noble and wise ac-
cording to the flesh, even although such were by no means entirely
wanting ; the contradiction of this barbarian superstition with the
whole existing form of life in the ancient world ; political disrepute
and the appearance of having an unnational disposition. The image-
less worship having the appearance of a^eor^?, the withdrawn and
mysterious character of the Christian assemblies which gave occasion

160 CHURCH HISTORY.

to odious rumours : Thyestean feasts and ^Edipodean unions ! Talesr
which were laid upon them as they had previously been upon the
Jews and in which they, as it were, inherited the hatred and
antipathy of the heathen against the Jews, such as the alleged
worship of an ass (cf. as to the mock crucifix found on the Palatine
in 1857, BECKER Das Spottcrudfix ini roiui*clien Kaiserpalaxt, 1866).
Necessarily also the claim of the Christians — without which how-
ever the world-conquering energy of Christianity would not have
been possible — to have the absolute religion, which carries in itself
the absolute truth, was a cause of offence to educated heathens.
That appeared as narrow arrogance.

2. Roman views and legislation gave a handle for administrative
procedure against the Christians as soon as the importance of this-
strange phenomenon had attracted notice and mistrust to itself,
and public sentiment had thereby been excited. Such was the
ancient Roman principle of the XII. Tables which held good for
Roman citizens, Cic. De L<'<J<J. II. 8 ; xepufittim nemo hdbrxxit Jeos
nequ<' novox sice adcena* ni*i publics n*c'ttn* as sometimes happened
in the case of individual foreign gods in time of war and public
famine, after solemn resolution of the College of Pontiffs) privatim
cohaifo. Nat urall y this has nothing to do with religious or irreligious
opinions, views, — of these matters the Roman State took no account
whatever — but only with worship and religious societies. On the
analogy of this principle it was possible to oppo>e the introduction
of foreign worships into the Roman dominion, where state interests
seemed to require it, and this took place on the part of Augustus
and his successors against the increasing invasion of foreign worships,
such as that of Isis ;nnl Si-vapis and ot hers i a h^a- ly in the time of
the Republic there was suppression of the voluptuous mysteries of
Baci bus) although with V'-ry slight succc— .

When, in const-tin* Mire of the Jewish War. the toleration, which
had hitherto been extended to the Jewish religion, which so far had
been for Jew-; a n-lii/in licita. was interrupted, this also influence'!
disadvantageously the ehutvh living */<lt ambrm-tilo n'lit/iunix lic'thic
(TEUTULL. ,-l/w/. 21). And not only the difference from the Jews,
which soon revealed itself to the heathen also, 1'iit also the conver-
sion, of Roman subjects and Roman citizens un ;v have ;iron--e<l
complaints against a x/t/H'.-xf/fia t'.'-f<Tn<i ft illicit <t.

At the same time other laws also n \ >und for le^

procedure, such as the 1,.,- .Julin naijc^tnt'o, •; ;lie crfuKii In
HMjjfxttitix could be incnrre'l not only l>y actual rebellion, br.
by n /V»/.s- inim'/x, mttrmuratione contra fr/icifatctn tni/jinr/tHt. and also

ATTITUDE OF INDIVIDUAL EMPERORS. 161

by secret nightly assemblies. The penalty for this crimen was
decapitation in the case of the honestiores, the stake or death in
combat with wild beasts in that of the humiliores. Finally also
there was the sacrilegium by refusal of the offering due to the gods
or the genius of the Emperor. Both crimes place the freeman on
the same footing as the slave ; hence the applicability of the torture,
fire, crucifixion. The prohibition of magic and the possession of
books of magic might also, with reference to the healing of de-
moniacs in the church and the importance of the sacred books, be
applied against the Christians.

B. THE PROCEDURE OF THE INDIVIDUAL EMPERORS.

Literature: TILLEMONT, Histoire des Empereurs 1690 sqq, and freqtly; MERI-
VALE, Hist, of the Emperors, 8 vols. London 1865: E DOHLER Die Antonine,
nach Champigny bearbeitet, Halle 1876. AUBE, Hist, des Persec. de Veglise
jusqu'd la fin des Antonins, 9 vols. 1875, 78 ; UHLHORN, Der Kampf des
Christenthums mit dem Heidenthum. 4th edition 1886.

Of Nero's conduct and the measures of Domitian we have spoken
above, p. 74 and p. 87. But it was only from the time of Trajan (98
-117) the Spaniard, taken out of the army by Nerva, of distinguished
qualities and an antique Roman sense for law, right, and the interest
of the State, that the Roman State first took up a definite legal posi-
tion towards the new phenomenon. On the basis of the law against
Hetairiai which were dangerous to the State, which had been
renewed by Trajan (Plin. Ep. X. 92 sq.) his friend Pliny the
Younger, the Procurator of Bithynia, haled before the courts Chris-
tians, whose sect had in quite recent times made great progress even
in the country districts, gained information as to their gatherings
(p. 118) through renegades from Christianity, and by torture of two
female slaves (ministrce /) procured confessions, but found no crime
but only objectionable and immoderate superstition (prava et im-
modica superstitio). Pliny, however, caused those who would not
depart from their confession as Christians (who would not deny
it) to be executed, those whom he found to be in possession of
Roman citizenship he arrested in order to send them to Rome for
judgment. Those who denied however, he did not further perse-
cute. TRAJAN'S decision declines all universally applicable and
specially legal definitions, in particular takes no notice whatever of
Pliny's question whether the mere Christian confession in itself, or
the flagitia which were associated with it, was to be punished. In
the main he approves Pliny's procedure, but reminds him that the
Christians are not to be sought out (by government or police). The
Roman authority is to await legal complaint, but persons who have

11

1 62 CHURCH HISTORY.

been given up as Christians are to be judged (as Pliny had done) ;
but whoever denies the charge (practically, by sacrifice) is to
go free. Anonymous denunciations were also declared to be un-
allowable and unworthy of the spirit of the time iPlin. Ep. 96 sq.).
(Considerations advanced against the genuineness of this correspon-
dence, which is already referred to by Tertull. Apol. 2, have no
serious weight. Cf. in general C. F AKNOLD, Studim zur Gewhichte
der plinian. Christenverf. in Th. Stud. u. Skizz. aus. Ostpr. 1887, p.
229.)

In Trajan's reign (according to Euseb. Chron. about the ninth
year of Trajan, i.e. 106-107) falls the martyrdom of SIMEON, the son
of CLOP AS (Alphseus), in any case a relation of the Lord, who after
the death of James and the destruction of Jerusalem must have
taken a preeminent leading position among the Palestinian Jews
(p. 97). He was (Euseb. H. E. 3, 32 ; according to Hegesippus) de-
nounced to the Consular Atticus as " Davidide and Christian," and
after prolonged torture was crucified as an aged man of 120 years ;
here again the political point of view was not distant.

The martyrdom also of IGNATIUS of Antioch, the account of whom,
as given in the " Acts," is based upon the well known Epistles, is
placed under TRAJAN by ecclesiastical tradition. According to the
latter, persecution suddenly broke out in Antioch against the Chris-
tians ; Christians were taken prisoners, tortured, and finally sent to
Rome for the games ; finally, Ignatius was also sent for the same pur-
pose. During his transport thither by soldiers, to whom he is chained,
he receives messengers from Christian communities, writes to them,
etc. Some fact at the basis of all this is to be depended upon, even if
the shorter Greek recension of the famous Epistles should be spurious.
(As to Trajan's mad love of beast figlits rid. Dion Cassius 68, 15. The
Provincial Procurators made themselves popular, i.e. with the
Emperor, by sending on men and beasts for use at the games.)
According to HARNACK'S hypothesis, which however raises serious
considerations, one could only think of placing the event and in
consequence the Epistles (considered genuine) somewhat later.

HADRIAN (117-138), a Spaniard like his predecessor, and brought
over and finally adopted by the latter (if not by his widow), a
rich and many-sided character, capricious however, Plutarch's pupil,
a friend of all artists and scholars, distinguished in the first part of
his reign by wise political self-restraint, the furthering of material
interests and thoseof culture, and a humane tendency in government
and law, later on, in his restless wanderings through the whole
empire, interested in everything, and particularly in the most

HADRIAN. !63

various religious phenomena (omnium curioxitatum explorator
Tertull.) and in the end, unsatisfied with all things, closing his life
in melancholy depression and passionate severity and caprice
(GREGORIUS, Hadrian. 2nd edition 1884).

He took note of Christianity also ; it appeared to him in the
troubled medley of religions, especially of Egypt, as not essentially
different from the worship of Serapis, and from the lofty stand-
point of his pale philosophical monotheism, which saw in all divine
worships only different forms of the same thing, he judged it some-
what trivially (Ep. ad Servianum ap. Vopisc. Vita Sat. 8, Script.
Hist. Aug. Ed. Peter II. 209). All these representatives of the
different religions pursue at bottom only earthly interests, unus illis
deus nummus (not nullus) est.

Under him persecutions undoubtedly occurred, as the Apologies
of Quadratus and Aristides handed to him at Athens show (vid.
infra] ; we must suppose essentially in accordance with the legal
principles which had obtained since the time of Trajan. But the
j martyrdoms, which by the legends are placed under his reign, are
mostly without demonstrable historical kernel, even if there should
be an actual fact underlying the martyrdom of the Roman " Bishop
Telesphorus," which however possibly belongs only to the first year
of his successor Antoninus Pius. An important rescript under his
name has been preserved in Justin Martyr (Apol. I. at the end),
therefore in the work of a younger contemporary. The Pro-
consul Serennius Granianus (properly Q. Licinius Silvanus Grani-
anus, who in A.D. 106 was Consul suff.} addressed representations to
Hadrian on occasion of popular commotions, in which the execution
of Christians at the games was requested ; his rescript to Minucius
(Minicius) Fund anus (Justin I.e. Euseb. H. E. 4, 26. Rufin. 4, 9) who
had meantime succeeded to the office, declares that procedure shall
be undertaken against Christians only on regular complaint, and not
precibus soUx et acclamationibus. Following Justin's example, the
ecclesiastical writers see in the rescript the decision that condemna-
tion shall result not on the mere ground of confession of Christianity,
but only after proof of crime. If that were the meaning, the doubt
as to its geiiuiness which has has in recent times been raised by
BAUR, and with special emphasis by KEIM (Ttib. Theol. Jahrb. 1856),
AUBE, also OVERBECK and others would be justified. But the words
" ut pro tribunali eos in aliquo argttant " by no means necessitate this
Christian interpretation ; they may be essentially apprehended
according to Trajan's point of view, and in such a sense that the
main weight is placed on the exclusion of the tumultuary element ;

164 CHURCH HISTORY.

and Justin's testimony as to the rescript itself (not his comprehen-
sion of it) brings down the scale (vid. specially FUNK, ThQ. 1879, and
UHLHOKN, I.e. p. 240 and note). RANKE also maintains the genuine-
ness.

The same standpoint on principles is essentially maintained under
the ANTONINES. Individual tumultuary persecutions, dictated by
popular passion (to such probably belong the events in Athens
referred to by Bishop Dionysius of Corinth, Euseb. H. E. 4, 23),
gave occasion for rescripts of ANTONINUS Pius (adopted son of
Hadrian, 138-161), which enjoin the continuance of the legal pro-
cesses hitherto in use (Melito in Euseb. H. E. 4, 26. The pre-
tended rescript vrpo? TO KOIVOV -7-779 'Acrlas Euseb. 4, 13, appears to be
a later Christian interpolation appended to Justin, Apol. I. 70 by
a later hand). Under the philosophic Emperor MARCUS AURELIUS
ANTONINUS AUGUSTUS (161-180), co-regent since 147 with Antoninus
Pius, who had adopted him at the command of Hadrian (Co-Regent:
L. Verus as Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus) this remained the
recognised basis ; but under him accidentally excited popular
passions threatened to lead to transgression of the legal limits. In
his reign, and indeed in the period of the city-prefect Junius
Rusticus (i.e. between 163-167 : according to the consular lists of
the Chron. Alex, we should have to suppose 165), there falls the
martyrdom in Rome of the Christian philosopher JUSTIN and a
number of Christians regarded as his disciples (The Acts of the
Martyrs— in OTTO, Just. Opp. III. p. 266 sqq.— give, along with a
later introduction and final remarks, a simple and credible narrative).
Eusebius also places in the time of Marcus Aurelius the very
impressive martyrdom of Bishop POLYCARP of Smyrna (Martyr.
Polyc. given in its essential content by Eusebius, H. E. 4, 15, come
down to us in an independent form, vid. in P.P. App. Opp. ed.
Harnack, Gebhardt and Zahn, vol. II. 133 sqq., not of course in a
perfectly original form, but essentially to be regarded [against
LIPSIUS and KEIM] as credible and genuine, a narrative report which
soon after the death of Polycarp the community made for the
community at Philoinelium in Phrygia, but also for communication
to other communities). At the games which were given (by the
Asiarch Philip the Trallian, the priest of the Asiatic corporation
of towns) in Smyrna in the presence of the Proconsul, eleven or
twelve Christians from Philadelphia were also martyred and partly
thrown to the beasts, partly burnt. Whereupon the populace in
the amphitheatre demanded the death of Polycarp, " away with the
godless, cause Polycarp to be sought out." The latter, now in hi?

MARCUS AURELIUS. 165

hoary old age, at first allowed himself to be urged by the Chris-
tians to withdraw to the country, but was there tracked out,
brought back to Smyrna, challenged to offer sacrifice and, on his
open confession of Christianity, burnt at the desire of the people.
His death stilled the persecution.

EUSEBIUS expressly places the martyrdom in the reign of Marcus Aurelius
(Chron. and H. E. 166 ; JEROME 167 ; USSHER by his calculation makes it 169)
and scholars calculated the year of office of Statius Quadratus mentioned in the
beginning of the martyrdom as 165-166 (so also CLINTON), till WADDINGTON,
Memo ire sur la chronologle de la vie du rheteur Aelius Aristide (Mem. de
1'Institut imp. de France, 1867, t. XXVI.), on the basis of inscriptions and with
the help of hypotheses reckoned his proconsulate at 155, 156, and hence Poly-
carp's martyrdom on the 23 February, 155, and thereby made a great impression
(vid. LIPSIUS, ZwTh. 1874, and JprTh. 1878 ; HILGENFELD, ZwTh. 1874 and
1879; G-EBHARDT, ZwTh. 1875). The supposition recently received a certain
confirmation through the discovery of the Olympic inscription which shows
the 232 Olympiad, A.D. 149, as already the year of the appearance of Caius
Julius PHILIPPUS Trallianus as Asiarch. There indeed still remain very
weighty considerations, not merely in the express evidence of EUSEBIUS, but
especially also in relation to the presence of Polycarp in Rome under Anicetus,
since probably in 155 his predecessor, Pius I., was still the Bishop of Rome.
Nor does the setting back of the death of Polycarp according to other calculations
to 156 (Lipsius and others) set aside all difficulties. Thus doubt will here also
be permitted, especially as the chronological close of the martyrdom is in
general very open to attack and was still unknown to Eusebius. It may have
come to be added to the Acta on account of the fact that the narrative was com-
bined with other martyrdoms, which, according to Eusebius, H. E.4. 15, took
place in Smyrna at the time of the death of P olycarp. Cf . KEIM, Urchristenfhum,
p. 90; also VOLTEU, Entstehung der Apocal. 2 ed. p. 31 sq.

In the further course of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, under the
impression of the growing power of Christianity on the one hand,
and of public misfortunes and excitements on the other, an in-
creased occurrence of persecutions in different provinces of the
empire is to be admitted as certain, as is shown by the Apology of
Athenagoras and, for the province of Asia Minor, by Melito of Sardes.
He makes lament over new unfavourable edicts against the Chris-
tians (ap. Euseb. 4, 26), the genuineness of which he would like to
doubt, and which in comparison with those of Hadrian and Anto-
ninus Pius, to which he appeals, must have contained an aggra-
vation, viz. the seeking out of the Christians (not the awaiting of
regular complaints) and enticements to denunciation by means of
reward in the confiscated goods of the condemned Christians ;
therewith the complaint as to the covetous sycophants in Athena-
goras (Apol. 1, 2) would agree. The question whether we are here
concerned with new steps in imperial legislation or with measures
of the provincial officials, may be postponed.

1 66 CHURCH HISTORl.

"While therefore in the East the procedure against the Christians
is aggravated,1 about 177 there issues forth over the nourishing
communities in Southern Gaul (Lugdunum and Vienna) a parti-
cularly severe persecution, of which the communities give an
account by letter to those in Asia and Phrygia (Euseb. 5, 1 sqq.).
The affair begins with the defamation of the Christians by the
populace ; they are collected together and examined, when use is
also made of expressions against the Christians obtained from slaves
by torture ; and the attempt is made to drive the Christians by
torture to the acknowledgment of the secret horrors of which they
were accused (the slave Blandina, Ponticus, the hoary Bishop
Pothinus himself). On inquiry being made, a rescript is sent from
Rome to the effect that the prisoners are to be put to death, those
who deny to be set free. The former are in part thrown to the
wild beasts, the Roman citizens executed by the sword, the ashes of
those who were burnt strewn in the Rhone in ridicule of the hope
of resurrection.

Proceeding from the same tendency of Christian tradition which,
as distinguished from that of later times, was interested in putting
the most favourable appearance possible on the relation of the
Emperors to the Christians, there is. besides Antonine's rescript TT/JO?
TO KOIVOV Xo-ta?, the alleged Epistle of Man-us Aurelius to the
Senate (in the year 174) (both appended to Justin's Apology in
ancient times), according to whieh MMIVUS Aurelius, in a perilous
position in the German war, surrounded by enemies, was rescued
through the prayer of the numerous Christians in the army, by
means of a storm which refreshed the thirsty Romans and fright-
ened the Germans by fire. Tertullian . I/W. 5, Ad Scop. 4) is
already acquainted with such a writing, whieh, according to Keim,
is to be regarded as the kernel of the subsequently expanded
rescript known to us. Christians and heathens hare explained in
their respective styles an event which affords foundation for both
stories, and falsely connected it with the name of the let/to 1'nlm iixi-
trix, which already bore this designation in the time of Augustus,
as though it had received its name from this event (Apollin. Hierup.
in Euseb. H. E. 5, 5).

Legally the position of the Christians under the aggravated
edicts of Marcus Aurelius continues in the main the same under
COMMODUS also (LSI 1-11)2), in whose last year falls th. persecution of

To this period the Procurator Arrius Antoninus in TKKTULLIAN, Ad
lam 5, probably also belongs.

PAGAN FEELING AND CULTURE.

the Scillitan martyrs in North Africa under the Proconsul
Vigellius Saturninus (vid. USENER, Ada Mart. Scill. grcece. Index
scholar. Bonn 1881. AUBE, Etude etc. Eevue Critique 1881, No. 44.
HARNACK, ThLZ. 1882, p. 3. OVERBECK, ibid. p. 171 sqq. Fr.
GORRES, JPrTh. 1884, p. 222 sqq.), the first known in the African
Church, in general the first known fact regarding it (cf. however
the Archimartyr Mamphamo, GORRES, I.e.). The martyrdom also ot
a highly regarded Roman of philosophic culture, Apollonius (accord-
ing to Jerome, a senator), under the Praetorian Prefect Perennius
(who in the first half of the reign of Commodus was his favourite)
is worth notice (Euseb. 5, 21 ; Jerome, Cat. 42. cf. KEIM, Rom, p. 640
sq. That the informer was a slave seems to be a mere inference).

But under the brutal and voluptuous tyrant Christianity soon
experienced years of rest, probably a reaction after the excitements
of late j^ears ; but the Emperor, who was superstitious and inclined
to strange worships, was also influenced favourably to Christianity
by his favourite concubine Marcia, who was herself devoted to the
Christian religion ($tA,o#eo? TraXX-drcr) Ko/u^oSou. Hyacinthus, a
Christian presbyter, was her foster-father). With her the Roman
Bishop Victor maintained relations ; by her means he obtained the
freedom of the Christian confessors in the Sardinian quarries, on
which occasion, against his wish, Callistus, who had been condemned
for disturbing the Jewish worship, was also set free (Hippol. Ref. 9,
12 ; cf. the fideles in regali aula, Iren. Hcer. 4, 30, 1).

9. Heathen Religious Feeling and Culture in their Relation to Christianity.

To the introductory remarks on p. 26 sqq. we add : — Amid the
religious-moral dissolution and destruction there is an increase of the
above-mentioned tendency to superstition, the grasping at strange
aflid secret worships and mysteries, in which alongside of mysterious
(magical) rites also (often enough alternating with debauchery and
Tinbridledness) special ascetic renunciations are made to lead through
different degrees of consecration to a higher union with the Godhead.
The ideas of religious syncretism, which seeks to lay hold of the
common religious truth under different forms, gain ground, and
are favoured by the religious sentiment of the eclectic (Platonist-
Pythagorean) philosophy of the time. Practical religious tendencies
to restoration gain recognition. Here belongs the famous APOLLO-
NIUS of Tyana, who died under Domitian (c. 96), who is designated by
Lucian and Apuleius according to the older description of Mceragenes
(Orig. c. Cels. 6, 41), as a famous magician, who also however
influenced philosophers. His reputation was set very high by later

1 68 CHURCH HISTORY.

religious-philosophic syncretism (Caracalla, Alex. Severus, Julia
Mammsea). The alleged memorials of him by Damis were given
the stamp of a religious-philosophical ideal in the interest of early
Neo-Platonism. The following may be regarded as genuine historical
traits : — war against religious unbelief in favour of a spiritualized
pagan belief of manifold form, particularly for a pure bloodless
worship of the one highest God in and over his subordinate gods,
for which a way of life pleasing to God is to be taken into account ;
a strict asceticism (abstinence from the use of flesh and wine and
from marriage). All higher wisdom is conditional on moral, that is
to say, ascetic, perfection ; the bod}^ appears as the prison of the
soul ; the Pythagorean doctrines of immortality and of the transmi-
gration of souls make their appearance. The self-conscious priest of
^Esculapius is imposing, both on account of his oracular sayings and
his appearance, and influences the multitude ; powers of healing are
ascribed to him and glimpses into secret things, which perhaps
point to a gift of clairvoyance (Literature in Jw. MILLER in the
RE.2 I. 535 sq ; cf. also KKIM, Horn. u. d. Chrixtcntftu/ii, p. 59 sqq.).

The most important represent at ive of pagan religiosity purified
and guarding itself against scepticism and unbelief, is the eclectic
Platonist, PLUTARCH of Charonea iob. 1'2O , whose monotheism, al-
though limited in a naturalistic sense by the dualistic opposition of
matter, rises above polytheism and limls the highest religious satis-
faction in exaltation to the highest divinity. But he immediately
makes this highest divinity as it were go out of himself, and (leave
in two in the fulness of the world of gorls and demons, as the not
absolute, but so much the more naturally self-suggesting proper
objects of religious worship, which ias also belief in the revelation
of the divinity in the oraclesj is so just i tied that otl'ence is avoided
both by spiritualistic and naturalistic interpretation. Here also
the monotheistic tendency is the correlative of an essentially moral
conception of the true worship of (Jod i by a pious manner of life).
As he is opposed to destructive unbelief, he likewise, from an essen-
tially religious-moral point of view opposes superstition and its
moral instability. The latter is to him worse than unU-lief because
it springs from fear, and therefore from secret hatred of the divinity

(I)l' X/ljH'l-xf.).

On a similar philosophic foundation we find APTLEIUS of Mai la ma
(about 170), but ethically — also, as regards his relation to the realm
of magic — standing on a lower level. The rhetorician .M \\i\ns
'V\ KIUS (190) exhibits as an element of the culture and sentiment of
the time, that sort of philosophic monotheism, which as complement

PAG A A' REELING AND CUL1URE. 169

and climax of the polytheistic worship becomes indeed reconciled
with the latter, and finds in the different religions, under different
names, a great agreement on the main points.

The great syncretistic tendency of the age appears significantly
in the philosopher NUMENIUS, a forerunner of Neo-Platonism proper,
who sought to gather together the religiously valuable borrowed
wisdom of different peoples, of the Indian Brahmins, the Jews, the
Persian Magi, the Egyptians, shows acquaintance with Judaism and
the Old Testament, and Jewish religion, even indeed with some
sayings of Jesus, and who in a characteristic manner called Plato an
Attic-speaking Moses. Everywhere here philosophic monotheism
stands in a guarding and purifying attitude, but at the same in an
attitude of conservatism towards polytheism. All these however,
with exception of the last-named, take as yet no notice of Christi-
anity ; and Numenius also, although he betrays knowledge of some
sayings of Jesus, does not as yet exhibit the need of meddling any
further with Christianity and coming to terms with it.

The Stoic philosophy, also so influential in that age. had in its
kind a share in the religious restorative tendencies of the time, in
the fostering of what was indeed a piety of a pantheistic and deter-
minist tinge, which was meant to be a spiritualized re-establish-
ment of pagan piety. But where, as in the case of Marcus Aurelius,
Christianity came within the horizon of this Stoic philosophy, anti-
pathy also showed itself against Christianity, its inspiration which
had the appearance of mere fanatical enthusiasm, its un-Roinan
nature etc. (In xe ipsum 11, 3. Stoic calm in presence of death,
philosophic passionlessness — arpa<^(alu>^ !).

The eyes however of the philosophically and cosmopolitanly
cultured were already more frequently directed upon this inconve-
nient Christianity, under the feeling that it was necessary to come
to an understanding with this strange phenomenon, and not merely
aristocratically to ignore it as the madness of the multitude, and
not only to leave the legal battle with it to the State. The pagan
rhetorician FRONTO (a courtier of Hadrian and the teacher of Marcus
Aurelius) opposed Christianity with conscious hostility ; likewise
the Cynic CRESCENS, the opponent of Justin Martyr. But about the
time of Marcus Aurelius, Celsus and Lucian in particular came
forward as representatives of the cultured illumination, and opposed
Christianity in their respective styles. CELSUS (known from the
eight Books of Origen against the treatise of Celsus, \uyos d^rjOtj?,
from which he quotes numerous passages) appears. as a scholar of
many-sided culture, acquainted with the scholastic opinions of the

1 7o CHURCH HISTORY.

philosophers and those who were learned in beliefs in the Roman
Empire, to which in his journeys he had applied his observation.
He also entered into disputations with Christians. Origen thinks
of the author of the " True Word " as an Epicurean Celsus, who
had lived under Hadrian and still later, but meets with much in
his expressions which is not Epicurean, and doubts therefore
whether some other person is not to be supposed (as the author), or
whether he merely kept back the kernel of his Epicurean conviction,
and only occasionally allowed it to be recognised. As a matter of
fact his manner of thought is under the overpowering influence of
the eclectic Platonism of the time, and not of the doctrine of the
Epicurean School. Nevertheless he is in any case the same person
as that friend of Lucian to whom the latter dedicated his Alexander
of Abonoteichos, and in whom he pre-supposed sympathy with
Epicurus (Alex. 61). He is a man of the world of philosophic
culture, who accepts much of the influential Platonism of the time,
but has absorbed little of its positive religious sentiment. In his
antipathy to Christianity, which appears to him barbaric and super-
stitious, he gives himself up to the scepticism and satire of a man
of the world, through which he comes in contact with Epicurean
tendencies. The Christians are to Celsus an illegal and secret
combination, their doctrine is barbaric and not to be proved by the
magic miracles of Jesus ; they follow not reason, but blind faith,
and despise wisdom. He first of all brings the Jews on to the
field against the Christians ; the former have to bring forward the
Jewish slanders on the evangelical history (Jesus born in adultery
and fostered on Egyptian wisdom), and enforce the contrast be-
tween the assertion of His divine dignity and the wretched and
contemptibly ending earthly life, denounce the falling away of the
adherents of the false Messiah from the ancient law, complain of
the lack of foundation of the Christians on the Old Testament
prophecies, and emphasize the incredibility of the resurrection
which was only revealed to His adherents. But according to Celsus,
Jews and Christians have not much with which to reproach one
another, even although Judaism has the advantage of being an
ancient religion. Celsus combats the fundamental idea of a descent
of God, or a son of God, much more of a crucified God, as non-
sensical, the idea of an historical redemption as incompatible with
divine justice and (impartial) love, that of a plan of salvation which
is only temporal as a limited and childish notion of special
partizanship. The special teleology of salvation is contrasted with
the eternal and inalterable order of nature, in which evil and sin,

CELS US. L UCIA N. 171

originated by matter, have their inevitable place, but man may not
arrogate to himself to be regarded as the proper aim of God ; here all
those portions of the Judseo-Christian view of the world, such as the
end of the world, judgment, resurrection, appear irrational likewise,
while the announcement of forgiveness and redemption which turns
with preference to the sinner, appears contradictory (since no one can
alter nature) and at enmity with the purified conception of God
(who must prefer the righteous and not the sinners). In contrast
with Christianity, not only philosophy but even the pagan religion,
in spite of its myths long since stripped away from it by the
educated, and copied by the Christians, must appear as the
relatively better. Christians ought rather to attach themselves to
the great philosophic and political authorities of the classic world,
ought to convince themselves that a properly understood worship
of gods and demons is quite compatible with a purified monotheism,
ought finally to give up the foolish madness of the notion that they
could gain over the authorities to their faith, or that in general a
universal agreement on divine things is possible of attainment (litera-
ture: vid. in my article on Origeii RE.'2 XI. p. 101 sqq. KEIM, Celsus*
walires Wort iviederhergestellt etc. 1873).

In LUCIAN (about 180) much more than in Celsus, who in spite
of everything goes into tho great question of Christianity with
genuine earnestness, there is exhibited that polished judgment of
the man of the world which not only confronts all theories scepti-
cally, but the real power of religion and faith, coldly, and advances-
against the follies and sins of the time more with irony and com-
fortable contempt than with moral indignation. For the attempts-
at restoring Platonism and Stoicism, dictated by the need of a
belief, he has no liking. To the author of the Dialogues of the
Gods, Christianity merely appears another folly like to the pagan
mythology. As in the treatise Alexander of Abononteichos (or
1'xeudomantis) he scourges the treacherous oracle- monger, sooth-
sayer and prophet, who, himself immoral and criminal, exploits-
superstition by means of his appearance of venerable piety and his
juggling arts, so in the De Morti Peregrini Prot. lie throws con-
tempt upon the eccentric philosopher, who, stained from youth,
with crime, attempts it among the Christians ; in Palestine,,
where he acquires the reputation of great holiness, climbs step
by step, and is enthusiastically reverenced, especially when, under
persecution, he is thrown into prison. But he spoils his position
by eating forbidden things, and is cast out. He now appears-
as an Egyptian ascetic who exposes himself to sun-burning.

a 72 CHURCH HIS TOR V.

.and smears himself with dung, then as a Cynic who finally causes
himself to be bound on the funeral pyre at Olympia, before the
assembled populace, as an example of virtue, in order to unite him-
self again with the glorified spirits of the sether. On this occasion
the earth quaked and a vulture arose out of the flames ; he now
became the object of religious worship. The whole is a satire on
the Cynics, especially on Theagenes, but the opportunity for it is
afforded by the actual fact of a historical personage. Lucian's
knowledge of the Christians betrays a series of characteristic traits.
Their credulity, which makes them the prey of an impostor, their
quiet public spirit and their contempt for death, appear rather as
singular folly, their praying to the crucified sophist as absurd ; in
short, the great mocker who overwhelms the arrogant Cynics with
Jris most empoisoned scorn, judges Christianity almost good-
naturedly but without a notion of its inner significance.

Cf. BEUNAVS, Lucid, i m/<l <//<- (.'//// //.-/•/• mit rfner Uebersefznui/ i/c.s- Schrift
Lucian's iiber das Lebensende r/cx /v/v///-///^x ls7:i. ami for general fixing of his
historical relations specially A. HAKNACK in RE2 VIII. 772 sqq.

10. The Defence of Christianity by the scientifically educated Apologists
of the Second Century, and the changed conception of Christianity
resulting therefrom.

A. In proport inn. as the educated world and the authorities take
notice of the strange phenomenon of Christianity, men make their
appearance within Christianity who und'Tt;ike to defend it with the
weapons of the culture of the age before the pagan conscience and
the power of the State, hand in hand with which goes the need
of also establishing it in its justification as against Judaism. This
however involves a not on-essential transformation of the views of
primitive Christianity according to the ideas of the general culture
of the time, so far as the latter is interested in religion or reli-
gious philosophy, and accordingly several of these men become
important intermediaries for the forming of Christianity into the
ancient Catholic Church, — the Fathers of ecclesiastical theology.

The works of the Greek Apologists of the second century, published by BUD.
MARANUS, Paris 174-J sq., and C. F. OTTO. Cor/ms Aj>«/o</rt.. >,/•, _'. '.i t.. .l.-na
lsl-_' s<(4., vol. 1-5 in 3rd ed. 1876 sqq. — GEISHAUDT und HAKNACI;. '/'. ./•/<• muf
Untersuchungen. I. Die Ueberliefsrung dcr yricch. Apo1"<i<'trn, Loiji-ic ls^_'.

1. In relation to the measures taken by the pagan state authority, according to
Eusebius as early as the time of Hadrian, QUADRATDS, Mislmp of Athens. and the
philosopher AKISTIDKS came forward with apologies (defensive treatises) which
they themselves, at least as Eusebius presupposes, ]>iv-'nti',l to the Emperor
Hadrian on occasion of his presence in Atln-n> in 125 A.D. Of the Apology of
Aristides, which was still extant in the time of Jerome (Cat. 20; K\>. <i<l. Mii<jninn

APOLOGIA 2 \ 173

[Apologeticum contextum philosophorum sententiis]) there is supposed recently
to have been found a fragment in an Armenian translation (Sancti Aristidis
phi I. Athen. sermones duo etc. in lat. linguam translati, Venet. 1878, by the
Mechitarists). The name of the author of sermon 2 is doubtful, the editor has
read Aristeas and conjectured Aristides, VETTER (ThQ. 1882) has actually read
Aristides. This piece cannot possibly be attributed to this age (a homily on
usurers) ; in the first it is thought that signs of antiquity can plainly be dis-
covered (absence of the doctrine of the Logos and all reference to heresy), which
however in the comparative brevity of the piece does not argue much (especi-
ally the latter) ; and doubt is aroused by the fact that in the second part of the
first sermon the Virgin Mary is designated deipara, an expression which,
without doubt, must be a later interpolation. Vid, HIMPEL in ThQ. 1879 and 1880 ;
HARNACK and GEBHARDT, Texte und Untersuchungen I. pp. 98-114. Considera-
tions which are not to be undervalued are raised by BUCHELER, Arist. und
Justin in the Rhein. Museum. N.F. 35, 2, pp. 279-86.

2. MELITO, Bishop of Sardes, one of the foremost men of the Church of Asia
Minor, highly honoured as a prophet and on account of the holiness of his life, was^
most productive as an author. In his Apology to Marcus Aurelius he sets forth
Christianity as true philosophy (fragments in Eusebius 14, 26, 5-11). The
Apology, which has been preserved in Syriac (CuRETON, Spicil. Syr. also in
PITRA, Spicil. Solesm. II. p. xxxvii. sqq. German translations by Wette in
ThQ. 1862. 44 vols. p. 392 sqq.) : Sermo Mditonis philosophi qui factus est
coram Antonino Ccesare, is another, and hardly by Melito, to whom it was
attributed, and who, referring to the content of the real Apology of Melito
(Christianity the True Philosophy), is here designated a philosopher. The
first Christian list of the 0. T. canon was found in the introduction to his six
books of Eclogues from the Law and the Prophets, on Christ and the whole
Christian faith (therefore Christian explanation of 0. T. passages). A number,
of short treatises and dissertations, all lost but fragments, partly handle the
various ecclesiastical movements of his time (thePaschal Controversy, theSunday,
on Christian hospitality and many others, on the corporeality of God [TT. eWco/udrou
$eov, which, according to THEODORET, Qucest. in Genes. I. interr. 20 is certainly
to be understood in this sense]). What the treatise entitled KAei? (clavis)
which is also lost, was, is unknown. In any case the Clavis edited by Pitra,
Spicil. Solesm. II. and III. under Melito's name (a glossary of mystical explan-
ations of scripture, connected with the literature of Physiologus) is a much
later Latin collection. In later times much was attributed to his highly re-
spected name (cf. PIPER, Melito, in Stud. u. Krit. 1838; STEITZ, ibid. 1857;
HARNACK, Texte u. Untersuchungen I. 2, p. 240; STEITZ, BE. s. v.).

3. CLAUDIUS APOLLINARIS (ATroAu/dptos), Bishop of Hierapolis, wrote an
Apology addressed to Marcus Aurelius, five books Ad Grcecos and several others
(EusEB. 4, 26 and 27 ; JEROME, Cat. 26).

4. MILTIADES, a rhetorician in Athens, also wrote an Apology addressed to
Marcus Aurelius and L. Verus, and 2 books Ad Gi'cecos, 2 Adversus Judceos
(EUSEB. 5, 17 ; JEROME, Cat. 39).

5. Of these apologists the most influential and the most important for the
forming of Hellenically modified Christianity and the founding of Christian
theology is JUSTIN MARTYR, born at Flavia Neapolis (the ancient Sichem), in
Samaria, of Hellenic parents, about the year 100. Having gone through the
usual philosophico-rhetorical education of the time, he sought satisfaction for
his religious need (desire after knowledge of God and happiness [fvSaifj.oi>.])
amongst the various philosophic schools, still mostly attracted and determined

174 CHURCH HISTORY.

by the Platonism of his age on its religious side, and. influenced by the moral
views of the Stoic philosophy. He sets forth his attraction by Christianity with
its practical earnestness and its enthusiasm, in a conversation with an aged
Christian, who referred him to the study of the ancient Scriptures (i.e. the
O. T.) and the necessity of a Divine revelation ; thus he became a Christian
philosopher, who wrought for the Christian faith as a wandering school-teach-
ing sophist. On his second stay in Rome he was strenuously opposed by the
Cynic Crescens, and in the end died there a martyr's death (between 163 and
167, probably 165).

Of the two Apologies the larger is first in order of time (although in older
editions designated the second), the smaller however is an appendix written
immediately afterwards (HARXACK conjectures their original unity). The first
Apology, formerly often set down about 138 (under the sole reign of Antoninus
Pius) is still various^' dated on account of the difficulty lying in the address
to the Emperor, but must be placed in the time of the co-regency of Marcus
Aurelius (147-160) It reckons (I. 46) 150 years since the death of Christ ;
the second is indirectly linked to it by the manner of the back reference
{II. 4. 6. 8) (occasioned by an incident with the wife, become Christian, of a
heathen). But the Christian philosopher sought also to prove in detail the
right of Christianity to independence as against Judaism, in the Dialogue with
Trypho (somewhat later than the Apology), and moreover from the Holy Scrip-
tures of the 0. T. themselves, regarded from the Christian point of view.

He likewise, however, already defended ecclesiastical Christianity of the
Greek sort by combating the sectarian opinions which appeared to threaten
its continued existence (2<Wery/«i. KUTO naar. aipf'a-tiav), and in particular that of
Marcion. These writings are unfortunately lost ; regarding the first of them,
however, it is permissible to suppose that Ireiui'iis founded upon them in the
relative parts of his attack upon the heresies. Of a treatise on tho Resurrec-
tion two fragments are extant, regarding the compass of which Th. ZAUN
(ZKG. 8, 20 sqq.) sets up new conjectures.

Numerous other writings have been falsely ascribed to the name of this tirst
theologian who had so great importance for the church, such especially — apart
from writings of much later origin — was the \6yns npbs "EXXijvar, Oratio ad
GTCRCOS (against the folly of the myths of the gods), a treatise which has been
preserved in a variant Syriac recension (in ('ruiriox. s/i/c. <S'j/r.), and is
here ascribed to one Ambrosius. who has been thought to be the friend of
Origen; but recently I >u \SKKE (JPrTh. 1HS5, 144-153), following up a con-
jecture of NOLTE, sought to find in it the Apology of the (Roman Senator)
Apollonius, who died a martyr's death ui,<ler < 'mmnoilus (cf. on Apollonius:
CASPAKI, Quellvn 3, 414-lHi). In any case it belongs to the older ( Jreek Apology
of that age, and borders on Tatian's points of view (HAKNACK. YV.r/V i/ml
r ntcrs. I. 1 and 2, p. l.Vn.

The Aoyor TrapaivtriKus Trpiis "EXX^i/as (Cohortatio ml (Ira'fos. — The truth not to
be found in the poets and philosophers, but in Moses and the prophets; what
the former have of the truth they have derived from the latter) is likewise not
from the hand of Justin, but from that of a kindred spirit; but if Julius
Africanus is really made use of (SrnfuKK in ZKG. II. 319-31) it can only belong
to the third century. VOLTKU (XwTh. 1SS3, 150 NI«|.) would ascribe it to
Claudius Apollinaris (Nr. 3), DRASEKE to Bishop Apollinaris of Laodicea in
the fourth century. The small treatise De Monarchia gather.-, together real
and specially alleged heathen witnesses to the faith in monotheism, in the way
in which the apocryphal authorship of Hellenism loved to produce it (cf.

TATIAN. 175

SEMISCH, Justin der Mart, 2 vols. Breslau 1840-1842, and M. ENGELHARDT,
Das Christenthum Justin's des Mart., Erlangen 1878).

6. For a considerable period TATIAN also remained under Justin's influence.
He was born in Assyria, perhaps of Syrian descent (ZAHN), but of Greek
education, and in wide travels representing the then Greek culture of the
wandering and teaching Sophists, acquainted with Greek literature to a large
extent, as also with religious mythology and mysteries. Religiously satisfying
and morally purifying truth, which he had in vain sought among the Greeks,
he found in the barbarian wisdom of Christianity and its morally strengthening
and emancipating monotheism, a simple truth accessible even to the plain man,
which in his Apology (Aoyos irpos "EXX^i/nf) he now contrasts in the most
glaring manner with heathenism. In Rome, where perhaps the very turn-
ing point of his life occurred, he came into contact with Justin, became his
pupil (Iren.) and venerator, like him was attacked by the Cynic Crescens, like
him came forward as a Christian Sophist (the Christian teacher Rhode was
his pupil, Euseb. 5, 13). His Xo'yoy npbs "EXXr/vas (Tatiani or. ad Grcecos rec.
E. Schwartz. Gebhart and Harnack's Texte u. Unters. IV. 1.), written soon after
his transition to Christianity to justify this step, of outstanding importance, is
only able to recognise the night side of heathen religion and philosophy.
Rough aversion from the manners of the world and sensual pleasure leads
him into a strict asceticism, which advances beyond the limit of common
Christianity to the rejection on principle of marriage and the use of flesh
and wine, and creates for Tatian a position of respect among the so-called
Encratites (the representatives of this form of asceticism). Connected there-
with is his acceptance of Gnostic ideas on the basis of a dualistic conception
of spirit and matter, separation of the Demiourgos from the Creator of the
world (vid. p. 150), which subsequently brings Tatian into variance with the
church at large, without thereby robbing him of the respect due to an important
(and very fertile) author. He worked in the Syrian East (Mesopotamia,
Edessa, Antioch). The Book of Problems, BipXlov irpofi\r)ndTo>v, in which he
exhibited the difficult and obscure passages of the Scriptures, and which was
intended to controvert Rhodo, perhaps already contained Gnostic speculations
(Rhodo, in the relative passage Euseb. 5, 13, groups him with the Marcionite
Apelles, the author of Syllogisms}.

In the treatise Hep! rov KOTO, rov a-airr/pa Karaprta-fjiov (of Christian Perfection) he
justified the rejection of the commerce of the sexes. In the so-called Diates-
saron he has put together from our four Gospels a unitary presentation of the
Gospels, which began with the prologue of John, left out the genealogies (of
Matt, and Luke), and, as they are called, all the passages which show that our
Lord was of the seed of David after the flesh ; and this gospel maintained itself
until on in the fifth century, in some (especially Syrian) districts of the church
in the Syrian language alongside of the Gospel of the '' Separated," until it was
expelled the communities, e.g. by Theodoret and Rabulas of Edessa. As on the
one hand the arising of this Diatessaron presupposes the spread and a certain
recognised authority of our Gospels, so on the other hand its origination and
especially its ecclesiastical use is only explicable in a time in which the
conception of a closed canon of holy and inspired Scriptures had not yet
attained universal dominion. Whether this first Harmony of the Gospels was
originally written by Tatian in Greek and only then translated into Syriac, or
(ZAHN) written at once by Tatian in Syriac (on the basis of already existing
Syriac Gospels) is a matter of dispute. The former hypothesis is supported by
the name AioTfo-crapwi/ (for the taking over of Greek words into the Sj'riac text

176 CHURCH HISTORY.

is indeed nothing remarkable, but very frequent ; but in this case presupposes
an already existing Greek expression of the conception) ; in favour of the latter
there are very remarkable instances which have been relied on by Zahn (cf.
also BATHGEX, Evangel ienfragmente, Leipsic 1855. p. 59 sqq. 68 sqq. who
agrees with regard to the Syriac authorship of the Diatessaron and Cureton's
Syriac translation of the Gospels). The celebrated Syrian Church Historian
of the fourth century, EPHRAEM SYRUS. wrote a further commentary on this
Harmony of the Gospels, which has been preserved in Aramaic, and pub-
lished by MOSINGER (1877) in the Latin translation which had been already
furnished by AUCHER. On this basis Th. ZAHN subsequently attempted with
great skill to reconstruct the Diatessaron (Forschunycn zur Gesch. des neutesta-
mentlichen Kanons I., Erl. 1881. On Tatian specially DANIEL, Tatian, Halle 1837,
GEBHARDT u. HARXACK, Texte u. Forx<-linn<tm I., and my article in the RE2).

7. ATHEXAGORAS, by report an Athenian, author of a Hpftrfifia ntpl \pKTTLavuv
(supplicatio, intercessio, not legatio) which was addressed to Marcus Aurelius
and Commodus c. 177, as also of a treatise Ylep\ diwucreajr. A personality which
is otherwise quite unknown to us, whom, remarkably, EUSEIHUS does not mention
at all. The alleged narratives of Philippus Sidetes are untrustworthy, indeed
notoriously incorrect (vid. DODWELL, Disa. /» fren. Append, p. 488 sqq.).
However, METHODIUS (vid. EPIPH. Hcer. 64, 21 ; PHOT. c. 234) in the end of the
third century already knows the Apology under the name of Athenagoras
(conjecture, that from the erroneous hypothesis that Justin was the author,
the story of his two Apologies may have arisen, and only in consequence of
this did the addition to the first Apology come to be regarded (by Eusebius?)
as a second independent one: Harnack [?]). The author, most decidedly
guided by Platonic conceptions, of a polished style, refutes the reproaches of
dfffOTrjs, of (Edipodean minglings and Thyestean feasts, and in the treatise De
resurrections seeks to refute doubts on the doctrine of the Resurrection by the
wisdom, power and righteousness of God, as well as from the destiny of man
(Doctrine of the Logos, but without a proper Christology ! Athenagoras quotes
sayings of the Lord, not Christian Scriptures, the Old Testament only
sparingly). Cf. HEKELE, Beitn'i<i<- ~ur KG. 1884, I. p. 60-81 ; VOIGTLAXDKH Im
Beiceis des Glaubcnx, Is72.

8. Tiiicoi'HiLUS OF ANTIOCH, the sixth bishop of this see, born in the East,
was educated as a Greek and became a Christian in manhood. There have
been preserved three Books Ad Antuhji-um, an educated heathen, apologetically
defending the belief in God and the Christian hope of the resurrection, com-
bating heathen belief and especially exalting into prominence the high valuo
of the Holy Scriptures (Old Testament and Prophets) as the ancient source of
the knowledge of God.

Besides these he wrote against Hermogenes (perhaps made use of by TEKTII.-
LIAN) and against Marcion a treatise Hepl io-ropiwv. Commentaries also on the
(Jnspels and Proverbs are ascribed to him. But the Commentary on the (Jo-pe,ls
which is preserved in Latin ami U-M.-S under hi> name, which Th. ZAUN \ !•'<>!'-
srlnii/tj'-ii, vol. II.) recently ascribes e~-mtially to him. proves it-^lf to lie a late
compilation (/•/</ <-./• i-nnfrti HAI:\.VK. in 7V./-/r //. /'///< •/•.%•. I. 4. Proceeding bv
means of an attempt to demon-: rate, that the existing Commentary is & — n-
tially that which was already used by Jerome, but on the other hand th:i
made use of Ireneeus; HAUCK, Zur Th<'<>/>/»'/nsfrage in ZWL. 1884, p. 5H1 *\'\.\
W. BORXKMANN in ZK(J. X. l»iii sqq. EKBKS in JprTh. 1S88, fill sqq.

9. The anonymous Epistle to Diognetus by an unknown author must belong
to about the time of these Apologists. His aim is to give to the addressee, a man

MINUCIUS FELIX. 177

of rank, information as to the belief in God and worship of God, from which
the Christians draw all their contempt of the world and death, how it comes
ahout that they neither believe in the gods of the heathen, nor the Jewish
faith, which along with a more correct conception of God (monotheism) com-
bines at the same time foolish sacrificial service and the most absurd cere-
monies, adding how they love one another, and how it comes that only now and
not earlier this new race and confession should have come into the world.
Worthy of remark is the lofty Christian self-consciousness and also the con-
temptuous treatment of the Jewish Law (c. 3 sq.) without any reservation
whatever as to the revealed character ascribed to the Old Testament.

DRASEKE (JprTh. 1881) has attempted to find in the addressee the philosopher
Diognetus celebrated by Marcus Aurelius as his teacher, in the author, almost
impossibly with correctness, an individual proceeding from the Marcionite
school and repelled by Marcion's harshness, such as Apelles. H. DOULCET
(RQH. 1880, 601) would regard the Athenian philosopher Aristides as the author,
and KIHN ( Ur sprung des Brief en an Diognd, Freiburg 1882) corresponding to
him as addressee no less than Hadrian himself, the son of Zeus ; a very airy
hypothesis. OVERBECK (Studien zur Gesch. der alien Kirche I. 1875) looked on
the Epistle as a piece of literary fiction and brought it down to the post-Cori-
stantinian age (which has deservedly received little approval), ZAHN (GGA.
1873, No. 3) at least to the close of the third century, cf. p. 576. Cf . further the
monographs of GROSSHEIM (1828), OTTO (2nd ed. 1852), HOLLENBERG (1853)
and HARNACK in the PP. Ap. I. 2, 1878.

10. The apologists named all belong to the sphere of the Greek language,
including those who worked at Borne, as indeed it was just in the Roman
Christian community that the Greek element remained dominant till the close
of the second century (vid. Caspari). On the other hand MINUCIUS FELIX
would be to be regarded as the first Roman author in favour of Christianity,
if we might regard him as about contemporary with Athenagoras. MARCUS
MINUCIUS FELIX, an attorney in Rome, who had only been converted to
Christianity after earnest resistance, now appeared in its defence in the
dialogue Octavius, a beautifully written work emulating classical models
(especially Cicero's philosophic disputations De natura deorum, also De divina-
tione). A friend, Csecilius Natalis, undertakes the defence of his ancestral
religion against Christianity, although from the standpoint of a somewhat
sceptical Academic ; the common friend Octavius defends Christianity, and
Minucius is to play the role of arbitrator, which however is made the easier
for him that Ceecilius declares himself overpowered and conquered. The
dialogue, which is preserved only in one MS., formerly in the Vatican, after-
wards at Paris (of which the Cod. Burgundicus at Brussels is only a copy
belonging to the sixteenth century), shows some relations with Tertullian's
Apologeticum. Hence, formerly, Minucius Felix was commonly placed in the
first third of the third century (on the supposition that the author had made
use of Tertullian's treatise), i.e. after Tertullian and before Cyprian's short and
scholarly treatise De idolorum vanifate, which on its part takes note of the
Octavius ; in favour of this view may also be adduced the fact that on inscrip-
tions from Cirta (now Constantine) of the years 211-217 a Csecilius Natalis,
member of the civic authority at Cirta, appears, and that the Csecilius Natalis
in our dialogue seems to attest himself as a citizen of Cirta (9, 6 Clrtt'it*'*
nosier, 31, 2 Pronto tuns), vid. H. DESSAU in the Hermes 1880, p. 471 sqq.
Meanwhile EIJERT, ASGW. V. 321 and Gesch. der christl. lat. Lit. I. 25 sqq.,
who had demonstrated the strong influence of Cicero's De natura deorum on

12

I78 CHURCH HISTORY.

our dialogue, has in particular recently supported on strong grounds the view,
already supported by Dom. ab. Hoven and others, that Minucius Felix rather
afforded the foundation for the passages in Tertullian and might be ascribed to
the time of Marcus Aurelius, and SCHWENKE (JPrTh. 1883, 263-294), along with
his refutation of O. SCHULTZE'S attempt to bring Minucius down to the time of
Diocletian (JPrTh. 1881), has taken up the defence of this relationship and date
in a very thorough manner. So also RECK (ThQ., 1886. 61-114) ; and Aem.
BAEHRENS in his edition (vid. infra). Others (HARTEL in Ztschr. f. usterr.
Gymn. 1869, 348-368, and Fr. WILIIELM. De Minucii Pel. Octavii et Tertulliani
apologeticis, Wratisl. 1887) think that the coincidence is rather to be ex-
plained by the use of a common source. The difficulties which here arise
make us inclined to pay respect to the renewed championship of the earlier
view by MASSEBIEAU (Revue de Vhistoire dcx r<-li<ii<>nx, 8th year, t. XV. Xo. 3,
of ThLZ. 1888, No. 14). Editions by LINDNER (1773), OEHLER 1847 and especially
HALM (C. Scr. eccl. Lat. II. 1867), J. J. COKNELISSEN (Leyden 1882) and Aem.
BAEHRENS (Leipsic 1886) and the translation by Dombart (Erlangen 1881). Cf.
on the subject further, KCiiN. Dcr Octavius </<•* .Win. Pel., Lei]»i>' lss2. and
thereon BOISSIER in the Journal des Savants lss:j. 136 sqq. and ThLZ. 1883,
No. 6.

B. The next weapon for the self-defence of Christianity, and
the one which was not least efficient, was practical profession and
martyrdom for the sake of the Christian faith : the blood of the
martyrs became the seed of the church (Tertull.). The steadfast-
ness of the martyrs might indeed be looked upon by popular hatred
as godless obstinacy, by the educated as stark fanaticism or deplorable
infatuation, but for all that it did not fail to make a deep impression.
Besides, these apologists, like their successors in the following age,
could point to the morally converting power of Christianity ; the
pious walk of the Christian converts was noticeable even to the
heathen (Just. Apoll.). " Our Saviour kept silence, when He was
once accused before the court. He hoped that His walk and His
works would defend" Him better than the most exquisite eloquence.
Shall we not do likewise in the case of the accusations of Celsus ?
Cannot our religion defend itself? Ought not the blameless walk
of the disciples of Jesus to bring to nought all slanders ? " (OniG. c.
Ceh. prooem. 1.) At the same time there naturally remained the
need of justification and explanation. It was a matter of concern
to emphasize the innocence and the political harmlessness of Chris-
tianity, to show that the State persecution of the Christians had no
justification. With righteous indignation the Christians repudiated
the tales of secret crimes, and contrasted with them the notorious
change for the better in the lives of many through conversion.
Against political accusations they recalled to mind that their religion
itself obliged them to obedience to the authorities, that they pravd
for them, and that as a matter of fact they had made no opposition

THE APOLOGISTS. 179

to the persecutions except that of patience and death. The inner
justification however of their belief could not be demonstrated
without at the same time severely criticising the frailty and folly of
the heathen belief in idols. Hence they often lose themselves in
somewhat external declamation on images, as though heathenism
did not know how to distinguish between the image and the Deity
(Epistola ad Diogn. and elsewhere.) Especially the stumbling blocks
of the heathen mythology, the scandalous stories of the world of the
Gods were eagerly criticised, concerning which e.g. Justin appeals
to the judgment of the better heathens, who were ashamed of them.
"With all its superficialit}' of treatment this was a fully justified pro-
test against a religious stumbling block, which even the favourite
philosophic interpretation of the myths did not abolish. In this con-
nection it is to be observed, that even these more highly-educated
Christians for the most part (with the exception, it is true, of the
author of the Epist. ad Diogn.} did not consider the heathen gods as
mere illusions, but looked upon the demons as the real objects of
heathen worship, in accordance with a widely spread view of the
age, only that, to them, these demons now appear more definitely in
the character of fallen angels. This whole polemic contains a deep,
powerful and true feeling of the emancipation and purification of
the religious consciousness by its relation to the one, living and
revealed God as against the heathen deisidaimonia, which binds men
to dark natural powers and does not emancipate them morally.
These apologists rise against philosophy also, out of which they
themselves had arisen, in the full consciousness of their faith
open to all and not only to the cultured few, the certainty of
which, based upon revelation, cannot be replaced by uncertain
human wisdom, which, moreover, is self-contradictory in its most
important representatives. On the other hand they willingly recog-
nise in the philosophy by means of which they had themselves
been educated, certain universal elements of truth, which they
partly derive from the seed-corns of truth, which the divine Logos
has scattered among the heathen also, partly externally from a
dependence of Greek wisdom on the much older wisdom of the
[East, and therefore from the use of the Scriptures of the Old
Testament. To the reproach that they had deserted the religion
which had been handed down from their ancestors and thereby
made sacred, they oppose the right of recognised truth, the right
of freedom of conscience ; religion becomes the peculiar affair of
personal conviction, against which methods of force do not suffice :
"eligio cogi non potest, God is to be obeyed rather than man. In

i So CHURCH HISTORY.

affairs of religion, not tradition but truth decides. At the same
time they appeal to the fact, that in truth the foundation of their
religion is of primitive antiquity (the Old Testament older than all
Greek wisdom), and, at the same time, they bring in the point of
view of a gradual development of the true religion, a divine educa-
tion of mankind. But in the domain of heathenism also there were
found such indications, specially of monotheism, and forecasts of the
rise of a true religion, in connection with which they found help in
the numerous pseudonymous products of Hellenistic Judaism, and
in a smaller degree in Christian inventions also. The Sibylline
Oracles, alleged Orphic, Pythagorean and other oracles were com-
pelled to give testimony to the new faith. Of such, a whole selec-
tion is given in the book De Monarchia. which we find under the
name of Justin. Appeal was also willingly made to the miracles of
the Bible, and indeed to the continued power of miracle in the
Church as a proof of the truth of Christ ianit}7. Not less, especially
since Tertulliaii and Irenasus, do they appeal with a certain s< 'It-
confidence, to the irresistible spread of their faith, which was only
increased by persecution: ht-xiertii sinnnx <'t rt-sfrti onini<i /////;/< rinmx
(Tertullian).

C. But in the attempt of these men to vindicate scientifically the
content of the belief which they have grasped and prove it to be
reasonable before the educated consciousness of the time, there is
shown, how their belief is involuntarily transmuted by them accord-
ing to the ideas which they had brought along with them from the
philosophical culture of their age. In those men of religious and
philosophic culture there existed the need of the religious support
of a purified and at the same time practically eil'(>< 'tive monotheism,
of a moral worship of God based on moral self-determination, and of
the satisfaction of the yearning after bliss. This is met by the
preaching of Christianity, which is vividly apprehended. ami so
forms itself in their hands into a popular philosophic doctrine
based on revelation and in it possessing its guarantee and t Im-
possibility of permeating universal humanity.

There is thus here completed, alter the analogy of what had
already happened to the Jewish faith in Hellenistic Judaism, t he
synthesis of the belief of the community of Christians with religious
Hellenic philosophy, and thus the foundation of Christian Theology
is laid by means of the conceptions of the classical world. This takes
place however in decided and partly conscious opposition to hereti-
cal Gnosticism, along with strict attachment to the common Christian
tradition, and in the lively feeling that it is just this belief of the

THE APOLOGISTS. 181

community that constitutes the confident religious conviction,
open to all and morally and practically effective ; but of course
in such a way that the preaching of the gospel of a redemption
given by Christ and transference out of the world into the king-
dom of God, the full appearance of which is at hand, is transformed
into the trustworthy, because resting on divine revelation, conclu-
sion as to God and eternal life, which is adapted to bring the souls
of men to repentance and the right way, and to help on to perfec-
tion and bliss those who long for salvation and trust in God in the
acknowledgment of Christ the Son of God. In other words that which
all philosophy seeks is given in the revealed doctrine of Christians ;
it alone is the trustworthy and fruitful philosophy (Just. Dial. c. 8),
which is fitted to bring men to the light pure and unmixed with
errors, and to make universally accessible the religiously emancipating
and renewing truth which in all ages has been sporadically present in
the truly wise as the working of the divine reason. The universal
Christian faith in Christ as the adorable Son of God, the Creator
of the world, conceived as the doctrine of the incarnation of the
eternal divine Logos, and confirmed by the prophecies of the pro-
phets, is meant of course not only to set up Christ merely as the
divine teacher (his Human appearance not merely as the formal
attestation of His doctrine), but also as the Redeemer, inasmuch as
His death brings salvation to men, and His death and resurrection
conquer the demons who have enslaved men through idolatry,
overcome death and bring about immortality (afyOaparia) ; but the
notion of revelation is still preponderatingly dominant, inasmuch as
Redemption is regarded as mainly brought about by the revelation
of the divine love of man, in the true knowledge of God which sets
free from the error of idolatry, and by the "New Law" (which,
appealing to the free moral self-determination of man, demands
repentance and promises immortality in return for a holy life).
Hence this amalgamation of the Christian faith with Hellenic
philosophic religion and morality does not take place without a
superficialising of the Biblical conception of salvation, and a re-
pression of the idea of the kingdom of God into its supramundane
reality and perfection, of the influence of which, indeed, testimony is
afforded by the eschatological conceptions, in particular by that of
the doctrine of the resurrection, which was so offensive to the
Hellenic view and jet so tenaciously maintained.

Inasmuch as these apologists take their stand on the belief of
the community in God the Father of the world, in Christ His Son,
and in the prophetic spirit, there is involved the assumption " of all

1 82 CHURCH HISTORY.

that which God has taught by the Holy Spirit, i.e. by the prophets
and by His Son.'' and in that, the demand for learned exegetica
occupation with Holy Scripture, i.<>. the Old Testament Scriptures,
as the proof-documents for the divinity of Christ, not in the sense
of an organic and historical conception of them, but of an allegorico-
theological interpretation after the manner of Philo, if somewhat
more within bounds. For this theologico-dogmatic treatment of
the Old Testament, Justin. Dial. c. Tr. is fundamental in patristic
theology. The weight given to the antiquity of the Holy Scriptures
-in contrast with Hellenic literature — and in addition the con-
clusions on creation in the interest of the monotheistic view of the
•world (cf. THEOPHIL. Ad Autol.} are interesting. Thus RHODO, a
disciple of Tatian, commented on the work of six days, so likewise
Candidus and Apion, about the time of Commodus ; closely con-
nected with this is the determination of the relation of Christianity
to Judaism, as attempted by Justin in the Dialogue with Trypho,
and as others before and along with him have entered into
the question. Thus the author of the dialogue, which was already
known to Celsus, the enemjr of Christianity, between the Jewish
Christian JASOX and the Alexandrian Jew PAPISCUS, subsequently
(fifth century) translated into Latin by an African bishop Celsus
(of which however only the preface of the translator Ad Vnji-
li/iui <'/>. i/i' .linlitii'ii ii/n-i'i/H/ifiiti' has l)een preserved in Opp.
Cypriani III. 119 sqq.) ; here ir still appears anonymously, later on
it is falsely ascribed to A list on of Pella. Tin- Alffn-atin ^intm/ix
Judcei et 'IlieojihUi ('hrixtiani by u certain P^vagrius i fifth century)
mentioned by Gennad. I h- r'/r. ill. .">( i. which was discovered in the
eighteenth century, is regarded by A. HARNACK i Ti'.iie tmd I'"<>rxcliun-
gcn I. 3, where it is reproduced as an essentially true reproduction
of that Greek treatise. MILTIADKS also (?•/</. .-•"/>. wrote against the
Jews (Euseb. H.E. 5, 17, 5). likewise Claudius Apollinaris (Ib. 4, 27).
In this discussion with Judaism it becomes important to emphasise
the point that the God of the Jews is also the God of the Christians,
and that the Holy Scriptures of the Christians consist in the highly
esteemed Old Testament; and it was just hence that proof had to
be adduced, not only for the divinity of Christ as compatible with
monotheism (rid. *»]>., and for the fulfilment of prophecy, but also
for the justification of the giving up of the Mosaic Law on tin-
part of Christians, a proof which could not be adduced troiu the
Pauline opposition of Law and Gospel, which was unintelligible to
the heathenism of the age, but only in the sense that the new Law
of Christ took the place of the old Law. while the believers in Christ

THE APOLOGISTS. 183

from among the heathen appeared as the true Israel and people of
God.

The attitude towards the Apostolic writings was different. In
the view of Justin there is not yet any sacred codex of the New
Testament confronting the Old as of equal birth with it. He ap-
peals to the a-rrofjiV7]iMovev^ara of the Apostles, " which are also
called Gospels," and are re.ad at public worship, makes use in
particular of Matthew and Luke, but also knows Mark and John,
and draws from these historical records words of the Lord (cf. p.
116, Heges.) of indubitable authority, quotes John as the author of
a prophetic writing, knows and makes use of Pauline writings, but
without quoting them. Thus the authentic knowledge of the doc-
trine of the divine Logos is based on the Apostles as the messengers
sent out by the Lord, and Christians are conscious of being at one on
the faith, but as yet, in the feeling of the power of one and the same
Spirit in the community of Christ from the beginning up till now,
they have little learned, and as against the heathen world would have
had little opportunity, to make use of Apostolic writings as theological
instruments of proof of independent arid peculiar authority, while
for the truth of the Apostolic preaching confirmation is sought in
the Old Testament Scriptures, which are of ancient sacred author-
ity. They indeed know well, in their sense of unity with the
Spirit, how to edify and nourish themselves by Apostolic writings,
and to employ them as the expression of their experience (cf. in
this relation the Epistle of Polycarp already, and next, in particular,
the Epistle of the Gaulish community as to the persecution). But
it is the growing literary-theological interest, from the middle of
the century, which first causes the greater and greater recognition
among the apologists of the peculiar value of Apostolic writings
as courts of appeal on the original (authentic) Christian truth ;
especially was this the case in opposition to the Gnostic sects. In
these circles appeal to the numerous alleged Apostolic scriptural and
oral authorities had begun, for the purpose of sanctioning their
theories ; here also began literary occupation with, and exposition
of Gospels and Apostolic writings (Basilides, 24 books on the
Gospel, Heracleoii, Gospel of John, and several others ; vid. p. 154),
and here Marcion had led the way, by his discrimination of the
genuine and the spurious, the authentic and the counterfeit, to the
establishment of a canon of Christian sources of knowledge ; a pro-
ceeding which compelled the church, 011 her side also, to set forth
the Apostolic writings as authoritative and to come to an agree-
ment as to which of them were genuine. It is the age when the

1 84 CHURCH HISTORY.

New Testament writings begin to come together to form a gener-
ally recognised canon. The opposition too to the sovereign spirit of
Montanist prophecy undoubtedly increased the need for it; from
the living but inconstant and turbulent power of the spirit in the
communities, refuge was sought in a paper authority, but still one
which was historical. After the example of the Gnostics, a begin-
ning is also made with exegetical explanation of New Testament
writings ; Melito with one on the Revelation of John, a certain
Heraclitus with one on the Apostles.

To this end must mainly have contributed the need of combating
the ingenious caprices of the sects, against which the literary strife
began early. Thus AGRIPPA CASTOR (according to Euseb. 4, 7, 5
sqq. as early as the time of Hadrian wrote against Basilides ,
Justin Martyr, against all heretics ; the same author and a whole
series of others, Th^ophilus of Antioch, Philip of Gortyna and
Modestus (Euseb. 4, 24 sqq.). especially against Man-ion.

Finally, in this same opposition to the heretics, it is sought to
secure the agreement of the different churches with one another, and
in this relation importance is gained by the idea of a universal
(Catholic) Church. So-called catholic epistles of men of ivpute
in th»- ehuivh to different communities are highly regarded. As
illustrations take those of Bishop I >i<>nYsius of Corinth to Lacedse-
mon, Athens. Crete, Paphlagonia, P-mttis. Rome (Eus-b. 4, 23).

FIRST PERIOD: THIRD DIVISION

History of the ancient Catholic Church from its Consolidation

down to Constantine.

1. Transition.

IN the development so far. the free societies, held together by the
spirit of the faith and brotherly love, have been obliged by various
circumstances gradually to seek a greater defence and assurance
against external and internal dangers to their continuous existence.
Thus the authority of the bishop, at the head of the community,
recommended itself for the prevention of caprice in doctrine and
life. Therewith the claim of the free prophetic spirit in the
communities, both as regards what was to be looked upon as an
authentic expression of the Christian faith and as regards what \\.is
to be considered as demanded by the Christian life, was met l>y the
authority of an office which seeks out and vimli'-ates permanent
guarantees of what was to be considered Christian. In the move-
ments of Gnosticism in particular. Christianity is seized l>y the led-

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 185

ing of her danger of losing the connection between her faith and
its origin, and of splitting up into endless differences of opinion.
Under these impressions the desire of maintaining the original
unfalsified tradition increases, and the bishops in their succession
offer themselves as proper sureties for its unfalsified preservation.
At the same time the sovereign appearance of the prophetic spirit
in the communities, the clangers of which were brought to view
by the extreme Montanist ecstasy, is repressed by the fact that
the Canon of New Testament Scriptures as divinely inspired is
fixed, and thereby the spirit is confined to the writings which are
regarded as Apostolic as to a fixed standard. On the other hand
free prophecy is also met by Theology (apologetics) working with the
scientific instruments of the age, which gives to the church on this
side a scholastic element, which is of importance for the assured
survival of the Christian faith and for the preparing of the way
to an ordered instruction in it, even if, on the other hand, it con-
tributes its own share to that substitution of a theological view of
the world for Christian faith, which was beginning. Further, al-
though the feeling of being strangers in the world, and the yearn-
ing expectation of the coming of the Lord and the consummatio
sccciili was kept awake by the persecutions, and found heightened
expression in the Montanist tendency, the church begins more and
more to prepare for a longer existence in the world, and for that
very reason expels or represses the extreme of Montanism. Hence
she seeks a closer and more fixed unity, both in the episcopacy of
the individual communities, and by the confederation and agreement
of the bishops (Synods, etc.) with each other, and, in particular, Rome
here begins to assume or to strive after an important leading posi-
tion. Similarly, this entrance into the life of the world demands a
modification of the strict requirements on the life of believers, a
certain participation in conformity to the world and indulgent treat-
ment of those who have fallen into sin, which is achieved amid
vehement struggles. In all these relationships the free community
of believers and saints more and more transforms itself into the
Institution of the Church, held together by fixed forms of constitu-
tion, by incipient fixation of ecclesiastical doctrine, and by moderate
regulation of an ecclesiastical discipline, and which, standing above
individuals, becomes the law-giver and educator of believers.

2. The Extension of the Field.

For the further progress of the spread of Christianity on the lines
depicted above (old. p. 103 sqq.), the following may be given as the
halting points for the third century and down to the time of Con-

1 86 CHURCH HISTORY.

stantine. Eastwards there were already Christian communities in
Persia (cf. p. 104) when the iieo-Persian Sassanid kingdom took the
place of that of the Parthians (227) ; and in India, where, according
to the legend, the Apostle Thomas is said to have worked, the famous
traveller, Theophilus of Diu, mentions several communities by name
in the time of Constantine.

To the north of Syria and Mesopotamia, Armenia also now comes
within the horizon about the middle of the third century ; the
Alexandrian bishop Dionysius wrote an epistle to an Armenian
bishop Meruzanes. To the west there are added the inner and
northern districts of the peninsula of Asia Minor, where Christianity,
already present, e.g. in Pontus, experiences important extension and
confirmation in the second half of the third century through GRE-
GORIUS THAUMATURGUS, the disciple of Origen.

The growth of the church in Arabia is attested in the first half of
the third century by Synods, in which Origeii took part.

To the stability of the North- African Church after the ministry
of Tertullian, witness is borne by a synod of seventy African and
Numidian bishops under the most ancient known bishop of Car-
thage, Agrippinus (about or soon after 200-220), and to progressive
strong growth, by Cyprian's ministry. Similarly we know of
numerous martyrs in the time of Decius in the Spanish Church,
which was in lively intercourse with Cyprian.

In Gaul, to the older communities of Lyons and Vienne, there are
now added numerous others. Gregory of Tours (Hist. Fnntc. I. 28)
knows of seven bishops sent on mission from Rome to Gaul (Satur-
ninus in Toulouse, Dionysius in Paris, Trophimus in Aries, etc.).
This may have been a combination of the different local traditions
of the first bishops of permanent towns with the ancient Passio
Saturnini (ap. Rnxvi.-T, Acta Mart, sine.), a credible narrative, that
the first bishop of Toulouse died a martyr's death in the time of
Decius (250). The seven however are probably not contemporary ;
e.g. Trophimus, the founder of the church of Aries, must be placed
earlier.

In Britain several bishops appear at the beginning of the fourth
century, Eborius of York and others, who took part in the Council
of Aries in 314.

Likewise Christianity came into the Roman Danubian provinces
in the train of Roman dominion and civilization, in the towns and
fixed quarters of the Roman legions, through soldiers, workmen and
tradesfolk ; it was therefore, on this soil, too, an essentially Roman
Christianity.

SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 187

Numerous local legends are of very doubtful value. However a
number of bishops' seats appear with certainty.

In Rhaetia, Chur is probably one of the most ancient, perhaps
however Saben (Sabiona) also reaches to as early a time ; in Vinde-
licia there appears Augsburg — the legend of the martyrdom of
Saint Afra under Diocletian seems to have a historical kernel -
and also Ratisbon and Passau ; in Noricum, Lorch and Pettau
(Petabio in Styria). These provinces were strongly Romanized ;
Noricum with its numerous towns was a purely Latin province (vid.
MOMMSEN, Rom. Gesch. V. 180). But the thin population of the
Alpine valleys and the Rhsetian plateau also, split up into numerous
tribes, came strongly under Roman influence, as is shown by the
numerous Roman names of places in Tyrol. Athanasius mentions
Norican bishops. As to the legend of Florian and the forty martyrs
under Diocletian cf. HAUCK, KG. Deutschl. I. 89. 325 sqq.

In Pannonia there appears Sirrnium (near the present Mitrowitz
on the former military frontier). Pannonia is indicated by the im-
portant Passio quatuor coronatorum, the legend of Christian work-
men in the quarries of Pannonia who died martyrs under Diocletian
(the Passio published by WATTENBACH in Sitzungsber. der Wiener Ak.
I. 115-137, also in BUDINGEK'S Unters. z. Rom. Kaisergesch. III. 321
sqq. ; cf. WATTENBACH, Deutschland' 's Gescliichtsquellen I. 42, cf. II.
478).

In the Rhine Provinces, Christianity is certainly demonstrable
at the end of the period in the chief seats of Roman dominion ; at
Treves i Bishop Agroecius at the Synod of Aries in 314 ; MANSI II.
476 j the flourishing Roman colony and chief town of Belgium I. ;.
similarly we may suppose its existence in Mayeiice (Ammian. MarcelL
27, 10), Worms, Speyer, Strasbourg, Bale, towns in G-ermania prima,
and it is demonstrable with certainty for Germania secunda in
Cologne (Colonia Agrippina), where Maternus is mentioned as bishop
(MANSI I.e.), and Tongern, where about 359 Servatius is mentioned
as bishop (Sulpic. Sev. Chr. 2, 44).

The delineations by Christians of the spread of Christianity in the
Roman Empire lean somewhat to exaggeration. All numerical
estimates of it about the time of Diocletian still rest on very un-
stable foundations (cf.V. SCHULTZE, Gesch. des Unterg. des griech.-rom.
Htidenthums, I. 1837, pp. 1-27). All that may be recognised is, that
the Christians in the Roman Empire, in spite of what to the Roman
view was their threatening increase, were still always far in the-
minority.

il

•i 88 CHURCH HISTORY.

3. Pagan Religious Feeling and Culture in their Relation to Christianity.

Cf. supra p. 167. sqq. RBVILLB, Die Religion unter den Sever. German by
Kriiger, Leipsic 1888. J. BERNAYS, Theophrastos'' Schriff fiber die FriJm-
migkeit, 180G.

From the time of the Aritonines there is exhibited in the Roman

N

Empire a new growth of the capacity of belief, a more numerous
thronging in of the Oriental, Syrian worships, a strongly growing
tendency to the religious syncretism, which is inclined to regard all
forms of religious belief as relatively valid and to mingle them.
This religious disposition, as cultivated in the house of Septimius
Severus and his next successors, on the one hand affords encourage-
ment to Christianity, but on the other hand, where syncretism of
the kind seeks to lend its help to paganism, develops itself in a
manner exactly hostile to Christianity, which in its exclusiveness
incites to contradiction, its disposition being ever more increasingly
hostile. Philostratus wrote his Vita Apullunii in the first decades
of the third century, in the circle of the Empress Julia Domna.
Whether by it there was already intended a pagan contrast to
Christ, must remain in question ; as a matter of fact at least, it had
that effect. The pious sage, miracle-worker and reformer, who
wrought everywhere for refined piety and moral purity, and who at
the same moment began life and the championship of truth and jus-
tice as a moral reformer, and placed superior knowledge and higher
powers at the service of his task, becomes a divine phenomenon.

In Neoplatonism proper (Animouius Sac r as.-;- _!il, regarded as the
real founder ; the systematic development by Pumxrs, f '270)
philosophy makes a league with religion forth'- purification and
Tevival of religion, but the very sense of being in aiiinity and touch
with Christianity and the Christian view of the world, goads it to
opposition to the latter; it atirmjiis to supply in tin soil of pagan-
ism that which only Christianity can supply. In the writings of
Plotinus much had already been designed against ( 'hris'ianity. With
entire hostility however this philosophy opposes Christianity in the
disciple of Plotinus, Porphyry (f 304 j : 15 books Kara XpiaTiavwv
\uyoL. As a matter of course, indeed, he takes up a critical attitude
towards the pagan religions, their myths and worship, sees the true
worship of God in the exalting of the soul to pure ;. n. .\\ ledge of
•God and a pious, god-like disposition ; but to the Xeo-Platonie chain
of descending beings, from the highest Unity down to the multitude
•of demons, there corresponds also a gradually ascending worship,
in which the various national religions find their warrantable
places: for it is right to preserve the divine worships Kara TO. Trdrpia

NE O-PLA TON I SAL 189

(Porph. Ad Mai'ceUam, in the Opusc. ed. Nauck. 1866). In this fact
all religions, even the barbaric, even Judaism, have their justification ;
but Christianity, which denies the right of all others to exist, and
comes forward as their conqueror, this philosophy necessarily op-
poses. The hatred of the Christians against this bitterest and
keenest foe has destroyed the book, and even the numerous treatises
against it (by Methodius of Tyre, Eusebius of Caesarea, Apollinaris of
Laodicea, and Philostorgius) have not been preserved. According
to the scanty fragments preserved, he traced out contradictions
and improbabilities in the sacred writings of the Christians, e.g. be-
tween the Old and the New Testament ; why should Christ reject
the sacrifices, which however the God of the Old Testament ha4 in-
stituted ? He alluded to the quarrel between Paul and Peter (Gal.
ii.), found a moral ambiguity in the behaviour of Christ (John vii.
8 cf. v. 14), made use of historical criticism, e.g. he shows that the
highly honoured Book of Daniel could not have been written by
the latter, nor till the time of Antiochus Epiphanes; he disputed the
right of allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament as exer-
cised by Origen. If Christ only be the Way, the Truth, and the
Life, what have men done for so many centuries before him? As
Celsus had already done, he criticises the relation of human sin and
alleged eternal punishment. Christians have deformed the original
truths of the founder of their sect, who was a pious and wise man, one
of the noblest souls, who reverenced the gods and by, their aid did
miracles, and have made himself God against his will ; in opposition
to them, the Christians, Pythagoras is glorified as the ideal of the
pious sage by Porphyry (and still more exuberantly by Jamblichusi.

According to the character of his charges, as known from these few frag-
ments, it is very probable that we find many of his criticisms of individual
passages of Scripture made use of in the apologetic treatise of Bishop MACARHTS
MAGXES (c. 400), which presents them in the form of a disputation advanced
by a pagan and refuted by a Christian ; Macarius may have drawn either
directly or indirectly (perhaps through the medium of the somewhat similar
Hierocles) from this source (vid. infra Macarius Magnes). In the treatise of
Porphyry IL-pl rf/s « Xoyuw $iXoo-o0i'a? also, likewise lost except fragments, there
must have been present an antithetical attitude to Christianity. Cf. Lrc.
HOLSTENIUS, Diss. de vita et scriptis Porphyrii, Borne 1630. 8. (reprinted in
Fabr. Bibl. gr. IV., 207 sqq. of the 1st ed.) : PORPHYRII Opnsc. ed. Nauck, 2nd
ed. 1866. P. de phil. ex oraculix haur. rel. ed. Wolff 1856. KUHN in ThQ. 1805.
ULLMANN in StKr. 1832 I. My remarks in ThLZ. 1877, NT. 19 ; Wagenmann in
JdTh. 1878 (vol. 23\ p. 269 sqq.

The Procurator HIEROCLES of Bithyiiia also, who took an important
(perhaps a directing) part in the persecution of the Christians under
Diocletian, starting from similar notions of Neo-Platonic restoration.

190 CHURCH HISTORY.

of paganism, directed his literary feud against Christianity in the
two books \6yoi 0i\<xX.?7$et<? vrpo? Xpi<mai>ovs (or Xoyo? (friXa^drfs) |
following the footsteps of Celsus, Porphyry and others, he called
.attention to the contradictions and incongruities in the Holy Scrip-
tures, depreciated the Apostles as betrayers, but set Christ himself
in the shade in a far lower and more odious manner as a magician
and instigator of rebellion, by comparison with Aristeas, Pythagoras
and Apollonius of Tyana. Against the latter point, EUSEBIUS
PAMPH., who otherwise thought but little of Hierocles' bungling
compilation from the works of others, directed his treatise Contra
Hierodem, printed after his Demount ratio ev. Paris 1628, Cologne
1688. (Cf. Lact. Instit. ~V. 2, 3.)

4. The Persecution of the Christians by the Pagan Executive Power.

Literature: AUBE, Les Chn'-fifus duns r empire Bom. (180-249), Paris 1881:
Ejdm. Ueglise et I'etat a. 249-284. Paris 188G ; G. UHLHORN, rid. p. 161 ;
P. ALLARD, Hist. di-s persec. petulant la 1. moitie du 3 s.. Paris 1886;
FOCHS, Gesch. d. K. Sept. Sev., Vienna 1834; J. J. Mf 1.1.1:11, Staat itnd
Kirche tinier Alex. Sev. in Stud. z. G<'s<-h. </. /,'<;/// l\<iiser, Zurich 1ST 4 ; TH.
BEUNHARDT, Gesch. Homs r<>/> Vdlci-nm his D/n/c/ffiait. 1S76. Monographs
on Diocletian by Y<><;EL (1856), PKKCSS (186'J), Tn. BERNHARDT (18(i2), and
M \SON, The Pers. of Diocl., Cambridge 1876.

The change which took place under Commodus appeared first to
come to a stand under SEPTIMIUS SEVEKUS (193-211), at least Ter-
tullian knows of favour shown to Christian men and women of high
rank in his surroundings, whom he commended and protected from
attackers in spite of his knowledge of their Christian belief. A
Christian is said to have cured him (with oil), his son (Ant. Cara-
calla) is said to have received a Christian foster-mother (Tert. Ad
Scap. 4. lacte Chri-f/in/<> <'(///<-<tt/un). But soon, like conversion to
Judaism, that to Christianity was likewise severely interdicted
(Spartian. Sec. 17), the forbidding of the coll«jin illic/tn was renewed
(Ulpian in Dig. 1. I. t. 12 § 14), and in the provinces the persecu-
tions on the hitherto judicial basis became very severe. In Alex-
andria it was especially violent, so that it was thought that the
end of the world was approaching (Euseb. 6, 1-7). Here died
LEONIDAS the father of the 3routhful Origen, and a number of those
who were instructed by Origen ; the slave Potamiaeua, a virgin,
was finally burnt to death along with her mother, Basilides the
lictor who conducted them being converted by their means (Eus. 6,
5) ; it was only with difficulty that Origen's mother protected her
unwilling son. In North Africa there died among others the two
young women PERPETUA and FELICITAS, catechumens, baptized in

PERSECUTIONS. 191

the prison and not till then, steadfast in spite of the entreaties of
the grey-haired father of Perpetua (who had just become a mother)
and the attempts of the Procurator. SATURUS, who sought martyr-
dom, died by the bite of a leopard, Perpetua and Felicitas wrapped
in a net were thrown to a mad cow (Ada in Ruinart ; cf. F.
GORRES, JprTh. 1878). To Septimius Severus, who was born in
Africa of an ancient Roman knightly race, a certain inclination
to foreign religions was ascribed. His wife JULIA DOMNA was a
Syrian, and to their race belong the succeeding emperors of
syncretistic disposition, who being themselves of oriental descent,
did not hold fast to the Roman standpoint in the treatment of
Christianity. Under CARACALLA (the Antoninus of Tertullian)
211-217, the persecutions gradually ceased. The wild oriental fana-
ticism of the youth who was given up shamelessly to vicious and
magical fantasies, VARIUS AVITUS BASSIANUS (Heliogabalus), grand-
son of the sister of Julia Domna, as a boy dedicated as priest to
the sun-god of Emesa (Elagabal. ^23 bti, as he called himself after
it, then Grsecised it Heliogabalus), would have had the Jewish, the
Samaritan and the Christian religion as well as the Roman worships
all absorbed into the service of his god Elagabal, whom all forms
of worship were to serve. Syncretistic monotheism here indeed
begins in a most horrible form. The church however enjoyed rest.
Hippolytus addressed a treatise (JIpoTpeTrrt/co? -rrpos SefBi'jpav s. TT.
ai/ao-Tao-eto?) to the second wife of Heliogabalus, Julia Aquilia
Severa. She therefore cannot have been hostile to Christianity.

Religious syncretism appears in a nobler form in the cousin of
Heliogabalus. ALEXANDER SEVERUS (225-35), in whose Lararium the
dwi principes, animce sanctiores, such as Apollonius of Tyana, Christ,
Abraham, Orpheus were set up in image, and whose mother, Julia
Mamma3a, sought the society of Origen. " He willingly had in his
mouth the sayings of the Lord." In a contest between the Roman
Christians and the guild of cook-shop keepers as to a building site
in Rome, the Emperor decided in favour of the Christians. (Lamprid.
tiev. Alex. c. 29, 2 ; as again according to the same authority Alex.
Sev. also Christianas esse passus est, ib. 22). All the same, subsequent
time shows that while this practical toleration existed, the legal
position was not yet altered; just at this time Ulpian made a
collection of the laws which were to be applied against the Chris-
tians, which unfortunately has not been preserved (cf. GORRES in
ZwTh. 1887, 48 sqq.) The barbarian soldier Emperor, MAXIMINUS
THRAX, who was raised to the throne by the troops, whereupon
Alexander and his mother who ruled him were slain, according to

192 CHURCH HISTORY.

Euseb. 6, 28, only commanded that the presidents of the Christian
communities should be put to death as the real causes of the spread
of evangelical doctrines, which Eusebius connects with his animosity
to Alexander Severus and his mother Julia Mammsea and their
friendliness to Christians ; perhaps a more important start towards
a systematic procedure against the known importance of the
hierarchy (ThLZ. 1877, 168). However, it was never systematically
carried out in the three years of his rule of force. \Ve have much
rather direct testimony that the persecution which then took place
in Cappadocia, on occasion of public calamities (under the Proconsul
Serenianus, the " acerbux rf ilirii* persecutor "), which was by no
means limited to presidents, but caused believers in general to take
to flight, was indeed a violent persecution, but local (Firniilian.
Cses. in Cypr. epp. 75, 10 ; cf. ORIGEN on Matt. xxiv. 9, and De
iittirtt/i-io). Origen, who must have attracted attention as a friend of
Mammsea, kept himself concealed during this period. In Rome the
bishop Pontianus and the presbyter Hippolytus were banished to
Sardinia (cf. GORRES, ZwTh. 1873, p. 536 sqq. and HARNACK, ThLZ.
1877, p. 167).

In the following years of confusion for the Empire under the
GORDIAXS the Christians had entire rest, and PHILIP the ARABIAN
(from Bostra, the son of the Sheikh of a Bedouin robber tribe, "2 I 1
2U I/ is even said to have been himself a Christian (Euseb. 6, ."> h.
Dionvsius of Alexandria already knows (in the time of Valerian,
Euseb. 7, 10) of Emperors iplur.) who were openly given out .is
having become Christians (ol Xe^eWe? aracfrav&oi' Xpirrriavoi
yeyovevai) — which however along with Alexander Severus can only
apply to Philip the Arabian. Origen wrote letters to him and his
wife Severa (EusEB. H.E. <i. .'17; according to VINOKNT. Li.'.ixi \>H.
Comm. I. 23; Clirixfinni niinji^, /•/'</ un1»ritiite). The bishop who,
according to the narrative of Eusebius, kept him from divine
worship till he had done penance, is said an-onling to L<'ontius of
Antioch in the fourth century) to have been Baby las of Autioch,
who died a martyr's death under Decitis. Ann. i l^s chrt'tii-nx etc.)
has recently declared in favour of the historical nature of this
report, which indeed, just because the Christians had very little
cause for pride in the acquisition, gains a certain probability i ri I.
also UHLHOUN in RE.).

Up to this point the position of the Christians was indeed always
legally in clanger and exposed to the working of popular passions.
but proceedings against them had always been sporadic onl}r and on
particular occasions, never systematic and general. In conseque*"

PERSECUTIONS. 1 93

Origen (c. Celxum. 3. p. 116) is able to say that within his horizon
the number of those who at different times (Kara Kcupov?) have died
for Christianity, is small and easy to count. He says that in recent
times the number of Christians has greatly increased, and gives
expression to the victorious feelings of Christians thereon : all other
religions should pass away and the Christian religion alone rule,
since divine truth would go on always to win more souls. Quite a
new view ! On the other hand the causes of the many insurrec-
tions were found in the great multitude of the Christians, who had in-
creased to so great an extent because they were no longer persecuted.
In view of this state of things it was no longer possible to expect
that Christianity would be ignored or mere isolated measures taken
against it ; it had to come to a battle of life and death, when the
Empire, threatened on all sides by the barbarians and crippled
hitherto by internal factions, sought to collect itself from the general
decay, under a succession of soldier Emperors, mostly provincials,
but filled with the notion of the restoration of the dignity of Rome,
and for that reason also sincerely devoted to Roman superstition. So
was it under DECIUS, 249-251. The first systematically conceived
measure against the Christians and one intended for universal exe-
cution, is grasped by his Edict of 250. All Christians are to be
required to perform the Roman state religious ceremonies. The
prefects themselves are threatened with severe penalties if they do
not bring the Christians to apostasy and to return to the ancestral
religion. The Christians are to be summoned at definite periods,
those who take flight are to forfeit their property and civil rights, and
may not return on pain of death, those who are apprehended are to be
treated with increasing severity (prison, torture, hunger and thirst),
but the priests are to be executed forthwith : "tyrannux infestus sacer-
dotibiiN Dei " (Cypr. Ep. 52.) But with the increased embitterment
death was extended to many others also, and it was sought by
continued torture to induce Christians to deny their faith (Sources:
specially the Epistles of CYPRIAN and his treatise De lapsix, and the
descriptions of Dionysius of Alexandria ap. EUSEB. H.E. (3, 40. 42;
cf. also GREGORY of Nyssa, Vita Greg. Thanm. Opp. III. 567 ; Mgr. 46.
894) . The impression on the Christians, who had now for long given
themselves up to the feeling of complete rest and security, was
staggering. In Rome Bishop Fabianus died the death of a martyr,
and in Jerusalem Bishop Alexander died in prison, in Antioch Baby-
las ; Origen suffered imprisonment and torture. Dionysius of
Alexandria, who had not long entered upon his episcopal office,
was apprehended in flight, but rescued through special circum-

13

i94 CHURCH HISTORY.

stances. Cyprian of Carthage also withdrew himself to a distance
at the instance of the community. (The death also of Saturninus in
Toulouse, who is said to have been trailed to death by a wild ox,
is placed by the legend in the time of Decius.) Terror brought
great numbers to apostasy ; many on the first proclamations hurried
formally to comply and could not quickly enough renounce the
Christianity which had become perilous, others agreed with wounded
consciences to give in to the threats, or sought by bribing the officials
to help themselves in one way or another, inasmuch as they did not
agree to sacrifice (sacrificati) or strew incense (thurificati\ but directly
or indirectly procured for money, which the authorities were often
willing to receive, a certificate that they had satisfied the require-
ments (therefore had sacrificed) : libeilatici (acta facientes, from the
fact that a protocoll of the fact was drawn up ; ^eipoypa^tja-avre^ from
the fact that they were obliged to sign the protocoll). A special
class of acta facientea can only be understood in the sense, that many
knew how to avoid the acceptance of the libcUus, and for them,
therefore, the acta facer -e was their only deed (cf. CYPU. Kpp. 30 and
.">()•. If in these circumstances much rottenness was revealed, if
many showed themselves to be only tinged by the Christian faith,
or weak, yet on the other hand the distress of the time naturally
brought forth a deepening or new kindling of the spirit of love and
fellowship and the courage to confess, and much zeal in care for the
confessors and martyrs.

The death of Decius, who fell in the Gothic war (251), brought
indeed a slight pause, as a^ain did the assassination of GALLUS (25U) ;
but the oppressed condition of the Christians remained, and VALE-
RIAN (253-260) again proceeded against the Christians with decision,
if in a different manner. This prince, possessed of great and noble
qualities, by report favourable to the Christians, but afterwards
altered in his opinion by Macrian, desired to proceed not by persecu-
tion of the masses, but at first by banishment of the bishops, by
prohibition of the gatherings of the Christians for purposes of
fellowship and worship and of visiting burial places (Dion. Alex.
ap. Euseb. 7. 11) ; but when this was ineffective, when the exiled
presidents remained in most intimate connection with the commu-
nities, there resulted in 258 the edict, according to which bishops,
presbyters and deacons were forthwith to be executed (with the
sword), senators and men of rank (<'<jr<<jti /•//•/ 1 and knights (^/////VM
to be deprived of their dignities, robbed of their goods, and if they
remained obstinate likewise executed, women of rank to go into
exile, Christians in the service of the Imperial Court to be allotted

PERSECUTIONS. 195

to labour in chains on the Imperial estates (Cyprian Ep. 80 ed. Hart.).
At that time there died the Roman bishop SIXTHS, seized during
divine service in the catacombs and executed on the spot according
to the decree (6 Aug., 258); his deacon LAURENTIUS a few days after;
at the same time also CYPRIAN in Carthage (14 Sept., 258). On the
continuance of opposition the persecution occasionally spread again
to others besides the clergy. Christian assemblies were surprised.
(Subsequently the story of the walling in of such an assembly in
a catacomb was told in Eome, Gregory of Tours, De gloria mart.
I. 28.)

When, during the Persian war, Valerian fell into captivity, his son
and co-regent hitherto (since 254), G-ALLIENUS, a dilettante in every
sort of science and art, but a ruler of infirm and weak character,
afforded rest to the Christians, so that he has been designated the
first to afford Christianity legal toleration. As a matter of fact, he
withdrew the harsh regulations hitherto in force and allowed the
Christians again to obtain possession of their houses of assembly and
their burial places. The first edict of 260, soon after the begin-

x ' O

ning of his sole rule, has not been preserved, but only a letter to
Egyptian bishops, after he had got Egypt under his power by his
conquest of Macrian (261). He imparts to them his desire that they
should be able to live in peace and that their places of assembly and
cemeteries should be given back to them (Euseb. 7, 13, 3). He thus
avoids entering upon the question of the legal toleration of the
Christian religion as such, and that such toleration was not meant
to be expressed without further words is shown by the narrative
of Eusebius (7, 18) of the execution of Marcian, a Christian cap-
tain, which expressly presupposes the continued existence of the
older laws against the Christians. But obviously it is a practical re-
nunciation of the putting those laws into effect as against the bishops
as heads of the Christian corporations. If at the same time however
corporate rights and corporate property of Christians appear to be
presupposed, and therefore a certain legal recognition of the Chris-
tians as such, that is to be explained from the following circumstances.
Alexander Severus had already (vid. sup.) caused the trans-Tiberine
place of meeting to be delivered over " to the Christians," and there-
fore not to any private person. The possibility of corporate rights
and collective property for the Christians in the pre-Constanti-
nian period consisted in' their application to their own uses of
the exceptions to the laws against Hetaireiai, in favour of the so-
called collegia tenuiorum (associations of the poor, friendly socie-
j ties) ; they therefore took the character of a sort of burial and

196 CHURCH HISTORY,

charitable society (in connection with which therefore, as before the
authorities, the question hinged not on their religious convictions or
exercises, but on their social significance as a kind of guild). These
latter were allowed to assemble once a month, but were neverthe-
less obliged to give notice to the authorities and give the names
of the presidents. In this way, therefore, there appeared along-
side of other such guilds e.g. Cultores Jouis, etc., Christian collegia
f rat nun also, which had their triclinia and also their burial-places.
Of course this system had the disadvantage that the heads of the
Christian societies became known to the magistrates, and hence, as
soon as the legal condemnation of the religion again came to the
front, the latter were at once the object of attack, and likewise the
cemeteries themselves, from the middle of the third century, no longer
afforded security. Of course it is to be remarked that in the
above letter to the Egyptian bishops, Gallienus expressly indicates
it as his will, that the TOTTOL Qprja-Kevai/j-ot should be left unmolested!
GORRES (ZwTh. 1877, 606) assumes accordingly that G-allienus by
the "edict of toleration" had, as a matter of fact, recognised the
Christian religion as reliijio licitn, HAKNM K It E. IV. 736 sq<[. and
UHLHORX judge otherwise.

In any case with Gallienus there begins for the Christians a long
period of peace, lasting about forty years. Narratives of a persecu-
tion of the Christians under CLAIM. irs IT. ~_!<is -J7ii) are of apocry-
phal character (GoRRK.s, ZwTh. 1SS4; cf. my remarks in GGA.
1883, p. 492 sqq.t, and as to A.URELIAN '-?"<> 27.")!, it is only said
(Euseb. H. E. 7, 30. Chronic, ad. aim. -J7S, Greek t-xt ; that he was
occupied with the thought of a persecution of the Chris; ians. but
was prevented by death. To him the Christians could apply for
a decision in the affairs of Paul of Samosata, the deposed bishop
of Antioch, a decision which turned out against this favourite of
Zenobia (vi<l. ii//'r<t, ami in favour of those who were recognised as
justified by the bishop of Rom--.

Besides, in the unspeakable confusion of these years no Emperor
could have such command of the Empire as to be able to think of a,
methodical persecution of the Christians. The last decisive decrees
did not come till the time of Dioci.rn \x. the son of a Dalmatian
female slave, who had worked his way up in the army, and having
been raised to power by the choice of the generals in the year 284,
put an end to that period of confusion which had followed upon
Valerian's being taken prisoner by the Persians (time of the so-
called Thirty Tyrants). The imperial rule more and more takes
on another tinge : the superior dominance of what is specifically

PERSECUTIONS. 1 g 7

Roman in the Empire is repressed, barbarians are received in masses
into the Roman army (Probus on one occasion admitted 16,000
Germans in one day). The restoration of a strong unified power
will no longer succeed on the ancient Roman foundations, oriental
influence makes itself felt. Rome ceases to be the capital, Diocletian
resides in the East (Nicomedia), a pompous court ceremonial sur-
rounds the " Dominus." la order to secure continuity of rule, Diocle-
tian, seeing that a hereditary dynasty was not to be thought of,
hit upon the contrivance according to which two Augusti, to whom
were added two Csesars with the expectation of the succession by
adoption, should rule in common and in such a way that the unity
of the Empire should find its apex in the person of the one Augustus
as highest leader. But hand in hand with the endeavour after
consolidation there goes a strong tendency towards restoration of
the pagan religion. Diocletian, strongly dominated \)y superstition,
and surrounded by haruspices and sacrificial priests, was very
accessible to the influence of the Neo-Platonism which aimed at
the revival (galvanizing) of pagan religion. Hence, although
Diocletian, who was not a priori hostile to the Christians, saw and
tolerated many of them in high offices and in the household of the
court, in fact his wife and his daughter Valerian seem to have
been on intimate terms with the Church, the pagan restoration
party (Hieroclesj, with their aim at a " Neo-Platonic State Church "
as a support for the government, acquired growing influence, and
gained in the rude and superstitious G-ALERIUS, who had been raised
by his military talents from the rank of shepherd to that of Csesar,
a fanatical representative, who finally overcame the remaining
opposition of Diocletian (Lact. De mort. pers. 11).

Sources: Euseb. H.E., libb. 8-10 and De martyr. Palcext.; Lactant. De mort.
per sec., c. 7 aqq.

First of all the army was purified from Christians ; as early as
295 it was required that all soldiers should take part in the sacri-
fices. Next, the destruction of a handsome church in Nicomedia,
in 303, gave the signal, at the time when Diocletian was himself
at Nicomedia, busied with the measures which were to be taken,
had consulted the oracles, and would have nothing to do with
merely bloodless persecution. Various edicts in quick succession
(Eus. H.E. 8, 2. 8, 6, 8 and 10) ordain: a) destruction of the
churches and annihilation of the Christian Scriptures, the deposi-
tion of Christian officials ; slaves lose the possibility of emancipa-
tion ; b) apprehension of the Christian priests, who C) are to be
forced to sacrifice. The first edict was torn down by a Christian ;

198 CHURCH HISTORY.

a fire breaking out in the palace, the blame was laid at the door of
the Christians. Diocletian's anger was stirred against the Christian
elements in the court ; in addition there came revolts, as in Armenia.
A fourth edict (Eus. De martyr. Pal. 3) commanded that all Chris-
tians should be forced to sacrifice. Systematic procedure had great
results among the Christians who had been lulled in security and
rendered sleepy by long peace. The Ceesar CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS
only was content in Gaul with destruction of churches : " verum
(intern tempi um quod est in tiomimbus incnlume serrarit '" (De mnrt.
per*. 15). But already in 305 Diocletian laid down his sovereignty,
and also compelled his co-Augustus MAXIMTAN to the same course.
Now however he had to experience the inability of his political
creation to keep its position, peace and rest shaken to their depths
by his last momentous steps, and the object not yet attained.
Galerius was indeed obliged to recognise Constantius Chlorus as his
co-Augustus, but nominated SEVKRUS and MAXIMINUS DAZA. two
decided enemies of the Christians, Caesars, passing over Chlorus'
son Constantino and Maximiaii's son Maxentius. While, however,
Galerius and Maximin carried on the persecution of the Christians
with decision in the Eastern half of the empire (martyrs in Pales-
tine, ckl. the abundant descriptions of the horrors in Euseb. De
iimrt. /V/.), in the West, Constant ins Chlorus entirely ceased to
molest the Christians, ami hi-; son Constantine, having fled from
the court of Kicomedia, was acclaimed as successor liy tin- troops
in Britain on the death of Constantino Clilorns. Severus (made
Augustus by Galerius. while he was compelled to recognise Constan-
tine as second Caesar) leit off in Italy and Africa, and Constantino's
war against the Pretenders Mavntins and his father Maximian1)
compelled them likewise to suspend the persecution in Italy and
Africa.

Finally, after repeated suspension and re-awakening of the perse-
cution, Galerius, short 1}' before his death in \\\ 1. saw himself forced
to issue an edict of toleration (Enseb. 8, 17 ; Lact. D< mnrt. />rr.x-. 34)
in his own and his co-regents' names ivi/.. those of CONSTANTINE and
Licixirs. whom he had raised to Augustus in Illyria . Therulets
had desired, in the interest of the state, to restore all things accord-

1 Maximianus Herculius had been obliged to abdicate with Diocletian, hut
he soon grasped again at the purple and \< laved a lamentable part. In .'.07
Constantine was married to his daughter Fausta. In the year 810 Maximian
raised a military revolt against his son-in-law. Constantine >up|.ivssed tin?
affair and compelled Maximian himself to choose his mauuer of death; he
caused himself to be strangled.

PERSECUTIONS. 199

ing to the ancient laws, and hence also to bring the Christians to
deliberation, who had deserted the sect of their forefathers and
given themselves arbitrary laws, so that they did not obey the
ordinances (instituta) of the ancients: uquce forxitan primum parent es
eorundem constituerant." Many had submitted themselves, but many
had obstinately withstood, so that they now neither honoured the
gods, nor even their God. For this reason gracious indulgence was
to be exercised and permission given that they might again become
Christians (ut denuo shit Christiani) and hold their conventicles,
after such manner however that nothing should take place against
order (propriety, disciplina). They were therefore to implore their
God for the salvation of the ruler and for their own. The edict so
represents the matter that the toleration of Christianity seems com-
patible to a certain extent with the aim of the state, viz. as though
Christianity reposed on ancient instituta veterum justified within its
own circle, as Neo-Platonism asserted that the doctrine of Christ,
an exceedingly wise man, was originally in agreement with its
own, and had only been distorted by the Christian enthusiasts who
had diverged from their guides. Meantime it was now after all
permitted to Christians to be Christians — and therefore to follow
their own conception of Christianit}".

Maximin, lord of all the Asiatic provinces after the death of
Galerius, at first accommodated himself to the revolution in
opinion. After a short time however he again loosed the persecution.
Towns which begged him for the exclusion of the Christians, found
gracious reception. Paganism (the pagan cult) he surrounded with
new glory. The odious Ada Pilati with their calumniations of
Christianity and its founder were sedulously circulated, till finally a
decided turning-point was reached in the victorious rise of Constan-
tine against Maxentius in the West. Thereon at the beginning of
the next period.

5. The Chief Representatives of the Apostolic-Catholic Church.

I.— Irenaeus and the / siatic- 7 oinan Sc' oo1.

Irenseus has still connection with the ancient Church of Asia
Minor and its traditions ; in his youth he could still know Polycarp,
and was the recipient of his reminiscences going back as far as the
Apostle John. " That which I heard from him I wrote not down
upon paper but in my heart, and by the grace of God I bring it
ever into fresh remembrance." Perhaps (?) when Polycarp came
to Rome he accompanied him thither, where (according to the
Vita Polycarpi of Pionius) he was teaching in the year of Polycarp's

200 CHURCH HISTORY.

death. Subsequently he became presbyter at Lyons (Lugdunum).
On occasion of the Montanisr movement he brought a letter of the
communities of Southern Gaul to the Roman Bishop Eleutheros at
Rome, and thus escaped the violent persecution of those communi-
ties which was just then breaking out, and in which Bishop POTHINUS
suffered martyrdom, whose successor he now became. He was an
individual of the highest importance for the ecclesiastical points of
view which were attaining decided dominance, and which are to
a large extent represented by him. It is ecclesiastical tradition,
as transmitted especially in the Apostolic communities by the
" presbyters,'' the bishops, as its true guardians, in which he sees
a firm support against the divisive sectarian opinions of the Gnos-
tics, and the simple kernel, fruitful in popular religion, of eccle-
siastical truth, which agreeing with the written Gospel and the
writings of the Apostles, affords resistance to the wanton specu-
lative phantasy of Gnosticism. At the same time Irenseus was
still in suiiicieutly living connection with the spirit of the church's
past to enter with a regulating and modifying influence into the
Montanist movement. rejecting extremes without ignoring its jus-
tifiable elements. Me mediated too with cecumcni<Ml wisdom in
the Paschal question, wli^n the conception. of unity which was
specially powerful at L'ome sought inconsiderately and domineer-
ingly to make itself felt. When an<l huw Irenseus died is uncertain.
The date 2u2 only rests on the late narrative of Gregory of Tours,
and the supposition of his martyrdom on an accidental expression
of Jerome's.

The chief work pre-crved, *EA«y^oy K<U wa-rp /m/ T^S ^tvdcawpav yvtixrtms^ is
only preserved complete in an old and l>;id Latin translation — which Tertullian
seems already to have u-ed ; there are however a considerable, number of
passage-, iii (ireek ni Hippulytu-. Kusebiiis and Kpiphanius. It is directed
mainly against the Valenrinian-. 1m' adduces iiumerou- other sects, and combats
them by demonstrating their in Lefensibility in themselves, and also by search-
ing discussion of Scripture, and closes with a representation in Biblical style,
in which the hopes of Christians for the kingdom lind highly realistic ex-
pression.

Of his other writings there are only known a not inconsiderable number
of fragments, such a> the fragment of a letter to the presbyter Florinus (in-
clined to the Valentinian doctrine) which is important for the connection of
Irenaeus with Polycarp ; and that from the ant i-( inostic treat i-e IIr,/i oy&.fi.Vr
which was occasioned by the same person. As to the four disputed fragments,
first published by PFAFF, of which the most comprehenshe and weighty cer-
t.iinlydoes not belong to IrentPus. ri,l. SriKunx's edition [I. 381-528. To the
lo>t treat i>e> belongs also the Flepi (TXIT^HTOS addre>S'''l t" the |{oman BladtUS
(Euseb.H.E. ^. JD, 1). which seems to have referred to the I'a-chal Controversy,
during which [rem«us puldi-hed variou- writings. The older chief editions of

HIPPOLYTUS 201

his works are those of GRADE, more recant of STIEREN, 1853, 2 vols., and
especially W. WIGAN HARVEY, Cambridge 1877, 2 vols. (Ml. 7.). On Irena-us
vid. DODWELL'S Dissertt. in /re?^., Oxford 1689, more recently GUAUL, Die
Kirche an der Scluvelle des irenaischen Zeitalters, Leipsic ISliO ; ZIEGLEU,
Irenceus, 1871; Th. ZAHN in the BE.2 ; LOOFS, Irenttushandschriften, Leipsic
1888.

The presbyter GAIUS (Caius), also wrote in Greek at Rome, a
decided opponent of the Moiitamst Proclus who appeared in Rome,
and therefore also of Chiliasm — in this respect a modern Christian.

HIPPOLYTUS is properly to be regarded as a disciple of Irenseus
(Phot. cod. 121). He was a Roman presbyter who played a part
in Rome under the Roman bishops Zephyrinus il(.»0-217) and
Callistus ( — 222), came to great discord with them, and especially
with the latter, on account of strict principles in the treatment of
the fallen (re-admission ) and on account of Christological differences
(defence of the doctrine of the subordination of the Logos and opposi-
tion to patripassian opinions), so that at length it came to a breach
between them, and Hippolytus appears in the character of a kind
of anti-bishop at the head of a schismatical party (combination
with the reports which regard him as Bishop of Portus opposite
Ostiaj. Next (in 235, according to the Liberian catalogue of the
Popes, the chronographer of 354, where he is designated as pres-
byter) he was banished to Sardinia at the same time with the
Roman bishop Pontianus. Subsequently he was honoured in the
church as a martyr dn spite of the above difference with the
Roman bishop). He probably died in exile, and his body is said to
have been buried in Rome along with that of Pontianus (of. the
Cometerium S. Hippolyti discovered by Rossi, ZKGr. 7, 481 sq., and
Prudentius, Perist. XL who describes his burial place), although
nothing trustworthy is known as to the nearer circumstances of this
martyrdom, which is also transferred to Portus. A statue of " St.
Hippolytu* epixcopus Portus urbis Romce" dug up in 1551 at the
site of the martyr chapels, represents him seated, and on the back
of the 0ponK there is engraved a list of his writings, and also
the sixteen-year Easter cycle fixed by Hippolytus. It may however
have only been erected pretty late — after Prudentius — which again
somewhat impairs the value of the list of writings.

Hippolytus shows how a very extensive scholarship and literary activity
is now placed at the service of the ideas of the church. In this respect
'he somewhat recalls his contemporary Origen, with whom he had personal
relations, whose distinctly marked speculative tendency however, he shares
in a less degree. He also, as Origen did with Mammsea, stood on scholarly
relations with an empress (Severina says the statue; Syrian references

202 CHURCH HISTORY.

mention Julia Mammsea : DOLLIXGER supposes the second wife of Elaga-
bulus, Julia Aquilia Severa) and wrote to her on the resurrection. Among
the remains of his very extensive literary production preserved, prominence is
to be given to the following: the book on Antichrist, the fragments preserved
on the Book of Daniel (vid. BARDENHEWER, Des Hipp. Comm. z. Dan., Frei-
burg 1877), and the treatise against Noetus. Of a treatise on the celebration
of the Passover only a couple of short fragments have been preserved. Other
matter either bears his name incorrectly or is highl3r uncertain. Of special
importance is the re-discoverj' of what was previously only known by its first
book, and falsely ascribed to Origen, the well-known so-called Philosophoumena
(v id. supra, Gnosticism) more correctly : Kara iraa-Hiv alpea-fcav eXey^os in which
he seeks to trace back the heresies to their origin in pagan philosophy, mysteri-
osophy and astrology ; hence he first treats of these (in the first four books, of
which the second and third are not preserved). The ascription of the com-
position of this treatise, first published by E. MILLER (Oxford 1851), under
the title Origenix Philosophumena, to Hippolytus of Rome is founded on the
fact that the book Ilepl TOV TTCIVTOS mentioned in the list of writings on the
statue of Hippolytus is identified with the treatise Ilfpl rijs TOV iravrbs ova-ias
mentioned by the author in the Philosophoumena 10, .">•_' as his work, and in
spite of a certain hesitation based on PHOT. Cod. 48, it has gained ever more
general recognition. The shorter SiWa-y^a Kara n. alp. (Phot. Bibl, Cod. 121 ;
cf. Philos. 1. I prooem.) of Hippolytus, it is believed, especially after the
proofs of Lipsius (r/'if. SHJH'H, p. 1 •_'!'), may be recognised in a Latin revised
form in the spurious appendix to TERTCLLIAN'S treatise D<' /»-trs<-r/f>f. hctret.,
and at the same time as made use of by Epiplianius and Pliilastrius. It must
remain an open question whether an anonymous treat isr against the Arte-
mnnitcs F. ii seh. U.K. "-. _'^ ! the so-called Lifflr I.itlnjrintli Tm;oi><u;i:r. ]-',ih. /KIT.,
•_'. ."i , is to !»' ascribed to Hippolytus. The supposition that ho is the author
of the Philosophoumena, which atlm-d such remarkable glimpses into the life
of the Roman community under Bishop falli-tn- :», 11 sqq.) is the basis of the
above statements regarding his life. A critical edition with the title Ili/>/>o/.
r<'f/tt<if/<> hceres. IM-NKF.U ct Si •n\i:ti>K\vix. <;<">ttingen is.V.i. The rest of his
works edited l.y Fabricius, Hamburg 171<i Fo. and especially by in-: LACAUDE,
Leipsic 185s. Of the copious literature on Hippolytus : Hi NSKN, lft/>/>n/i/fus
unit si'/iii' Z'-it. (lei-man and English; DdLLUTOBR, Hippolytus uml < 'nlh'sfus,
IS."):!; VOI.KMM;. ////>/> //y///x uml <H<- ri'mtisi-ln-n Z<-tf</i'iinxxi'ii. Zurich 1855.
Further in JAC "i-.i |;K.-' ii. !:;:• ^,v\.) and CASPARI, <in<-ll<-» znr Gesch. des
Taufxymb. III. <'hristiania Is;:,. ,,. :;77 Sqq. ERIJKS m .IprTli. isss. (ill Sqq.

II.— The Representatives of the Latin School.

I. TKlITrLLIAN.

TEKTn.T.iAX was born at Carthage about 160,1 th<- son of a cen-
turion in the service of the l«'"inan Proconsul. Proceeding from
a pagan In use-liold. In- received a scholarly education sndi HS was

1 NOLDBCHEN, Tertullian's <:,-h,,Hxj,thr (Hilgenfeld, X\vTh. lss(i,
is inclined to reach bark to about 1 ">(.). because the occasional refereiue- in his
writings must be held to show that lie lived almost the whole perioil of Marcus
Auivlius with alert consciousness and not without taking an attitude of his
own towards the events of the time; the indications however are very un-
certain. the whole critic;sm very -ubjertive.

TERTULLIAN. 205

afforded by his native city, one of the main seats of learning in the
Roman Empire; he also acquired the Greek language and literature,
at first also wrote in Greek (and still as a Christian) what has
unfortunately been lost. His eloquence shows the schooling of the
rhetoricians, and his writings also attest in particular his studies
in law (Euseb. 2, 2 : an exact knower of Roman laws}. He was also
in Rome. The fragments in the Corp. jur. under the name of
Tertullus or Tertullianus have been ascribed to him, which however
is a conjecture incapable of proof. He had already been occupied
as an advocate and rhetorician, when he was laid hold of by the
Christian faith, passed over into the church and became a presbyter
at Carthage. He apprehended Christianity (in this respect similarly
to Tatian) eminently in its opposition to all the pallid wisdom of
philosophy, as a mighty supernatural reality, a divine foolishness
wiser than men, creating and transmuting, challenging and disdain-
ing contradiction. His was a fiery nature, rich in phantasy, witty and
passionate and inclined to paradox, at the same time endowed with
a certain amount of oriental (Punic) warmth and sensuousness, but
also with a good share of Roman sense of what is solid and effective.
He lacks measure, the Hellenic element, and therefore also the
sense of beauty of form and ideal harmonious formation, which has
no time to ripen in his stormy and thoroughly polemical nature.
However, his rugged attitude towards the wisdom of this world
b}- no means excludes the visible influence of philosophic culture,
especially a certain after-effect of Stoic views (Musonius!). The
close of his life lies in obscurity, probably in consequence of his
rancorous Montanist attitude towards the church. His death, to
be dated about 220, is said to have taken place at a great age
(Jerome, DC r/r. ill. 53). Did he at last also withdraw himself
from the Moiitanists ? (Aug. De Hwres. 86). A man of such a
nature, by placing the Latin language at the service of the church,
must have impressed on it an entirely new stamp and breathed
into it a new spirit. He became the father of ecclesiastical
Latinity, while Minucius Felix and subsequently Lactantius, appear
to be entirely dominated by classical form. (cf. Koffmanne, Gexch.
d. Kirchenhtfei>iH I. Berlin 1879).

1. His apologetic work. The Apologcticum to the Roman Government and
the two books Ad nationes, stand in the closest relationship to each other, so-
that they partially appear as only different revisions of the same book ; the
priority is disputed, the Ad nationex however is probably the earlier (Uhlhorn,
Hauck). This is one of the most attractive and original products in the domain
of ancient Christian literature. It attempts to demonstrate the full right of
I Christians to toleration, with full consciousness of the irreconcilability of the-

;204 CHURCH HISTORY.

Jdngdom of God and the world. Ad Scapulam (Proconsul under Sept. Sev.),
De te.stimonio animce (cf. Apol. 17), Adv. Judceos.

2. With equal valiance he attacks the Christian sects, starting from the hasis
of the ecclesiastical Apostolic tradition as from a firm foundation, — in which
position he is entirely in agreement with Irenseus. only that in his own style
he, so to speak, formulates it juridically in the De prescript, hfvrcttcon/m.
The Church Christians are in possession ; the heretics are excluded from right
to the holy Scriptures. Hence it is not at all necessary for the Christian to
demonstrate his right to them from Scripture. Writings against Va'entinus
and Marcion (5 Books) and against Hermogenes (a Platonic painter).

In other writings of dogmatic character certain sides of the ecclesiastical
view, which are specially offensive to paganism or to Gnostic Christianity,
are developed: De carne Chrixti (against Docetic representations), Z>e rcsur-
rectione carnis (duriua creditur resurrectio carnis quam una dtrin/'ttix, De
res. 2), De anima (against Gnostic spiritualism, in favour of the created nature
.and in fact the corporeality of the soul, the transmission of sin), etc.

3. The powerful reality of Christianity as a ne\v form of life, which with the
Gnostics was refined away, was now to be taken up in earnest ; to the sharp
contrast of the kingdom of God with the world corresponds a stern form of life
in contrast with all pagan laxity. As in his defence of the Church's faith
Tertullian had planted a firm foot on the ancient Apostolic tradition, and in
this relation entirely represented the spirit of the consolidation of the church,
.and therefore a positive spirit, those of his compositions which relate to the
practical Christian life and Christian discipline (his numerous Ascetic
tractates) exhibit the point at whirh he fell into variance with the church,
which was indeed .striving after more tixcd order and doctrines, but was also
establishing itself in the world and was therefore lenienl to worldly customs
in Christendom. He will not give up the spirit of free prophecy and i:s testi-
mony against the spirit of the world and so gradually passes into sharp
Montanist opposition, i.e. the ideas which dominated him from the bee-inning
and which wore powerful in the African church, assume a greater ruggedness
in opposition to- the sent 'mi-nts of the leading circles of the church, which
were more mild towards the world and the sensual weakness ,,f the great mass
of Christians. Hence the division of the-e tractates into pn-Montanist, and
Montanist, i.e. those in which he, as a member of the party of strict pneumatic,
( 'hristians schematically opposes him-elf to the great church of the psychic.
To the former belong, the (iroek and lost treatise on heretical baptism, the
treatises DC Ixi/itixin.. D<- />n-nff.. .\<l nmr/i/r., DC */i<'<-f,i<-.. DC itl<>l,,l., 1 )<• cult a
femin., De orat., DC /><tf/'i -nt/n. .\>l n.i-orcni. Transition: DC rtri/ni. rr/, unit's.
To the latter, De corona ///////.. /)<• fui/,1 in persecut., Scorpiace <n/r. (innsffc.
(martyrdom commanded by dod; the fear of MitVering is represented under the
.aspect, of Gnostic of1'oniinae\ . /•'./ liort. cast.. De mono;/.. />' />//</'<•. related to
the treatise D<' /mult., where a second repentance is maintained, though half-
heartedly), Dejfjiiii., I>< iKillin. Here we have universally the idea of the
last day as the period of the highest requirements and perfection. <>/>/>. after
Heat. I{h»-n. 1 ")•_'!. 1'anielius and lligaltins. pnlilished \>\ SI-:MI.I:K. ITTn sij'|.

with indr-.i- /nfn/tf.i. |J;U|'MI,I>. Lei) sic. ls:;:t si|.|. 4 vols. (in (iersdorf's I'.ihl.
sel.) ; Fr. Oicui.i:i:. :'. vols. Leipsic ls.")l s«|M. ed. minor, l.^.'il ;M1. 1-I5}. A.
XI;ANI>I:K. AnHijiinslii-nx. L'ml ed. 15-rlin Isl'.i; I'.MHUIM .1:1:. I\.<1.. /// Biographieit
III.; A. HATCK, T<T/H///IIII'K Lt-hcn uuil X •///•/'/'/(•//. Krlan-.-n 1>77 a gmid
analysis of the writings' ; N. BONWKTSCII, !)/>• ,s' •hr/l'tcn '!'• rhilli,in's iim-fi dcr
Zeit Hirer Abf. Bonn 1878; NOLDBCHEN, HZ. vol. 64: L886, 226

CYPRIAN. 205-

2. Montanist asperities had to be represser! ; but Tertullian not
only remained as a great mine of information for subsequent time
and the pattern of the West for the dogmatic conception of Chris-
tianity, but he also had influence on the conception of the moral law.
In both respects THASCIUS C/ECILIUS CYPRIANUS in particular, builds
upon him as foundation. The former was of a pagan family, and
a few years after his baptism was raised to the bishopric of Carthage-
by the choice of the people. When the Decian persecution broke
out, Cyprian, on the representations of his community and in order
not to endanger it, left Carthage and withdrew into concealment,
but thereby created difficulties for himself. Under Valerian he
was at first exiled (to Curubis), subsequently returned and was be-
headed. Cyprian, possessed of the higher culture of his time and
theologically educated by the writings of Tertullian which he held
in high esteem, of much less originality than the latter, and with
a stronger over-cast of the customary rhetoric, had a decisive in-
fluence as a practical churchman 011 the working out of the con-
ception of the Church, the exaltation of the position of the bishop
which was involved in the development of the age, and the joint
representation of the episcopal interest, but also on the legal con-
ception of Christianity (righteousness by works).

Among- his numerous writings are particularly De unitate ecclesice (ed. Kra-
binger), De lapsis, De opere et eleemos. and numerous (81) letters important for
the history of the age. The chief older editions are those of FELL and PEARSON,
with the latter's Annales Cypr., Oxon. 1682 ; and of the Maurinians ST. BALLUZ
and Prud. MARANUS (1726 ; when also DODWELL'S Diss. Cypr.) ; best modern
editions : HAKTEL, 3 vols., Vienna 1867 (Cor}}, scr. eccl. lat.) ; ,Vita Cypr., Pon-
tio diacono vulgo adscripta in Hartal's ed. 3, xc sqq. Among monographs,
tho>e of RETTBERG (1831), BOHRINGER, and the Catholic one by FECHTRUP I.
1878. — 0. RITSCHL. Cypr. v. Garth, u. d. Verf. d. Kirche, Gottingen 1885 (chro-
nology of the letters).

3. The Christian poet, COMMODIAXUS, born a pagan at Gnzi, won to Christi-
anity especially by the study of the Old Testament, was author of the Instruc-
tionum per litteras verfsuum primas libb. 2, ed. OEHLER, 1847, in the edition of
Min. Fel. (usually under the title : Instr. adv. gentium deos] about the year 240
(according to EBERT), and of the Carmen apologeticum adv. Judceos et gentes,-
the knowledge of which was only revived by PITRA in the Spicil. Solesm. I.
(revised ed. by EONSCH, ZhTh. 1872) ; Opp. ed. LUDWIG, 1877-78 ; in Corp. scr.
eccl. lat. XV., ed. DOMBART, 1887. The Instructions (80 acrostic poems in
rhythmical hexameters), call the pagans to repent so long as there is time,
in view of the near proximity of the end of the world and the millennial king-
dom. In his views of the Person of Christ he shows himself to be a Patri-
passian. As a poet he takes a more isolated position as regards the ecclesiastical
development.

4. On the other hand the Boman presbyter NOVATIAN, a Phrygian by birth,
of Greek and Roman culture, stands inside the theological development in the

CHURCH HISTORY.

narrower sense, specially the Western development under the intiuence of Ter-
tullian. The Lib. de trinitate s. de regulafide in Gallandi IV. Ml. 3.

5. Bishop VICTORINUS of Petavium (Pettau in Styria), died a martyr in 303,
made a respected name for himself in his time by his commentaries, now lost
except a few scanty fragments.

Two other Christian authors at the close of our period, both according to
their view of Christianity and their literary character, are more attached to
the style of a Minucius Felix than that of the professional theologians, viz. : —

6. ARNOBIUS, rhetorician at Sicca in North Africa, who composed seven Books
Adv. gentes (s. Adv. nationes), by the composition of which the former opponent
is said to have gained admission to the community (Jerome, Chron.}. The best
.edition by REIFFERSCHEID, in the Corp. scr. eccl. lat. IV. This rhetorician, who
apprehends Christianity in the sense of a Christian popular philosophy, does
not However pause carefully on the line of dogmatic correctness, which had
already shown itself in the third century. Finally.

7. Lucius Coelius (s. Csecilius) LACTANTIUS Firmianus (s. Firmianus Lactan-
tius), the disciple of Arnobius, and afterwards teacher of rhetoric in Nicomedia
in the time of Diocletian ; having become a Christian, he resigned the former
office on the outbreak of the persecution of Diocletian (according to Jerome Dev.
ill. being a Latin on Greek soil, he took to authorship on account of the lack of
pupils). When already advanced in age he was appointed by Constantine as
teacher to his son Crispus. tc. 330. His chief work is Divinarum institutio-
nurn II. VII, an apologetic vindication of Christianity (contention with pagan-
ism), which exhibits his view of Christianity. In addition, the lustitt. e/titome
a/1 ]'<'iitii<l>ti in, his treatises De opificio dei, D<- ir<t <!<•/' (in vindication of this
biblical conception). The treatise De murtihns jK'rwittnrinn, was written
after the close of the persecutions, and the attainment of the desired peace of
the church, in OP! »rto show what sort of p Miplc tin.- persecutors of the church
were, and how they had been judged by <;<»!. a treat !-<• full of passionate parti-
ality. Its authorship by Lactantius is often denied, but hardly with justifi-
cation. The only existing MS. de>i^nate< the book as Liber ad Dmnitnin
confessorem de mortibtis perweculorum, and the name of the author as Lucius
Csecilius; and according to Jerome. Lactantius wrote De jn-rsi't-nfinnr i Khert
has recently appeared in favour of the author-hip by Lactantius; cf. 0. ROTH-
FUCIIS, Qua hist, full- I., HSIIS sit in <l . iimrf /><•/•*.. Marburg 1862).

III.— The Alexandrian School.

Literatii /•<• : EL E. F. GlJERICKB, De sdmla I/IKF A If.r. jlm-uit cat. 2 pts. Hallo
1821; E. V.\( HI.KDI , ///.s-/. <-rit. <!<• /'«•„/,. ,1'Alex. 3 vols. Par., 1851 : KKDK-
PBNNINC. Orij/i'iirs' /.,/>,-, i uii'l fj//rr. '_> vols. Bonn 1841- I*;.

Alexamlrin. the ^reat emporium of the Empire, where East and
\V«'st met in lively intercourse, had at the suni' time become a chief
seat of Hellenic culture, philosophy, and polyhistoiy, win-re tin-
inti-rpriift, ration of the Greek and Orifiital spirits \\liidi had been
brought to completion since the time of Alexander the Great had
its capital. In particular there here emerged the mo-t highly sig-
nificant phenomenon of Jewish Hellenism IMii!<>. m which Judaism
filled itself with Hellenic elements. His marriage of Jewish religion
and theology with Greek speculation and scholarship was the

ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL. 207

nearest preparation for the theology which here developed itself by
Greek means. Here the heretical Gnosis had found the soil pre-
pared. Here the Greek conception of Christianity which was fol-
lowed by the older Greek Apologists, was expanded by more com-
prehensive means, and essentially placed itself at the service of the
church which was in process of consolidation.

The Alexandrian Catechetical School sprang originally from the
need of instruction for pagans of philosophic culture, who turned to
Christianity ; it was developed however into a chief instrument for
the training of Christian teachers.

The ecclesiastical Gnosticism or philosophy of religion which is
developed here, stands in its origins in most living touch with the
Neo-Platonism which contemporaneously proceeded from the religi-
ous-philosophical tendencies already portrayed (vid. supra, p. 188), of
which AMMONIUS SACCAS (f241), who had relations with Origen, is
to be regarded as the proper founder. But starting from related
impulses, both gradually pass into a sharper opposition to one
another. Neo-Platonism, which was systematically developed by
PLOTINUS (f 270), concludes the league between religion and philo-
sophy on the basis of pagan religion for the religious revival of the
latter, and just in proportion as it feels closer relationship in deter-
mining ideas and general view of the world, so much the more
eagerly does it oppose the similar league of philosophy with the
Christianity of the church.

The first known teacher of the Catechetical School was not
Athenagoras — who is named by a report which is quite untrust-
worthy— but PANTVENUS, who appears about 180. Following out
the tendency which had been entered upon by the Greek apologists,
he had already given to the Catechetical School its essential stamp,
as is shown by Clement as his disciple, and by Origen's express
appeal to the fact that he had made use of the Greek sciences for
the completion of the fabric of theology. He is said to have come
from Stoic philosophy to Christianity, but in any case he passed
through the intermediate stage of the eclectic Platonism from which
Neo-Platonism was also developed. Of his numerous commentaries
on Scripture only a couple of scanty fragments have been pre-
served.

Titus Flavius CLEMENS, a pagan by birth, of comprehensive
scholarly and philosophic culture, who in the course of his wander-
ings in various lands (Greece, Lower Italy, Syria, Palestine, Egypt)
had come into contact with various philosophic spirits, and been
stimulated by the religious sentiment of eclectic Platonism and the

CHURCH HISTORY.

ethical tendency of Stoicism, was particularly enchained by the
Christian philosophy of Pantsenus ; he became his fellow-worker
and successor in Alexandria, which he indeed left in the Severian
persecution, but whither he subsequently returned, and where he
seems to have died about *2*2a.

Of his writings, the Apologetic '^16709 irporpeTrriKo^ rrrp6s"E\\r)vas)
invites to Christianity by portraying the untenability and immorality
of polytheistic paganism along with searching consideration of the
pagan mysteries, and contrasts with the latter the original anti-
quity of the revelation of the divine Logos in the Holy Scriptures
in its superiorit}', in such a manner, however, that here also the
elements of truth in pagan poets and philosophers are recognised.
The second treatise (IT a t Bay coy 6s} is intended to bring those who are
won for Christianity into the moral-life school of the divine man-
edur-ating Logos, and in a sense in which the religious-ascetic points
of view are brought into close touch with the spirit of Stoic mor-
ality, its subdual of the emotions and recommendation of a rude life
without needs (cf. on the strong dependence of the Paidagogos on
the Stoic Musonius — who is absolutely copied out : P. WENDLAND,

x Mtisttititlnil' Dr Mllxniin >tui<-n. Cft'iiH'ltfi* Afi:i\ (l/iii-

</ti<-f<,r<'. Berlin ls^<'>. Tin- moral education is looked on as
the indispensable inundation for introduction to the higher know-
ledge Gnosis . to which i he third chief work, t he seven Books of the
Strom ateis, or Stromata (-rwr KHTU -ijv a\r)0rj <f>i\o<ro<f)iav yvo)crTiK<av
VTro/j,r>j/.L<iT(0i' o-rp(onnrtl^) is devoted, whieh however i hey do not
give in elose systematic order, but as the title (Patch-uwrk) indicates,
are intended to allow the suscep'ilile to search out in ;i varied ;md
rich web of learned discussions, while they remain veiled to the un-
initiated. Clement conceives the relation of the Christian revelation,
given through the Logos, as the same to ;ilh even to pagan wis lorn,
as Jusiin had already done ; and in Consequence lie regiinls it as tin-
task of the Christian lino-tic to exalt himself nlmve the -imj)U'
standpoint of the church's faith to higher knowledge, hut in such a
manner that this higher knowledge >hall not turn against the suh-
Mance of the church's faith, and also shall not look down pmudK OD
the simple believing reception of the church's preaching on the part
of simple Christians, inasmuch as it itself rests on i his foundation,
lint faith itself, however, compels those who have the vocation and
al>iliiv tor the task to the exaltation of its content into a philo-
sophical knowledge (Tn'o-rt? eTrto-TT^ow/o;), founded on the search-
ing of the Scriptures and the bringing forward of rational proofs,
and by means of the allegorical interpretation of Scripture, which

CLEA1ENT. OKI GEN. 209

leads beyond the merely verbal and historical, to the deeper (specu-
lative) sense. To this there corresponds the assertion of a secret
(esoteric) tradition for initiated Gnostics. The higher Gnosis
however stands in the closest connection with practical philo-
sophy, i.e. with the exercise of a perfectly pure life (raised above
the emotions), corresponding to the practical ideal of the philo-
sophy of the age (higher spiritual knowledge and intuition bound
up with emancipation from sensuality). The philosophical ideas
of which this Christian Gnosis makes use, are employed in the
eclectic style of the time.

The logical-dialectical discussions in propaedeutic style printed in the Works
as the 8th Book of the Strom, scarcely belong to this connection. Besides the
chief works mentioned, the small treatise ris 6 o-co£o/xfi<os TrXouo-toy represents the
Christian thought that it is not riches in themselves but inward attachment of
the soul to them which debars from salvation, but still according to the strictly
ascetic point of view, which does not get beyond a negative attitude towards
sensuous and earthly goods, the justification of which is only measured by the
standard of absolutely necessary requirements.

Of the eight Books of "Hypotyposes," explanations of numerous Scripture
passages of the Old and New Testament according to the apprehension of his
teacher Panteenus, only fragments are extant, to which also belong the Adum-
brationes in epistolas canonic.as, which have been preserved in Latin. ZAHN
believes that in the preserved eVcXoycu rwv Trpoc^Ti/cooi/ and also in the extracts
from the SiSao-KaX/a dj/aroXtKij (Valentinian) under the name of Theodotus, he
can recognise pieces which, along with what has been preserved as the 8th
Book of the Strom., together compose this 8th Book. This however remains
doubtful. Opp. : Editions of SYLBURG, 1592; POTTER, 1715; OBERTHUR and
KLOTZ ; DINDORF, 4 vols., Oxford 1869, and in addition, for the fragments, Th.
ZAUN'S valuable Sitpplementum Clementimim, Erlangen 1884 (Forschungen zur
Gesch. des neutestamentl. Kanons III.).— H. J. EEINKENS, De Cl. Al. nomine
scriptore, etc., 1851. C. MERK, Cl. Al. in his Abhandlungen v. d. gr. Phil. 1879.
WINTER, Die Ethik des Cl. AL, 1882.

ORIGEN, born of Christian parents sometime about 185 or 186, at
Alexandria, supplied with a Christian and scientific education by
his father Leonidas, a man of some wealth, early mature and of
great desire for knowledge, still had the advantage of the instruc-
tion of Pantsenus and Clement, and early began also to teach.
In the persecution, his father suffered a martyr's death, and the
property of the family was confiscated. Origen however showed as
decided zeal as a confessor as he had shown thirst for knowledge
and zeal for learning. From studies in grammar and literature,
though not yet eighteen years old, he turned himself, with the
approval of his bishop, to the instruction of pagans in Christianity.
Ascetic strictness led the youth, who had to meet the female sex in
catechetical instructions, to the over-zealous act of self-mutilation.
Scientific intercourse with heretics and educated pagans caused him,

14

210 CHURCH HISTORY.

now to devote himself, under the guidance of AMMOXIUS SACCAS
(p. 188) to more thorough philosophic study of Plato, the more
recent Platonists and Pythagoreans, as well as of the Stoics. For
catechetical instruction he invited HERACLAS, whom he had himself
instructed, for the beginners, himself instructing the more advanced.
Origen, in energetic and universal endeavour, by comprehensive
occupation with the encyclical sciences, ami with philosophy, and
on the other hand with exegetical and critical research in Holy
Scripture, was transformed into an eminent Christian poly-historian,
whose fame spread in the outer world. A journey to Rome brought
him into contact with Hippolytus ; Julia Mammsea, the mother of
Alexander Severus, caused him to come to Antioch, in order that
she might become acquainted with the divine doctrines. At home
however he fell into discord with his bishop, who took it amiss on
the part of bishops Alexander of Jerusalem and Theoctistus of
Caesarea (Palestine) that they had allowed Origen, who was without
priestly consecration, to hold lectures in their churches (probably in
the time of Caracalla), and further, that on his subsequent presence
(230), in order to abolish that objection, they had ordained him a
presbyter without reference to his bishop. An Alexandrian synod
forbade Origen to teach further in Alexandria, a second assembly
under Demetrius, attended only by bishops, denied Origen the rank
of presbyter, and most of the foreign churches approved, but not
those of Palestine, Phoenicia, Arabia, and Achaia.

Origen now settled in Csesarea Palestine) and here founded a
theological school, which introduced the scholars through dialectic,
and encyclical sciem-.-s to morals, next, to the philosophical and
poetical literature of the Greeks, and finally to the study of Scrip-
ture, and continued his personal and literary activity which was
most influential in all directions. In the time of Maximinus Thrax,
during the persecution, Origen kept himself concealed lor several
years at Csesarea in Cappadocia, m the. house of a Christian virgin.
He undertook various journeys on ecclesiastical affairs, and addre— ed
epistles to the Emperor Philip the Arabian ami his wife Severa. In
the persecution under Deems, Origen was also seized and tortured.
It appears his death did not take place till about 254, under
Valerian.

By his gigantic literary activity Origen in the most comprehensive
manner laid the decisive foundations of Greek theology (and so of
patristic theology in general). The spirit ot Alexandrian literary
industry is applied most comprehensively to the Bibles of the Old
and New Testament. The text of the Greek translation of the old

OKI GEM. 211

Testament, which forms the foundation of Hellenic Scriptural
scholarship, is made accessible to critical judgment in the Hexapla
by being placed alongside of the original Hebrew text and the other
Greek translations, a work which on account of its great extent has
not been preserved in its entirety, but the Septuagint text of which
it is possible to reconstruct from numerous remains (older standard
work : MONTFAUCON, Hexapl. Orig. Par. 1713 2 f. fol., now : FR.
FIELD, Origenis Hexapl. quce xuj). Oxford 1867-74, 2 vols.). His
exegetical treatment took the form of 1) Scholia, short annotations ;
2) Homilies, ecclesiastical expositions of Scripture on almost the whole
of the Bible, partly written out by Origen himself (including the
famous exposition of Sam. xxviii., on the witch of Endor), — partly,
which Origen only permitted in his old age — copied out by others.
Only a small part is preserved in the original text, much in the
Latin translation of Rufinus and also of Jerome ; 3) Commentaries
proper, TO/JLOI which enter into the entire breadth of exegetical and
dogmatic discussion. The most important which are preserved in
Greek, are a number of books on Matthew and especially on John
(of special importance as bearing on Origen 's speculative views).
Origen is aware of the critical problem of the investigation of indi-
vidual points on the basis of correct readings and observation of the
use of language and the cautious adducing of parallel or explanatory
passages of Scripture, nor does he ignore the problem of historical
explanation ; he is however limited, partly by a scanty knowledge
of the original Hebrew text and enslavement to the consecrated
authority of the Greek translation, partly by a powerful luxuriance
of allegorical exposition for the purpose of tracing out the alleged
deeper sense of Scripture in the spirit of Alexandrian Hellenism,
which by his means attains dominance in theological exegesis and
hands over Scripture to be exploited by dogmatic speculation, and
thus again bars the way to historical exegesis.

The philosophic-dogmatic speculation — the fruit of the transforma-
tion of religious truth into a speculative view of the world such as
had begun since the Apologists — to which this exposition of Scrip-
ture principally ministers, now appears independently in the bold
undertaking of a speculative dogmatic, the four books Tlepl d/j^wr,
Deprincipiis, i.e. on the fundamental doctrines, which were composed
while he was still in Alexandria. Considerable fragments of the
Greek ground text (especially of the third and fourth books) are pre-
served ; the whole work we have only in the pretty free translation
of Rufinus which veils much that was offensive to a later time (sole
edition REPEPENNING, Leipsic 1836, SCHNITZEK, #., Ueber die Gnind-

212 CHURCH HISTORY.

n d. 67., Wiederherstellungsversuch, Stuttgart 1835). On the basis
of the ecclesiastical rule of faith, the doctrine recognised in the
Church as divine truth, as the elementa et fundamenta, which how-
ever here alread}' assumes the character of a popular dogmatic, it
is attempted to develop from Scripture and reason a system of
Christian science of religion, in the web of which the philosophic
view of the world forms the warp, and the gospel the woof. Along-
side there went the (lost) ten Books of the Stromateis after the
example of his teacher Clement, in which Origen " compared with
each other the doctrines of the Christians and the philosophers, and
confirmed all the doctrinal principles of Christianity from Plato,
Aristotle, Numenius, and Cornutus." Even prior to the " Prin-
ciples," Origen wrote two books on the Resurrection, of which onty
fragments remain.

Nee-Platonic and Stoic elements determine the character of
Origeii's eclectic philosophising, and reveal themselves in the form
of the ideas of God and the world, the conception of pure spiritu-
ality, the immateriality ami simplicity (transcendent nature) of
God, and His necessary unfolding in the divine Logos as the
perfect image of the Father and compendium of His world-crea-
tive ideas, the doctrine of the eternity and necessity of creation ami
of the world of finite spirit-. The latter have their essence in
having part in the divine being, but the origin of the revolt which
resulted in the creation of the earthly world is to be attributed to
their free will, so that now the idea of the procedure of the spirits
out of God, their fall, their redemption and leading back to God is
made the foundati ...... I the whole development of the world, into t. In-

central point of which, however, comes the assumption of humanity
by the Logos for the revelation of redeeming truth and for the
uniting of divine powers with humanity. In this way the historical
preaching of salvation, as attested in Sei ipmre and maintained as
saving truth in ecclesiastical tradition, is to be preserved in this
marriage with Greek met a physic, without destruction of the his-
torical kernelof Christianity »r prejudice t<» it- practical significance.
Hence Origen also, like his predecessor Clement, strictly maintains
that the simple faith of the Church is able to bring the simple
Christian to salvation, moral purifieation and blessedness, and to
approve itself to him in its converting power. But it is of course
intended, where the necessary conditions are present, to lead on
beyond itself to a higher knowledge, which at the same time is
spiritual, religious and moral exaltation on the standpoint of pneu-
matic Christianity. And in this higher Gnosis, it is of course truths

O RIG EN. 213

of philosophic speculation in which the genuine ideal kernel of Chris-
tianity is sought, metaphysical notions and idealistic conceptions,
which however are adapted, fertilized and held together by funda-
mental Christian conceptions of the revelation of God in Christ,
of redemption, and of the divine teleology of salvation. And while
this involves that Christianity is placed on friendly relations with the
previous philosophic development of the highest conceptions of God
and the world, yet on the other hand Christian truth also appears
conversely as the universal truth which gathers together in itself all
the hitherto isolated rays of divine truth. The need which this
speculative theology has of coming to an understanding with the
given positive element and the consecrated word of Scripture, leads,
according to the example of predecessors (Philo, Clement), to a
formal theory of the manifold sense of Scripture. 1) The verbal
sense, which is generally to be maintained, and only to be given up
and regarded as a sign-post to another and deeper sense, where it
would contain representations unworthy of God, 2) a moral, and
finally, 3) a pneumatic or mystical sense, which contains higher
spiritual or divine truths.

Just as in Origen's theology the germs are unfolded which had
been sown by Justin and the other Greek apologists of the second
century, so in Origen's eight Books against Celsus, the apologetic
explanation with paganism which under Celsus had advanced to
philosophic attacks on Christianity, reached its completion. This
master-piece of the apologetics of the Greek Church, not composed
by Origen till his later years (in the reign of Philip the Arabian),
shows, in accordance with the above standpoint, on the one hand a
decided maintenance of historical Christianity, with its solid founda-
tion and its religious efficiency independent of all philosophy, and,
in contrast to pagan materialism, places in the light conceptions of
the divine purpose of salvation, but here also on the other hand
allows the spiritualistic conception of the Christian philosopher to
peep through. (Cf . MOSHEIM'S Translation of the Books against Celsus
with notes. Hamburg 1745. 4 to 6.J

Of the writings of Origen which belong more to the practical life of the
Church, the treatise on prayer, which ends in a detailed explanation of the
Lord's Prayer, shows how tirmly the spiritualistic church Gnostic stands
on the basis of a very realistic faith of the community, while vice versa the
Exhortation to Martyrdom («'$• p-apT. TrporpeirTiKos) sets the merit of testimony
in blood, to which at t)^. same time an atoning power is asci'ibed, also under
points of view such as .vere obvious to the religious philosophy of the time:
direction towards the invisible world, emancipation from the bonds of the
flesh, in order to attain the vision of God.

2i4 CHURCH HISTORY.

Edition of the Exegetica by HUETIUS, Eouen 1668, and f requently ; collected
edition by the brothers DE LA RUE, 4 vols., fol. Paris 1733 et sqq. ; reprint
by LOMMATZSCH, 24 vols., Svo, and in Mgr. 11-17.— On Origen rid. EU.SEB. H.E.
1-39, EPIPH. Hcer. 64; JEROME, De vir.ill. 53, and the Panegyricus of GREGORY
the Thaumaturge (vid. infra). — HUETIITS. Origeniana in den Exegetica cles
Origcnis (also in de la Rue, vol. 4, and Lommatzsch, vols. 22-24) ; the mono-
graphs of THOMASIUS, Nuremberg 1837, and (along with combined treatment
of Clement) of BEDEPEXXIXG (vid. sup.) ; BOHRIXGER KG. in Biogr. V. ; M. J.
DENIS, La philos. d'Or., Paris 1885; H. SCHULTZ in JpTh. 1875.

After Origen the prominent representatives of the Alexandrian Catechetical
School are HERACLAS, who even earlier than Origen had attended the lectures
of Ammonius Saccas, but afterwards with his brother Plutarch became the first
pagan hearers of the youthful Origen, was by him induced to co-operate with
him in the Catechetical School, and then after the death of Bishop Demetrius
became his successor in Alexandria (232 3-2-17) ; next DIONYSUS (called the
C4reat), successor of the previous, first in the catechetical and subsequently in
the episcopal office, involved in the persecution under Decius but set free, but
banished for a long period under Valerian (254), died in 'Jill. A man of
important authority and practical activity in the Church, who in the conflict
with Nepos (rid. infra) opposes Chiliasm as an Origenistic spiritualist, in the
doctrine of the Logos ropiv-ent.- t he one side of the Origenistic conception, and in
his criticism of tin- Revelation of John follows the traces of the Scriptural studies
of Origen (fragments in SIMON !)<• .!/,/,//*//•/*. Rome 17'.'o: < '< \I.I,AXI>I, ROTTII.
and Mgr.. 10; on him F"i:-M i; in tin- Dissert, of isr,:>. and the essay in ZhTli.
is71.;ind I MTTKim. l>i»n.. Freiburg lsi;7). — To the school of Origen belong

also Theogno-Mi- -ecolid li;ilfnf t ! ie , •, n ( 1 1 ry . a 11' I I'ierill* ill it- end).

All enthusiastic adherent of Origen. educated by him at the school at
('lesareu. l.iit one \vlio wrought for the spread and con Urination of ( 'hris-
tianity not in Alexandria hnt at home in I 'out n- and in Cappadocia, is G KI:<;MI;V
the miracle-worker Thaumaturgo-i. leshop of \ BesardB in I'ontus. ob. circ.

270. His Panegyricus on Origen in Opp. ed. GBR. Voss, Mayence |i;nl. Ito.

and up. <;\l.l,. III. and Mgr. 1<>; /•/'//. also in the \\nrk- of Oi-igen. specially

edited by liKNi. i:i.. IT---'. Cf. DRA.SEKB, /''•/• Brief den "/•///. <m Grag, '\\ .l|»r

Th. 1SS1. ]( L'-l •_'<!', in-t ruei jvr "ii Origen's method "f teaching; a i-onfe-

of faith (fic^fo-iv. also ap. ll\nv:. Bibl. der Synib., 2nd ed.. Is:! *<\.) arising out

of the Origenistic tlieory. ' 'f. I!VN-KI.. dr. '/'//.. Leip-ic L880)

An independent attitude \va- taken up l>y .h l.iis A run AXIS, a somewhat

elder contemporary of Origi ;e as a. writer in the time of Heliogahalus

and Alexander Severus. lie lived at Kiiiiiuin- ' Nieoprdi- in Palestine: a man
of great consideration, perhap- a man of rank. who. formerly an officer under
Septimiu- Severus. \\as -ent to H'd iogahalus on the all'airs of his city, and
had al-o friendly ndation- with KingAligar Mann I X. of Kdessa. He came
to Alexandria attracted !>y the scholarly and phi!osop|,ic lame of lleraclas
and -ub-e.^.iently came into i-mitaet with Ori-en in man\ \\ays. This learned
Christian layman became he-t known Ky his live In.ok- of ( 'hrom.gra ph y. fiom
the creation of the world down to I leliogalialus. which Knsel.ius mention- and
has made u-e of in the ( 'lirmi ii-nn (with however critical independence and
.superiority, and by which the later By/ant i IM-- se< -tore (( ; i;i./.i;i:. Xc./7//.v
Julius .\l'i-i'<;iiuts ninl tin- tnj:;<inf. ( '/irminifr. I. Leipxig ISMI; II. I. l^.Vi.
He wrote :., ( h-igen on tlie Sii-anna h pas-age in t he ( ', reek 1'ook of I >aniel. tin*
authenticity of which, maintained by Origen, he com ha ted in a striking style;

an epistle to Aristides treats of the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke

METHODIUS. 215

(cf. SPITTA, Der Brief des Jul. Afr. an Arist., Halle 1877). In the former
epistle, the author, who for the rest is not on principle an opponent of the
allegorical method, shows himself a friend of sound criticism, and in the
Chronography a friend of a broad and learned erudition. So at the same
time the medical treatise, Keo-rot, proceeding from the same Christian author,
in which the hermetical books with their abstruse and mystical wisdom of
Hellenized Egypt resting upon Egyptian mythology — a kind of analogy to
Christian Gnosticism — and a coarse superstition play a strong part, shows
what heterogeneous elements an educated Christian laj^man of that age, who
was on friendly terms with Origen, could combine with his Christianity.
(Fragments in EOUTH, Rel. sacr., 2 ed., II. 219. 509, and thereon GELZER, I.e.)

The universal influence of Origen made itself felt in the third
century over the whole field of Greek theology. In him, as it were7
everything which had hitherto been striven after in the Greek field
of theology, had been gathered together, so as, being collected
here in a centre, to give an impulse in the most various directions ;
hence also the further development of theology in subsequent times
is always accustomed to link itself on to one side or the other of
his rich spiritual heritage. Bat the peculiar penetration of the
positive Christian and ecclesiastical elements with an idealistic
speculation, early called forth, in the Greek domain, the opposi-
tion of a certain ecclesiastical positivism, which was by no means
able or willing to withdraw itself from the power of the theological
construction introduced by means of the above blending of elements,
but fought against certain points of the spiritualistic view of the
world. This attitude was taken by METHODIUS, bishop of Olympus
in Lycia (not also of Patara, vid. ZAHN in ZKG. 8, 15 sqq., cf. also
SALMON in Diet. Christ. Biog.) who is said to have died the martyr's
death in the persecution under Maximin about 311 (it is said as
bishop of Tyre, vid. however ZAHX I.e.). Although himself strongly
influenced by that spiritualism of Greek theology, which, rooted in
a dualism of spirit and sense, transforms the notion of religious
redemption into that of the emancipation of the spirit from the
sensuous and the exaltation of the spiritualized soul to contempla-
tion (rid. the Convivium decem virginum, a spiritual symposium iu
praise of abstinence), he however fights against Origen's doctrines
of the pre-existence of souls and their pre-temporal fall, and of the
world as the place of punishment of souls, and in favour of a more
realistic conception of the doctrine of resurrection, and against the
eternity of the creation of the world. Pretty extensive fragments
of the writings on the resurrection, on created things, and on free
will (against the derivation of evil from an eternal matter, etc.),
have been preserved. (A. JAHX, 8. M°thodii opp. Hal. 1865. »

216 CHURCH HISTORY.

Against attacks of this kind Origeu was specially defended by tlie
presbyter PAMPHILUS at the close of our period. The latter is said
to have been a disciple of the Origenist Pierius in Alexandria, and
lived subsequently at Caesarea in Palestine, in connection with the
library of which place i a chief quarry for the historian Eusebius !)
he won great merit by copying for it a great portion of the works
of Origen ; he was also at pains in the multiplication and spread of
the Holy Scriptures ; he supported disciples in their studies. Im-
prisoned in the persecution in the year 304 by Urbanus, Prefect of
Palestine, he here further composed, supported by his younger
friend Eusebius, five Books of an Apology for Origen, to which, after
the martyr death of Pamphilus (3(H>) Eusebius added a sixth. Only
the first book is preserved (printed in the works of Origen also in
GALLANDI IV. and ROUTH, 7.W/</. xucr. and elsewhere).

Similar to him, at the close of our period, stands the Antiochene
presbyter, ascetic and martyr, LUCIAX (ob. 312 1 whose scholarly
activity must have been very important. His education goes back
to older East-Syrian studies in Scripture (Edessa , but on the other
hand the influences of Origenist theology are equally indubitable
(perhaps through the medium of the school of Caesarea). Luc i an
does noi appear to have been in agreement with the deposition of
bishop Paul of Samosata Kid. infra : on that account, along with
several Antiochene bishops, he received no ecclesiastical community
but exercised an important influence on a whole set of younger men
who subsequently in the Arian controversy more or less took the
side of Arins, as well as on the latter himself. Lucian, along with
whom the pn-sl.yter DOROTHEA'S also distinguished himself by his
knowledge of Hebivxv, laboured in the cause of Biblical Criticism
and Exegesis, especially by his exertions in connection with the
text of the LXX. . his iveension found circulation in a considerable
part of the (In-ek Church — ("from Constantinople to Antioch,"
Jerome; i till, de LACAKHK. Ijhrui-mn \'<'t. /r.sV. <-(im>iiic. j><trs jirim-
(i rwc ed. Gott. ]NS.''> : while for Alexandria and Kgypt, the recen-
sion of the nearly corneiii] oni ;-\ EESYCHIUS took a similar position.
Lucian also turned his attention to the text of the N.T. i A Con-
fession ascribed to Lucian in HAHN. /!//>/. ila- ^///>tl>. 2. Ed. I<KI sq. ;
an apologetic oration in L'/i/iu. ed. Cacci. I. 51."). His scientific
activity continued to operate in Antioch and helped to found the
subsequent School of Antioch.

RULE OF FAITH. 217

6. The Development of the Substance of the Faith.

The conflicts of the second century led to the above described inclin-
ation to establish, in opposition to the arbitrary doctrinal speculatioti
of Gnosticism and enthusiastic prophetism alike, fixed, recognisable
and easily grasped standards, according to which it was to be
decided what was the Christian confession and the prescribed
Christian life, — the KCLVMV e/c/cA^criacrTi/fo?, or d\r)delas, regula fidei,
veritatis. The Baptismal Confession as the Apostolic Symbol in its
oldest form, such as it must be supposed to have been since the
middle of the second century, offered itself as a fixed point; on the
other hand was the anciently consecrated veneration for the Old
Testament as inspired scripture, requiring however to be explained
on the basis of Christian conviction. In reference to the former
the ingenuous pre-supposition of standing in unity of spirit with
the Apostolic preaching continuously from the beginning, had
been shattered by the heretical, especially the Gnostic movements,
and the need had arisen of holding fast by the demonstrable
| Apostolic tradition, as guaranteed by the Apostolic communities in
the succession of their leaders, that is, by the historical founda-
tion. At the same time, along with this transformation, the literary
heritage of the Apostolic age acquires another esteem ; in the
Canon of the New Testament the legacy of the Apostolic age is
'made sure of (taking a lesson from Marcion), the genuine being
I distinguished from the spurious, and these writings are raised above
the level of other Christian writings as inspired.

By collecting together as the regula fidei on the ground of the
baptismal confession, all that they were convinced had been faithfully
guarded in the communities of Apostolic foundation as the Apostolic
tradition, a short and easily surveyable standard was obtained.
Such expositions of the regula fidei in Irenteus, Tertullian, Origen
(pref. to De prmcipiis), and many others (vid. HAHX, Bibl. d. tii/mb.'2
p. 1 sqq. of. TH. ZAHN, ZWL. II. 302 sqq.), bear in their form the
character of free reproduction recurring in one and the same
(author (Iren. and Tert.) in different fashion ; they all alike however
amount to belief in the one God as the Creator of all things, in
Christ Jesus the Son of God, His supernatural birth, His passion,
resurrection, ascension, and His return (for the resuscitation of all
flesh) to judgment, finally the belief in the Holy Ghost, in short
the essential substance of the baptismal confession. Hence Irenseus
says of the rule of faith, that it is the inalterable kernel of the
Itruth, which Christians have received at baptism (Adc. hcei: I. 9, 4).

218 CHURCH HISI^ORY.

Origen gives the freest and fullest description of it as ecclexia.ttica
prcedicatio, and adds still further points as belonging to the Kijpvy/j,a
of the church (the freedom of will of reasonable souls, the doctrine
of angels and demons, and of the chronological beginning of this
world), while he intermingles theological reflections proper, and at
the same time alludes to the distinction in all these points between
what ecclesiastical tradition treats as fixed and what on the other
hand it leaves to free theological discussion.

The ecclesiastical declaration of the regnla fidei Irenaeus holds to
be the faith which the church, spread over the whole earth, has
received from the Apostles and their disciples, and unanimously and
inalterably everywhere preserved through the unbroken succession
of the leaders of the apostolic communities. To Tertullian, it is
the voice of truth handed down from the Apostles in the ecclexicv
matrices, as to which there is not even dispute among Christians ;
and it is the older, and more original in contrast to all heretical
doctrines ; Origen also so regards it. At the same time it is this
ecclesiastical proclamation which supplies the point of view for the
Christian conception of the O. T. Now, however, that the Scrip-
tures of the N.T. have come to be placed alongside of the Old as
canonical, these, as recognised Apostolic writings, are not in them-
selves inferior to oral Apostolic tradition in the church, but much
rather arc recognised as pure sources of knowledge of divine truth
and practically made use of as such. Tertullian I h- /inrsci-. fnrr.
c. ."••') says: >c<-li.<i<i . . . /«•//»•/// <>t [tro^hi'tax cum cruni/i'l/cix et
iijxixfn/irix ////<•/•/* iniwt ; /m/,- /m'tif //»/«•///. And the Alexandrians
lay special emphasis on the notion that the II. .ly Scripture which
is itself the npx^l <^cnr68etKTo^ < Clement), and indeed the Scriptures
of the Old and Xe\v Testaments. ;ire the documentary eviden
from which 'he ecclesin-t i. ;d proclamation is to be more accu-
rately determined and on which it is to be founded. A cer-
tain practical preference for the ecclesiastical tradition of the
n'</>i/<i //'^ i rather than the Scripture (of the N.T.i as the docu-
mentary evidence of revelation, was in that age based on the
ta.t. that it was easiest to adduce proof of Apostolic, origin tor the
substance of the common belief (as collected in the rules of faith
from its being handed down from the Apostles in the concord of the
Apostolic communities and the unbroken Mic.vssion of their bishops
and presbyters, and that the rules of faith resting on trading
appeared to be the surest and most unambiguous standard for the
exclusion of heretical elements, while the appeal to the Holy Scrip-
tures necessitated, first of all, a decision as to which scriptures were

STANDARDS OF BELIEF. 219.

to be accounted genuine ; this however had also to be deter-
mined by the tradition of the church, and under the arbitrary
exegesis of the heretics (and the lack of principles of objective
exegesis in general) did not lead to the end aimed at with equal
evidence ; much rather was it necessary that the content of the
rule of faith should give the norm of exegesis. But Holy Scripture
and ecclesiastical tradition are not for those men two different,
independent sources of knowledge, but only different forms of
mediation for the one source of knowledge, the Apostolic pro-
clamation of the gospel, the authority for which is the Lord, who
gave to the Apostles the potextas evangelii, by means of which
they then preached the gospel and afterwards handed it down
in writing. They are far from thinking, however, that ecclesias-
tical tradition substantially complements Scripture, i.e. gives a
substance of belief as essentially Christian which could not be
gathered from Scripture. Scripture and rule of faith rather stand
to each other in the relation of the more detailed but maiiy-
meaninged documentary evidence of the birth of the faith to
the shorter and more compendious, but just for that reason the
immediately plainer. Of course, in the case of the Alexandrians
(Clement, and also Origen) another factor comes in in the appeal
to secret tradition. Certain truths were naturally regarded as
having been imparted by our Lord to only a few of His most
intimate disciples, and by these only to those who were capable
of receiving them and worthy of them, both as verbal and written
tradition ; but this does not refer to the common faith of the
church, but the possession of the higher gnosis which goes beyond
this common faith. Here there is expressed the involuntary feeling,
that the Gnostic explanation of Scripture could only be supported
by the peculiar speculative views which were brought in as an
addition to Scripture, and could not be supported by the common
faith in itself.

But while on the one hand these Fathers make the rule of faith
in a certain sense the norm of exegesis for Scripture, yet on the
other hand th<jy conversely go vigorously to work to display the
rules of faith, taking Scripture as their authoritative basis.

With the fixing of a canon of the N. T. there went hand in hand
the transference of the notion of Inspiration from the Old Testa-
ment to the New Testament Scriptures also, and indeed in that
sense which elevates the Apostolic authors as specific organs of the
Holy Ghost, above the universally presupposed working of the
Spirit in the community and Christian prophecy. In this relation

.220 CHURCH HISTORY.

•the exaltation of the inspired code of Scripture as a closed authority,
goes hand in hand with the repression of Montanist prophecy, and
co-ordinately with the retiral of the notion of mngico-ecstatical
inspiration. Both the opponent of the Montanists, Miltiades, and the
author of the Clementine homily combat it, and the inclination
is now rather to see in the ecstatic a sign of impure daemonic
inspiration, and (so at least Origen) to regard the inspiration of
the sacred writers, although it is still maintained as extending
verbally even to the letters, as a divinely wrought heightening of
all the faculties of the soul.

As regards the content of the representations of the faith, the
universal religious fundamental presupposition of the preaching
of the gospel remains the special emphasising of monotheism against
all polytheism, and the energetic maintenance of the ascription of
the world to the one God as Creator, against all Gnostic separation of
the Demiurge from the highest God, in vigorous consciousness of the
fact that in this separation the deepest root of the religious relations
of man to God is cut asunder. This is to be so much the more
valued, the more powerful must have been the disposition in ancient
•Christianity to flee the world, and towards exaltation above the
visible, which might have lent assistance to that Gnostic idea, and the
more this disposition, apart from its inner Christian motive must
have been augmented and dualist ieally sharpened by the ivligious-
philosophical tendency of the age with its highly -t mined opposi-
tion of spirit and sense. Equally with those Gnostic- doctrines, all
explanations of the world of a dualistic sort were repelled by the
doctrine of the creation out of nothing1. Though even Justin and
Athenagoras may have attached themselves to the Platonic doctrine
of creation (presupposition of a Hyle as the ^ 6V as the object of
the world-formative activity of <TO<U without rejection on the
conditionediiess of the divine action therein involved, the creation
•out of nothing is soon consciously emphasised and every attempt
to explain the existence of the wrong and evil in the world by a
dualistic doctrine of principles is combated. Here belongs TEK-
TULLIAN'S treatise against the painter Ilermogenes (At/r. //</•///<>-
1/cni'iit), who saw in the world the perpetual process of the domina-
tion and formation of infinite chaotic matter by the spiritual
principle of the Godhead. In order to avoid allegations of dualism,
the existence of wrong and evil is ascribed to the freedom of the
creature. And however incomplete the result may be, these efforts
.after a theodice involve the most decisive break with all heathen
naturalism.

THEOLOGY. 221

In the conception of the idea of God itself the more spiritualist
view under the influence of eclectic Platonism is opposed by a more
realistic (in Tertullian influenced by Stoic notions), the former em-
phasising the immateriality and abstract spirituality, and from the-
ethical point of view the paxxionle.wnex* of God, the latter the sub-
stantiality and concrete personality, and from the ethical point of
view the divine capability of reaction (wrath of God). However,
the Marcionite distinction and contrast of the good and the right-
eous (angry) God is universally opposed.

Theology holds on the one hand to the exceeding greatness and
incomprehensibility of the nature of God ; on the other, however,
its whole faith is founded on the principle that this God who in
Himself is incomprehensible really reveals Himself, and therefore
makes Himself comprehensible for the religious relationship.

The object proper of belief consists in the perfect revelation of
God in Christ ; hence in that sense which is bound up with the
divinity of Christ, the beginning of Christian dogma in the narrower
sense. The fact that the Christians praised Christ as God in their
songs (Plin. Ep. ad Tmj.\ that He was to be thought of &>? -rrepl deov
(II. Clem, ad Cor. 1) is the immediate expression of the religious
relation to Him as the Lord, the only begotten Son of God, the
begotten of the Holy Ghost, the expected Judge of the living and
the dead. But the conceptions which were being formed regarding
i His nature were still of a very indefinite character. Over against
(the Ebionite representation of the human prophet, who in baptism
is equipped with the Spirit of God, there lay in the doctrine of the
supernatural birth of Jesus the expression for His higher divine
dignity, while on the other hand, as against Gnostic Docetism, the
need was keenly felt of not allowing the historical personality to
(become a mere Docetic appearance of a supra-mundane ^Eon.
Thus expressions appear, which, without sharply defined fixing of
ideas, recognise in Jesus a higher pre-existent heavenly nature as
come into the flesh, or see in Him a pure man in whom God by His
Spirit has made a dwelling, without experiencing the necessity of
reflecting 011 the natural relationship in which that divine nature
jis to be placed to the Godhead itself, or on the manner in which
the divinity manifests itself humanly in the flesh in this man ; a
Imultiplicity of views, which if they were to be taken up and
pressed on their verbal forms, from the subsequently developed
itheologlcal standpoint, would lead now to Dyotheism, again to
Patripassianism, and again to the emergence of a higher mediatorial
nature (angel or spirit of revelation) in Jesus. But with the begin--

222 CHURCH HISTORY.

•ning of theological reflection proper in the Apologists, from Justin
downwards, the doctrine of the Word of God become flesh (Gospel of
John) offers itself, by means of the Platonico-Stoic conception of the
Logos as made religiously effective by Philo, as a means of solving
the problem, of finding an expression for the divinity or divine
Sonship of Jesus, which at the same time based the latter on the
divine potency in which in general by means of the philosophy
of the time, the unfolding of the Godhead to revelation and world-
activity was contemplated. Jesus is the Son of God, for He is the
Word of God become flesh, the potency of His eternal reason and
wisdom proceeding from the hidden God for the purpose of revelation
and world-activity. So at first in JUSTIN. Christ as the Son of God
becomes the Logos, concurrent according to His nature with the
divine reason, but conceived as an emanating potency, numerically
(if not also in will) to be distinguished from God in Himself, as
SeurepcN #eo<», the same potency which is already to be recognised
in the divine appearances of the 0. T. The conception is now
applied in such a way, that the side of unity, the eternal immanent
relationship of the Logos in God is brought to the front (Athena-
goras), but the hypostatic distinction from God (the independent
substratum for the personality of the Son of God) is felt to be
absent, again in such a way that the \6yos TrpofyopiKos which has
proceeded to a subsistence of its own for the purpose of tin- world-
creation (Tatian, Theoph.), is distinguished from the Logos as the
immanent divine reason \6yo<t evSiaOeros*. On the whole, however,
the dominant idea which emerges is that of a divine self evolution,
in which the Logos is conceived as a second potency which has
proceeded forth from God and is subordinated to Him, an ema-
nation, but also a diminution of ihr divine nature emanational and
subordinate theory). This tirsi theologico-dogmatic acquisition
proper however, to which there must shortly (JronaMis. Tertullian
and others) be appended the attempt to give to the Il.,ly Spirit also,
on the basis of the trinitarian baptismal confession, a similar
position, is only achieved in the face of widespread opposition and
hesitation. The feeling that in this doctrine new (philosophi.-al)
ideas, foreign to simple faith, were taking a dominant place, pre-
vails among many of the " xim/iln-inri'x " fTert. A<lr. J'ru.r. .". : it is
feared that Christian monotheism will be endangered or corrupted
ntniHircliiiiiii. /in///i<i//t tt'iH'niux*, that there will be introduced two
or rather three gods, whereas the rule of faith has ]«••] tmm the
heathen multiplicity of gods to the one and true God. The oppo-
sition to the doctrine of the Logos, however, makes iiself felt from

MONARCHIANS. 223

two opposite sides in two conceptions, and hence it is usual to desig-
nate both of these as monarchian, although the name was originally
applied to the second.

The Monarchians (eld. specially HARNACK in RE. 10, 181 to 213).
To designate the first class as Ebionising is misleading, since we
may not think of any historical connection with Judaism, but only
of a certain analogy in the mode of conception. Beginning with
the historical, human person, Jesus, it is only sought to base the
divine dignity of Jesus on the spiritual influence of the one God
(Dynamistic Monarchians) ; this intention emerges in the extreme
! opponents of the Montanists in Asia Minor, the Alogi, who, on
i account of the promise of the Paraclete reject, besides the Apoca-
lypse, also the Gospel according to John and its doctrine of the
Logos, and show by combating Judseo-Christian Chiliasm, how very
little determining influence any Jewish ideas have here (p. 156).
It is much rather rationalist and sober reflection as opposed to
religious exuberance which here makes itself felt, but is quite
unconscious of thereby stepping outside the circle of what is com-
mon to all the churches (vid. Epiph. Hcer. 51 ; August. DeHceres. 30;
Philastr. Hair. 80).

2. About 190, the learned leather-worker Theodotus (6 cr/curey?)
came from Byzantium, where he is alleged to have apostatized, to
Rome ; while standing by the common belief of the church as to
other matters (especially maintaining the Christian belief in crea-
tion), he taught that Jesus was a man born of the virgin accord-
ing to divine counsel by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, on
which most pious and righteous of men, Christ = the Holy Ghost
descended from above at the baptism in Jordan, and that in conse-
quence thereof he did his miracles, but that he was not an incarna-
tion of the Christ spirit, and that he was riot to be called God on
account of that influence 011 him of the Holy Spirit (at most ac-
cording to one part of his adherents after the resurrection). The
Theodotians sought from a whole series of writers of the 0. and
N.T., and indeed after the now more general achieved recognition
of the canon of the N.T. from John among others, to prove energeti-
cally that Christ was designated man and not God, and also not
an incarnation of the Christ-spirit (Luke i. 35 ought to stand, the
Spirit of the Lord would come upon Mary, but not enter into her).
The reproaches directed against the Theodotians allow us to see
I that they, who eagerly occupied themselves with logic and mathe-
j matics, and studied Euclid, Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Galen,
pursued a sober gram mati co-logical argumentative exegesis, and

!

224 CHURCH HISTORY.

concerned themselves much with critical restoration of the text of
Holy Scripture, in which each one seems to have followed his own
conjecture. Christological conceptions, not widely differing from
those which were brought forward ingenuously in the formerly
highly regarded Book of Hermas, now aroused offence in Rome when
thus rationally expounded. Bishop Victor excommunicated Theo-
dotus. who marie Christ a mere man. However he gained a number
of disciples in Rome, who in the time of Zephyrinus attempted to
form a community of their own. Another Theoclotus (the money-
changer) and Asclepiodotus won over a certain Confessor Natalis,
who in return for a monthly salary of 170 denarii allowed himself
to be made bishop, but soon returned to the bosom of the Church
(moved by alleged visions of angels and chastisement). To the
second Theoclotus however there is ascribed a special theory as to
Melchisedec as the (higher) anti-type of Christ, which seems to
amount to the notion that in the former was seen a theophany,
an appearance of the Christ = the Holy Ghost, in human form
(docetically), and to that extent a divine form superior to the man
Christ, whereby of course the basis of Monaivhianism would be
completely surrendered and dragged back into Gnosticism. A sect
of Mi'i.'hisedecians is also known to later writers, who connect it
with a Theodotus (but probably the elder one).

(Cf. Hiri-o i. ..//•/.. 7. ::.">. PseudotortuI!.. r. •_>:;. BuSBB., U.K. .",. -Js. c. PIIII.ASTI;..
H. ")(). Krii'ii.. II. :>t. TIII:..|,,,KI-:T. H. f. •_>. r> and •;.

3. AI:TKM»N . \rtemas . who Appears later, is al-o traced back to
the intlui-nce of the Theodotus who was excommunicated by Victor,
seeing that he declared Christ to be a mere man and regarded His
doctrine as that of the ancient Church universally recognised till
the time of bishop Victor of Ronu- : he held that it was Zephyrinus
who first falsified the doctrine (1W-217 .

See the treatise designated t'.v THKOIMIKDT. //,/<•/•. /•'<//>. 2, 5, <rfiiicpi>s \aftvpwdos

(rf. the designation \a:Ji'pii>0os for tln>grr;u work of Hirroi,vn s in li'rfitt. o.
liacr. 10, ;>2, and thoreon Pliot. c. 4*) by Kusebius 0-irm'barrfj.a Kara rrjs 'A/jTf'^coi'oy
alpeo-tvs, from \vhirh \v»- liave a passage extracted in Hi >i:r-., H. K. ">, _'^, a
treatise \vliich belongs to about the fourth decade of the third century, according
to Caspari's convincing investigations, Ill.iils : ;•_'!. lol s<|ij.

On the one hand earlier undefined views as yet uninfluenced by
the doctrine of the Logos, and on the other the offence which the
Patripassian form of the doctrine favoured by Zephyrinus aroused
in thoroughly ecclesiastical circles, might have caused Artemon to
regard himself as the champion of the common ancient faith of
the Cl lurch against innovations.

MONARCHIANISM. 225

The second form, to which the designation of monarchianism is
originally related, is the so-called modalistic Monarchianism of the
Patripassians. Like the first form, the second also first raised its
head in the most agitated province of the Church in the second
century — Asia Minor. In this district NOETUS of Smyrna (in Smyrna
itself, or in Ephesus [Epiphan.] ?), starting from the popular con-
viction of the divinity of Christ, which is expressed in the hymns of
the Church, in order to be able to maintain this believing " glorifi-
cation of Christ " in spite of the distinct confession of the exclusive
unity of God, reasoned as follows : that Christ Himself was the
Almighty Grod and Father, and therefore, that the Father Himself
had taken upon Himself both suffering' and death in the flesh.
Called to account by the Presbyters of his community, he gave
explanations which were accepted as satisfactory ; however, he found
disciples for his doctrine and was subsequently tried again, and in
spite of his question, ri KCIKOV TTOLW So£a£W rov ^ptcrrov, was ex-
communicated. The appearance of Noetus with his doctrine must
still (Hippol., Ref. o. Hceres. 9, 7) be placed within the second
century ; his excommunication probably did not ensue until a decided
conflict had arisen at Rome between the Christological tendency he
represents and the subordinational doctrine of the Logos represented
by Hippolytus.

On Noetus : HIPPOL., Adv. Noettim, Opp. ed. Lagarde, p. 43 sq., and HIPPOL.,
Befut. hceret;. 9, 7, sq., 10, 27 ; EPIPH., Hcer. 57 ; THEODORET, Hear. fab. 3, 3.

But in the province of Asia Minor the movements were already
progressing ; among the Montanists also there was a Monarchiaii
fraction (Hipp., Ref. 8, 19. 10, 26), while on the one hand the so
to *ay opponent of the Montanists, Praxeas, was a (patripassian)
Monarchian, on the other hand the Montanist Proclus was an
opponent of this tendency. Through disciples of Noetus the con-
troversy soon came to Rome, perhaps first through the Asian con-
fessor PRAXEAS, who according to Tertullian's expression simul-
taneously (as a successful opponent of the Montanists) expelled the
Paraclete and (as a Monarchian) crucified the Father. Turning
hence to Carthage, he there also obtained a reception with many
for his doctrine (dormieni ibtis multis in simplicitate doctrince^
which took the character of pious maintenance of the divinity of
IChrist. He was, however, successfully combated by Tertullian
in his pre-Montanist days (before 202), and compelled to make
written response (TERTULL., Adv. Pmx ; PSEUDOTERT., De hcer. 30).
jln Rome however, where already Bishop ViCTOR,1 who allowed him-

TERT. Adv. Prax. 1 : Victorinus = Victor, vid. LANGEN, Gesch. d. rom.
fiirche I. 196 ; CASPARI, Qiit-llpu III. 323. No. 102.

lo

226 CHURCH HISTORY.

self to be instigated by him against Montaiiism, and also to opposi-
tion to the denial of Theodotus that Christ was God, inclined to the
Patripassian conception of the Godhead ; other disciples of Noetus,
EPIGONUS and his dependent KLEOMENES found considerable accept-
ance. Victor's successor also, ZEPHYKINUS, with the co-operation of
Callistus, came forward in defence of Monarchianism (Hippol. Refut.
hcer. 9, 10 sqq.) ; and so also in Africa the controversy became anew
agitated, so that Tertullian, who meanwhile as a Montanist had
separated himself from the Church of the psychic, once more found
an occasion (about 206) of literary controversy with Praxeas, while
in Rome, Hippolytus, from the standpoint of the subordinational doc-
trine of the Logos combated the Patripassian Monarchianism which
was represented by three Roman Bishops in succession (Victor,
Zephyrinus and Callistus) ; and it can also be gathered from Ter-
tullian that wide circles of believers found in him suitable doctrinal
expression for their pious reverence for Christ, and at the same time
the maintenance of true monotheism. In the conflict itself, however,
this tendency found itself forced to advance beyond the immediate
expression of the incarnation of God Himself in Christ to new
theological theory, in order to meet dialectical objections. There is
developed the conception of the transformation of the one Godhead
into different conditions (ti/odii, on account of which Hippolytus
thought it necessary to trace back the doctrine of the Noetiansto
the philosophy of Heraclitus: "one and the same God, invisible,
and when He wills visible, as He already appeared to just men of
the Old Testament; the same incomprehensible, and when He wills
making Himself comprehensible, unbegotten and begotten, immortal
and mortal." That which is called Father and Son is one and the
same, but yet in such a way that such difference of name is not a
mere arbitrarily changing designation, but the expression of the
modus to which God has determined Himself: "He was begotten
His own Son, not the son of another. He is one, who appeared,
suffered birth of the Virgin and dwelt as man with men, confessing
Himself as man to those who see Him for the sake of the birth
which took place, but not concealing from those who comprehend it
that He is the Father." He is therefore named Father and Sun Kara
^povwv rpom']v. On the cross He committed His spirit to Himself
(Hipp., Ref. hccr. 9, 10). So also Praxeas, according to Tertullian,]
both holding fast to the original sense of the Son of God, as Him
who had become man (and desiring to know nothing of a transcen- 1
dental second hypostasis, which should bear this name). Tertullian;
also ascribes to the Mouarchians the principle : " ip.se (tlctix, }>tifci'!

MONARCHIANISM. S 'A BELLI US. 227

se filiiim, sibi fecit " (Adv. Prax. lOj. But it comes out here more
clearly, that it is just the assumption of the flesh which makes the
Father the Son. God who in Himself is spirit, as the Son is spirit
and flesh. God as spirit could not suffer, but sympathised (with
the Son) ; the Son died not ex divina substantia, but ex humana.
But to express the idea in this form, that the Son is the flesh, i.e.
the man, i.e. Jesus, but the Father the Spirit, i.e. God, i.e. Christ,
brings the conception again to the point of passing over into that
of the first sort of Monarchians, if flesh be taken as designating a
complete human nature and the latter as in some way in itself
personal.

4. Among the Roman Monarchians there also appears Sabellius,
said to have been by birth a Libyan of the Pentapolis, if this some-
what late account (Basil. Ep. 207) be not an erroneous inference from
the later Sabellian movement there, which was combated by Diony-
sius of Alexandria. At first not inaccessible to the conceptions of
Hippolytus, he was only won over to the Patripassian view by Callistus
(Kef. omn. hcer. 9, 11). When, however, Callistus became Bishop of
Rome, he found himself obliged to shake off Sabellius and excommu-
nicate him. Sabellius holds fast by the view of Noe'tus that the same
person is the Father, the Son, and — the same conception being ex-
tended to the Holy Spirit — the Holy Spirit. The expression ascribed
to him vioTrd-Twp (Ath. Expos, fidei 2) refers to the identity of Father
(and Son. The original doctrine of Sabellius is hard to establish, as
later analogous phenomena have been brought under the general
heretical category of Sabellianism.

With Noe'tus there further agrees the statement that one and the
same person is now the Father, but again becomes His own Son
(TOV avrof aXXore /j,ev -rrarepa aXXore Se vlbv edvrov yivecrBat, in Ath.
\0rat. III. c. Ar. 4X Inasmuch however as the reference to the
Striplicity of the Divine name is carried through, it is no longer
merely the Son who appears as a modus of God the Father, but
rather the Father Himself appears as one of the three modi of the

e Divine nature; Patripassiaiiism becomes the modalistic doctrine
rf the Trinity. Under various figures, at one time the Father Him-
self appears (according to the above former point of view) as He who
pxpands (vrXaruj'eTo i) Himself into the Son and Holy Ghost (Ath.
Ur. c. Arian. IV. 25), at another time the one God as He who, meta-
porphosing (fjue-ra^op^ov^evo^] Himself according to present needs
jDivine activity), is at one time addressed as Father, at another time
'is Son or as Holy Ghost (Biakeyea-Bat, or expresses Himself ?) (Basil.
Kp. 210, 5). According to Epiphanius (H. 62) he had compared the

228 CHURCH HISTORY.

relation of the Triad to the one nature with the anthropological
triad, body (personal form, Father), soul (Son) and spirit, or with
the threefold action of the sun, as a round figure, as lighting and as
warming. Whether Sabellius designates the one God as the trans-
cendent background of the three Trpoo-wrra as Monas, and the appear-
ance of the changing Prosopa as a transition of the silent God into
speech, and in this relation applied the idea of the Logos (desig-
nation of God as the self-revealing in general, namely, as Father,
Son and Spirit) is doubtful (a trace of it perhaps exists in the use of
Sta\e«/ecr0ai, in Basil, quoted above), while an application of the idea
of the Logos in a similar relation is demonstrable in Callistus (Hipp.
Eef. omn. ha>r. !', 12 1; nor can it be known with certainty how
far an alternatively acting emergence of the different Prosopa in
succession is supposed or carried out in the relation of the three
Prosopa to the Divine, creative and saving activity iHippol. /.V/'.,
Epiph. H. 62, fragments in Routh 7,V//7. sacrcs. III. 371 K):n. The
victoriously advancing subordinational doctrine of the Logos.speeially
represented by Origen in the third century, had still much to do for
long with a very decided attachment to a modalistic conception.

Whether indeed BKRYLU'S of Bostra. whom Origen brought l>;irk
from his opinion at a synod of Arabian bishops (about 244), is to be
reckoned on this side or on that of the Dynamistir. Monarchians,
remains uncertain in the scantiness of information (Euseb. H. K. <!,
'.>'.]. He taught that the Lord and Saviour, before becoming man,
did not pre-exist in a circumscribed nature of His own, and neither
had He a Godhead of His own, but it was merely the Godhead of
the Father which dwelt and had dominion in Him. II* is 10 be
placed on the Dynamic jr. side, if tin- words of Origen refer to him
(Fragm. in Ep. ad Tit. Conn,/. V. -_'s7 : it' the fathers at the above
mentioned synod determined that .Jesus had no proper human soul
(Socr. H. E. 3, 7), that would afford no decisive evidence either \\;iy.

Next however the Sabellian views gained such decided aecepta
in the Libyan Pentapolis iC}'renai( •;> after i he middle of the third
century among the bishops there, that " not much was lacking, till
in this church the Son of God would no longer be preached " Aih.
De sentent. Dion. 5), and that it occasioned controversy with it on
the part of the Alexandrian Bislmp Dionysius (s.v. . In the second
half of the century, however, the other and Dynamistic tendency of
Monarchianism once more i -a me into decided prominence, and en-
deavoured in an elaborate fashion to rescue the view which starts
from the human person of the Redeemer. Paul of Samosata, Bishop
of Antioch from about 2<>u, a man of the highest jx>liticul iniluence,

MO N ARC HI AN ISM. PAUL OF S AMOS ATA. 229

being a kind of Viceroy (Ducenarius procurator according to the
Roman designation) in Antioch, which then belonged to Queen Zeno-
bia of Palmyra, and standing high in the favour of Zenobia (who
was attached to Judaism). Political divisions, the opposition of the
Roman to the Palmyrene party, as well as the display of worldly
glory, or rather worldly intrigue associated with Paul's secular
position, seem to have sharpened and embittered the doctrinal oppo-
sition which here made its appearance. He was accused of a revival
of the Artemonite doctrine, and as a matter of fact he is one of the
series of Dynamistic Monarchians. Naturally, in accordance with
the ecclesiastical development which had meanwhile taken place, he
uses as his instrument the churchly idea of the Logos, which how-
ever, essentially similar to the divine wisdom, he does not regard as
•a second divine hypostasis alongside of God and in consequence as
divine subject for the person of the Redeemer, but as the immanent
(qualitatively conceived) divine reason and wisdom ; it does indeed
appear in a certain manner as begotten of God (and so in a certain
sense it is called also the Son of God), as the ^6709 Trpo<j>opiK6$, and
so assumes a kind of independent subsistence as the principle of the
divine working forth. But as it is active in the prophets, in a still
higher degree in Moses, and in many others, so it is only so in an
extraordinary manner in the man Christ, born of the Virgin ; the
I Logos from above is in the Christ from beneath as in its temple,
and inspires him. Hence, as on the one hand, in spite of the relative
emergence of the Logos from God, he decidedly accentuates the
principle that God is to be conceived as unipersonal, so on the other
he decidedly repudiates the conception of an essential humanisatioii
on the part of the Logos ; the latter rather dwells in the essentially
human person, not ouo-twSw?, but Kara TroiorrjTa, the man Jesus is
another than the Logos, and the unity of both is perfected in the
ethical way, but in it also eminently in the unity of the will in love ;
and the main weight falls on the deification, taking place gradually
in human development under the influence of the Logos, of the
i man who in the immutability of love is indissolubly united with the
! Godhead.

His opponents arranged a great synod including more than the
I ecclesiastical province of Antioch, in 2G4, in which Firmilian of
iCsesarea in Cappadocia also took part, while the aged Dionysius of
'Alexandria made excuses for his absence. But this assembly, as
[also a second, had no result ; Firmilian contented himself with re-
isponsive declarations of Paul. It was not till the third meeting i k2l>8
lor '269), where the Antiochene sophist and head of a learned school,

230 CHURCH HISTORY.

who was also a presbyter, Malchion, prosperously conducted the dis-
pute with him (Firmiliaii was on his way to this synod when he
died), that he was excommunicated from the Church of Aiitioch, and
the acts of the synod made known to the churches abroad. Never-
theless Paul still kept himself for several years under the protection
of Zenobia (so that in Aiitioch an " orthodox" community remained
separate from him), until, after the conquest of Antioch by the
Emperor Aurelian and the fall of Zenobia (272), the Emperor ad-
judged the Antiochene Church to those with whom the Christian
bishops of Italy and Rome held communion (Euseb. H. E. 7, 27-30,
and the other fragments from the Acts of the Synod held against
him, vid. Routh, III. 28(i sqq.).

In the war of the church against the Monarchians, the subordi-
national doctrine of the Logos gained the preponderance, though
not without a struggle. At first the war was specially vigorously
conducted against Modalistic Monarchianism, as by Tertullian
against Praxeas, by Hippolytus against Noe'tus and his Roman suc-
cessors. But afterwards. Origin decidedly advanced the construc-
tion of the person of Christ as the physical God-man, which was
based on the Apologists' doctrine of the Logos, in that by his doc-
trine of the eternal l>egottenness of tin- Logos ( = the Son) he
brought to a close the movement which transposes the historical
conception of the Son of God into tin- metaphysical, when 1>\- Logos
and Son of God become synonyms. By the doc-trine of the eternal
begetting of the Logos it is intended to emphasise the divinity M
well as the personal sul>si-t>-nce of the LO-MS (the hypostatical inde-
pendence, which fits Him for incarnation). The procedure of the
Logos to independent subsistence is not meant to reduce to finitude
the idea of God, or to place Him either under the conception of
time or under the emanational notion of quantity, but is meant to
designate an eternal relationship of communication of essence, and
to such a degree of p«-rt'.-ction, that the Son = Logos is the essen-
tial image of the Father (as it were His eternal repetition as to
this side (as regards the content) of the same nature ; however this
Logos is at the same time to be regarded as only a second prin-
ciple, though one postulated eternally, which mediates God's transi-
tion from unity to multiplied, the transition to the world, and has
all that it ever is from the Father as the dpxr'h ^n this s^e there-
fore it is so subordinated, that the Logos, although of divine
essence, yet (although only in a timeless manner) only appears as
posited by the will of God ; hence it also, where this side is empha-
sised, may be designated «-t

MONARCHIANISM. 231

When Bishop DIONYSIUS of Alexandria (247-264), in opposition to
the Sabellian doctrine which, as has been mentioned, was very
widely spread in this neighbourhood, carne to the point of exalting
the hypostatic independence of the Son Logos, and therefore the
personal difference, he did so with such bringing into prominence
of the subordination of the Son to the Father, who is to be dis-
tinguished from Him as the divine apxn-i that he was not ashamed
to designate the Logos or Son as the creature and work of the
Father ; lie came however to an agreement with the notions of the
Roman Dionysius (259-269), who was appealed to by the Egyptian
bishops, and who maintained the community of nature of the Son
with the Father, the assertion of the eternity of the Son, and the
need of more exact distinction of the idea of begetting from that of
creating and forming, to such an extent as so to limit and in part to
retract his expressions that he also admitted the unity of essence
(Hornoousia) of the Son with the Father (EusEB. H.E. 7, 6 and 26 ;
ATHANASIUS, De sententia Dionyxii}.

Finally, the rejection of the doctrine of Paul of Samosata indi-
cates the victory of the subordinatiorial doctrine of the Logos over
Dynamistic Monarchianism. At the same time there proceeded
from Paul of Samosata abiding influences upon subsequent times,
traces of which, though in the form of an altered conception of the
idea of the Logos, are to be found in the later School of Antioch,
and of which the famous Antiochene presbyter LUCIAN (p. 216)
appears to be the medium.

It is only gradually that, in these conflicts, the question of the
nature of the Holy Spirit, who in the baptismal formula is so closely
united with the Father and Son as a divine potency, is consciously
brought forward ; as in the historical person of Jesus the Son of
God, there is recognised the God-Logos who has passed over into
earthly appearance, so in the illuminating and inspiring govern-
ment of the spirit of the community, in the activity of the pro-
mised Messianic Spirit, there is an analogous appearance of a third
divine potency in the Christian community. Even though the
relation of the Holy Spirit as a divine potency to Father and Son
remained in many ways indefinite, its government in the church
was so much more decidedly exalted. The Christians knew them-
selves as such to be in possession of the illuminating and inspiring
Spirit of God, the same who had wrought in the prophets and
apostles. Prophecy appeared as the continuous activity of the Spirit
in Christianity. In Montanism it had come forward in a specially

23 2 CHURCH HISTORY.

heightened form and had been driven to a climax. In the inspira-
tion of the Montanist prophets the Paraclete claimed to be the
immediate divine authority, leading1 Christianity and guiding it
to perfection. At this stage of revelation the church appeared to
Montanism in her highest perfection. As the essence of Chris-
tianity, regarded chiefly from the point of view of the revelation of
divine truth, of the revealing entrance of God into humanity,
seemed to consist in the incarnation of the divine Loeos, so it seemed

O

to consist in the appearance of the Paraclete, when regarded mainly
under the point of view of the divine law of perfection, in both
relations abstractly supranaturalistic ; so as regards the inspirations
of the Holy Spirit it appeared formally as the immediate speech
of the spirit to which the human organ is purely passively related,
but as regards their content it appeared as the heightened ascetic
claims of the kingdom of God. with the sharpest accentuation
of the opposition between the kingdom of God and the world, an
opposition which had likewise been severely strained in the ancient
church. Hence the aim of the development of the church is re-
garded as not so much the gradual penetration of the world with
the spirit of Christianity 1» for,. 1 heir eyes, as an abrupt breaking
• ill of secular development by the nearly approaching consummatio
xd-ctili i/Pert. . the entry of the millennial kingdom (Chiliasm : mil-
lennium i according to Key. xx. 1 sijtj. Men saw in the persecutions
of the church the raging of anti-Christian power, but the latter
appeared as the premonitory sign of the near victorious return of
Christ for the restoration of His glorious kingdom (of a mundane
supra-mundane sort i, in which those who were adjudged worthy of
the resurrection of the just should participate, the Sabbath of the
world 'Bainab. KI>. 1">. 1: six world-days are six thousands of
yejirs; the seventh world-day is the sabbatical rest and feast); it
pieeedes the last Judgment, the second resurrection and eternal
j i ure heavenly bliss. This view, developed from Jewish apocalyp-
tics on the basis of O.T. prophecy, is the pretty general Christian
expectation in the first two centuries, apart from most Gnostic
circles which, in their spiritualism, reject it. With the Greek
apologists of the second century, who transform the Christianity of
enthusiastic hope, theologically, and form it into a religious philoso-
phical view of the world, there comes in of course an altered view.
Justin, although sharing in the Chiliastic hope, knows of Christian!
who do not do so, and whom he does not on that account regard as
erring in the faith; with the rest of the apologists these hopes at
least do not appear, and in their place there mines to a certain

CHILI ASM. 233

extent the simple hope of the resurrection regarded as the transfer-
ence into the condition of heavenly immortality*. Irenseus holds
fast throughout by the Chiliastic hopes, showing in this also his close
connection with the ancient Christian tradition, and in Tertnllian's
realistic manner of thought they are most firmly asserted in asso-
ciation with the Moiitanism which he zealously laid hold of and
valiantly defended. But just the asperities of Moiitanism, this
driving to a climax of the opposition between the kingdom of
God and the world, between supra-natural and natural morality,
necessitates a strong change of sentiment in the church. In this
war against Montanism the so-called Alogi (vid. sup. p. 158), and so
likewise in Rome the Presbyter Gaius in opposing the Montanist
Proclus, rejected the Apocalypse as the foundation of Chiliasm.
Opinion however in general universally turned against it where
the new theological Christianity of Hellenic construction gained
power, and so specially under the influence of Origen, so that in
his school after the middle of the third century, DIONYSIUS of Alex-
andria came forward against Chiliasm when, on its account, an
ecclesiastical split threatened to arise in the district of Arsinoe.
Here namely Bishop NEPOS, in opposition to the allegorical interpre-
tation of Scripture as practised in Alexandria, had maintained
the verbal conception of the eschatological hopes, in the (lost) treatise
"JEX 67^09 r<av d\\i]jopiaT(t)i>J and after his death, his adherents,
under the Presbyter Coracion, separated from the Church of Alex-
andria. Dionysius however succeeded in converting Coracion, and he
endeavoured to confirm this result by his treatise lit: pi e7ra>y<ye\i,a>v
(Euseb. H.E. 7, 24 sq.). But even in the Greek field Chiliasm did
not at this point by any means disappear ; the opposition of Metho-
dius (rid. sup. p. 215j to Origen extended also to the spiritua-
lizing of the contents of the prophecies. But it specially comes
forward with still great power in the Latin field, not indeed in the
case of Cyprian, who was otherwise influenced in so many ways by
Tertullian, but in very realistic representations in the poet Couimo-
diaii, in Victorinus of Pettau and in Lactantius. It was only the
secular triumph of the church from Constantine onwards, the tem-
poral dominion of the church, which repressed the vision in the
future of the millennial kingdom.

In the end, however, the transformation in the view of the
action of the Spirit is perfected not least in the province of the
constitution of the church and in that of Christian morals and dis-
cipline. While Montanism, emphasising the opposition of the claims
of the Spirit and the flesh, of the kingdom of God and the world,

234 CHURCH HISTORY.

had sought to keep at a distance all worldly customs aud to ex-
clude definitely from the community, so as not to pollute it, all who
had fallen into more grievous sins, and to lead out the community
at the stage of perfection to meet the Lord who was immediately
to come, the church on the other hand, which was finding a place
for itself in the world, found itself compelled to relax the strict-
ness of its demands. And while Montanism sought to build the
church upon immediate prophetic inspiration as upon supernatural
authority, the church by this time began to perceive the true
action of the Spirit who led the church in the organs of the
organised church itself, in the Bishops as the bearers of the apos-
tolic tradition, and soon also as the bearers of the saving powers of
the Spirit. Let us first turn our observation to this point, that is
to say, to the organisation of the Church.

7. The Development of the Constitution.
I. THE CLKIKJY.

SOCIK KS for the history of the church's constitution including church or-
dinances and ordinances of worship and church discipline are, besides
numerous passages of the ecclesiastical writers Tertullian, Irenseus,
Clement, Origen, Cyprian (especially the Letters) and others, the DECISIONS
OF SYNODS, contained in the great collections of the Acts of Councils, of
which the most comprehensive is that of J. H. M ANSI. < :<ni<-il. coll. nora et
«?/;/<//»• , ;U voll. Fo. Florence and Venice IT'iit sqq. (a new reprint begun
in recent years). The Decisions (Canons) of the Councils with other eccle-
siastico-legal material collected in the ecclesiastico-lc^al works : HIOVEKRIUI
J'di/tltitd' I'titintuiin N.S. a/>i>sf. et concil., etc. Oxon. 1<>72, and (Ju. YOKI.II
et H. .Ii -i 1:1. 1. 1 Ilihti'ith. juris caiKD/. /•«•/., Paris Ki<il. A useful handy
edition by H. Tn. Bnrxs, Canoncs a]). H <"//<• ««/•<•. IV. \ II. (Biblioth. eccles.
L), Berlin lSo!i. Belonging to this period, the Decisions of the ante-Nicene
Synods. — Several so-called canonical epistles of eminent teachers of the
Church (l)ionys. Al., < ; ivgory Thaumat., Petrus Alex.) in l'.i-:vi:i:noius
ROUTII, lt>-/i>j(t>'(V S<HTII- III. and IV. and de LAGAKM:. /:<•(>', fiiitr juris
ccclex. (iitt/i/itiss., Leipsic issii. — A number of collections of materials of
church ordinances of unknown origin, which partly express what has been
confirmed by ecclesiastical custom, partly work up this matter under the
influence of definite tendencies. The most ancient piece of this sort ap-
pears to be the DIDACIIIO (rid. sn/>. p. Ill sq.); other older piivo are
already worked up in what has be,en called by its first editor HICKKLI.. the
Apostolic Church Ordinances, the substance <>f whii-.h is derived from tin*
Apostles through Clement who is regarded as a disciple of the Apostles:

at diarayai ai 8ia KXi^/ufi-roy *nt KavovfS (KK\r)m<inTiK<n rail' ayitOV diro(rTo\iav
(BiCKELL, I.e. 107--1 :i-J: dc LMIAKDK, //••//</. 71 7:': PITKA, Juris, ccrl.'s,
tiisf. mini nm., Rome IKUl, 75-Sfi; HII,(;F.\FKI,U. A". T. t-.i-tm < mnnii'in r«-c/>f.
fasc. 4, ed. 2), a compilation proceeding from about the beginning of the
fourth century, in which in the form of sayings of the different Apostles
along with the Didache and the ftpistle of Barnabas (their moral prescrip-

CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 235,

tions) two literary fragments as it appears, likewise proceeding from the
second century (second half), (designated by Harnack as Karao-rao-is roC ncX^pov
and Karda-raa-is rfjs eV^A/jo-ias) are pretty roughly worked up. — Of the APOSTOLIC
CONSTITUTIONS (Edd. in COTELERIUS Patres app. I ; von VELZEN, Sverin.
1853 and especially by de LAGARDE, Leipsic and London 1862) the first
six books contain an expanded revision of the ScSacncaAi'a TO>V aTroo-roXwi/
which belongs to the third century, the original composition of which is
recognisable in a Syriac translation (ed. de Lagarde, 1854). In accordance
with it the original Greek text has been restored from the expanded text
of the Constitutions in BUNSEN, Analecta Anteniccena II. 225-338. From
the same hand as this interpolation of the Didaskalia the revision of the
Didache which is found in the VII. Book of the Constitutions, which
sets aside all that no longer is in accordance with the circumstances of the
reviser's age, and replaces it with other regulations in agreement with them.
The points of contact with the longer Greek recension of the seven Ignatian
Epistles formerly remarked, led after the bringing of light into the subject
by the discovery of the Didache, to the supposition (HARNACK) that one
and the same reviser had been at work. The VIII. Book of the Constitu-
tions contains for tha most part liturgical prescriptions and formularies,
which are compiled from older pieces of the third century which are partly
still extant (several in LAGARDE'S Reliq.). Its origin is held to have been
anti-Nicene. — The fifty or rather eighty-five so-called Apostolic Canons
which in many MSS. are appended to the VIII. Book of the Constitutions, a
collection of legal regulations, especially as to the discipline of the clergy,
were first gathered together in the fifth century on the basis of written
principles, tradition and the decisions of synods, and come under con-
sideration in the next period. — As regards this whole literary family, which
is also extant in numerous Syriac, Ethiopic and Coptic texts, cf. specially
BICKELL, Gexch. des Kirchenrechts I. 1843; de LAGARDE in Bunsen's Anal.
Antinic. II. 37 sq., and in the preface to the Reliq. ; LIGHTFOOT, 8. Clement
of Rome, 1877 Append.; KRAWUTZKY, ThQ. 1882, 359-445 and HARNACK in>
Texte und Unterauchungen II. 1886, Parts 1 and 2, 170-266, and Part 5.

For the history of church government in general : G. J. PLANCK, Gesch.
der christl.-kirchl. Gesellschafts-verfassung, I. Hannover 1803; R. ROTHE,
Die Anfange der christl. Kirche, Wittenb. 1837 ; HATCH, The Organization
of the Early Christian Churches, 3rd ed., London 1888. German translation,
with excursus by Harnack, Giessen 1883 ; and HARNACK I.e. above.

1. The Bishop. The free rule of the so-called charismatic teach-
ing office was suppressed in the course of the second century by the
regular congregational office of the government of the community,
which derived its vocation not from charismatic endowment and the
voice of the Spirit, but from regulated appointment (choice), and
was attached to the definite community, bore a permanent character
and now also began to lay claim to the function of teaching. At
the same time in this office of leadership of the community the
monarchical position of the leader is raised above the plurality of
the elders of the community, and in this way the originally more-
general designation of the official activity of the presbyters who lead1

.236 CHURCH HISTORY.

rthe community (eTriWovrot) is gradually applied exclusively to the
•one who stands at the head of the college, so that the (other) pres-
byters of the community appear to be distinguished from him only
.as the second grade of the officials of the community, although the
consciousness of the original and essential equality of the offices
i that the bishop himself was one of the presbyters) is shown by the
language of Irenseus, who applies the name presbyter to bishops also,
.and by that of Clement of Alexandria, who does indeed distinguish
between bishops, presbyters and deacons, but only assumes a two-
fold (higher and lower i character of office (Strom. VII. 1, 3. 83O P.
VI. 13. 106, p. 793 P.I. This fact long maintained itself vigorously
in the consciousness of the church. If, to the author of the Ignatian
Epistles, the bishop was eminently the point of union for the com-
munity, the so to speak patriarchal authority, which held the in-
dividual communit}' together and stood in the place of Christ, while
the college of presbyters surrounding him occupied the place of the
Apostles, the episcopate now comes forward chiefly as the guarantee
of the unfalsified apostolic tradition. The appeal to the unfalsihed
tradition of the truth in the communities of apostolic foundation is
based upon the fact. that, in these communities an unbroken swccm/o
.episcoporum has jaken place from the Apostles down to the present

•1 A I

time, which involves the guarantee of purity TKKT. I ><• />r<r*cr.
/no: ;$± IKKX. Adr. IKI,: ::. -2, '2; 3, 3, 1 et passim,. The appeal
to the external historical connection with the Apostles as mediated
through the person of the liishops, is also, however, accompanied by
the appeal to the divine Spirit ruling in the community and its gifts
of grace, in such a way th.it this possession ,,f the Spirit, essential
to the community of Christ, as it found organs for itself in apostles,
prophets and teachers, now linds its legitimate hearers in the or-
dained episcopate, and this monarchic office to a certain extent
becomes the heir of the free charismatic demonstrations (Iren. IV.
-?'i. •")). From the two points of view taken together, there is very
shortly developed the idea, that, as the bishops hold the locum
magisterii apostolontm 'Iren. III. ;>, 1, cid. Harnack !><;. 1. -j'Jii , the
episcopate is the continuation of the apostolate and its authority
in the church Hin-oi.. /,'<•/: o. ha>r. Pr;ef. p. I. .V_> s(|<j. cd. 1 >S : suc-
cessors, d'nnloclioi of the Apostles and participators in th- same grace
of the high-priesthood and of doctrine, and esteemed as guardians
of the church .

Essentially behind this development, which was energetically car-
ried out in the West, stands of course the Alexandrian concept ion
ill Clement, to whom it. is rather the Christian who exercises himself

THE EPISCOPATE. 237

in the commands of the Lord and exalts himself to Gnosis, i.e.
the Gnostic, who enters spiritually into the select number of the
Apostles, and so becomes a true presbyter of the Church, and a true
diaconus of the divine will (Str. VI. 13, 106 and 107), and therefore
realises in its true inward essence that which of course is set forth
according to its idea in the offices of the church ; only so, that the
emergence of the bishop from the general dignity of the presbyters
is still little noticeable. Even here however, like claims on the part
of the episcopate soon emerge.

The theory attained the form of the full hierarchical view in
CYPRIAN, under the influence of the ecclesiastical conflicts further
mentioned below. According to it the bishops by their ordination
(i.e. the imparting of the Spirit) are the representatives follow-
ing the Apostles of those to whom apply the words : " He who
heareth you heareth Me," who possess all apostolic powers, who are
not merely the teachers, but also the judges of Christians (judices),
holders of the power of the keys (rid. infra} and digpensatores Dei
(Cypr. Ep. 59, 5 ed. Hart. II. 672, 16 ; Ep. 67, 6 p. 740, 7), stewards
of the divine gifts of grace, the enjoyment of which (and thereby
union with Christ) is attached for believers to obedience to the
priests of God, so that the church rests on them, in them essentially
consists the church, without which there is no salvation.

In this development the ecclesiastical idea of the priesthood comes
to its completion, i.e. the union of the conception of the office which
rules the community as divinely instituted and claiming obedience
according to divine right, with the conception of it as an office of
priestly mediation between God and man (intercessio and trans-
mission of divine grace).

In spite of the theoretical abolition of any special priesthood as
opposed to the community, which was involved in the original
Christian idea of the universal spiritual priesthood of all Chris-
tians (1 Pet. ii. 5, 9 ; Heb. iv. 16 ; Rev. i. 6), not only the Old
Testament but also the general view of antiquity, which regards
religion as bound up with priesthood and sacrifice, brought
about the prevalence of this conception in ecclesiastical Chris-
tianity. Clement of Rome already adduces the Old Testament
priestly class as a type for the relationships of the Christian com-
munity (Clem. Ad Cor. I. cap. 40 sqq.), but only with a view to re-
commending unity by subordination under the leading organs as
pleasing to God, without involving the thought of priestly media-
tion ; and if the Didache (13, 3) designates the prophets as the high-
priests of Christians, to whom accordingly first-fruits are to be-

CHURCH HISTORY.

rendered, this is likewise no fixed office which proceeds into a kind
,of priestly position, but the charismatic endowment acquires this
importance on account of its immediate divine authority and its
importance in worship (cf. 10, 7, the prophets not bound to the form
.of eucharistic prayer given). The conception of Christian worship of
•God and in particular of the Eucharist under the idea of sacrifice,
the \6iToup7ta, necessitates the development which is here completed.
" God accepts sacrifice from none, except through His priests," says
.Justin (Dial. c. Tryph. 116 sq.) Here however Christians in general
are still the dp^iepaTiKov yevos TOV #eo{), and this universal priestly
character of Christians is still decisively maintained as fundamental
by Tertullian (De exhort at. cctxtit. 7, De tnonog. 7), although "the
.church has firmly settled the distinction between ordo and /)/«/>*," and
he reproaches heretics with also giving over priestly affairs to laymen
(De prazscr. hcer. 41). The functions of the presbyters however are
sacerdotal, the bishop therefore xiimnnt* win r<l»s (cf. Hippol. sup. p. 2-'i(!
dp-^iepdreia). But with Cyprian the position of the bishops has been
.at once so much exalted, that they are the absolute .-.mv/v/o/Vx, but
the presbyters are <'i>i*<-<>j>o wu-cnlotdli Inn/ore coninndL Thus in the
episcopate not only is the unity of the Church assured, which shows
itself in the solidary connection of all holders of the episcopate, but
at the same time the totality of the divine influence of grace for
the individual members of the community is attached to this insti-
tution.

2. The Presbyters. "NVhile the supreme leadership in the concerns
• of the community thus always falls exclusively to the bishops, and
the episcopate is regard* I as the highest source of all sacerdotal
authority, its original procedure from the presbyterate has this after
•effect, that the bishops appear to be bound to the advice of tin-
presbyters in the goverment of the church, and that the exercise of
sacerdotal functions takes place by presbyters also; but in the former
relationship only to the extent that they are taken into counsel with
the bishop according to his judgment; eventually, on the vacation
.of the episcopal chair, they necessarily take in hand the guidance
of the community, or act on the bishop's commission, as likewise in
regard to the latter relationship, in preaching and the care of souls
they only act on the commission, and with the approbation, of the
bishop.

3. Contrasted with the office of leadership and priesthood in the
narrower sense come the Deacons as the officers of ecclesiastical ser-
vice, with such further development of the priestly view, that they
.appear as Levites, in contrast to the sons of Aaron, the high-priest

THE LOWER CLERGY.

(bishop) and the priests. Cyprian asserts, that they were not chosen
by the Lord Himself like the Apostles ( = bishops), but instituted by
the Apostles after His ascension as " servants of their episcopate and
of the church," and therefore may as little dare anything against
the bishops as the latter may against the Lord (Ep. 3, 3). But
their immediate relation to the bishop, whose eyes and ears they are,
by means of which he observes the condition of the community, and
hands by means of which he acts, gives them influence and weight.
They are the instruments of the bishop in the administration of
church property and the churchly care of the poor incumbent on
him, his attendants, eventually his commissioners for definite cases,
representing him in certain circumstances, besides being entrusted
with certain functions in divine worship (vid. infra) ami having the
power of preaching on the bishop's commission.

4. The lower grades of the Clergy. Thus in spite of their char-
acter as servants, the deacons are grouped along with the bishops
and presbyters, and along with them form the three ordines, which
in contrast to the people (Xao?, plebs) form the clergy. To these
three the conception of the clergy is still limited in Tertullian,
and as it seems in Hippolytus (Refut. 9, 12 p. 460, 1 ed. DS.). The
increasing needs, however, of the growing Christian communities
and the growing tendency to hierarchical organisation leads
shortly (till towards the middle of the third century), at first in Rome
and thence more widely, to the formation of a number of subordinate
clerical grades, which are now contrasted with the above ordines
ma lores as minores. (The denomination clerus minor in Pseudo-
Cyprian's treatise De rebaptismate, Opp. ed. Hartel III. 82, 9). a;
In large and populous communities necessity led to increase in the
number of the deacons; as however it was thought necessary, accord-
ing to Acts vi. to limit the number to seven, and at the same time
the increased clerical dignity of thed eacons did not seem to cor-
respond with humbler services, they were supplemented by the
viro&idKovoi (sitbdiaconi) as the v-rniperai of the deacons (Const. App.
8, 26) who at one time were so designated themselves (!GN. Trail. 2,
3). bj Services which hitherto had been performed on the ground of
special ability or charismatic endowment by members of the com-
munity without fixed investment of office, now become functions of
clerical offices. In this relation the exercise of teaching in divine
worship (practising bpiXeiv} more and more appeared to be the
affair of the bishops and presbyters, or rather also of the deacons es-
pecially commissioned thereto by the bishops, and objections began to
be taken, when laymen, in the presence of the bishops, preached to

24o CHURCH HIS2VRY.

the communities (Eus. H.E. 6, 19 sub fin.) — although here necessity
did not permit of its coming to formal prohibition, but people con-
fined themselves to making the appearance of laymen as teachers
dependent on the summons of the bishop. So likewise the work of
the reader of the Holy Scriptures, which was requisite from of old
in assemblies for worship (Anagnost. Lector — cf. Rev. i. 3, JUST. M.
Apol. I. 67 et passim) now became, what in Tertullian it has not
yet properly become, a clerical function and the lector is added to
the lower clergy. The case of the Exorcists is similar. The char-
isma of conjuration and healing of demoniacs which is still regarded
by Tertullian (Apol. 23, De idolol. 11, De cor. mil if. 11 ; cf. also Orig.
c. Celx. 7, 334) as a universal Christian spiritual power, now becomes
an official activity; the exorcist becomes a member of the lower clergy,
entrusted with the care of the spiritually sick (of the evepyovpevoi,
SaifjLovi^dfjLevoi), has to speak the church's prayers over them, and see-
ing that a conjuration of the evil spirit was combined with baptism,
acquires an importance for the catechumens also. However in
the Greek Church, in reminiscence of the original significance of
the charisma, which was not adapted for an official praxis, the
exorcists do not appear among the clerics (Const. App. 3, 11. 6, 17),
and also according to Const. App. 8, 25 (beginning of the fourth cen-
tury) exorcists are not to be ordained.1 Clerical supervision how-
ever of the work of the exorcists is promoted by the regulation of
the Council of Laodicea (c. 26) to the effrct that exorcism both in
houses and churches should only be exercised by those who have
been authorised to do so by the bishop, ci For the rendering- of
personal services there come along-side of the clergy who have been
raised to priestly dignity, the acolytes (wquentex) and the door-
keepers who were responsible for the care and service of the places
of worship (somewhat corresponding to the (cditunx in the Roman
system of worship) Qvpwpoi, TruXwpot, nxthn-ii, jciiiitores, to whom the
keys of the Church were entrusted. It was their business to see
that suspicious persons found no entrance, in general to watch over
the in-coming and out-going, and the separation of the missa cntech.
from the m. fidelium, and to shut the doors against penitents and un-
believers after the dismissal of the catechumens.

For the rest, perfect accord does not obtain in the (incidental)
information from the Latin and that from the Greek Church, even

1 A similar regulation indeed also with reference to the Lector vM. //< //. >nr.
cccl. ed. LAGARDE p. 5 sqq. HARNACK, Texfc mnl l'nt<-rx. II. 5, 73, note 4;}. Cf.
also Const. App. I. 1 on the charismata a*- the affair of any layim'ii. which
have no longer inner importance for the church. (Harnack, ib. M MI.)

THE MINOR CLERGY. 241

apart from the exorcists. In the former we hear nothing of the
acolytes (in spite of the Greek name, which points to the predomi-
nance of Greek in the Roman community down to the third
century) ; on the other hand the church singers (•^raX.Twboi or
tyd\Tat) are more closely connected with the lectors, as were also
towards the end of the period in the Latin West the cantores, who
however like the fossores do not appear to have the clerical charac-
ter. Here appears to be the complete series : subdeacon, acolytes,
exorcists, lectors and ostiaries. And these ordines minores now
afford in Borne, and very shortly in the West, the regular way by
which the higher clergy were educated, or the personnel was formed
from which the higher clergy were recruited. An ascension per
omnia ecdesiastica offlcia sanctis religionis gradibus (Cypr. Ep. 55, 8
p. 629, 9) is praised by the Roman bishop Cornelius, although by no
means supposed as a general rule. The lectorate, especially, appears
as a suitable preparatory step to entry into the higher clergy, especially
the presbyterate. The Female diaconate (deaconesses) makes free
progress, but an official institution of the deaconesses, to which
the Epistle of Pliny to Trajan still alludes, disappears entirely, as it
seems, in the second century and until the third, while the institu-
tion of the widows (^ijpai] who are supported by the community,
take a place of honour and render it services, is everywhere
mentioned (UHLHORN, Liebesth. p. 160). They bind themselves not to
marry again, occupy a seat of honour and (at least by Tertullian, De
virg. vel. 9) are reckoned among the clergy and co-operate with them
in the instruction of the female catechumens. It appears natural,
that as a matter of fact they should also have shared in the works
of the diaconate (care of the poor and sick) (Ap. Con. § 21 in Lagarde
p. 78, where however it is emphasised in the first line that they were
devoted to prayer and received spiritual revelations). The visitation
of imprisoned confessors by widows and orphan children in their
service is attested by Lucian De morte Peregr. c. 12). Their main
business seems to have been the guidance and instruction of the
female portion of the community (N.B. with exclusion of public
teaching in the assemblies for divine worship).

In the Greek Church it is only towards the end of our period
that an ordo of deaconesses makes its appearance. The widows as
objects of support by the community, who have to devote them-
selves to prayer recede from that official position, which passes over
to the deaconesses (Const. App. III. Jtara'^ei? of Hippol. in Lag.
p. 5). To this result the high esteem in which the condition of vir-
gins is held, contributed : the widow recedes behind the virgin,

16

242 CHURCH HISTORY.

deaconess (for this is the rule) ; probably also the enhanced idea of
oince, which could no longer tolerate a clerical position of the
widows which corresponded to the presbyter rather than the deacon
(irp ea/3 t/rt'Se?). The official position of woman in the church recedes
from the grade of the presbyterate to that of the diaconate. To this
corresponded the increased need of female services for the female
portion of the community (Reliq. jnr. ed. Lagarde, p. 29, Const.
App. III. 15), also the need of female instruments for the control and
maintenance Of order in divine worship for the female portion of
the community. In the older parts of the Apostolic Constitutions
there is always mention of only one deaconess in the community.
Perhaps (according to UHLHORN p. 167) this was the transition, that
deaconess services were entrusted to one of the widows (cf. the Ap.
KO. § 21). Already at Nicaea(can. 19) the instruction of deaconesses
(of course with reference to the Greek East) is presupposed as
univei'sal, though also without ordination proper and therefore with
denial of its proper clerical character. Subsequently, in the course
of the fourth century, the Council of Laodicea (c. 11) forbade the
further appointment of presiding widows ; on the other hand, this
institution of deaconesses found no acceptance in the West, where
the widows still maintained their position for some time and also
partially represented functions of the deaconesses' service. (Cf.
DIECKHOFF in Schafers Monatwhr. /'. DniL'onie I., and thereon
UHLHORN, Li<-bc*th. in </. a. K. p. 159 .-,44. i

5. The election of bishops. According to the fundamental notion
it is the community which elects the bishops, but it is already
the constitutional community, hence a deriding voice falls to the
( -lergy (the presbyters), yet in such a manner as to involve the
assent of the community of laymen. With the confirmation
of the monarchical position of the bishop and the conception of the
solidarity interdependent episcopate, there is created the necessity
for the co-operation of neighbouring bishops, alongside of which,
however, the approving testimony of the clergy (the presbyters)
and the acclamation of the people is required (<!<> dcricoruni
Icxltiiionio de yy/r///\ sufj'i-atjio). This involves recognition of the
principle that it is of the nature of legitimate election, that it
should take place in presence of the people, in order that he who is
worthy (against whom there is nothing) may be elected (Cypr. Ep.
()S cf. LAMPRID. In Xev. Alex. 45 >. The consecration of the bishop by:
a bishop ensued (vid. infra addition to the metropolitan constitution)
The choice of the other clergy lay mainly in the hands of the bishops
at the same time the community had to be heard, at least wit

POSITION OF THE CLERGY. It E VENUES. 243

reference to the presbyters. The requirements for election for the
clergy are still little determined ; at the same time (at least for the
higher clergy) those who had only been recently baptized (neopliyti
according to 1 Tim. iii. 6) or who had only been baptized in serious
illness, those who had formerly fallen under excommunication, or
had mutilated themselves, were excluded. Doubts were also enter-
tained with regard to former energumem (Eus. 6, 43).

6. The social position of the clergy and the revenues of the
Church. As regards the social position of the clergy, at first
men of various ranks, and trades which afforded them subsistence,
could occupy offices within the Christian community (as in the
pagan associations). But the growing importance of the clergy in
the Christian society led to certain businesses and kinds of trade
being found incompatible with their dignity, and the increasing
calls upon the time of clerics necessarily withdrew them more
and more from secular callings. At the same time, it always
remained the rule for the lower clergy that they should consist of
men who owed their subsistence to a civic craft (vid. the lector* in
the Gesta ap. Zenophil. in ROUTH, Reliq. sac. IV. 322-25 ed. 2,
with reference to the community at Cirta in the time of the perse-
cution of Diocletian,, where a patch-tailor, a grammarian and an
Imperial servant are among the lectors). There were not wanting
examples however, where bishops devoted themselves to lucrative
secular businesses (Cypr. De laps. 6), and even, like Paul of Samosata,
occupied a high secular office (Ducenarius Procurator}. On the
other hand the community was itself obliged to provide means for
its clergy, to which principle the example of the Old Testament
priesthood, which was to be maintained without having any share of
its own in the inheritance of the land, and also that of the heathen
priests and their sportulce (Cypr.) contributed. It was done how-
ever essentially from the point of view of pious, benevolent and at
the same time God-pleasing offering. This leads to the ecclesiastical
revenues of the communities in general, which were requisite not
solely for the maintenance of the clergy but for that also. They
flowed mainly from the offerings of the community, the oblations at
the Eucharist and Agape (vid. divine worship), consisting of natural
products of all sorts (gathered in baskets, sportulce). To them
i the Old Testament conception of the first-fruits was early applied
J (Iren. IV. 17, 5 of the elements of the Eucharist, bread and wine as
the simplest means of nourishment, etc. — Representatives of the
oblations in general), as also to the portions which fell to the priest
at the Agapes. In the Didache (13, 3) the first-fruits of the wine-

244 CHURCH HISTORY.

press and the threshing-floor, of oxen and sheep are assigned to the
Prophets who settle in a community, because they are its high-
priests. Further on in the church also the claim to first-fruits
in the proper sense is expressed ; first-fruits are to be offered to
God, i.e. to the priests. This command of the Old Testament law
is to be observed, according to the opinion of Origen, even in its
literal interpretation (Orig. Honnl. 11. on Numbers, § 1 sqq.. cf. c.
Cels. 8, 34, where the practice is presupposed). However its
accomplishment still remained distant, the obligation was not
universally recognised. In the West, Cyprian shows no acquaint-
ance with this custom ; but the Apostolic Constitutions distinctly
(2, 25. 7, 29) demand the offering of first-fruits to the bishop,
who is summoned to receive them. So likewise, towards the
end of the period, in consequence of the Old Testament views
which had been taken over, the demand for the offering of the
tithe becomes audible, but hardly with any considerable effect
(Cypr. DC cath. eccL unit. 26 attests, that tithes are not offered, but
with the thought that properly the}- ought to be). Alongside of
these oblations in kind, there also begins, however, in order to
meet necessities, the collection of regular monthly money contri-
butions, corresponding to the procedure in the Greek and Roman
Kodalitia and associations for worship : "Epavos. These money con-
tributions were put into an alms-dish or box (corban, also concha
from its spiral form) ; modicum unirxiinisqup stin<>in menstrua die vel
qua in relit, et si modo relit et si modo posxif. apponit; nam nemo com-
peUitur sed sponte confert (TERT. A/ml. 39 Const. App. 2, 36).

The contributions offered to God, or for His sake, are not (in spite
of their partial application to the maintenance of the clergy, ri-L
infra] to be conceived in the sense of surplice-fees, payment for
special sacred acts (TERT. A/>. 3!), nt't/it<> mini pretio res nil a Di>i
("onstdf). But, though not as a compulsory tax, yet as a voluntary
gift of gratitude, there begins the use of presents of the sort which
are nevertheless forbidden by Can. 48 of the Synod of Elvira,
with reference to candidates for baptism : ne sacerdos quod (j ratio
accepit pretio disfrahere r'uleatur.

At an early period, however, the church, as a corporation in
the sense discussed above, also began to acquire landed property
(p. 195), burial places and ecclesiastical buildings i Hippol. 9, 12, the
Roman Bishop Zephyrinus appointed Callistus over the Coemeterium
(Cf. KRAUS, Roma softer. 89, V. SCHULZE, Katali. 29). Vide the
decision of Alex. Sev., the restoration of their landed property to
the Christians by Galliums, and the notice of Paul of Samos;it;i.

ECCLESIASTICAL REVENUES. 245

Euseb. H.E. 7, 30, finally Maximin's Edicts of 312 (Euseb. H.E. 9,
10) and the letter of Licinius to Constantine (Euseb. 10 and Lact.
De mort.persec. 48,5: quoniam Chri.stiani non ea locum tantutti, ad
quce convenire conmeuerunt, sed alia etiam habuisse noscuntur, ad ius
corpori* eorum i.e. ecclesiarum, non hominum singulorum pertinentia,
etc.).

As has been said, the ecclesiastical revenues designated, with
some exception of the first-fruits aimed at, in the case of which
according to the example of the O.T. the priests as such were those
who were entitled to them (according to the Didache the prophets,
and only in the absence of these, the poor [13, 4]), are fundamentally
everywhere destined ad pios usus, i.e. for the care of the poor,
widows, orphans, sick, prisoners and strangers, in general for all
cases of need (Justin. Apol. I. 67, Tert. Apol. 19). But in proportion
to the measure of neediness of the clergy this applied to them
also. The manner and measure of distribution to the clergy must
have been very various. Cyprian's expressions (Ep. 34, 4 and 39, 5)
lead to the inference, that the clerics probably received their share
of the oblations in kind immediately, but of the balance of the
money receipts, after payment of other sorts of ecclesiastical expenses,
at monthly terms, in both cases, however, receiving quota corre-
sponding to their clerical grade. Traces of a really fixed salary are
only found in the case of some of the great churches of separated
communions, as in the case of the Montanists (Eus. H.E. 5, 18
according to the account of Apollonius) and among the Theodotians
in Rome (Eus. H.E. 5, 28). To this there is next added the neces-
sity of maintaining the ecclesiastical buildings and establishments,
so that here already the way is paved for the distinction of the
different titles of appropriation : pro mensa episcopi, pro dero, pro
fabrica ecdexice and die quarta pauperum.

The administration of the ecclesiastical revenues, however, wai
exclusively the affair of the bishop, who had to dispose of them
according to his judgment, who commissioned others in his name as
his representatives, and as against whom the deacons, as his guar-
dians of alms, and the poor were entirely dependent and were not
to assume an independent authority (Const, App. 2, 31 sq.). The
bishop himself appears to be responsible to God only in this
administration of property, although in this relation also, as in other
affairs of the service of the church, he was expected to take the
presbyters along with him. A position of such freedom could not
fail to be abused, as is shown by numerous warnings and complaints ;
warnings against the application of ecclesiastical revenues to private

246 CHURCH HISTORY.

uses beyond what was needful, or alreadj'- to purposes of nepotism
(crwyyevecnv t'St'ot? TO, rov Oeov crfyeTepi^eaOai), against not taking care
of the poor, but also against allowing the subordinate clergy to
famish (Can. Ap. c. 31 [al. 39], 51 [59], and Conxt. Apost. 2, 25. 29 ; cf.
the censures of Origen in Matth. t. 16, § 22). The deacons were
the bishop's hands in this administration of property, and they
being in the matter entirely dependent on the bishop, were fre-
quently guilty of unfaithfulness and abuse of funds. At an early
period however (in Rome at least), the development of the matter
seems to have reached the point at which, for the sake of unity in
the administration of property, one of the deacons became the
cashier proper of the bishop, and also carried the list (mntriciddi of
the sums to be given to the clergy and the poor — the post of the
official who in subsequent times was called the archdeacon. To a
similar cause points the appointment of a sort of syndic as repre-
sentative of the corporate property of the church (Callistus in the
time of Zephyrinus, rid. sup.), who may very probably be regarded
as a deacon.

II. The organisation of the episcopal church (Diocese) within its
own limits, the grouping- of episcopal churches in greater unities,
and the unity of the Church in general.

1. According to the notion of a bishop, he stands at the head of
a community conceived as united. Now the spread of Christianity,
not only in towns, but also out over the open country, had caused
little groups of Christians to arise (rid. the passages in IVOTIIK.
KG. I. 33(! sq.). In this case it was t-itln-r possiiili- and this did take
place") that in the rural district, a suliicii-nt number of Christians
constituted themselves an independent community, set up for them-
selves their independent divine worship, with regard to means stood
upon their own feet, and had at their head a president of their own
as bishop. Here therefore was a rural bishop i xwpe7riWo7ro<j)r
though it is true that this name only appears later on when the
ecclesiastical development was hurrying towards the principle of
depressing the authority of the latter below that of the city bishops.
The rural bishop was for his community the same as the bishop of
the great town was for his. (A trace is already to be found in
Clem. Rom. E/>. 1. ad. Cor. 42; rural bishops in the neighbourhood
of Antioch in the second half of the third century, tvV. ErsEn. H.E.
7, 30.) Amongst the comparatively large number of North African,
bishops at the synods, many must have been from smaller rural
communities.

The xi'cund nixe. however was t his, that missions conducted from

DIOCESES. 247

cities as centres attracted the converted Christians in the country,
who, in their scattered condition over the district, were unable to
form an independent community, to the community in the city in
question (cf. JUSTIN, Apol. I. 67, the assembly from city and country
on Sunday). In cases also, when, with the increasing number of
Christians there arose the need of a social worship of their own for
a multitude of rural Christians, the existing bond with the urban
community and its bishop was yet too strong ; and in many cases,
the need of a permanent centre of support was too powerful, to
permit of a separation from ecclesiastical alliance with them. Such
cases developed accordingly not into independent, but into affiliated
communities, received from the episcopal clergy of the city their
presidents, presbyters, eventually deacons also,1 who remained in a
relation of subordination to the city bishop, as the source of their
commission, even if, in the nature of the case, they may have received
a somewhat freer position. In this way they came to occupy to the
episcopal community of the city a similar relationship to that in
which the civic rural communities stood to the city, to which in
every case they were subordinated (BINGHAM III. 413 sq.). Filial
relationships of the same kind might also arise in cases where the
city community had made missionary efforts in remote neighbour-
hoods, which from the very beginning, as foundations of the civic
community in question, remained in a relation of dependence on it
(affiliated communities), frequently at a great distance. Communities
of the districts of Arsinoitis and Mareotis were filials of Alexandria ;
Mareotis stood under the Bishop of Alexandria, so that the individual
presbyters had a number (as many as ten and more) often of con-
siderable villages under them (vid. the passages in ROTHE I. 342 sq.).
In this way an episcopal parish might extend to a complex of many
members over wide districts.

2. But on the other hand in the great and populous cities, with
the powerful increase in the number of Christians there sponta-
neously arose the beginnings of a kind of parochial division, under
strict maintenance of the episcopal unity of the community under the
bishop. As the Apostolic age, even in its beginnings, had witnessed
small household communities which were accustomed to assem-
ble in the houses of prominent Christians in Rome, Corinth and
Ephesus, so, subseqiiently, the extension of the city, the limited
space of the available places of worship in proportion to the great

1 Vid. Synod of Elvira in Spain, can. 77 : Diacomis regens plebc.m : in this
case probably not complete rural preaching communities with independent
worship, vid. ROTIIE I. 344.

248 CHURCH HISTORY.

number of professed believers, to which the increased number of the
episcopal clergy corresponded, necessitated a like division. In the
middle of the third century Rome had 46 presbyters, 7 deacons,
7 subdeacons, 42 acolytes; exorcists, lectors and ostiaries together
52, while the number of widows, sick and poor cared for, amounted
to 1,500 (Euseb. H.E. 6, 43); and at the close of the period, at the
time of the persecution of Diocletian there were over 40 churches
(basilicas, OPTAT. MIL. De Schixni. Donat. II. 4). Hence it soon
came about, that the numerous episcopal clergy not only rendered
clerical services in the different parts of the city and places of
worship according to the several commands of the bishop, but that
definite presbyters and other clerics received a permanent post at
the individual churches with their own worship, so that the whole
episcopal community branched out into a number of partial parishes
without any injury to its unity. We know that this was the
case in Alexandria at the end of the period, where a special pres-
byter was set over each of the individual churches [ErirH. Ihvi'.
69, 1), and, in consequence, the note (in the Book of the Popes in
DUCHESNE I. p. 164) also acquires probability, to the effect that
Bishop Marcellus (307— "I"'. ' established 25 tituli, q/ui*/ dioecexex in
Rome (i.e. parish churches with special presbyters appointed). At
the same time these are only precursory and iiulivMual beginnings
of a development which only subsequently became general.

3. The independent ecclesiastical unit is that of the episcopal
community. This however did not at first hinder the most lively
combination of the various communities which were conscious of
their unity in spirit and faith, as kept up by means of letters
written with a view to fraternal sympathy and mutual influence
(cf. of the earlier period, the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians,
the Ignatian epistles and that of Polycarp, those of Bishop
Dionysius of Corinth, the letter on the Martyrdom of Polycarp, that
of the communities of Lyons and Vienne on the persecution) ; so
also by travelling brethren, not merely wandering prophets and
teachers (Didache), travelling Christian sophists like Justin and
Tatian, but other Christians also (aid. ZAHN, }\'e/trcr/c/'/ir ttnd
Kirche, 1877j. But it was necessarily involved in the development
01 the episcopate, that when the latter more and more appeared as
the real foundation of the church, the feeling of solidarity should be
developed between the bishops who felt themselves to be inde-
pendent (vid. xxji. j). lS5i, and therefore also the need of a regulated
bond of union under more fixed forms. For this purpose the oppor-
tunity was at first offered by the meeting of representatives of

METROPOLITANS. 249

neighbouring communities, on occasion of special concerns which
interested the communities. So, as far as we know, for the first
time in Asia Minor on occasion of the Montanist movement, and
almost contemporaneously on occasion of the Easter controversy
(c. 196), where we hear of a Palestinian, a Pontic, an Osrhoenian,
but also of a Grallican and a Koman Synod (EusEB. 5, 23 sq.). In
the closest connection with the development of synods however, are
the beginnings of the closer binding together of the bishops under
the metropolitan constitution. The bishops of one and the same
political province pointed out to one another by community of
interests, enter into a certain, at first quite loose combination, in
which the bishop held in highest esteem, perhaps the oldest (EusEB.
5, 23), or the head of the oldest community in a district, but as a
rule the bishop of the political metropolis of the district, asserts a
certain pre-eminence. So it was especially in the greater part of
the East. At the same time here in Egypt, along with Libya and
Pentapolis, the predominance of Alexandria as a chief city of the
Empire, the second of the Roman empire, was so decided, as to over-
shadow the importance ecclesiastically of the provincial capitals,
and so, as it were, absorbed the metropolitan alliances in the
attachment of all churches to Alexandria, the capital. The ca.se
was the same in the West, where, for a great part of Italy, Rome m
ecclesiastical relations directly gained a central importance, where
the Bishop of Carthage became the centre not only for Proconsular
Africa, but also for Numidia and the two Mauretaiiias, and as it
seems entirely overshadowed the provincial capitals. So likewise
in Gaul and Spain, where nothing is known of a fixed metro-
politan distribution. But, still within our period, there emerged a
further development, in so far as, a) in the East, individual bishops
raised themselves above the simple metropolitan alliances to a more
comprehensive position (as it were metropolitans to the second
power), as particularly the Bishop of Antioch, the third city in the
Empire (beginnings of the subsequent position of patriarch over the
whole political diocese of the East) ; but others also gained a more
extensive importance (Ephesus for Asia, the Cappadocian Caesarea
— the important post of Firmiliaii in the time of Cyprian — Heraclea
for Thrace md. infra) ; while conversely, &) in the West, viz. in the
Church of North Africa, the need of organisation — therefore the
carrying through of the metropolitan and provincial position — of
the different churches which were under the Bishop of Carthage
shows itself more plainly, only that here it is not so much the
bishops of the provincial capitals who stand at the head of the

250 CHURCH HISTORY.

separate ecclesiastical provinces, as the oldest bishop in the province
(subsequently senex] in the character of Primas. The course of
events in Spain may perhaps have been similar.

A definite fixation of the authorities, rights and duties only arose
gradually — along with the more consistent carrying out of the
whole arrangement in the following period. The most obvious point
is that the Metropolitan had to summon the provincial synods, held
for the regulation of the common concerns of the ecclesiastical pro-
vince, to preside over them and to issue the synodal documents. So
again, there naturally fell to him, as the representative of the whole
ecclesiastical province, certain ecclesiastical rights of superinten-
dence, in so far as the individual bishops, in all concerns which did
not merely relate to their own communities, were bound to come to
an understanding with the Metropolitan. From the whole position
there naturally flowed a certain co-operation of the Metropolitan in
the appointment of the bishops (p. 242 sq.). The Synods prove
themselves a specially important factor in the forward movement
of the life of the church. Traces of the introduction of regularly
recurring" provincial synods are of course uncertain in our period,
and in any case not improbable only for the Greek East (RoTHE I.
381 ). But occasions for the holding of such ecclesiastical assemblies
frequently happened (rid. Cyprian's time for the African Church).
At these synods the deciding voice lay with the bishops, although
as a rul" presbyters and deacons were also present. The presbyters
as such, whose advice here also was at the service of the bishop,
actually sat along with the bishops in the synod (compresbyteri noxfri,
qui iiolti* fiilsiilrliinit, Cypr. Ep. I. p. 4f>5, 2 ed. Hart) and many an
unlearned bishop was referred to their assistance ; the fact that the
bishops appeared at the synods along with their escort, also helped to
exalt their estimation. Cf. Constantino's invitation to Bishop Clire>tus
of Svracnse to bring along with him to the synod at Aries (314) two
of those t'«: rov Bevrepov dpovov and three servants besides (Euseb.
HIv I''. ."> . The monarchical position of the episcopate had already
lieen so far established : the deciding votes were given by the
bishops only < except whore as subsequently, in individual cases,
presbyters or deacons appeared as the mere commissioned represen-
tatives of a bishop). Deacons too, frequently also a gre.it, number
of laymen are present at the synods ' /vV the xfnt<-nt'nt' t'lii^cnpnrunt
de Im'i-ft. Inijitiz. in CYPRIAX I. 435, 3 : many bishops have assem-
Med— CN/// iirt'shf/tt-ris ft (liticniiibux, pra'Nentihux etiam ji/ch/s nia.r'nna
l><irte). The deacons however, as also the laymen present, xtand
(Cone. Illiherit. en in con*<'<liwif stii/di ct relit/ins/ <>/ii*co/ti . . .

.9 YNODS.

item prexbyteri . . . residentibus cunctis, adstantibus diaconibu* et
omni plebe, epircopi umversi dixerunt, etc.).

Nor were there now only provincial synods ; on the rise of burn-
ing questions, the common feeling of the church led to the holding
of great and comprehensive assemblies, one of the most important
factors for the progressive development of church life (old. e.g.
those held against Paul of Samosata, after the example of still earlier
instances) ; and not merely at places where the position of eminent
episcopal seats, which prepared the way for the subsequent patri-
archate, was taking form (Alexandria ; the synods comprehending
various provinces under Cyprian, etc.), but elsewhere also. The
effort after unanimous decisions for larger ecclesiastical complexes,
as a matter of fact, here prepared the way for what was realised in
the following period in the oecumenical synods. Even now, how-
ever, such synodal decisions attained an importance which extended
beyond the circle for which, in the first place, they were valid. Just
as, already, the letters of highly esteemed bishops on questions of
ecclesiastical custom raised, acquired elsewhere also great respect
and to a certain degree the significance of ecclesiastical law (the so-
called canonical letters), the same thing naturally took place with
reference to the writings issued by ecclesiastical synods, which were
sent to other churches and received by them as decisions. In this-
way there here began, although with much opposition on individual
points amid ecclesiastical party divisions, the collection of ecclesias-
tical legal material for general ecclesiastical legislation. Besides, the
essential conviction of the Christian community that it was directed
by the Holy Spirit, on the emergence of the hierarchical develop-
ment which taught that the bishops were to be regarded as the-
proper substance of the church, naturally turned towards the idea
that in their solemn assembly the voice of the Spirit which leads the
church is to be perceived, although this thought is as yet but little
formulated in a juriclico-dogmatic sense.

The hierarchical development is also necessarily accompanied
hand in hand by a growing need of finding a constitutional expres-
sion, so to speak, for the lively indwelling conviction of Christianity,
from the beginning, of the unity of the children of God in the whole
earth in faith and hope and life. The great episcopal seats of pre-
eminent authority, Alexandria, Antioch and Eome, which repre-
sented large complexes of the church, to a certain extent in their
mutual relations already represented this conception of unity. But,
here in particular, the position of the bishop of the metropolis of the
world was already of the highest significance.

252 CHURCH HIS WRY.

Not only were tlie eyes of the West turned towards ROME, as
the one demonstrable Western sedes apostolica. but it stood in
lively intercourse with the Greek East and was highly regarded
there. In the name of the community at Rome Clement already
wrote brotherly exhortations to the community at Corinth, Ignatius
turns to it as to the one which TrpoKdOrjraL eV TOTTM -^wpiov 'Pco/^aiuiv
and to which there in general belongs a pre-eminence as Trpotca-
6r]^kvt] Trjs aydTTTjs (in all Christian proofs of love). Weighty ques-
tions which agitate the church, such as the Easter Controversy in
Asia Minor (Polycarp in Rome, etc., rid. infra), and the movement
of the Montanists (Tert. Adv. Prax. I.) seek their solution there. It
is the practical importance of the community of the capital of the
world, which is thus expressed. Bat for the Western regions, the
community at Rome founded by Peter and Paul, the greatest, the
oldest, the one which was known to all, has the importance of being
the guardian of apostolic tradition, to which men have to apply just
on account of the very influential leadership which that involved.
11 Ad Ininc enim ecclex'nun propter potentiorem principalitatem neccxxe
est omnem convenire ecclesiam" etc. (Iraen. Adv. li. III. 3, 2). Ter-
tullian also acknowledges this consideration due to the church at
Rome: " undc nob IK qnoque (in North Africa) (intoi-itu* pnvsto est " (!><>
pncxcr. liar. 36), which however does not prevent him from jeering
at the pontifex ma.rimux and episcopu* episcoporum and his edict nm
pen'iittitriinn, as against decisions of the Bishop of Rome, which he
holds to be unjustified. Even the ferment in the Roman church
at the beginning of the third century which is depicted by Hip-
potytus, during which matters went the length of conflict and
division both on doctrine and on questions of church discipline, was
unable to obliterate the advant;i^- of the Roman Church; she
showed horsrlt here too as the heart towards which everything
tended (Origen in Rome ! ).

But the idea of the one Catholic Church which became powerful
in the last third of the second century in opposition to the sec-
tarianism of the heretics, now co-operated with the exaltation of the
bishops to essential representatives of the church to form the con-
ception of the episcopate as a solidarity combined unity (<'/>/*ct>/><itn*
UHUH f.vf, fiiiux a ximjtdi* in x<>H<lniii pars tenetur, Cypr. 1 >< unit. cccl.
5) ; and this conduced to throw a preferential light on the ground
of the pre-eminence given to Peter (prinnitux I'ctri-, on the Roman
chair as that of Peter's successor, as the representative of the unity
of the episcopate. While Origen had explained the words of Matt,
xvi. 18 in the sense that the Lord founds His Church on the rock of

UNITY OF THE CHURCH. DISCIPLINE. 253.

the faith of those who believe personally like Peter (De pudic. 21),
Cyprian (De unit. eccl. 4) looks upon Peter as him by whose exalta-
tion, inasmuch as he declared his intention to found the church on
one individual, he meant to manifest the unity of the church. All
the apostles had the same honour and power, but the beginning
starts from unity ; as he is the starting point of ecclesiastical unity,
in whom, as it were, the unity of the church is visibly presented, so
also the Roman Church, the locus Petri (Ep. 55, 8) is the chief church
(ecdesia principal'^}, where the priestly unity (of the bishops) has
taken its origin (Ep. 59, 14). Nevertheless the same Cyprian, in
a given case, energetically repudiated the thought that on account
of this honourable preference, the Bishop of Rome might demand
subjection and obedience from his fellow bishops. Peter in his^
relations with Paul at Antioch made no such assumption (Ep. 71
p. 773).

In spite of the strong consciousness of the unity of the church,
abiding and growing differences still establish themselves within it;.
the opposition of the Latin West to the East, founded on speech,
custom and theological tendency, makes itself felt. In the East
again, the Syrian Church, so far as the Syriac language prevails and
beyond it, goes its own way. Other local separations make them-
selves remarkable, as in the church of North Africa.

8. Admission into and discipline within the Church.

In the church are gathered together the believers who have in
the faith a share in the kingdom of G-od, for the coming of which
they hope. But inasmuch as the totality of believers holds fast by
the traditional belief and the sacred actions which form the founda-
tion of their communion with the Lord of the kingdom of God and
His community, the church itself appears not only as the salvation-
society, in which the Spirit of the Master gives powerful evidence of
His existence, but also as the holder (depositary) of saving truth and
saving benefits, for all who desire to share in them.

Into this society she admits by means of Baptism, which is not
! conceived as a mere symbol, but as an act, in which, along with the
I washing away (forgiveness) of the sins of the previous life there
j follow illumination (^omcr^o?) and new birth. The external procedure
i (ritus) and the inner process corresponding to it are now more im-
mediately regarded as one, and again more reflectively distinguished
i with emphasising of the required subjective adjustment (repentance
i and faith).

2S4 CHURCH HISTORY.

I. THE PREPARATION (CATECHUMEN ATE).

Literature: W. F. HOFLTNG, Das Sacr. d. Taufe, 2 vols., Erl. 1846: von ZEG-
SCHWITZ, System d. Katechet., 2nd ed. 1873; J. MAYER, Gexch. d. Katcchu-
menats in den ersten 6 Jahrhunderten, Kempt. 1868; H. FUNK. (ThQ. 1883
and 1886).

At first a definite ^legally fixed) preparation for baptism does not
seem to have preceded it. It consisted as a matter of fact in the
seizure of seeking or receptive souls by the proclamation of the
kingdom of God. But the firmer formation and constitution of the
church rendered it necessary to make sure of the good character of the
believers who sought for entrance and their moral unobjectionable-
ness even in the eyes of the werld, and to keep away impure, especi-
ally also sordid persons who speculated on Christian brotherly love,
or even hostile elements which might have insinuated themselves, and
to confirm those who sought entrance, in earnestness, in the direction
of their lives, in readiness " to do that which the Lord wills " (c'nl.
sup. p. 121). There was required a period of preparation, devoted to
prayer and fasting (Justin, Ap. I. 61), and more and more also to
instruction proper in the faith. TERTULLIAN designates these candi-
dates for baptism auditores, audicnti'*. uui'itiuli, and also already cate-
cliHii/i'/ti /'/vc.sr/-. Jurr. 41, De pocnit. 6 sq., De corona mil. 2). Though
the point of view of doctrinal instruction was not the first taken up
i but that of supervision and moral influence), it has already gained
greater importance. IRKK i.rs gives the reason why Philip immedi-
ately baptized the Ethiopian eunuch ( Acts viii. 27 sqq.) who was read-
ing diligently in the prophets, in the words: " nihil eiiini ttlind deerat
ei, qui a prophetis fuerat praechatichizatus '' (Adc. h. 4, 23, 2i. With
Origen also, along with the tcddapa-is TWV j/tfajj/, the moral probation
and propaedeutic, the thorough ethical training, purification and in-
troduction into the pious life of prayer, which stands in the fore-
ground, there is combined the tradition of the first elements of the
simple belief (c. GW.v. 3, 50-54 ; 7A/////7. 5 hi ,/»<//<•. § 6). A distinc-
tion of different classes or grades of the catechumenate such as has
often been alleged, is not demonstrable in this period, unless we are
to regard as the name of a particular class of catechumens the desig-
nation of the candidates for baptism, who are in the immediate stride
of preparation for baptism by prayer and fasting, to whom the bap-
tismal confession is imparted, as <j>(0Ti£6/j,evoi n-oitijK'tcnri'*) ; tlu-y are
just those whose catechumenate proper is closed. Origen indeed
knows of a preceding careful probation and private treatment for the
good of their souls, of those \vh<> send in their mimes for entrance
into the community, and further in the case of those who have suffi-

CA TE CHUM ENS. 2 5 5

ciently shown the earnestness of their devotion to the new life, and
for that reason, have as catechumens their definite place at Christian
preaching and divine services, a difference in the mode of instruction
of individuals of different capacity, but not different ecclesiastical
classes of catechumens : much rather he only distinguishes between
the ray/Act of the catechumens, the beginners who have not yet received
the symbol of purification (baptism) and the rdj/j,a, of the baptized
members of the community (cf. HASSELBACH, De catech. ordinibus,
Stettiner Schulprogr. 1839). The very widely spread hypothesis of
two (or if we include the competentes, three) classes of catechumens,
namely : 1) a/cpoaj/u-evot, those who are only admitted to hear the
sermon, 2) yow/cXivovTe^ (genuflectentes) who are also permitted to
accompany the prayers kneeling, viz. those that refer to them, rests
entirely on the corrupt Greek text of the 5th Canon of the Synod of
Neocsesarea (314), the meaning of which however can only be, that
the catechumens who had fallen into sin were put away among the
penitents (a/epoa^evoi), and if they again fell into sin, were wholly
expelled ; l in accordance with the principle laid down in Can.
Nicsen. 14, the catechumen who should have fallen away (during
persecution), was to be a mere hearer (dtcpowfievos) for three years,
and only then to pray again along with the catechumens. Accord-
ing to the Apostolic Const. 8. 5 sub. fin., after the sermon the deacon
calls out, yu.?;ri? TWV anpow^evwv fjuiJTis TWV aTTtcrrtui/, therefore causes
the latter to absent themselves, and then follows the invitation to
the catechumens to pray etc. 'Afcpowfievoi therefore includes ex-
clusion also from that prayer part of divine service in which cate-
chumens might take part.

The general moral requirements made on candidates, already
include that each in his own way must give up civil callings or
trades incompatible with citizenship in the kingdom of God. As
such were regarded all which directly or indirectly served the
heathen idol worship and temple cults, and also the calling of play-
actors, pantomimes, gladiators etc.

• Karr]^ovfj.ei>os e'aj/ flcrepX'JfJ-fi'os fls KvpiciKoi> tv rfj ra>v Karrj^ovfj.fi'aiv ra£ei arrrjKr/,
OVTOS 8e ap.apTava>v f'ai/ pfv yovv K\iv<av dicpod(rd<o /jLrjKfTi iip.apT(ii>cw eav Se /cat a/cpoco/ifi/oy,
tTi a^apravrj, e£co$fur$w. The old Latin translation, both of the Prisca and the
Spanish points to the reading OVTOS Se apapTavuv (fruvf) (instead of eav ^tv), ywv K\.
d<p.— That sinning catechumens could not be treated as penitents, because the
institution of penance presupposes a falling away from baptismal grace (KURTZ
9th ed.) is not decisive ; the catechumen who, by the laying on of hands, has
been received into this grade, is also regarded as a Christian (can. Eliber. 39).

25 o CHURCH HISTORY.

II. BAPTISM.

Literature: HOFLINO, vid. sup. I; TH. HAKXACK, vid. sup. p. 68; F. PROBST,
Sttcramente und Sacramentalien in d. ersten Jahrh., Tiib. 1S72.

1. In the foreground there stood at first the admission of such
heathens as, being seized by the Christian faith, consciously and of
their own will sought for admission. On the other hand it was not
from the beginning clear what attitude was to be taken up towards
children born in Christian wedlock, since they, born from the first
into the Christian community, might appear to have been sanctified
thereby. The possibility is not entirely excluded, that in the case
of such, an actual act of baptism was generally regarded as unne-
cessary. As this however, even if it ever was the case, must very
soon have gone into the background before the universal importance
given to baptism, baptism had either to be conferred when the
children, being suitably educated and instructed in Christianity,
themselves sought for it, or else the institution of Infant Baptism
must make its appearance. The latter must in wide circles have
been the case pretty early. Origen (Hoinil. in Lee it.} makes appeal
to it as to an ancient tradition. But that the universal ecclesiastical
tradition was not in favour of it is shown by Tertullian's opposition
to infant baptism (De bajtfixm. c. 18): "Why should the guiltless
age hurry to baptism ? " His polemic still starts from the concep-
tion of the church as a society of those who personally believe.
" The Lord saith : Prevent not the little children from coming to Me.
Yes, but they may come when they have grown up, when the}7
have been instructed whither they ought to come. We do not
trust children with earthly treasures, much less then with heavenly.
They must first learn to pray for salvation." At the same time,
the influence of the view that the (external) act of baptism brings
about the washing away of past sins, in spite of his paving the
way for the doctrine of original sin, induces him to recommend
the postponement of baptism over the period of youth which is so
rich in temptation. Nevertheless it corresponds to the development
of the church as the institution of salvation, above individuals, and
its tendency towards confirmed participation in the life of the world,
that in the course of the third century Infant Baptism gains ground
increasingly in the Western Church ('so that, e.g. by Cyprian, the
earliest possible time of baptism is recommended [two or three
days]). In the East, of course, it only becomes universally prevalent
in the fourth century. On the other hand, as regards the accession "f
adults, the tendency was maintained to postpone baptism for a long

BAPTISM. 257

time, with the view of receiving in it the forgiveness of all previous
sins.

With infant baptism there is connected the institution of God-
parents, sponsores, susceptores, fideijussores, mentioned by Tertullian,
and in the sense that they appear as making profession for the
child and take the vow in his name (Tert. De bapt. 18).

The Baptismal Confession. A definite confession on occasion of
reception of baptism must scon have become universal ; the Apostolic
Symbol (sign for recognition) in its simplest form may be traced
back by means of pretty certain inferences beyond the middle of
the second century (HARNACK in RE. I. 565-574), "What we find
designated in Irenseus, Tertullian and others as regula fidei, is
nothing else than more or less free reproduction of the baptismal
confession itself; Irenseus, e.g. expressly appeals to the fact that it
is the belief which is confessed at baptism (vid. sup. p. 217), The
baptismal confession was imparted to the catechumens by word of
mouth, which procedure was confirmed by the subsequent conception
of the disciplina arcani (vid. infra], hence verbal records are not
found till pretty late. With reference however to heretical convic-
tions as to the faith, which had to be repudiated, and with the
growth of the consciousness of the church, the confession received a
series of additions (vid. infra).

The baptismal act itself took place, as a rule, by means of im-
mersion in running water, in the name of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit ; other water (warm) was however permitted, and even
axpersio instead of immersion (so already the Didache), a form
which later was only applied in the case of the sick (bapt. clini-
corum). The Abrenuntiatio before baptism is already known to
Tertullian ; the catechumens promise at the bidding of the priest :
" nos renuntiare diabolo et pompce et angelis ejus " (the Prince of the
world as the Lord of the heathen world). This however is to be
distinguished from the so-called Exorcism, the use of forms of adju-
ration such as were customary in the spiritual-theurgic treatment
of the energumens (p. 240). The first trace of its use in general
baptism we find in 256 at the Council of Carthage, and indeed with
reference to the baptism of converted heretics (CYPR., Sententice
epixcopor. 7 and 8, ed. Hart. III. 441). The rite of baptism as-
sumes to itself acts of still further purport, which are connected
with the growth of theurgic views. Such is the consecration of the
I water ; an anointing1 of the candidate for baptism on the forehead,
i ears, nose and breast, which is looked on as an allusion to the
i Christian priesthood. This anointing and the laying" on of hands

17

258 CHURCH HJ STORY.

(invitans spiritum sanctum) is regarded in the West, from the time of
Cyprian, as the privilege of the bishop (Acts viii.) (explanation of
baptism itself as the washing away of sins, of the laying on of
hands as the positive transmission of the Holy Spirit) ; hence in the
West the laying on of hands, where the bishop himself does not
complete the baptism, is separated from baptism as a separate act
(only to be completed by the bishop: confirinatio, consignation; it
subsequently remained separate even where the bishop himself
baptized, hence sacramentum utru>nque. On the other hand, in the
Greek Church the two acts remain unseparated, and the anointing
is completed by every priest at baptism. Giving of milk and
honey: infcnihif/o Tert.). The baptized used to wear their white
baptismal garments for some time afterwards.

In the case of catechumens who suffered martyrdom in the perse-
cutions without having been baptized, tin- baptism of blood was
regarded as a substitute (so likewise for the penitent who had not
yet attained to full reconciliation, it was regarded as the restoration
of baptismal grace).

III. EXCOMMUNICATION AND THE DISCIPLINE OF PENANCE.

Literiihtri' : .1. Mm:iNrs, De disci] >1. in admin, s. pa-uitrntui', Paris 1<>51 ; G. F.
STKITZ, Das n'hu. 7;//.s->--.v,/o-.. Frankf. L854, :md in JdTh. lsr,:;; I-YXK, (ThQ.
1884. 2) ; 0. RITSCIIL. ' /////•/,///. 1^.". ; A. HAUNACK, RE. 8, 417 ; 10, (l.VJ.

Against sins \vliirk occurred in the Christian society and which
appeared incompatible with its continued existence, there was
directed the weapon of the Barm or Excommunication, according
to apostolic example (1 Cor. v. ; 2 C<»r. ii. 5 sqq. ; 2 Th- ss. iii. 6, 14, 15 ;
3 John 10; cf. the foundation in Matt, xviii. 15-17). Proceeding
from the community, it is conceived of as exclusion from the com-
munity of Cliri-t and transference to Satan, i.e. to the powers,
hostile to God, which rule the world. At tin- s;mie time the object
is the rescue of the excommunicated ; and even his re-reconciliation,
when once the spiritual aim has been reached, is kept in view.

The exclusion is looked upon as a judicial act of the community
under the presidency of the ],mlnitr I/H/I///,' .sr/,/o/v\ (Tert. .\/><>f. .')'.* .
In the nature of the case, on the close incorporation of the com-
munities into the church, expulsion from the community becomes
expulsion from the church, with recognition of the essential simi-
larity and therefore also inner unity of the communities.

As such sins, which demand exclusion from the community, there
appear gross moral excesses which appear unworthy of the Chris-
tian community and to make its hopes of salvation vain, such as

EXCOMMUNICA TION. 259

theft, murder, and especially adultery and all manner of sins of the
flesh ; to these however there is added, occasioned by times of perse-
cution, apostasy from the Christian faith, the denial of it and every-
thing in connection therewith which is to be regarded as a renewal
of idolatry ; finally, in the same degree as the church, holding by
the apostolic tradition, sets itself in opposition to doctrines which
are held to be falsifications of the true faith, heresy, and even
schismatical separation from the community, even when it results
from reasons other than those of belief proper. There are, according
to 1 John v. 15, sins unto death with regard to which the Apostle does
not venture to pray ; in its application a wavering conception. If
the apostolic age was still inclined to clemency, stricter points of
view, as pointed out above (p. 128), soon prevailed. The supposition
was that those who had once parted from sin, if they once more fell
into it, forfeited communion, and after they had gained in baptism
the forgiveness of their earlier sins, they had now no new means
of being again renewed (cf. Heb, vi. 4 sqq. and x. 26). Thus the
Presbyter in Irenseus 4, 27, 2 : for those who now sin, Christ will
die no more but will come as judge and demand an account ; there-
fore be not proud, but afraid : u ne forte post agnitionem Christi
agentes aliquid quod non placeat Deo, remissionem ultra non habeamus
melictorum" At the same time, with regard to the dangers of
persecution and the expected coming of the Lord, the present state
of the church seems to be such, that such sinners may be summoned
once more to repentance ; and so the Shepherd of Hernias repre-
sented the generally spread belief of one repentance, i.e. re-admission
of the fallen. " Semis Dei pmnitentia uua est " (Mand. II. 4, 1, cf.
CLEM. AL. Strom. II. 13, 57, p. 419 P. ; TERTULL. De pcenit. 7.) At
I the same time principles wavered, partly as to the sins which in
j general excluded the possibility of again attaining the peace of the
} Church, partly as to the limitation to one re-admission. With refer-
ence to the current persecution, but also to other lapses into sin and
! erroneous doctrine, DIONYSIUS of Corinth e.g. recommends (Euseb.
4, 23) re-admission with special limitation, and the letter of the
I communities of Lyons and Vienne (Euseb. H.E. 5, 2) praises the
| mildness of the confessors towards the fallen ; according to HARNACK
j (RE. 8, 421), the interceding and supporting cares of the confessors
'.related to those only who had had an occasion in the persecution
litself of practically making good again their original apostasy; that
I is undoubtedly not the opinion of Eusebius (H.E. v. 2), but, the
passages adduced H.E. v. 1, 26. 45. 46. 48. 49 seem only to prove
this.

260 CHURCH HISTORY.

Fixed regulations as to the period of penance of the pcenrfenfes
and as to the forms of procedure are not yet found clearly defined
in the second century. For re- ad mission the essential thing is the
confession of the penitents, the so-called Exomologesis, which in-
cludes all sorts of external humiliations with regard to the com-
munity, with the view of proving to the latter the earnestness of
the repentance and desire for communion with the church and at
the same time of appealing to its sympathy : fasts, chastenings in
sackcloth and ashes, rags and dirt, lying on the ground, prayers,
kneelings, especially before the clergy, tears, sighs, deprecations
addressed to the individual members of the community, especially
to specially honoured members, such as the confessors. In their
whole mien a satisfaction i.wfixfactio) was to be offered to the com-
munity which had been insulted by their fall into sin. Corre-
sponding to it, the Absolution, by which the excommunication is
abolished, is at first an act of the community ; the development of
the constitution however makes it conditional that it shall be
bestowed by the bishop in the name of the church.

But as the Christian society comprehends those who in baptism
have received the forgiveness of their former sins, who also find in
this Christian society the means of atoning for daily failings by daily
repent;i nre, prayer (five prayers), fasts and ecclesiastical offerings, con-
sequently means of maintaining themselves in a state of grace with
God, the exclusion of the fallen from the church becomes an exclu-
sion from the means of salvation, and the pardon which is vouch-
safed by the church appears at the same time as also forgiving sins
in God's eyes (though also not without restriction), and there is an
inclination to regard the satisfaction offered to the church as a
meritorious offering. There is formed the notion of the church's
so-called power of the Keys, and more exactly of a power of the
keys which above all things is the attribute of the bishop. The
expression, which springs from Matt. xvi. 19 sq., has there another
meaning; but the binding and losing was early connected with
John xx. 23, the retaining or forgiving of sins.

The Montanist movement was of great importance for the
development of the Church. It met the growing inclination in
the Church to greater clemency in the admission of the fallen,
and at the same time the view, which was taking shape, of the
bishop's power of the keys, with intensified demands. In particular
it entirely rejected the so-called second repentance (that which led
on to baptism is the first), not only in cases of murder and apostasy
from Christianity, in which cases this stringent view had als<> other

REPENTANCE. 261

representatives (Tertullian presupposes its validity with his anti-
Montanist opponents also, De pudic. 5 fin. 12 fin. 19 fin. and passim),
but also in the case of sins of the flesh. In particular Tertullian
combats a declaration of the Bishop of Rome (Zephyrinus or even
Callistus vid. infra) that he conferred pardon on adultery and forni-
cation on the ground of repentance rendered ; whether more than
once, and so also in case of relapse, is not mentioned, but probably
it is only the so-called second repentance which is under discussion.

At the same time, however, the polemic of the Montanist Tertul-
lian is directed against the claim of the bishops themselves to the
power of the keys. He indeed concedes to the bishops as the
successors of the apostles and the guardians of the apostolic
tradition a certain disciplinary power, but not the potestas apoxtolo-
runij the potestas solvendi et ligandi, so much the less as they are
not in possession of the prophetic and miraculous powers of the
a,postles. Undoubtedly the church has the power of forgiving sins ;
hut in its real essence the church does not consist of the number of the
bishops, but the Holy Spirit is the real substance of the church ; to
Him, to God Himself belongs the attribute of forgiving sins. But
the organ of the Spirit is the Montanist Prophet as the will-less
organ of God. The Lord, not the servant, has to decide. The in-
stitution of the bishops therefore confers no right to do so, their
decision would be mere human arrogance ; in the prophet it is a
pure act of God. But in these His prophets, the Spirit Himself
declares: " potest ecclexia donate delictum, #ed non facia m ne et alii,
delinqiiant." In this way the difference between the peace bestowed
by the church and the divine forgiveness of sins is decidedly
maintained ; for, inasmuch as the reconciliatio with the church is
here denied to repentance, the penitent shall so much the more be
led to humiliation before God : "sipacem Me non metit, apud doiui-
num xeminat " (De puclic. 3).

In Rome HIPPOLYTUS (Refut. 9, 12) rose up against lax principles
with regard to the fallen, such as had been given currency to by
Callistus, and with special reference to sins of the flesh (hence it
is probably to him that reference is made in Tertullian I.e., as
Hippolytus expressly says that he was the first (irpSnos) to have
established the above principle). If this clemency, which (in
combination with dogmatic opposition to the Patripassiaii view)
drove Hippolytus to the position of a schismatic (maintenance
of the ancient stringency), shows the effect exercised by the
expansion of the church in the world, so, at the same time, in
the other assertion of Callistus there is revealed the importance

262 CHURCH HISTORY.

which attaches to the institution itself as against the moral quality
of persons in it : viz. the assertion that a bishop might not be
deposed even if he had committed mortal sin. The schism, which
was called into existence in Rome by the above difference, seems to
have found an end when Hippolytus as a schismatic Presbyter or
anti-bishop along with his opponent, Bishop Pontian, was exiled to
Sardinia (in 235 ; cf. p. 192, and the literature p. 202).

The conflict of the rigorists against the party which took account
of circumstances goes further however, and again comes to the front
(in Rome and North Africa; when the large number of those who
fell away during the Decian persecution again makes the question
a burning one. It is now combined however, as in the case of Ter-
tullian's Montanist opposition, with a certain opposition to the
growing monarchical power of the bishops. The elevation of Cyprian
to the bishopric of Carthage (248) met with opposition, the opposing
five Presbyters (among them NOVATUS) of their own power ordained
a certain Felicissimus to be deacon. Cyprian was prevented, by
the outbreak of the Decian persecution, from taking any steps in
opposition, and his withdrawal into hiding was made use of by his
opponents. Felicissimus set himself in opposition to a commission
ordered by Cyprian for tin- visitation and regulation of the care of
the poor, as an attack on the rights of the deacons. Cyprian ex-
communicated him and his friends. No\v. in the heat of the perse-
cution, many Christians apostati/.i'd and soon desired re-admission.
Originally, under the influence of Tertullian and the view hitherto
predominating in the African church, Cyprian held rigorist notions,
but drew back from them under tin-- pressure of the persecution, and
desired only the delay of an ordinary period of penitence, the offer-
ing of penance and satisfaction, and reconciliation only after a
regular investigation and decision by the bishop and community
d/'ti'f the close of the persecution and the return of the bishop.
Those who had fallen away however sought, as usual, the intercession
of the Confessors, who with the personal consideration attaching to
their merits as confessors, stood in a certain degree of opposition to
official authority. They gave to those who asked for them lihcUi
pads, and on the ground of possession of the latter, the, opposing
Presbyters admitted without further question. Cyprian conceded
that those who had such recommendation might in periculo mortis
make confession and receive reconciliation at the hands of any
Presbyter, and, in case of necessity, any deacon ; and the General
Council, held after his return, ordained \vith regard to the less
seriously accused class, the lihi'/fatici (p. l(->4), that if the}' showed

NOVAT1AN CONTROVERSY. 263

themselves penitent they were to be admitted ; those who had fallen
more seriously however, were, on plain evidence of repentance, to
receive absolution in mortal sickness. The excommunicated party
of Felicissinius set up an anti-bishop, Fortunatus, but the schism
was extinguished before the end of the century. At the Synod of
252, however, reconciliation was finally conceded to all penitent
apostates without limitation to peril of death (Cypr. Ep. 57).

It was the Novatian controversy in Rome which had this effect.
After the martyrdom of Bishop Fabian of Rome, which took place
in the Decian persecution, the same persecution made the choice of
a successor impossible for a period of a year and a half. In the
college of presbyters and deacons which conducted affairs during
this vacancy, the presbyter NOVATIAN (Gr. generally NoovaTo?), a
man of distinguished theological culture (he conducted the corre-
spondence of the community with Carthage and Cyprian), took a
prominent position. When in 251 CORNELIUS was raised to the
bishopric of Rome, the party of opposition, which had remained in
the minority, and to which the most highly respected of the confes-
sors belonged, immediately set up Novatian as anti-bishop ; he was
the candidate of the stricter party, which raised many accusations
against Cornelius, among others that he had entered into alliance
with bishops who had done sacrifice, and in the re-admission of
Bishop Trophimus had sacrificed the stricter principles for the sake
of the number of the adherents of the latter (Cypr. Ep. 55, 10 sq.).
At a Roman synod, in the summer of 251 (60 bishops according
to Euseb. H.E. 6, 43), Cornelius excommunicated Novatian, and
declared that repentance as a means of cure was to be vouchsafed to
all who had fallen. The counter efforts of Novatian had indeed no
result in Carthage — here Cyprian had been compelled by circum-
stances themselves to remit the original stringency, to concede the
possibility of the re-admission of the fallen, and on this account had
also recognised Cornelius, and the synod of 251 had entered upon
a via media — but succeeded well elsewhere, as where Fabius of
Antioch and others declared for him. The presbyter Novatus of
Carthage, hitherto on the side of the lax party of Felicissinius, now
came to Rome and adhered to the side of Novatian. On the other
hand Cornelius and Cyprian were successful in drawing away from
Novatian, Maximus and other confessors who were highly esteemed
in Rome, and moving them to make peace with Cornelius (they would
postpone everything for the sake of peace and the advantage of the
Church [Ep. 53]).

From their initial standpoint, the treatment of those who had

264 CHURCH HISTORY.

fallen during persecution, the Novatians soon advanced to the general
principle of the non-readmission of all who had fallen into mortal
sin, the reconciliation of whom at would be an anticipation of the
judgment of God, and 6) a measure which would sully the glory of
the church as the community of holy persons, and destroy the true
nature of the church ; for the true church is the association of all
persons who really possess through baptism the forgiveness of their
sins, who already stand in grace and are pure (nadapoi}. All who
have fallen are only to be left to the mercy of God, the work of
which is not confined to ecclesiastical forgiveness of sins. This
notion of the church, however, is victoriously met by one, which, if
less ideal on one side, was more practically suited to the entry of
the church into the life of the world and its pedagogical problem ;
the church as an institution is the holder of all the means of salva-
tion, without which none attains salvation : e.rtra ecclrxitnn miUa
xtilux; by the admission of the penitent fallen person, salvation is
not yet guaranteed to him, but he is placed in connection with the
means which are indispensable for the attainment of salvation.
Herein there is completed the consolidation of the church as a guid-
ing power, and especially of the episcopate as the regulating power
within it, while the indulgence with regard to the fallen, as a matter
of fact, saved the existence of the church. The Novatians. seeing
that they regarded their nun as the only true because pure church,
and therefore did not recognise other ecclesiastical communities, used
on principle the habit of baptizing1 all wlm came over to their com-
munion (rid. infra).

Novatian communities arose in almost all parts of the Empire, sub-
se<|neiitly enjoyed, on account of their strict attitude and zealous
ecclesiastical orthodoxy (in the Arian controversy), a comparatively
favourable and friendly judgment on the part of the church at
large, and maintained their existence in fragments on into the fifth
and sixth centuries.

Later on also, and especially in the persecution under Diocletian and
Maximin, different principles of discipline were set up. and led, especi-
ally in Rome under bishops Marcellus and Eusebius and their oppo-
nent HKHACLIUS, to passionate conflicts which threatened the Roman
community with dissolution and which ended with the banishment .if
both Eusebius ainl Eeraclius (LiANGEN, Gesclt. •/•'>• ri>//t. A'. /. ;!7'.»). In
Spain the canons of the Synod of Elvira (Cone. Eliberitanum <il. Illil>.),
<•. .'!(>."). show the continuance of very strict principles as to repent-
ance, postponing as they do to the death-bed, absolution for a series
of graver sins; on the other hand the penitent i.-il missive ..f Bishop

THE MELETIAN SCHISM. 265

Peter of Alexandria in the time of Diocletian's persecution (in ROUTH,
Eel. s. IV. 23) represents very lenient principles, seeing that in it —
under the influence of the persecution which had already lasted three
years — those who had fallen away under the persecution have the
way to re-admission opened to them even during the persecution,
on consideration of their greater or lesser culpability ; those who
secure themselves against persecution by bribery of officials, as well
as those who withdraw themselves from it by flight and the sur-
render of their goods, are taken into protection ; on the other hand
censure is directed against those who had thrust themselves on
martyrdom and then lost courage and apostatized. Clergy of this
kind, even if they have again taken courage, may no longer remain
clergy. The Meletian Schism which appears at this time in Egypt,
having arisen on account of the conflict of Bishop MELETIUS of Lyco-
polis in the Thebaid with Bishop Peter, again shows the combination
of different principles of discipline with reference to the fallen, as well
as different principles on the justification of withdrawing from per-
secution by flight, with opposition tendencies in the constitutional
sphere, here, as it appears, against the encroaching authority of Bishop
Peter of Alexandria, or rather rivalry of and arbitrary attacks on his
metropolitan position. The split afforded trouble even to Athanasius
and intertwined itself for a considerable time with the beginnings
of the Arian controversy, although the Synod of Nicsea had sought
to adjust it in a moderate fashion (vid. RE. 9, 534-537).

The principles with regard to the treatment of penitents gradually

j assume a fixed character of such a kind that the latter have to pass

[through a series of stages : 1) they appear as irpoaKkaiov-res or %e/^a-

i£oz/Tev, entreating the entering worshippers in the outer court of the

church to intercede for them with God and the bishop, 2) next as

aicpow/jievoi, audientes, who were allowed to attend the preaching and

reading of scripture at divine service, in a special place, 3) as

vTroTTLTTTovTes, substrati, who were also permitted to take part in

prayer, kneeling — at the whole tnixnu catech., after the close of

which the bishop laid his hand on them, finally 4) as o-imo-ra/ievot,

kbnsistentes, who were allowed to look on standing at the celebration

jof the Eucharist. For the individual stages a continuance during

|one or more years was enjoined, at the close the public confession of

sin, the laying on of the hands of the bishop, the fraternal kiss and

(admission to the Eucharist (Can. Ancyr. 5, Can. Nic. 11).

266 CHURCH HISTORY.

IV. THE CONTROVERSY ON THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS.

Sources : The Epistles of Cyprian (vid. infra) — MATTES in ThQ. 1849 and 1850;
HOFLING I.e. I. § 19 ; STEITZ in RE. 7, 652 sqq. ; GRISAR in ZkTh. 1881.

Where the decisive preponderance is placed on the institution of
the Church and the connection of the individual with it and its
means of salvation, it appears obvious that only those means of grace
which stand under the recognised authority of the church and are
administered by her are recognised by her. Nevertheless in the
controversy as to the baptism of heretics another view finally gains
the victory.

Frequent testimony at the close of the second century confirms
the wide diffusion of the view that baptism celebrated in here-
tical communities is not to be regarded as real baptism, but
people who desire to pass over from such communities to the
Catholic church, like other unbaptizod persons, must first receive
the baptism of the church. TEBTULLIAN (Debapt. 15): "nonidem
deux nobix et licpreticix, nee utiiix Chrixtu* : itl<>oqm' HIT bdjrtixnn/x ini/ix,
qiiin non idem." Clem. Al. Strom. I. 19: heretical baptism is not
the proper genuine water. So likewise the tradition of the North
African Church, where a synod under Agrippinus (200-220) ex-
pressly established the principle : " hoirfizandox eox qui ab fnr-reticin ad
e<rlexidi/t i-r/iiinit " (Cypr. K/>. 7-"> ad .Inhahinuin}. So likewise this was
the standing tradition of the Church of Asia Minor, and the synods
of Iconium and Synnada ic. 2.'J< > 2;J~)i expressly declared baptism per-
formed by a heretic to be invalid (Firmilian of Caes. in Cypr. Epp.
75, Euseb. 7, 7).

Against this, so far as <-an be perceived, constant and universal
praxis, the other prevailed in Rome in the middle of the third
century, viz. that in cases in which the heretical society baptized
in the name of the Trinity, or in that of Jesus, such baptism was
to be recognised by the Catholic church and only (as in the case of
penitents) to be completed by the laying on of hands on occasion of
their transition. The appearance of the Novatians at Rome, who,
regarding their society as the true church, baptized those who
joined them, seems to have contributed essentially to the kindling
of the controversy, in which STKI-HANUS of Rome -!•'>:'> -l")7. repre-
s.'iited the Roman view and for its sake renounced church-fellow-
ship with Bishop Firmilian <>f ('a-sami and other bishops of A-i.i
Minor, but thereupon came to a violent split with Cyprian. T\vo
ecclesiastical assemblies at Carthage in 2")") and 2~><> declared
against the validity of heretical baptism. The messengers of the

THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. 267

latter assembly were not received by the Roman Bishop Stephanas,
and between the two heads of the church there arose a violent con-
flict. A third great ecclesiastical assembly of all the North African
provinces, in the autumn of 256, acceded to Cyprian's view, and
recognised the latter as correct : " neminem for is baptizari extra
ecclexiam powe, cum xit baptisma unum in .<?. ecclesia const itutum"
How can one (the heretical cleric), who has lost the Holy Spirit, per-
form spiritual acts (spiritaUa agere), or give what he does not himself
possess! Our procedure is not a rebaptizare but a baptizare. On
the other hand Stephanus kept in view the ecclesiastical act in
itself in its objective character, apart from the character of the
society in which and by the organs of which it was carried out :
"Qiti in nomine Jexu Christi ubicunque et quomodocwnque baptizantu);.
iunovati et sanctificati, indicentur " (of. the principle of the Roman
bishop attacked by Hippolytus, that a sinful bishop is yet to be
recognised as bishop, p. 262).

Cyprian held to his standpoint. Firmilian, in his correspondence
with Cyprian, expatiated in very bitter words against the stultitia
of Stephanus, who yet boasted in the successio Petri. Dionysius of
Alexandria disapproved the procedure of Stephanus and sought to
bring about peace. The controversy found no clear solution at that
time, but subsided after the death of Stephanus in the persecution
under Valerian (257). Subsequently, however, the Roman view
gained more ground. The Council of Aries (314) approved it, but
with the regulation and limitation, that laying on of hands was
to suffice in the admission of a heretic, only in cases when, being
questioned as to the baptismal symbol, he gave the satisfactory
answer, from which was to be inferred that he had been baptized in
the name of Father, Son and Spirit ; on the other hand he was to'
be baptized when, in reply to the question, he did not name the
Trinity. Essentially similar is the decision at Nicaea, according to
which, however, heretics who stand on essentially alien ground of
faith, and those who raise offence with reference to the correct
belief in the Trinity, were always in future to be excepted, because
these were just cases in which a correct baptism could not be pre-
supposed. In apparent contradiction with the view of the church
as the sole instrument of salvation, but at bottom by a perfectly
correct instinct when regarded from the conception of the Catholic
church, the view therefore here conquers which sees the existence
and the essence of the church guaranteed not in persons but in
objective institutions, and therefore also in the objective form of
the sacrament.

CHURCH HISTORY.

9. Divine Service and Religious Customs.

I. DIVINE SERVICE ON SUNDAY.

.Source* (cf. p. 234) : The liturgies in the 2nd, 7th, and 8th Books of the Apos-
tolic Constitutions, in the last a liturgy consisting of several formularies
intermingled. — The five so-called Mystagogic Catechisms of Bishop Cyril of
Jerusalem (middle of fourth century) afford conclusions as to the close of
the first period. Tn the numerous liturgies fixed in writing; in later times,
of which the Ethiopic, first published by H. LUDOLF in 1691, seems to have
a specially ancient foundation, undoubtedly old portions are preserved.
Chief collections : ASSKMANNI ; DANIEL, and others vid. sup. p. 21, NO. 4;
NEALE, Tetralogia liturgica, Lond. 1841 ; BUNSEN, Analecta Antenicicna
III.; J. L. KOXIG, Die Hauptliturgien der alten Kirc/ie, Neustrel. isiio —
Works on : TH. HARNACK (p. H8) ; F. PROBST (catholic) Liturgie der :'• i-rstcn
Jahrh., Tub. 1870; GOTTSCHICK, Der Sontagsgottesdieiist dcr c/trfstl.
Kirche vom 2-±. Jahrli. (ZprTh. 1885, 214-285, 807-821); H. A. KOSTUN,
Gesch. des <-/tr/'sfl. (;<>tti'silicnst<'x, Freiburg 1SS7 (1-57).

Hand in hand with the consolidation of the ancient Catholic
-church in constitution and discipline goes also the formation of more
fixed and symmetrical forms of divine service (cf. .wy>. p. 118 sqq.).
Of decisive importance for this purpose was,

1. The separation of the holy Supper from the Agapes and its
association with the assemblies for edification. Whether a temporary
suspension, in time of persecution, of the Agapes which were easily
exposed to suspieion and as to which evil reports were current, may
have contributed to this end, is a question which may be left open.
From the well-known letter of Pliny to Trajan ci<1. suj). p. 161 this
cannot, as usually is the case, be inferred ; for there it is not Christ ians
who being questioned make confession, but apostates, who declare
that they have been Christians, but are so no longer, and who now
say, that they had no longer participated in the common 'innocent)
meals (Agapes since the renewal of the prohibition of the hetaircia.
From this it does not follow that the Christians had suspended their
Agapes, but rather the contrary ir/d. GOTTS. HICK, 1. c. p. 21<'» sq. ;
FR. ARNOLD in the Sfiidh-n nut/ ,<ki:-cii dti* ()*ti>rt>itx>«>ii 1. 1887, p.
276 sq.). The Didache still, on the one hand, presupposes the con-
nection of the celebration of the Supper with the Agapes (Did. i» and
10», but on the other hand, already knows of the Ku<-h;irist as the
chief thing in the service of Sunday u-hap. 13); and so we find it in
Justin (A[). I. 67' where the Supper appears as an essential com-
ponent part of the Sunday service (as also as first Communion in
attachment to the act of baptism ih. 6.~> . without expressly, or more
than by indication, thinking of the Agapes. The ennneciion seems
.to have been gradually dissolved, the A-apes the 8t-t7ri'« -rroiKiXa of

DIVINE SERVICE. 269

Lucian) survive, and indeed in the character of love-feasts with
common contributions, with religious addresses, prayer and song,
and so that a share of the gifts brought to them is sent to priests and
the poor and to imprisoned confessors (Tertull. Apol. 39 ; Ad Martyr.
2 : " imo et quce insta stint caro non amittit per curam ecclesice et agapen
f rat rum " ; De baptismo 9 ; in Montanist hostile vein, De iehmio 17).
Degeneration into luxurious banquets makes its appearance. In
spite of growing secularisation, the strict maintenance of the spiritual
character (appertaining to the cultus) is shown by the fact that
I Agapes were held in churches, a practice which the Council of
| Laodicea of the fourth century forbade (c. 28) without being able to
root out the custom (canon 74 of the Quinisexta). They are specially
affected in connection with celebrations of the dead and feasts of
martyrs. Under the title of Agape, however, there are also found
private undertakings in the sense of benevolent feasts, somewhat in
the sense of Luke xiv. 13 (which subsequently are taken under
protection against the hyper-spirituality of the Eustathians, who
would not take part in them, Syii. Gangr. c. 11).

2. The next point to be considered is, that, on the soil of the
I Graco-Roman. world, Christian worship which culminates in the

Eucharist is involuntarily placed under the point of view of the
celebration of the mysteries, after the fashion of the Grseco-Asiatic
mysteries. This is already announced in Justin, who finds in the
'Mithras mysteries an aping of the mystery of bread and wine,
j established by the demons beforehand (ApoL I. 66, cf. Dial. c. Trypli.
70, 78). Clement of Alexandria however shows himself to be en-
tirely dominated by this point of view in his estimation of the
Christian gifts of grace, illumination, consecration, and perfection
(cf. Bratke in StKr. 1887, 647 sq.), and Tertullian does not judge
otherwise (De prcescr. licer. 40). If however the Christian assem-
bly for edification is turned into the celebration of a mystery, it is
available only for the initiated, and so in Justin's representation
every trace of the admission of the unbaptized is lacking (which in
the apostolic age is undoubtedly presupposed at the assemblies for
edification), because here the main accent — the cultus character
(proper — rests on the mystery of the Eucharist.

3. On the other hand however, the public reading and exposition
jof Scripture was too important a means of attraction and introduc-
tion to the Christian faith, of completely gaining men, of continuous
(missionary activity, for all unbaptized persons to be able to remain
pxcluded from it on principle. When the actual presence of times-
pf persecution did not compel special prudence, the preaching" which-

CHURCH HISTORY.

was developed out of the edificatory exposition of Scripture and
address, must have been regarded as a powerful instrument for
those also who were not yet decided ; and above all it was the insti-
tution of the Catechumenate <i'id. sup.i, the psedagogic importance
of which compelled the church to place these novices of Christianity
even before baptism, not only under the didactic, but also under
the edificatory influence of Christian assemblies of the community.
Hence there arose a part of the divine service accessible to all (mixxa
catechumenorum), and a mysterious part (missafidelium) set apart for
the consecrated and authorized members of the community, in such
a way however that the cardinal point of the whole as cultus was
contained in the latter part, viz. the Eucharist, in which the cele-
bration culminated.

4. With this distinction there is connected the practice of the so-
called Disciplina arcani, according to which certain parts of the
cultus, usages and formulae, viz. the usages and formulas of the
Supper, the act of baptism and the baptismal confession, the Lord's
Prayer and one or two others, were treated as portions of the secret
service, and therefore were never once even spoken about openly and
unreserved \y in the presence of the uninitiated. Justin had still
spoken unreservedly of the acts of baptism and the Supper to his
heathen readers. But the keeping secret of these things, which was
besides suggested by times of persecution, and essentially demanded
by the view above indicated (No. 2), begins from the age of TVr-
tullian to gain predominance, and attains the highest point of its
development in the following period fourth and fifth centuries), ill
which the churches had to admit masses of unbaptized persons who
showed an interest in Christianity but still ivl'rained from baptism.
Thence arose the procedure in the treatment of the catechumens,
according to which only at the end of the time of preparation, and
indeed only by word of mouth and as a secret to be kept, were
tli<'se things, and in particular the confession of faith imparted
(RoTHE, De dixc/pl. urcdni. Heidelb. 1841; BONWI.TSI n, in ZhTli.
1S7M ; ri<l. ZKGSCHWITZ, in RE. I. 637 sqq. ; ZAUN, 7,\VL. II. BK! sq.).

5. Further, the appearance of the specific idea of the priesthood
(p. 'I'M sq.) was important for the development of Christian worship,
which idea necessarily involved a transformation of the views of the

ntial part of worship. If, according to the original idea, which
still deeidrdly pervades Tertullian (!)>' unit. c. 23>, worship was the
spiritual self-sacrifice of the community in prayer, in which the
value of the oblations offered to the Creator from His own gifts only
consisted in their giving expression to the free self-surrender of the

DIVINE WORSHIP. 271

sacrificing community (cf. Iren. Ado. hcer. 4, 18), along with the idea
of the priesthood, the idea of sacrifice also now began to take another
direction. The Eucharist appears as the sacrifice offered by the
priest (sacrificium o/ferre, Tert. De cultu fern. 11 ; s. celebrare Cypr.)
as dominica hostia, as an act of sacrifice, having a value in itself,
through its objective priestly accomplishment (vid. infra No. 7).

6. Of the elements of divine worship already named by Justin :
i reading of Scripture, preaching-, prayer, and the Eucharist, the first
two form the kernel of the mixsa catech., with which however
elements of prayer and, already at an early period, psalmody are
combined : the prayer of the church after the dismissal of the cate-
chumens and penitents, which the community performs standing
and turned towards the East, in such fashion indeed that one per-
son prays and the community responds, forms the transition to the
Eucharist. The type is the order of divine service in the 2nd Book
of the Apostolic Constitutions. As regards the individual elements of
divine service, 1) the singing of Psalms and Hymns in the assem-
! blies of the community, as also at Agapes and in the Christian home,
is early familiar. Biblical psalms, but especially also a number of
shorter biblical passages such as the Trishagion (Isaiah vi.), and of
New Testament passages, the Magnificat (Luke i. 46 sq.), Benedictus
(Matt. xxi. 9), Nunc dimittis (Luke ii. 29), the little (Rev. i. 6) and
the great Doxology (Luke ii. 14) are used. Gnostics introduced
freely composed Greek hymns (Bardesanes, Harmonius), but the
songs which the Christians sung to Christ as their God in the time
of Pliny (antiphonally or with hypophonic responses by the congre-
gation) may also already have been of this sort. The singing of the
i congregation was probably recitative. Ignatius is said to have
j already introduced antiphonies (alternate singing), as to which the
| certainty is its comparatively early appearance in the Church of
j Antioch (vid. the former period, where also the literature). 2; The
J Reading of Scripture is the public reading of portions of the Old
Testament and the Gospels, or rather the Harmony of the Gospels
jby Tatian in the Syrian Church (Just. Apol. I. 67, ra arcopvi^ovev-
\^ara r&v airo<TTO\u)v , fj ra crvyypdfA/jLara rwv Trpcxbrirwv), to which
was added that of other post-apostolic writings highly esteemed in
j Christian circles. (The Apostolic Constitutions 2, 57 mention a four-
fold reading, the Law and the Prophets, and after singing of the
'Psalms in which the congregation responds, the Gospels and Epistles
| with the Acts of the Apostles [Apostolos]). The closing of the
iCanon leads to definite separation of the canonical Scriptures, along-
iside of which however many highly esteemed post-apostolic produc-

272 CHURCH HISl^ORY.

tions long retained the character of public church reading books
(avayivtocncofjLeva). In the sphere of dominion of the Greek language
the translation of the seventy interpreters enjoyed the highest re-
gard from the very beginning and is in church use ; but alongside
of it there already comes, in the East, the Syriac translation
of the Bible, and in the West the Latin (the alleged Itala). Bible
codices are found in the possession of the communities for purposes
of worship, as well as for the private use of those who did not pos-
sess copies. Wealth}7 Christians exerted themselves, in association
with scriptural scholars, with a view to the multiplication of copies
(Origeii and his friend Ambrosius ; Pamphilus) the number of which
in the Diocletian persecution shows itself to be significant. They
were partly preserved at the places of worship, parti}7 by the lectors
(Routh, 7.W. II. 322) on whom lay the duty of reading the Scriptures
at worship, though not exclusively, as the gospel was sometimes
read by the deacons, when the congregation had to listen standing.
3) Out of the simple paracletic-prophetic address following on and
attached to the reading of Scripture rnl. xtijira, 2 Clem. p. 123) there
is now developed the iimn- artistically formed Homily or Sermon,
which is more comprehensive and serves the purposes of doctrinal
understanding proper, and is thus intended to promote not only
edification, but also conviction of the Christian faith in its in-
creasing theological formation. This involves that rhetoric corre-
sponding to the higher (ireek culture of the time should soon make
its way in; e.rti'in/>i>rij speaking becomes the exception, and is
specially remarked. Origen gives the widely influential type of
homily. The sermon in divine service is given by the bishop or
presbyter, but also, on the bishop's commission, l>y the deacon, and
indeed also by eminent laymen (ri<t. xiiprti Origen !). 4) Prayer
appears partly in short vows between the single acts of worship,
partly it is attached in longer independent formation to the sermon,
spoken partly by the bishop, partly by the deacon. The general
church prayer belongs, in the service which has been divided into
two parts, to the beginning of the w/'.s.sv/ fitlclium, it is preceded how-
ever by different prayers for catechumens, energumens, penitents,
closing the misxa catech., after which these respective classes were
dismissed.

7. The Eucharist, originally the designation of all celebrations
of thanksgiving, which were performed at Agapes and the Supper
(Didache (J sq.), now becomes the solemn designation of the Lord's
Supper, which forms the mystery in the cultus, and which follows
the general church prayer. The simple forms, as made known to us

THE EUCHARIST. 273

by Justin, soon receive a complicated liturgical development. The
Didache required the confession of sins before the breaking of
bread and giving of thanks (14, 1; cf. 4, 14), so that the sacrifice
of the Christians might be pure, an exhomologesis which is to be
understood not so much as a public ritual confession of sins before
God, as in the sense of Jas. v. 6, of a mutual confession of failings
against brethren (cf. the connection of Did. 14, 1 and 27, also Ep. of
Barnab. 19, 12), so that it stood in the closest connection with the
kiss of peace with which, after the general intercessory prayer, the
Eucharistic act was introduced. In Irenaeus also (1, 13, § 7 ; 3, 4, 2)
we find the trace of this ritual confession, and according to the
representation in the 2nd Book of the Apostolic Constitutions,
chap. 2, attached to it is the presentation of the gifts, which are
received by the deacon, the exhortation to placability and against
hypocrisy, on which the osculum pads immediately follows. In
Tertullian and again in the 8th Book of the Constitutions the kiss
of peace precedes the offering of the gifts. After the preparation of
the elements and the sign of the cross, the thankoffering proper and
consecration prayer, the words of institution and the elevation form,
in this further expansion of the liturgy, the elements which are carried
through with various prayers and singings. The bishop or presbyter
distributes the (usually sour) bread, with the words awfta XpiaTov,
the deacon the wine mixed with water in the cup with the words
alpa Xpia-Tov, TroTijpiov £&)?7<?. The blessing by the bishop on the
kneeling congregation and the deacon's word of dismissal end the
celebration. The whole act appears

1) Essentially as an act of thank -offering1, in which thanksgiving
is offered both for the divine revelation of salvation, and specially
for bodily (the gifts of creation) and spiritual food, and prayer is
made for the perfection of the community and the coming of the
kingdom. The oblation of the earthly gifts as sacrificial gifts (which
lias its more comprehensive significance in the Agape, but is also
retained for the divine service of the Eucharist) symbolizes the
devotion of the believers in faith and love. The sacrificial meal
however also gives 2) to the sacrificers (sacramentally) participa-
tion in communion with Christ, also represents the sacrificial death
|3f Christ, and therefore ministers to the nourishment and main-
jtenance of the new life by communion with Christ, along with
hhe closer union of the members with one another ; thus the
bommon participation in the blessed bread and the blessed cup
Becomes the pledge of the coming kingdom of God and the food
j)f immortality ^ap^aKov aOavavias, Ign. Ad Eplies. 20. 2), the

18

274 CHURCH HISTORY.

elements becoming the mystical bearers of Christ or the divine
Logos. For this second aspect of the Eucharist as sacrament the
point of attachment lies in the words of institution which have been
entwined with the sacrificial act and which we must already pre-
suppose in Justin, and its completion in the so-called €KK\rjai<f (Iren.
4, 18. 5) or €Triic\rja-t<i of the Holy Spirit which in all the ancient
liturgies (except the Roman) follows the words of institution (cf.
PFAPF'S Fragm. 2. on Iren. I. 859 St.). The theological explanations
of this mystical procedure however lead partly, and over a wide
area, to a symbolical conception, partly to the conception that the
elements by the consecration are as it were adopted by the Logos
as His bodily organs and in this sense His body and blood, and
become the bearers of His activity (Justin), partly to a dynamical
appropriation of saving powers through the mediation of the Holy
Spirit invoked. Under the altered (theurgic) conception of the
notion of sacrifice (vid. sup. No. 5) and the work of the priest, the
realisation as present of the atoning passion of Christ in the Eucha-
rist already culminates in such a way, that, according to Cyprian,
Christ's passion is just the sacrifice which the priest offers (Ep. 63,
17 Hart.: ijtiia jHtxxionis eiux mentionem in sacri/idi* omnibus fad in UK,
jiuxxio (-/tt/n Dumini sacri/idn/n e*t (J/KH/ /'adi/ntx etc.). After the
sacred celebration the blessed elements are brought to the houses of
the sick and prisoners ; cases also occur here and there, where some
of the blessed bread is taken home by members and consumed in
the family at morning prayer. Participation by children (of the
baptized) is also found in both the African and Oriental Churches.

Connected also with this turn of thought is in the next place the
fact that the oblations and in general all religious performances)
now assume a meritorious character. Seeing that, in the Eucharist,
prayer is made for those who have offered the gifts, the dead and
especially the martyrs are drawn into this association in prayer.
Members of the community offer gilts in their stead, so that they
are now remembered in prayer. Next, the oblation for the dead
acquires the character of a meritorious action, which is reckoned to
the offerer as a good work, and places those for whom it is offered
within the power of the priestly intercession.

THE PASCHAL CONTROVERSY. 275

II. THE CIRCLE OF FEASTS.

Literature : J. BINGHAM, Origines s. antiq. eccl. lat. ed. Grischovius, vol. ix.
Hal. 1724, 4. ; W. AUGUSTI, Denkiuurdigkeiten a. d. christl. Archdol., voll.
1-3, Leipsic, 1-17-20; H. ALT, Das Kirchenjahr, 2nd ed. 1860; LINSBNMAYER,
Entiu. d. Kirchl. Fastendisciplin, 1877; TH. ZAHN, Gesch. d. Sonntags,
Hannover 1878.

Cf. K. L. WEITZEL, Gesch. der Passahfeier der 3 ersten Jahrh., Pforzh.
1886. G. E. STEITZ in StKr. 1856 and STEITZ-WAGENMANN in RE. II. 270 et
sqq. ; HILGENFELD. Der Paschastr., Halle 1860; E. SCHURER, De controv.
paschalibus, Leipsic 1869 and ZhTh. 1870.

The Christian weekly cycle is now arranged by the distinction
given by the church to the Sunday, and in it the Sunday is distin-
guished as the joyful feast of the resurrection of Christ by standing
(not kneeling) at prayer, and freedom from the exercise of fasting ;
on the fourth and sixth days (Wednesday and Friday) however, in
analogy to, but at the same time in conscious variation from the
Jewish custom of fasting on Monday and Thursday, fast is held in
remembrance of the Passion of Christ (Did. ch. 8, 1. Hermas. Sim.
5, 1). These are the dies stationum. the turning-points in the history
of our Lord's Passion, the days of the betrayal and the crucifixion.
| Alongside of it however there is already a significant basis of a
Christian yearly cycle of feasts.

The Paschal Controversies after the middle of the second century
give some light on the subject. Here we see —

1. The practice in Asia Minor, which celebrates the Christian
Passover corresponding to the Jewish Paschal Supper on the 14th
day of the Jewish month Nisan, on whichever day of the week it
may fall. On that day fast is held, and then, towards evening, the
second Supper is festally solemnized as the Passover supper of the
new Covenant (o-wrr/ptov Trda-^a ). It is founded upon the fact that on
this day the Lord Himself ate the Passover with His disciples (before
iHis death, which in this way of looking took place on the 15th
I Nisan), and support is found in the ancient tradition of the Church
of Asia Minor, going back to the Apostle John, which had always
celebrated the festival in this fashion ; the time appointed by the
i Mosaic law is regarded as binding also for the Passover in its
{Christian sense. Christians of Asia Minor are therefore Quarto -
idecimans. It is at least doubtful, however, whether the chief repre-
•sentatives of ecclesiastical tradition, reaching back through Polycarp
Ito the Apostle John, varying from this so-called Jewish-Christian
'conception, did not ground from the beginning the strict mainten-
ance of the 14th Nisan not on the procedure of our Lord on His
{last evening, but rather on the death, which took place on the

276 CHURCH HISTORY.

14th Nisan, of Christ the true Passover Lamb, and therefore rather
celebrated the 14th Nisan as the day of Christ's death (SCHUREB
I.e. p. 238 sqq.)

2. In the other portions of the Church however, the whole Latin
West, Egypt, Palestine, also Pontus etc., the observance (the r-qpelv]
of the 14th Nisan (which as a rule is regarded as the day of
Christ's death) is rejeqted, and it is required that the fasts which
introduce the Christian Passover celebration should end on no
other day of the week than the Lord's Day, that therefore the
Sunday should close the fast and bring in the celebration of the
Passover, i.e. the Paschal Supper of the new covenant, the festal
celebration of the Lord's Supper (Const, Ap. 5, 19). Hence it follows
in the next place that, for this way of treating the Christian Passover,
two sides come into prominence, inasmuch as for the proper feast-
day (of the Passover) the reference to the resurrection, corresponding
to the importance of Sunday, comes to the front, but for the prepara-
tory time of fasting the reference to the time of the Passion (the
Christian Paschal sacrifice), with which is next connected the taut
that to the word Trdcr^a (Hebrew, Psesach) there is early attributed
an allusion to vracr^av; Tertullian designates by pdxcha both the
day of death (De orat. 18) and the Easter Feast (De bapt. 19). The
expressions however for these two aspects, Trdcr-^a crTavp(t>cri/j.ov and
•TT. dvaa-rdcrifjLov do not belong to the ancient church. It corresponds
however to the historical origin of the Catholic Paschal celebrationr
that the name 7rua-%a gradually attached exclusively to the Easter
festival. The duration of the Paschal fast is at lirsr very indelinite.
Irenaeus (Euseb. ">. -2 [, 12 1 knows that in one place they fast one day
(which seems to suit the Quartodecimans), in another two days (o
Tertull. De ieiunio 2 : die* in i/ti/h/t.^ tih/nf/ix <>*t K/IOIISUS — Good Friday
and Saturday, Const. Ap. 5, 18;, elsewhere longer.

The variation of Paschal practice first became the subject of dis-
cussion between the Roman bishop Anicetus and Polycarp who
was visiting Rome (about l.V> . without their coming to any agree-
ment, but also without on that account disturbing the peace of
the church. Next, about 170 (Kc.iM l'>7. WADD. 1(35), controversy
arose in Asia Minor itself as to the Quartodeciman celebration, in
which Melito and Apollinai is to..k part, the latter as its opponent,
on the ground that Jesus rather died on the 14th Xi>.m according
to John). Blastus seems to have been a champion of the Asiatic
celebration (Pseudo-tert., De liicr. 22j. He defended it in the \\~est,
and against him Iren;ens wrote his Htpi c^ur/ua-ros (Euseb. 4, 2' > . as
later also did Hippolytus.

THE PASCHAL CONTROVERSY. 277

At last however, about 192-194, Bishop Victor of Rome, ixi his
missive to the most eminent bishops (EusEB. H.E. 5, 26), comes
forward against the Quartodecimans. It has been conjectured that
opposition to Montanists, among whom the Asiatic celebration of the
Passover is likewise to be presupposed, explains the harshness of
Victor's advocacy. Many synods were held on this subject and
in the West. Egypt, Palestine, Pontus, and the Syrian East
(Osrhoene), declared for the Roman conception. But POLYCRATES of
Ephesus and the Asiatics held fast to their tradition, and appealed
to the authority of Melito, Polycarp, and further of the Apostles
John and Philip. Victor went so far as to excommunicate them,
but was decidedly censured therefor, even by Irenasus, although
the latter was attached to the Roman practice.

In the Paschal celebration, fasting, which was weekly exercised on
the so-called station days (Wednesday and Friday) as a half-fast
(till nones), in memory of the Passion of Christ, otherwise used
(Just, and Did. 7, 4) also as a spiritual preparation for baptism, or
voluntarily as a solemn religious performance (support of prayer
by fasting vid. Did. 1, 3), acquires a greater extension : time of
facing, at first a time of grief and penitence of fluctuating duration
of several days. In Passion Week in particular, according to the
preponderating Roman practice, the Sunday, which is otherwise
exempt from fasts, is drawn in. Here there is a fast of forty hours,
according to the duration of our Lord's rest in the grave. By ex-
pansion there is gradually developed therefrom the forty days' fast:
the season of Quadragesima (Lent), which sought its analogies in
Christ's forty days' fast in the widerness, and the fasts of Moses and
Elias, even when its duration was riot actually so great. In this
Quadragesima season strict fasting is limited to the station days. The
Montanists however had introduced for the other days of the last
two weeks the so-called Xerophagies, i.e. abstinence from all fat
loods (flesh, eggs, butter, milk, naturally of course wine), and these
as a matter of fact naturalised themselves.

With the Paschal celebration the reckoning of the year received a
special importance for Christians. At first people were attached to
the Jewish calendar. But from the beginning of the third century
it began to be considered erroneous. Down till the destruction of
Jerusalem the Jews had placed the 14th Nisan on the first full
moon after the vernal equinox, but then in their reckoning of the
months left the equinox out of account. Hence there now begin the
Christian reckonings of the Passover. The Christian party of the
Protopaschites stuck to the Jewish reckoning, according to which

2 78 CHURCH HISTORY.

the term often fell a full month earlier than according to the
Christian observation of the equinox. The first to be distinguished
for his Christian reckoning of Easter is Hippolytus, who started
from the 18th March as the equinox and computed a cycle of six-
teen years, according to which every sixteen years the Easter full
moon fell on the same day of the year, and every 112 years on the
same day of the year and week (Easter table for 112 years). Others
reckoned otherwise, till finally at Alexandria the 21st March was
recognised as the vernal equinox. Great confusion, however, and
want of uniformity had resulted in different places, so that the
Council of Aries <314) required uniform celebration according to
the direction of the Bishop of Rome. Definitive order followed at
Nicsea (rid. following period).

In sharp contrast to the season of Quadragesima with its character
conditioned by the celebration of the Passion, there now came the
Easter or Quinquagesima season (season of Pentecost). The transi-
tion between the two is formed by the specially solemn Easter Vigil
(Divine service at night till cock-crow). The whole period has the
character of a joyful time for the church, in which the Eucharist is
daily celebrated, prayer made not fasting and not kneeling but
standing. The fortieth day is celebrated as the Ascension, the
fiftieth as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Besides these, comes only in our period, and indeed in the Greek
East ot ill'' Chmvh. tin- Feast of Epiphany <'>th January) as the
feast of Christ's baptism and the appearance and revelation of
Christ, and His Messianic dignity, along with which the reference
to the birth of Christ as the /;/vnvWr//.v came in subordinately. It
is remarkable that according to Clem. Al. >7/-o///. 1. 21, 117, we
must suppose that in Egypt the Basilidians were the first to concern
themselves with the celebration of the baptism of Christ. To the
West the feast still remained entirely foreign, and the church in
general knew no Christmas Feast .

On the other hand in the church the Feasts of Martyrs, for the
commemoration of those who had poured out their blood for the
faith and thereby entered into the higher life, and therefore the
days of their deaths, begin to be celebrated as the birthdays of the
blessed life (natalitid). Loving attachment gathers their bones and
treasures them, and their mitnlifiti are celebrated by visits to their
burial places, with prayer, oblation, and celebration of the supper
(cf. p. 273 sqq.). There was assured belief in the intercession of the
martys for the communities i although on the other hand oblations
were brought for the martyrs), and indeed the conception of an

PLACES OF WORSHIP. 279

atoning, sin-annulling power of their martyrdom (Origen, Cyprian)
was not wanting. An actual invocation of the martyrs, however, we
do not yet find.

III. CONSECRATED PLACES AND SACRED ART

The places of assembly for divine worship, at first private places in Christian
houses, become regular places or even buildings consecrated to the ends of
worship, which are called praying places, Trpoo-ev/crr/pia, House of the Lord,
KvpiaKr), damns Dei (Tert.), and as the places of assembly of the ecclesia, ecclesia
itself. Origen already alludes to the decoration of these places, and in the times
of greater peace in the third century numerous church buildings must have
arisen. Nevertheless the famous church at Nicomedia, near the Emperor's
Palace, and which was destroyed on the outbreak of Diocletian's persecution,
must still have been a very modest building, as the Pretorians, at Diocletian's
command, were able to level it to the ground with crowbars in a few hours. It
is only the age of Constantine which brings in the period of artistic building.

As to the forms of architecture we are only scantily informed. From the
beginning it is obvious, that the forms offered by the ancient house may have
had concurrent influence even in the erection of buildings for worship, but
also that larger buildings also, meant for other purposes, may have served for
models. These questions are both concerned in the explanation of the ancient
Christian basilicas, which become known from the time of Constantine the
Great (vid. infra). The marked rise of church building in the time of Con-
stantine already presupposes a certain Christian art tradition. The Apostolic
Constitutions (II. 57) require the oblong form and orientation, and the excep-
tions which are mentioned in the fifth century, presuppose a pretty general
diffusion of the rule. The following are regarded as essential requirements
(from the time when the Eucharist, separated from the Agape, forms the climax
of divine service), a) The Supper-table, rpaTrefa, mensa, but also already
called ara and altare by Tertullian and Cyprian ; and 6) a raised place for the
reading of Scripture and address, pulpitum, suggestus. Besides these however,
the development of the constitution gives rise to a separation of the places for
clergy and laity ; in the eastern part stand the throne of the bishop and the
seats for the presbyters on either side ; in the western part the seats for the
laity (Const. Ap. I.e.). In this manner the way is gradually prepared for the
division into three. wrhich emerges at the close of the period, viz., a forehall
for heathens, catechumens, and penitents, the "nave" proper of the church for
the believers, and the raised part, ftf)p.a, abvrov, or sanctuariuin, with the apse,
in which are found the altar and episcopal cathedra.

Alongside of the places of worship their burial-places (Cwmcterid) also
acquired a high religious importance for the ancient Christians. From the
very beginning, if we except Egypt, where the embalming of bodies and their
preservation in the houses must have occurred among Christians also (ATHAN.,
Vita Antonii, opp. II. 502 ), the church decided in favour of burial in distinction
from cremation, while in antiquity both forms, inhumatio and crematio, pro-
ceeded alongside of one another, and in the Roman Empire, at least in Italy
(it was otherwise in Greece) cremation had after the end of the Republic long
enjoyed a great preponderance, on the other hand since the age of the Antonines
a reaction had set in. Attachment to the Jewish custom worked in favour
of the Christian custom, as also the burial of Christ and the reverence due
to the body as the temple of God. while, on the other hand, it also recommended

2 So CHURCH HISTORY.

itself from the standpoint of the doctrine of the resurrection. Minucius Felix
regards the Christian custom as a return to the older and better usage. At the
same time subterranean caves or burial-chambers dug out in the side walls
of ravines or the slope of hills, were utilized by preference. Alongside of the
arece laid out in the open fields there arise the Kpinrrai. Particularly in large
towns where it was necessary to go deep down, there thus arose extensive
systems of subterranean cubicula with corridors and galleries, the Christian
Catacombs ! such as we know them in Milan, Sicily, Alexandria, Africa, but
especially at Rome and Naples. Their origination goes back to the first cen-
turies; their original aim however can scarcely have been greater secrecy, for
the graves of the Christians enjoyed the protection of the Roman law like all
graves, and the entrances to them are by no means hidden. But the lively
sense of community substituted for the principle of the individual, or ex-
clusively family grave which ruled to a great extent both in Judaism and
heathendom, the burial place of the community, which gave realization to
the community and equality of all in death. It may be more exactly asserted,
that the family-grave expands in the Christian spirit into the abode of the
great Christian family. This was the actual process ; a Christian family of
rank permitted others to associate with them in the use of their cemetery.

The catacombs are not originally conceived of as places of worship proper,
although sepulchral rites and the visitation of the graves on commemoration
days gave them an actual religious character. The opinion that the catacombs
served as places of worship during the persecutions of the first three centuries
is wrecked by their construction. They are far too narrow for that purpose ;
and those which afford greater space, such as those at Naples, lay so open to
publicity and in such immediate neighbourhood to heathen graveyards, as to
be entirely unfitted for secret assemblies. Hence in the main at least the idea
of the catacomb-church must be gi\vn up. After the catacombs had gradually
ceased, from about the beginning of the fifth re ntury (devastation of Rome by
Alaric), to be used as burial-places, and wore still visited only by pious and
reverent pilgrims, who frequently scratched their pious vows on the walls
(i/niflif/). this also ceased from the time of the Ixmibard invasion, as Pope Paul
IX. caused all relics of known martyrs to be brought from the catacombs into
the Roman churches and cloisters. Most of the catacombs fell in and became
Inaccessible, only a few alwa\> continued to be visited. It was not till the
sixteenth century that an accidental discovery awoke a renewed interest. Ex-
plorations were now instituted at various times. The one led by ANT. BOSIO
(t K'.'J!») was here the first2; others followed, till in our time GIOVANNI BATTISTA
DERos.si has made the investigation of the catacomb-; his life work and out of
them has made the ancient Christian world rise a-ain to an unsuspected
extent. 3

1 The name occurs from the fourth century, at first for the cemetery of St.
Sebastian "ad catacumbas " probably a local d. situation, which, as this
cemetery remained accessible during the whole Middle Ages was universalized
(rid. V. SCHULTXE, p. 40.)

2 Bosio, Roma sotteranea, 1632, translated into Latin and expanded by
AuiNi.in, 1051. Cf. Bicu.KitMANN, Die itltesten « hri-tlichen Begrabniss-stiit-
ten, bes. die Katak. in Neapel, Hamburg l-s-lii.

3 Rossi. Roma sotteranea Cristiana, 3 vols. lsiM-1877, and Bulletino di
archeologia crist. Rome 18U3 sqq. — "Worki.igs up of his results h\ N<»I;TIH-OTK

BURIAL CUSTOMS. 281

In their burial customs, apart from their rejection on principle of the burn-
ing of the corpse, the Christians in many ways adhered to the universal
customs of the country and the age, so far as they did not come into direct
contradiction with Christian convictions. The pious duty which was univer-
sally held in high regard in antiquity, of honourable burial, and care for the
maintenance uninjured of burial-places (also the menacing of all who should
trespass upon them) holds good with them also. Although the Christians know
that the earthly remains of those who have fallen asleep are everywhere in the
Lord's hand, so that 110 act of human violence is able to destroy their hope of
resurrection, even when it throws the ashes of the martyrs into the Rhone
(Euseb. H.E. 5, 1), and althoxagh it is said, that the last honours due to the
dead are more for the sake of comforting those who are left behind than of any
use to those fallen asleep (AUG. De civ. 1, 12), yet the human body as God's
handiwork and image now acquires a double claim to pious treatment : non
patiemur figuram et figmentum Dei feris ac volucribus in prcedavi t'acere.1
Care for honourable burial is regarded as a pious work, the burial of strangers
and the poor as a Christian duty of love.2 But of course the Christian burial-
places, excluding no rank, are open only to the Christian brethren." The
universal custom in treating the body, of closing the eyes, of washing and
clothing it in clean garments is retained; anointing and perfuming, otherwise
rejected by strict Christians as ministering to effeminacy, are willingly granted
to the dead. 4 We also find treatment with material for perservation. Only
the wreathing of the bodies and graves, as also the use of torches, is rejected
by ancient Christian severity (universally ?) as associated in thought with the
libations, thurifications and offerings to the dead of the heathen religions 5 —
which subsequently was entirely altered. Christian feeling also rejects the
Jewish and in general ancient notion of a pollution of persons and the house
by the presence of corpses. It rejects the customary exaggerated expressions
of grief. Definite testimony is lacking as regards a definite period of mourning
and mourning garments, but in these matters we must suppose adherence to
custom (the Roman Novemdiale). Psalmody takes the place of the heathen
ncenice or death songs. For speeches over the body or grave there is no
authentic proof before the time of Constantine (as to oblations and celebration
of the Eucharist cf. p. 279).

The adherence of Christians to universally transmitted custom is further
shown by the numerous objects placed along with the dead, which were still
found in the catacombs. Household instruments and other objects relating
to the life of the deceased were laid partly in the grave itself, partly beside
it ; ornamental objects, rings, armlets and necklets, clasps, gems, combs and
hair-pins and ear-rings are at the same time proof how little the rigoristic
declamations of many ecclesiastical writers against luxury may be regarded
as the measure for the determination of the circumstances of the mass of

and BROWNLOW, R. sott. 2nd ed. 1879 ; French by ALLARD (1871) ; German by
F. X. KRAUS (2nd ed. 1879). — Cf. TH. ROLLER, Les catac. de Rome. 2 vols. Paris
1881, with many illustrations; V. SCHULTZK, Die Katakomben, Leipsic 1882.

1 LACT. Div. instit. chap. 12 ; Orig. c. Ceis. 8, 30.

2 Cypr., Ep. 37 ; Tert., Ap. 39.

3 Licet convivcre cum etfinicis, commori non licet, Tert., De idol. 14.

4 Tert., Ap. 42 : Min. Fel. 12, 9

5 Just. Mart,, Ap. I. 24 ; Tert, De cor. mil. 10 ; Min. Fel. 38. <i.

282 CHURCH HISTORY.

Christians, even though it may be supposed that in this respect the pre-Con-
stantinian age was distinguished from later times by greater simplicity. We
further find playthings, dolls, little figures of terra cotta, bronze or glass
savings-boxes, little bells, small lamps, many-coloured stones and counters, and
also marks such as were attached to slaves as signs for recognition. Further
all sorts of toilet articles, mirrors, ear-spoons, combs, false hair, perfume boxes,
etc. Finally, numerous glass vessels.

These things show us the life of the ancient Christians in the world of Roman
civilization surrounded with the manifold products of the Roman trade in art,
on which the technique and the spirit of antique petty art is stamped. From
the use of them Christians have as little excluded themselves as from the general
forms of intercourse and trade, etc. That hatred of art should be ascribed to
them, is explained by the utterances of conscientious and strict Christians against
the exaggerated luxury of the age and in favour of the simplicity and limitation
of the care for the body to the simple and indispensable, which became Christians,
as also, specially, by their warring against the dominion of mythological repre-
sentation in general and the wanton sensuality of the cultus in particular. The
great mass of Christians however was certainly not scrupulous in regard to
these utensils which minister to daily life, the mythological significance of
whose customary pictures and symbols was now hardly conscious. Clement of
Alexandria ( ]\vd. 3, 11), desires that Christians should limit the use of ornaments
of gold, silver and precious stones, to the most modest extent, to perhaps a mar-
riage or signet-ring; but even with them that they should avoid those with
engraved ligures of the gods or emblems o* war or with the cup, and choose
rather the dove, the fish, the ship in full sail, the lyre, the anchor or even the
ti^hcr, in the latter rase thinking of the Apostle and the little child drawn out
of the water (of baptism) (<-f. 'IVrtull. DC haj>t. 1), i.e. existing representations,
in the case of which, however, the Christian can think of something devout.
Thus there arises in connection with the latter a Christian Symbolism, for cer-
tainly the other objects mentioned by Clement, the symbolical application of
which already appear.1, obvious to him, are chosen from this point of view. The
dove (Tert. J >i litij>r. 9} recalls tin- Holy Spirit, but also Noah's dove of peace,
and pure simplicity ; the fish is already known to Tertullian as a symbolical
designation of Christ (De b<i)>t. 1 : m>s ji/sciciili si'i-innl inn l^fti'v imstnmi Icsum
Christum in (Kjiin nnsi-iiiiiir. <>n-,'ii on Matt. xiii.. ~>S 1 Xpurroy o T/IOTTIKWS
Af-yujio/oy l\6vs. The Sibylline acrostic, Sib. s. •_' IT -'2.V.I the initial letters of
which give 'Irjcrovs Xp«i<rror (sic) Qtnv vibs a-vrrjp <rravp<>s ; Euseb., Const. Oi'dfto

ads. cast, is (F. BECKER, Darstettung'Christi u. <I. }i>'t<l<- <f. ris<-/i,-s, lsi;<;; H.
. \CIIKI. is. /></\ Sijmlxil ties /-Y.s< 7/c\, 1SSS). The ship which hastens towards the
the haven in full sail,1 offered an obvious symbolical reference; the anchor ad-
mitted of explanation in the sense of Hebr. vi. 1!'. the Lyre according to Kph.
v. lit; the fisher curly becomes the symbol of Christ Himself, and there were
many similar symbols. But quite specially was the latter represented in the
figure of the Shepherd, e.g. on the cup of the sacrament (Tert. De i»t</ic. 7, 10
pastor. I/IH-III in calice ilf/iiiti/isi.

In the burial places of the catacombs however an important Held is now
opened to the representations of Christian art, as is shown by the wealth of paint-
ings on the walls of the Roman and Neapolitan catacombs. The Christians
naturally avail themselves of the existing art-technique and attach themselves

1 Ncu-r ovptofipo/iovo-a, CLEM., P;i-d.:-5. 11, 59; which has been falsely turned into
the ship sailing towards heaven

SYMBOLIC ART. 283.

entirely to the system of decoration and ornament customary at heathen burial-
places. To this class belong, among the roof and wall pictures of the arcosolia,
carvings of flowers and fruit, wreaths of vines and grapes, and all sorts of forms
of plants and animals, poppy-heads and pomegranates, doves, peacocks and all
sorts of birds, gazelles, goats, panthers, masks and heads, Nereids, dolphins, etc.
Much in these decorations points to an origin in mythological and mystery
notions, but is of course only felt now as decoration. But certainly in much
of it Christian symbolism is now introduced as in the above mentioned, and in
many other forms, e.g. in the application of the palm (Rev. vii. 9), of the wreath
(Rev. v. 9), of the Vine (John xv.), and of the Lamb. The Romish explanation
goes farthest in the hypothesis of conscious Christian symbolism as the veiled
presentation of the ideas and secrets of the Christian faith ; the other extreme
is represented by HASENCI,EVER (Der altchrifitliche Graberschmnck, 1886), who
sees essentially only ornament in the decoration of the graves; the figures were
only afterwards combined with Christian ideas. The truth may lie between
the two (cf. HEINRICI in StKr. 1882, 720 ; V, SCHULTZE. Katak. 97, and ZWL.
1886, 303. At all events the specifically Christian character appears more de-
cidedly in the Biblical figures and scenes, which are represented in the graves.
The foremost is that of the Good Shepherd, according to our Lord's parable ; as to
the rest, at least in the age before Constantine, the representations which are sup-
posed to allude to parables are uncertain. On the other hand there is a wealth of
Biblical figures out of the Old Testament, partly as an expression of the univer-
sal foundation of the Christian faith, partly as types of Christian redemption:
Adam and Eve, Noah's ark and dove, Moses at the burning bush and striking
water out of the rock, David and Goliath, the story of Jonah, Daniel among the
lions, etc. Those from the New Testament are still scanty, of which the awaking
of Lazarus, and probably also the adoration of the wise men belong to the oldest.
There is however already the figure of our Lord also, not merely in the type of
the Good Shepherd, but also as a historical presentation. While Justin, Cle-
ment of Alexandria, Tertullian and others still think of the Lord as without form
or comeliness (Isaiah liii. 2 sq.), a picture in S. Pretestato represents Him in a
noble type as a beardless youth with an amiable expression and in antique garb,
accompanied by two disciples, while the woman with an issue of blood touches
the hem of His garment from behind (V. SCHULTZE, p. 145) There are numer-
ous instances of the figure of Orpheus with the lyre, as in the middle part of
the famous roof picture in S. Domitilla, surrounded by the pictures, separated
from it by scenes of landscape, of David with the sling, Moses with the staff
which struck forth water, Daniel among the lions, and the raising of Lazarus.
It is disputed whether Orpheus is here regarded as a mythological type of Christ
or as heathen prophet of Him. — F. PIPER, Mythologie und Syinbolilc der christl.
Kirch?, 2 vols.^1847-51.

10. The Fundamental Features of the Christian Life.

Literature: NEANDER, Denkwiirdigkeiten, I. 1-138 of the 3rd ed. Berlin 1845;
BESTMANN, Geach. der christl. Sitte II., 1883 et sqq. ; N. MOSLER, Zur Gench.
des Colibats bes. d. ersten christl. Jahrh., Heidelb. 1878; FUNK ThQ. 1879;
UHLIIOKN, Die christl. Liebesthatigkeit, I. 2nd ed. 1884 ; A. HARNACK in
the Monatsschrift f. Diukonic, IV.

Out of the little collections of Christians scattered over the
Roman world, who separated themselves from the surrounding
heathen, in order to hope for the coming of the kingdom, and,.

284 CHURCH HISTORY.

being intimately bound together by the common faith and the
spirit of brotherly love, to afford space for the free rule of Christian
inspiration in their midst, there more and more became a great
association with fixed forms of constitution, recognised foundations
of ecclesiastical tradition and definite regulations of life which took
a distinct stamp. In spite of its supra-terrestrial aim it yet more
and more seeks to establish itself in the world which surrounds it,
as it also endeavours, in those of its- individual members who parti-
cipate in the culture of the age, to place the content of their reli-
gious belief in relation and alliance with the intellectual view of the
•culture which dominates the age.

This development leads, on the one side, to the result that the
moral requirements which are rooted in the Christian faith also take
the stamp of a permanent Christian manner of life, required by the
church and consecrated by her, and place individuals under its
power. In particular there proceeds hence a purifying influence, in
reaction against the corruption of the over-refined and over-excited
Roman culture, in favour of married and domestic life, which is placed
under the influence of religious consecration and thereby made
more inward and deep, and in which a serious effort after purity
and decency is again made. On the other hand, in this Christian
society, which is already developing into an important social power,
there is an increase of elements which are attracted to it or retained
in it by impure or self-seeking motives, or which at least are far
removed from the power and ideality of the faith, which gives the
power to withstand stmn^ temptations of tli. flesh, or — under perse-
cution— to stake all upon it. Hence indeed, on the one hand, there
is always still the relatively favourable position of an aue. in which
a great part is still not added to Christendom by birth and custom,
but enters into it from personal conviction, under circumstance!
which, at least in time of persecution, rather deter than attract;
but also, on the other hand, there are the dark phenomena which
are accumulated with the numerical growth of Chri>tians, which
gave its development to the penitential system, the numerous hate-
ful traits, e.g., in the Roman community in the age of Hippolytus,
the falling away in masses, after times of relaxation and rest, in the
persecution under Decius and again under Diocletian.

An outstanding trait in the active moral evidence of Christianity
still remains— the comprehensive, cordial and practical brotherly
love, the Christian common-spirit, which makes the care of the
poor, the sick, widows, orphans, the necessitous of all sorts, a self-
. evident duty of the community, whieh is performed with the means

CHRISTIAN LIFE. 285

gathered for the purpose by the bishops and deacons, without there-
by excluding private activity in works of mercy. Thus, according
to tradition, the Roman bishop Urban I. (223-230) could assert with
assurance that in all Rome there was no Christian beggar, and
about the middle of the third century the Roman community (Eus.
6, 43) had about 1,500 widows and other necessitous persons, who
were all maintained by the grace and love of man of the Lord.
And this helpful brotherly love reaches far beyond the local com-
munity. The Roman community sent its subventions as far as-
Syria and Arabia (Euseb. 6, 5), as also to Cappadocia (Basil Ep. 70).
For the redemption of imprisoned Numidian Christians Cyprian of
Carthage in a few days collected 100,000 sesterces ( = £700). Travel-
ling Christians, recommended by the litterce formates, could reckon
upon their maintenance everywhere. Self-sacrificing love did not
however stop at fellow-believers. At the time of a devastating
plague at Carthage the Christians assumed the care of the unburied
corpses and so saved the city from further infection (Vita Cypr.,
chap. 9, cf. Cyprian, De Morlalitate), and similar courage of self-
sacrificing love was shown by the Alexandrian Christians under
similar circumstances. On another side the moral character of
Christianity is determined by the fundamental trait of " keeping'
oneself unspotted from the world " ; a preponderatiugly negative,,
ascetic morality is regarded as the ideal. Here belongs the exalta-
tion of voluntary renunciation of worldly possession, or at least the
moral appreciation of its worth only from the (negative) point of
view of inward freedom from it.1 Here the original, essentially
primitive Christian motives combine their influence with Stoic
views of philosophic freedom from wants. So likewise in the re-
served attitude toward ornament, abundant enjoyment of life and
luxury. Here we have the universal dominance of the fundamental
characteristic of the war against sensuality, which again finds an
increasing echo in Christianity become Hellenic in the Platonic-
Pythagorean spiritualism, with its opposition of spirit and sense ;
the high esteem for virginity, as the purer human condition which
is especially receptive of communion with God and religious con-
templation (Athenagoras, the Alexandrians, but also with special
exuberance, Methodius, on the other hand Tertullian too, etc.). It is
true indeed, that against the extremes of Encratitism the church
maintains the justification of marriage ; but already the entry upon
a s'econd marriage is easily regarded as a taint.2 It is rejected by
Moiitaiiism and the Montanist Tertullian, and in this two points of

1 Clem. Al. : quis dives salvetur. 2 Athenagor., iSuppl. 33.

.286 CHURCH HISTORY.

view commingle, viz., the notion of the indissolubility of the mar-
riage bond even beyond death, and the lower point of view which
sees in marriage, alongside of the aim of the production of posterity,
a mere concession to the flesh, which is to be limited to the smallest
possible measure. The Montaiiist view of the rejection of a second
marriage does not however gain acceptance, but yet it is regarded
as better, after death has dissolved marriage, to remain widower or
widow.

Related to this matter and in connection with the growing con-
sideration enjoyed by the clergy, is the increasing requirement of
a higher sanctity in this point as befitting them. 1 Tim. iii. 2 had
already asserted that a second marriage did not become the bishop
( = presbyter) ; that an unmarried life suits the cleric better becomes
the increasing view of the age, although by no means as yet a uni-
versal law. Marriage concluded before ordination remains valid, and
also the requirement that after ordination the higher clergy should
refrain from marriage intercourse, as is most decidedly expressed
by the Council of Elvira (can. 23), does not gain general prevalence;
this is more the case with the requirement that no marriage should
be entered upon after ordination (Can. Nrocaes. 1). According to
Can. Ancyr. 10 (314) it is to be permitted to the deacon, but only
when, at his consecration, he has expressly so stipulated. Entry
into marriage with heathens, Jews and heretics is regarded as ex-
ceptionable and is expressly forbidden by the Council of Elvira ; it
it is not however justified that one of the parties should be con-
verted to Christianity so as to get separation from his or her spouse.
-Re-marriage after the severance of the first marriage is unfavour-
ably regarded, even the innocent party ought to remain single,
propter poenitentiarn. At the same time this principle is by no
means carried out.

The high estimation of virginity leads in the first place to the
actual phenomenon that many Christians of both sexes remain in
the unmarried condition, in the hope of thereby being more inti-
mately united with God. So a regular class of ascetics begins to
be formed, who seek to serve God in a life of abstinence, with
fasts and the exercise of prayer and meditation, so far without ex-
ternal separation from the family, in their on Unary calling, and in
the third century without any absolutely binding obligation, though
such vows (especially of virgins dedicated to God) are found already
towards the close of the period. As in the case of the so-called
Encratites (p. 175), there arise out of the ancient Christian view
fertilised by the spiritualist philosophy of the age on the basis of

CHRISTIANITY AND CIVIC LIFE. 287

the Origeuist theology, views driven to extremes, which see the
only true Christian morality and the true way to salvation in the
unmarried life of abstinence (rejection of the use of flesh and wine)
and esteem it as the life like that of the angels. It is not less so in
the case of Methodius (Conv. decem virginum) who otherwise opposes
Origen. Monasticism is in the act of beginning, as especially the
Origenist HIERACAS at Leontopolis (end of third century) shows,
around whom there gathered a society of ascetics who allowed them-
selves to be guided by him in learned theological studies and in the
life of the 'EjKpdreia. To him 'EyKpdreia seemed properly the
specifically new element that Christ had brought. That about the
same time the monkish flight from the world found a new form of
life in the settlers in the desert, the anchorites, cannot indeed be
proved by the entirely fabulous legend of Paul of Thebes, but will
show itself to be not improbable from the beginnings of this phe-
nomenon at the threshold of the following period (Antony).

On another side the moral character of ancient Christianity is
determined by its relation to the state and public civic life. Its
attitude in this relation naturally remained one of great reserve
exactly in the case of the more conscientious Christians (vid. supra,
p. 79). Along with the decided enforcement of the duty of obedience
to authority, in cases where it is not God rather than man who must
be obeyed, in which case however patience is the Christian's duty,
there was some correctness in the ancient reproach of uncivic feeling,
in contrast to a state-life which had grown up in such indissoluble
association with heathenism, and from a standpoint which awaited
the coming of the kingdom of God which was to make an end of
the kingdoms of this world. Hence the disinclination to military
and state-service, partly on account of unavoidable conflicts with
the state-religion, partly because of implication in earthly cares,
partly, as regards military service, because of special considerations
against the sword and the shedding of blood (Matt. xxvi. 52). From
a quite similar point of view, holders of strict views took objection
to the taking part by Christians in the system of criminal justice
which had to decide in life and death, and to capital punishment
in general from the Christian standpoint. The Council of Elvira de-
creed (c. 56) that Christian magistrates ought not to attend church1
in the year in which as Duumviri they had to adjudge life and death.
If, at the same time, in this reference the third century shows

1 Otherwise understood by HEPELB (History of the Councils, I. 181), viz. of
the supervision of the city priesthood and temple affairs, and leading of public
processions as carried out with heathen references, which were necessarily
linked with the position of the Duumviri.

283 CHURCH HISTORY.

great liberality of feeling, if we find Christians in the position of
officials of the very highest rank, such as a bishop, Paul of Samo-
sata, as the highest political officer of Queen Zenobia in Antioch,
this must be regarded less as a sign of a higher conception of positive
moral tasks in life, than as a sign of the strong relaxation and secu-
larisation of Christianity in general, as it confronts us in many
characteristics. Here belongs the unhesitating pursuit of profitable
money matters by Christian bishops (Cj-pr. De lap*. 6). All sorts
of impositions and oppressions begin to be compatible with Chris-
tianity (Const. Apost. IV, 6). Ecclesiastical laws have to take
account of a multitude of the grossest sins, especially of sins of
the flesh, even to the extent that parents act as the panders of their
daughters (Can. Illib. 1'2 .

On another side the Christianity of the age saw its religious moral
ideal in martyrdom, with its courage and rejoicing in suffering out of
a firm faith. The martyrs are the heroes of the church, and rightly,
and the objects of special reverence on the part of Christians. In
place of brave but humble suffering, tin-re does indeed emerge in
the heat of persecution a defiant challenging attitude full of fanatical
hatred against the heathen and of tin- passion of strife. To the
martyr's death a higher merit is ascribed, which covers sins ;iu<i
permits the martyrs to enter Paradise immediately (foe prcerogativa
marti/i-ii, TERT. De n.svov. c. 4Hi, and indeed possesses an atoning
power for the sins of others (Orig., Cypr.). The question was asked
whether it was permissible to nee from persecution, and strongly
negatived by Tertullian (Defuga hi j>< ra. >, Uit answered in the affir-
mative by the majority of considerate opinions, just as, on the other
hand, voluntary forcing oneself upon it and even provoking it was
condemned. At the same time, the glory of martyrdom had often
to cover a guilty past .

The legal conception of Christianity, as it was already formed in
the earlier time, now received an increase of importance through the
ecclesiastical conception of it. The good works required am 1 recom-
mended by the church, especially alms-giving and ascetic per-
formances are regarded as meritorious, covering sins and gaining
grace (cf. specially strong Cypr. I )<• <i/>t'/'c <'t i'lt'i:ninx\. Connected
with this is the distinction, which also made its appearance
earlier (Hermas, also the Didache), between a higher (meritorious)
and a lower, common morality, the distinction between jn-ir<-<'/ifn
which were universally valid and special <;»i*ili<i ,'nni<j< !<<•« ( d i-> n .
linked among the Alexandrians with the distinction between tin-
lower standpoint of the believer and the higher of the Gnostic.

MANICHEISM. 289

But this point of view is also connected with the application of the
ecclesiastical view, which may be designated as doctrinal legalism,
according to which deviation by false doctrine is of greater weight
than moral failings,1 and in which the correct perception that sal-
vation is not merited by good works, but is received by faith as
a divine gift, is itself again distorted into the legalistic notion that
salvation depends on the acceptance of correct doctrine.

11. — Manicheism.

Sources : 1) The chief works of Arabian Mohammedans, which are indeed
modern but drawn from ancient Manichee writings and maintain ancient
traditions, viz., AN-NADIM'S List of the sciences (Fihrist al-ulum, finished
A.D. 988, collected ed. of Flugel, Leipsic, 1871). The part of it " On the
doctrinal opinions of the Manichees," with a translation and commentary
in Flugel, Mani, seine Lehre und Schriften, Lps. 1862, and AL-SHARASTANI
(fll53). History of Religious Parties. Arabic ed. Cureton, Lond.1842, German
by Th. Haarbriicker, Halle 1851, also some Persian sources (Firdusi and
Mirchond, vid. DE SACY. Meinoires sur. div. antiq. de la Perse, Paris 1793,
294 sqq., and Journ. Asiat. III. ser. v. 12 [1883] p. 528). Of Christian
Orientals much in EPHRABM SYR. (f 373) and in " The Destruction of the
heretics " of the Armenian Bishop ESNIK (fifth century) (vid. NEUMANN
in ZhTh. 1834, and the not very trustworthy French translation by le
VAILLANT DE FLORIVAL, Refut. des dlff. sectes des paiens p. I. doct. Esnig.
Par. 1853) — 2), Acta disputationis ARCHELAI et MANETIS (ed. ZACAGNI,
Coll. mon., Rome, 1698, also in GALLANDI III. ROUTH, Reliq. sub. V and
Mgr. 10), preserved in a Latin translation from the Greek, but originally
composed in Syriac according to JEROME, De vir. ill. 72, a fact which be-
came doubtful, but is definitively established by KESSLER; a compilation
referring to a feigned disputation of Bishop Archelaus of Cascar in Meso-
potamia with Mani, yet of important historical value, probably originat-
ing in the Edessene Church in the first half of the fourth century. Vid.
ZITTWITZ in ZhTh. 1873, and OBLASINSKY, Acta disputat. Lps. 1874.
Important fragments of it have also been preserved in Greek. — 3) The
numerous controversial writings of AUGUSTINE in the I. and especially
in the VIII. vol. of the Benedictine edition (Ml. 48) : C. epist. Manichozi q.v.
fundamenti, Contra Faustiim Man., Contra Fortunatum dispp., Contra
Adimantum, De actis cum Felice M., Contra Secundium, De natura boni.
De duabus animabus, De moribus M., De ut/litate credendi, as also De
hceres. c. 46. — Along with the data given by the hsereseologists, the
Cateches. 6, 20 sq. of Cyril of Jerusalem, PHOTIUS, Bibl. cod. 179 and the
Greek controversial writings: TITUS BOSTR. (fourth cent.) Tlpos Mavixaiovs,
ed. Lagarde, 1859. ALEXANDER of Lycopolis, Aoyos- jrp. ras yiavixa. Sd£a?, in
Gallandi IV. Greek forms of renunciation for converted Manichees, in
Cotelerius, Pair. Apost. I. 543, Cf. further DRASEKE in ZwTh. XXX. 439
et sqq.

Works on the subject : Jo. de BEAUSOBRE, Hist. crit. du Man., Amstdm. 1734.
F. Ch. BAUR, Das manich. Religions system. Tub. 1831. G. FLUGEL, vid.
supra. K. KESSLER, RE. 9, 223 sqq.

1 Orig. Comm. ser. in Matt. 33.

19

290 CHURCH HISTORY.

Towards the end of our period, when Christianity was already near the
point of obtaining recognition and attaining dominion in the Roman Empire,
there arises from the Neo-Persian Empire a new religion with claims to
universal validity similar to those of Christianity, and begins even within the
sphere of the Christian Church a threatening propaganda, which indeed is
finally conquered by the church and suppressed by the Christian state power,
but makes its after effects felt in the history of Christian sects in the follow-
ing age and deep into the Middle Ages.

MANI (Manes, Manichseus), whose original name is said to have been Crr.ui-
CUS, was born about 216 in the Babylonian city of Mardinu, the son of a noble
Persian, Fatak Babak, who had immigrated from Hamadan (Ecbatana), settled
in the neighbourhood of Ctesiphon and attached himself to the sect of the
Moghtasilah (Baptists) in South Bab^vlonia. Mani's mother was descended
from a race related to the Parthian Arsacidse. Mani is also said to have
received religious revelations. At the age of 25-30 years he came with his
religious doctrine before the Sassanid Schapur I. ; next however he journeyed
for long years to the countries of the East, as far as China and India, and sent
out disciples who proclaimed him as the last and highest prophet of divine
truth. It was not till the last years of Schapur that he returned to the Sassanid
Persian Empire, there gained adherents and also made an impression at the
court, but fell a victim to the hatred of opponents, was taken prisoner and tied.
After Schapur's death he returned and gained the favour of Hormuz I., but
under his successor Bahrain I. he was crucified and his body flayed ; his
adherents were cruelly persecuted.

The pretended previous history of the Manichees, as gathered from the acts
of Archeluus, about the Saracen trailer Scythianus, who reaches back to the age
of the apostles, his disciple Terebinthus who called himself Budda and wrote
the doctrinal writings (Mtjxt<-riii, ''.'///////</, Evangelium,&uA Thesaurus*, which
then passed into the hands of his freeman (Cubricus), like many stories there
told of the circumstances of Mani's life, is worthless legend, the origin of which
KESSLER (RK. n. •_'•_'!» *\.) seeks to explain.

Mani. who spoke Persian and Syri;u- and invented an alphabet of his own,
was the author of many mi>-ive> which were still known to the Mohammedan
narrators. Of the seven chief works mentioned in the Fihrist, the Book of
Secrets, is also mentioned in the Arts of Archelaus. The nook of precepts foil
hearers seems to be identical with th.' Epistola fundamenti, Mani's best known
writing, as the Book of makii/;/ n/irr is identical with the T/i<'s<n/rus ride.
known to Westerns ; what he wrote in Persian was pn>l>ahly the " Holy (Jospel,"
which according to the Persian sources was entitled Krtenki Mani. and com-
posed by Mani in a cave in Turk> >tan and furnished with pictures, and which
\va- <>|'|><>-< •<] li\ the Manichees to the gospel of the church.

The doctrine of Mani is entirely dominated by a strongly natural! stically
and materialistically conceived dualism. Light and Darkness stand over
against one another as good and evil, but not as ideal principles, but at once
as material original elements, which unfold themselves into a kingdom of light
and a kingdom of darkness, which being of immeasurable expanse yet border
upon one another on one side. The kingdom of light has a heaven of light and
an earth of light, yEons and numerous spirits of light belong to it ; in the king-
dom of darkness Satan rules with his demons. By him an attack is made on
the kingdom of light ; on which the God of Light with the spirit of his laws
(the Mother of Life) begets the original man, who being armed with the tivo
pure elements must fight against Satan, but is momentarily subdued and eman-

MANES. 291

cipated by the God of Light by means of the " living spirit." But one part of
the light of the original man was already swallowed up by the darkness, the
five dark elements have already mingled with the races of Light. The original
man, descending into the depths, does indeed cut off the roots of the dark races,
in order to limit their further increase, but from the mingling which has once
taken place there arise the elements of the present world, the formation of
which now takes place at God's command, so that in this formation (the un-
folding of organic creation), the redemption of the fettered light is prepared be-
forehand. The living spirit forms the sun and moon, as the great gathering
points of the light which is to be freed and brought back. In the sun dwell the
original man (Jesus impatibilis) and the light spirits, in the moon dwells the
mother of life. The twelve constellations of the zodiac form the great draw-
wheel with buckets which carry the portions of light freed from the world
to the moon and farther to the sun, to the lucidce naves, for further purifica-
tion. In the elements and then in the organisms (especially those of the plant
kingdom) the Light strives towards emancipation (the Jesus patibilis of the
Western Manichees).

The creation of man by the princes of darkness appears only as the limitation
of this physical process of redemption, as the attempt to retain the light in the
finite world of the sensuous. Adam is begotten by Satan with sin, covetous-
ness and lust ; the light, concentrated as it were in him, is to remain under the
power of the prince of darkness ; alongside of him Eve, enticing sensuality, is
placed as companion. The ^-Eons of light indeed seek to draw him away from
sensuality, the lust of sense incites to procreation. In Adam's son Seth (Cain
and Abel are not sons of his, but were begotten by Satan with Eve) the divine
light relatively preponderates, as in general the latter is stronger in men than
in women. Over against the influence of the demons, which works seductively
through the lust of sense, error and false religions, stands the influence of the
light-spirits which guide the process of the redemption of the light from the
fetters of darkness and seek to lead men to true insight by means of prophets
such as Noah and Abraham, perhaps already Adam himself (but not Moses and
the Jewish prophets who are representatives of the false religions), also it is
true Zoroaster and Buddha. The name of Jesus also appears here, but in the
character of a heavenly spirit in sharp contrast with the Satanic Messiah of the
Jews (vid. supra, Jesus impatibilis) ; his appearance is purely Docetic. Mani
declares himself to be the last and highest prophet, who takes up the work of
the Jesus patibilis ( = original man) and of Paul (cf. Marcion) and as guide,
ambassador of light, and paraclete brings full knowledge. In him and his
imitators, the chosen, the separation of the light shines out successfully. (In
the sphere of conscious spirit there is completed that which is devised in the
whole creation, the wrenching away of itself by light from the bonds of matter.)
Those who do not as yet belong to the elect here, have severe purifications to
pass through hereafter. In the end the bodies and souls of the unredeemed fall
a prey to the power of darkness ; with the complete emancipation of all light-
elements there comes the end of the world ; the world, no longer held by the
higher spirits falls together in flames, while the perfectly righteous are received
into the glory of the kingdom of light which is now once more separated from
the kingdom of darkness.

Redemption takes place here by abstinence from sensuality and by appropria-
tion, or assimilation of the elements of light from creation, and is denoted by
the obligation of the threefold seal for the perfect man : by the signaculum
oris he shuts himself off from all animal food and the use of wine, but also from

29 2 CHURCH HISTORY.

all impure speech ; by the sig. manuum from all avoidable occupation with the
things of the material world and all working on them, by the sig. shuts finally
from all sexual pleasure. To the perfect the killing of beasts and also the-
destroying of plants, even the breaking off of fruits and twigs, is forbidden ;
frequent and strict fastings are incumbent on him, a great number of fast-days
which are fixed according to astrological principles, in addition, strictly regu-
lated times of prayer (four times a day) introduced by washings. The suppli-
cant turns himself towards the sun and moon, or also towards the North ; the
prayers which have been preserved appeal to the God of Light, the kingdom of
Light, the glorious angels, but also to Mani himself. In addition to the few
elect who satisfy these requirements and who alone are in possession of perfect
knowledge, there are the majority of adherents (catechumeni, mid if ores) on
whom very modified demands are made (the ten Commands of Mani). They
must refrain from all worship of idols, from magic, greed, lying, harlotry
etc., and may not kill any living being. They must however pay the greatest
reverence to the elect, provide them with food and afford them every service.
They too must lead a life retired from the world, not however in a sense-
which excludes secular labour and vocation. For it however they stand in.
need of the intercession and blessing of the perfect, whose merit stands for the
defective righteousness of the adherent-.

The sect is held together by the hierarchy of the teachers (Mani and hi.-
successors), the rulers or bishops and the elders, who with the elect! and the
auditores, correspond to live, the sacred number of the kingdom of Light.
Augustine knows twelve teachers and M-venty-two bishops of the sect, but one
of the teachers seems always to have stood in place of Mani as the president.
Their worship, at least that which was also open, to the ainl/tnn s. was simple.
limited to prayers, hymn- and certain ceremonies of invocation. The Sunday
was universally celebrated with an entire fast, while the <• Ac/ /celebrated the Mon-
day to themselves. They annually celebrated the day of the death of the founder,
in March, by the feast of the chair of teaching ( .:^<i). by prostration before
the empty adorned pulpit which was raised on live steps. The Christian
writers know little as to the celebration of the mysteries. However a baptism-
with oil and a eucharistic celebration with bread only are ascribed to the sect.

The character and origin of Mankheism. If in one portion of the syucre-
tistic-Gnostic sects the Christian element- areonly very superficially combined
with Oriental religion.- views. Manichei-m can still less lay chum to be regarded
as a ('liristian sect in it- ••>- .-ntial kernel. It is only a. dualistic religion,
originating from Persia ami certainly in touch with <'hri-'ian ideas, which
gained iiK-rea-ing influence with it- spread westward, which in rough rejection
of both Judaism and ecclesiasti. al < 'hri-t ',-.< nity it-elf lays claim to aim at
being a world religion. It i- to be maintained that PaVseism. with it> opposi-
tion of the Light God Ormuzdandhis Light-spirits (Am-chaspands and 1
and Ahriman with his Devs, is to be regarded as a constitutive factor in its
formation, even though in mod, rn times i-pecialh h\ ELBSSLER) the insight
ha- been gained that to an important extent it i- under the influence "f I !a by Io-
nian religious phenomena. The link of connection for the latter must be
found in the contact of the youthful Muni with the so-called Mogthasilah
! I'.ai't i-t-- . that sect in the swampy di-trict- of the lower Tigris, to which
Mani'- father adhered, and to whose fundamental intlnence the sect of tho
Mandaeans still to be found in that neighbourhood in the present da \ ma;, he
referred. This sect, lir-t depicted under t lie misleading name of the Christians
Of S. John by the Carmelite missionary Ignatiu- .< Jesu (X<irraft<> "/•///. riiinnn

MANICHEISM. 293

et errorum Christianorum S. Joannis, Eome 1652) possesses an extensive re-
ligious literature written in an Aramaic dialect (cf. Th. NOLDEKE, Mandaische
Grammatik, Halle 1875). Of it M. NORBERG has published the " Great Book "
(Sidra rabba, also called (?mz = Thesaurus) under the title Codex Nasoreus
liber Adami appelatus (Lond. 1815 sqq.), better by J. PETERMANN as Thesaurus
.s. liber magnus (Berlin 1867). Not only the name Baptists (Subba, Sabians)
which they bear in contrast to other sects, but also the exclusive recognition
of John the Baptist as the only true prophet speaks for some connection which
•cannot as yet b» cleared up, of these Moghtasilah with the ancient gnosticising
disciples of John or Hemerobaptists of the Clementines (vid. sup. p. 134), and
for an influence of the Elkesaites, in which indeed the Jewish element was
already greatly replaced by elements of Oriental heathenism (probably Baby-
lonio-Chaldaic). At the same time the fundamental element proper seems much
rather to consist in Babylonian religious views. They themselves call them-
selves Mandgeans after one of the aeons or revealing powers of their very
richly developed religious mythology, Manda d' chajje (yvuxris Trjs fays), it
might also be said from Gnosis itself, Gnostics. Their doctrine of JEons shows
many forms related to those of Ophitic Gnosticism, and now the doctrine of
the Manichees is in manifold contact with the same. Vid. GESENIUS, article
Zabier in Ersch and Gruber's Encycl. D. CHWOLSOHNJ, Die Sabier und der
.Sabismus, Petersburg, 1S56, and especially K. KESSLER, RE. 9, 205 sqq.

Finally a Buddhist element is also undoubtedly active in Manicheism (cf. A.
GEYLER, Das System der Man. u. sein Verh. zum Buddhism., Jena 1875). The
propaganda in the Roman Empire however led to an increased accommodation
to Christianity.

The spread of the Manichee sects in Persia, where after the death of Mani
they had to suffer the severest persecutions, in Mesopotamia and Oriental
countries, was very significant For centuries Babylon, and later, Samarcand
was the seat of their chief. Also during the Mohammedan invasion they
maintained themselves in great permanence and their communities readied as
far as the borders of China and India, while in Persia and Mesopotamia to-
wards the end of the tenth century they retired more from the cities to the
rural districts. Their influence on the Greek Empire was continued in the
dualistic sects (Paulicians) of the seventh and following centuries.

In the West Manicheism already makes itself remarkable about 280 (Euseb.
Chron.}. According to the edict under the name of Diocletian (HlNEL, Codicis
Gregoriani fragm., Bonn 1837, p, 44), the genuineness of which is certainly
not uncontroverted, the latter had already given command to the Proconsul of
Africa to burn the leaders of this sect originating in the hostile Persian Empire
along with their books, to behead their adherents and punish them with con-
fiscation of their goods. It is only after Constantine that their swift spread in
the West seems to have taken place. From the time of the Emperor Valentinian
I. strict penal edicts are repeated and the ecclesiastical writers begin their
polemic. North Africa was their chief stage in the time of Augustine ; here
Faustus of Mileve, their most respected representative, directed his literary
attacks against the church, and Augustine, who in his youthful years had
long belonged to the catechumens of the sect, unfolded his energetic polemic
against it, and disputed for two days at Hippo with the Manichee Felix, who
in the end declared himself convinced. The Vandal rulers of North Africa
persecuted the sect with special energy, in particular Hunneric, who caused
many to be burned or transported to the European countries of the Mediter-
ranean (vid. infra).

294 CHURCH HISTORY.

SECOND PERIOD.
From Constantine I. till the End of the Sixth Century.

SURVEY.

THE Christian Church gains toleration, recognition and dominion
in the Roman Empire, learns to regard itself as an essential and
influential member in the great organism and acquires wealth
of resources and a privileged position in it. The church of the con-
fessors becomes an educative church of the people and a privileged
state-church, influential, but also itself influenced by secular and
political interests. The working up of the Christian belief for
thought by means of Grseco-Roman culture, a process which was
already begun, is completed in the theology of the Fathers, which is
now at its most flourish ing period. The most capable talents gather
about Christian questions, which stir the central point of the spiritual
interests of the age. The philosophic development of ecclesiastical
orthodoxy is closely connected with the juristic conception of the
church, which is perfecting its hierarchy. Monasticism keeps
the higher idea of its world-estranged nature before orthodox and
hierarchical Christianity, which however has at the same time
become worldly. The church is involved in the fortune of the
Empire, divided up since the time of Theodosius the Great and
struggling with the incursions of the Germanic peoples. It is not
indeed able, with its religious-moral means, to maintain the sinking,
and in the West, subject pmver of the Empire, much less to inwardly
regenerate the Roman world, but is able not only to assert itself
amid these storms and with the means supplied by Graeco- Roman
culture to give itself a first clearly stamped permanent form in
doctrine, constitution and culture, but also to gain with this in-
estimable spiritual heritage a fruitful soil among the Germanic
races.

Sources : the continuators of Eusebius : SOCRATES SCHOL., H.E. libb. VII. (down
to 439), Hermias SOZOMENOS, H.E. libb. IX. (to 423), both ed. by H.
VALESIUS, Paris. 1668 and frequently, HFSSEY, Oxon. 1853 and 1860; on
them A. HARNACK, R.E. 14, 403 sqq. TIIEODORETPS, H.E. libb. V. (to-
428) ; the excerpts from PHILOSTORGIUS (to 423) in Phot. cod. 40. The
fragments of TuEODOBIUS LECTOR (to 518). EVAOUIUS SCHOI.AST., H.E.
libb. VI. (131-594). All of these ed. by Vales. Paris, 1673 and frequently.

SECOND PERIOD. 295

Theodoret also in Sirmond's ed. and in the Halle ed. of Schultz and Nosselt
ind recently ed. by Gaisford, Oxford 1854. Ed. of Eusebius and all these
;ontinuators by Gu. Reading, Cambridge 1720. Cf. JEEP, Quellenunters.
iu der gr. Kirchenhistor. 1884. ZACHARIAS RHETOR, Church History, used
by Evagrius, in Syriac in Land, Anecdota Syr. III. 1870 (cf. G. Kriiger,
Monophysit. Streitigkeiten, Jena 1844, p. 20 et seqq.). CHRONICON PASCHALE,
ed. L. Dindorf, 2 vols., 1832. THEOPHANES Confessor (vid. following period).
NICEPHORUS CALLISTI (p. 7), H.E. ed. Fronto Due., Par. 1G30, 2 vols. Tyran-
nius RUFINUS, Hist. eccl. Euseb. libb. 9 Rufino interp., ac libb. 2 ipsius Rufini
ed Cacciari, Rome, 1741 (p. 7), SULPICII SEVERI, Chronicorum libb. 2 (hist,
sacra ; to 400), ed. Car. HALM, Vienna 1876. Cf. BERNAYS, Ueber die
Chronik des S. S. 18G1 and^arnack RE., 15, 62 sqq. PAUL. OROSIUS, His-
toriarium libb. VII., ed. Zangemeister, Vienna 1882. JEROME De viris
illufit. and his continuators in Fabric. Bibl. ecclesiast. (p. 23). The chronicle
»f Jerome and its continuators Prosper, Idatius, Marcellinus Comes, Vic-
tor Tummnensis, Isidore the Spaniard in RONCAGLIA'S Vetust. latin, script,
ihronica, Padua 1787, also Ml. 51. 66. 81-84. AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS^
Rerum gestarum libb. 31, ed. Eyssenhardt, Berlin 1871, Gardthausen, Leip-
zic, 1874 sq. (to 378; the first 13 books from Nerva to 358 are lost) ; EUNA-
lus, xP°v<-Kn io-Topla (Dexippus, continuation to 404), ed. Dindorf 1870 (hist.
£rsec. min. I.). ZOSIMUS, ia-ropia vea (to 410), ed. Imm. Bekker, Bonn 1837r
Mendelssohn, Leipzic, 1887. PROCOPII CAESAR. Opp. ed. Dindorf, Bonn
1833-1838, the History of his time (Wars with the Persians, Vandals and
Goths [to 555], in German by KANNEGIESSER, Greifswald, 1827-1831, 4 vols.;
the last two by Coste in Die Geschichtsschr. der d. Vorzeit, 6 Jahrh., 2nd and
3rd vols. 1885 (cf. F. DAHN, Pr. v. Gas., 1865). AGATHIAS MYRIN^EUS Hist.
libb. V. (552-558), ed. Niebuhr, Bonn 1828.

The Imperial Laws : CODEX THEODOSIANUS (438), c. comm. Gothofredi ed.
Ritter, Leipzic, 1757 et sqq. 6 vols., ed. HAENEL, Bonn 1842. CODEX
JUSTINIANEUS (534), ed. Paul Krueger, Berlin 1877 (and in the editions of
the Corpus jur. civ.). The Acts of the Councils (p. 19) and the so-called
Synodicon Vetus, a short narrative of the Councils down to 869, in Voelli et
Justelli, Bibl. jur. Paris, 1661, and Fabricms, Bibl. gr. XII, 360 of the 2nd
ed., also contained in Mansi. G. HERTZ BERG, Gesch. des rom Kaiserreichs.
1880, and G. des byzantin. u. des osm. /?., 1883 (Allg. Gesch. in Einzeldarst.
'd. by Oncken).

296 CHURCH HISTORY.

SECOND PERIOD.— CHAPTER FIRST.
The Fall of Paganism in the Roman Empire.

Literature : J. V. A. de BROGLIE, LSeglise et Vempire Romain au 4. siecle, 3rd ed.
Par. 1869 ; as 3rd and 4th vols. are added Julian the Apostate, and Theodosius
3rd ed. ; A. BEUGNOT, Hist, de la destruction du Pagan, en Occident, 2 vols.
Paris 1835 ; E. v. LASAULX, Unterg. des Hellenismus, Munich 1854 ; V.
SCHULTZE, Gesch. des Untergangs des griech.-rom Heidenthums^ I. Stoat
und Kirche im Kampfe mit dem Heidoi tlnim, Jena 1887; H. SCHILLER,
Gesch. der romisc/icn Kaiserzeit, II. Vdn Diokletian bis zum Tode
Theodosius d. Gr., Gotha ]887.

1. Constantine and his Sons.

EUSEBIUS, Vita Consf. libb. 4 and De laude Const. ; M.vxso. Das Leben Constan-
f'ti'sd. Gr., Breslau, 1817; Bn:< KH \IIPT, Die Zeit C. d. Gr., Bale 1853. 2nd
ed. ; Th. KEIM, Der l^ln-rtrin <:</. Gr. zum C/>rfsf<<nt/ii<m. Zurich lSii'2;
Th. ZAUN. C. d. Gr. und die Kir<-h<\ Hamburg 187G ; BRIKUKU, C. d. Gr. als
AV/////O//.S-/^////AV/-, ZkG. 4. ]i;:; : \". Smn/rz, ibid. 7,343 sqq. ; GORRES, AV/7.
('liters, ii.il. In-iii. Christenn /;/'.. Jena 1875; ANTONIAI»I:S. l\',i/si-r L/, -in/us,
Munich issl.

1. CoNSTANTixi:, liorn in 274 at Naissus, in Upper Moesia, was the
son of CONSI AX-PUS CHLORUS and Helena, a woman of low origin, who
was only subsequently raised to the position of legitimate wife. As
a youth he performed military service in Egypt and was kept at
the court by Diocletian, and after his retirement, by GALKKITS the
actual Augustus of tin- Kast, till in 305 he escaped to go to his
father who was now Emperor of the W«-si . Alter his lather's death
he was proclaimed Augustus by the soldiers, and recognised by
Galerins as at least Caj.sar. In the subsequent complications and
controversies for supremacy, after the death of Augustus SF.VKKUS
(307i and that of GALERIUS (oil), Constantine joined the preponder-
ance in the West, next overthrew tin- cruel MAXI vnrs, drowned
in the Tiber in 312, and entered Rome in triumph. After the death
of MAXIMIN (Daza) the Augustus of the East in 320, he came into
conflict with Licixns who had hitherto been Cfesar, after whose
overthrow and death i.'liM) he stood forth as sole ruler.

2. Like his father, Constautine seems from his youth to have
reverenced that monotheism of an emancipated Neo-platonic tinge
which by preference allied itself with the service of the sun-god.

(He inherited from his father an inclination to extend toleration to
the Christians; according to Eusebius (Vita Const. I. 28 -.'U/ Con-
stantine, of course only much later, narrated to him that before the
victory over Maxentius in October, 312, he saw above the declining
sun a bright cross with the inscription TOUT™ I'itca ; in the night

CONSTANTINE. 297

Christ appeared to him ; he was to avail himself of this sign ; where-
upon he had prepared the banner of the cross equipped with the
monogram of Christ (labarum, \d$vpov). Other narratives know
only of a dream, even Lactantius (De mort. pers.) only knows of the
monogram placed on the shields of the soldiers in consequence of a
dream.1 The legend, the historical kernel of which is hard to find,
does however attest a contemporary regard for the Christian sign.
As a matter of fact the cross afterwards appears on the helmet of
the Emperor, and the statue erected in Rome after the entry of the
victor (Eus. H.E. 9, 9) with the lance in the form of a cross, and the
inscription which ascribed the freeing of Rome to the sign of salva-
tion (Vita Const. 1, 40), is a speaking proof of the decision with which
Constantine turned towards the new faith. ~ Subsequently (in the
war with Licinius) the Labarum was carried by selected soldiers.

3. According to the usual hypothesis Constantine had already
issued in 312 an edict of toleration for the Christians no longer
preserved, to which the Edict of Milan in 313, issued by Constantine
along with Licinius, made reference. It is probable however that no
such edict is to be supposed, but that the reference goes back to the
direction to the judges in the edict of Galerius (Eus. 8, 17, 9 ; vid. sup.
p. 198) which was issued in common by the three regents Galerius,
Licinius and Constantine, therefore before May, 311. The Edict of
Milan declares, that no one shall be hindered who desires to adhere
to the Christian or another religion, so that quicquid divinitatis in
sede ccelexti, nobis atque omnibus. . . . placatum ac propitium
possit existere. In place of the comprehensive expression quicquid
divinitatis there next comes summa divinitatis. At the same time
the former demonstrable property of the corpus Christianorum shall
be restored by the fiscus and by private persons, so that the latter,

i into whose legal possession it has passed, shall be indemnified out of
i the Imperial good- will . The new religion therefore here passes into
j complete toleration alongside of the old.

4. There soon follows by degrees a series of legal encouragements
i of the church, such as the exemption of the clergy from municipal
i Dffices, an exemption inherited from the pagan priests, and, more-
I over, a favour which was conceded to the Jewish presiding officers ;

legal regulations for the protection of the Christians against the
(hostilities of the Jews (315) ; recognition of the manumission of

I ' Cf . on this point BRIBGBR, I.e. pp. 194. 209, especially also on the attempt to
,find in the monogram a symbol capable of a pagan as well as a Christian
jexplanation.

8 Against BRIEGER'S doubt vid. V. SCHULTZE, I.e. p. 343 sqq.

298 CHURCH HISTORY.

slaves in the churches as in the pagan temples (316) ; even in 321 a
recognition of Sunday as a feast day on which public civic business,
e.g. judicial proceedings are to be intermitted, while of course field-
labour is allowed. The Egyptian week with the planet names of
the days had gradually naturalised itself alongside of the reckoning
by the nundince, which of course was still continued. The explana-
tion of the Sunday as dies solis afforded the possibility of its universal
encouragement, without thus appearing to enforce directly an
ecclesiastical celebration.

5. With all this, the legislative measures in favour of the Chris-
tian religion did not prevent the survival of the heathen customs,
designations etc., connected with the life of the state. On the
triumphal arch erected after the victory over Maxentius (by the
heathen Senate however) the " nutu J.O.M." may still have stood,
which was only converted later into the words inxfinctu iJirinitatift
(BRIEGER, ZkG. 3, 294). The formula is broad enough to be taken in
the general sense of indefinite monotheism, and yet avoids any de-
finite pagan colouring (PIPER, St. Kr. 1S75, 00-110). Constantino
retains the title of Pont if ex 31,-tximus; pagan symbols continue for

. a while on the coins, even though there are some with Christian
symbols as well, and personally. Constantino, even till towards the
end of his life, was intimate with Sopater the Neo-platonist (with
tendency to pagan revival).

6. The growing tension between Constantine and his co-regent
(and brother-in-law) Licinius drifted further, and at the same time
became an opposition in their attitude to Christianity, and twice
(315 and 323) led to open war. Licinius sought, though without
employing actual sanguinary measures, to do the utmost damage to
the Christiansen whom he leared adherence to his rival ; he prevented
assemblies of the bishops as suspicious to him politically, caused
churches to be closed, put away Christians from his surroundings
and from the administration and the army ; things went as far as
the confiscation of goods and deprivation of freedom in fact forty
Christian soldiers (the martyrs of Sebastei are said to have suffered
martyrdom by cold. According to Eusebius ( Vita Const. 2, 5) he
went into battle with the consciousness that the war between Con-
stantine's Christian God and the ancient gods must be decided
323 (24).

7. In this sense Constantine also made use of the decisive victory
and the favourable opinion which it occasioned. While as sole
ruler he proceeded with most thorough political and civil reforms,
not only were the earlier legislative regulations in favour of the

CONSTANTINE. 299

Christians extended to the whole empire, but also the faith of the
Christians and their worship of Grod were established as to be
advanced for the common good. No one was indeed to be forced
into belief, but exiles were to be recalled and established in their
rights and dignities, churches and burial-places were to be restored,
and the highest dignities made open to Christians. Gifts and the
remission of taxes, as also the right already conferred to accept be-
quests, made the church rich, and Constaiitine also encouraged the
bishops to make friends for Christianity with these rich resources.
Constantine's craze for building turned towards the building of
churches in the Holy Land, on the Holy Sepulchre once more
discovered, on the Mount of Olives and at Bethlehem, at the
places where Helena the mother of the Emperor evinced her re-
ligious reverence ; Jbut also at his residences at Nicomedia and
the newly raised Constantinople. By commission of the Emperor,
Eusebius had to see to the preparation of fifty costly MSS. of
the Bible. Churches were endowed out of the common-good of
the towns.

At the same time, even now the pagan religion and its institutions
were not to be attacked. The privileges of the priests were con-
firmed, and Constantino retained the dignity of Pontifex Maximus.
Naturally, destructive measures were taken against individual cults
which gave offence and were immoral, such as that of Venus at
Aphaca in Phoenicia, that of ./Esculapius at .ZEgse with its imposi-
tions, and that of the Nile-priests at Heliopolis ; many little used
temples in the East were ceded to the Christians ; others fell victims
to popular passion. Finally Constaiitine forbade private Haruspices
and limited the state religious acts and is said finally to have
entirely forbidden sacrifice (Vita Const. 2, 45. 4, 23. 25). Subsequent
history points to some such regulation, but at least it was not
thoroughly successful.

The elevation of the hitherto insignificant Byzantium into the
New Rome was of importance for the great revolution. At its
foundation in 326 there is still a half-pagan celebration, in which
the Neo-platonist Sopater, as Telestes, and the Hierophant Prse-
textatus play a part ; so likewise at its consecration in 320 ; several
heathen temples are also raised in the new residence. At the same
I time Byzantium became naturally the centre of the new ideas
| and the new kind of dominion, as against conservative Old Rome,
where most of the families of rank clung closely to the old paganism.
Hence also, in spite of the preference given to Christianity, many
pagans remained in Constantine's entourage.

joo CHURCH HISTORY.

Constantine is not the ideal Christian saint which the church has
already made him on the ground of the flatterings of Eusebius,
nor is his character morally converted through the influence of the
Christian faith (the dark stains are just in his later life) ; 1 but it is
also incorrect to place his attitude towards the church merely under
the point of view of a great ruler acting with a conscious purpose
(Burckhardt). He presents a certain religious sympathy, which is
rooted in his monotheistic view and his belief in divine guidance of
human affairs and his appreciation of such religious points of view
for the guidance of public matters. With all his postponement of
the specific dogmas of the church, for which he has little apprecia-
tion, he perceives, in the institution of the church which is so power-
fully rooted in men's affections, a great and wholesome and also
politically uniting power, and regards himself as the instrument of
providence to make use of the same for the good of the Empire
and just for that reason to maintain the unity of this great organism.
Hence the intelligibility of the need of gaining from the very begin-
ning an influence in the decision of ecclesiastical questions, such as
•emerges in the Donatist affair (Rome and Aries 314), subsequently
in the Arian controversy, as also in combating heretical parties
abhorred by the church, which would destroy its unity Yalen-
tinians, Marcionites, Cataphrygians). Inasmuch as in this matter
Constantine lent a willing ear to the opinion of the church, the
divisiveness of heretical opinions appeared to be incompatible with
the felicitas temporum he had introduced (Vita Conxt. 3, (!.">). Thus
there is evolved for him th>- cond ption of exerting all his influence
on his ag» in religious and moral matters, and his care for the
church appears to him according to the well-known words as
analogous to the action of the bishops ; he is the eVtWoTro? rcov
eKTos, It is thus not incredible that he (Vita Cot/xf 1. 'J'.» -hould
have held public discourses on God, providence and divine judgment.
Characteristically he seeks to create an entry for religious influence
in his sense into the army without undertaking direct proceedings
against pagan religious opinions. All soldiers have to celebrate the
Sunday, and for pagan soldiers he establishes a prayer which in-
volves the (one) Godhead and gives expression to thanks for victory

1 The killing of his father-in-law .Max. Herculius and of the Csosar Bassianus
are acts of political self-defence; but lie put to death his brother-in-law Licinius
against his oath, and this and the murder of his young son Licinianus, and that
of his own hopeful son Crispus (!V2i>) remain dark blots; on the other hand the
alleged murder of his wife Fausta is shown to be a fable; i-id. GOKKKS in ZwTh.
1887, 3<fc3 et sqq.

CONSTANTINE'S SONS. 3011

conferred, and to prayers for the Emperor and the Empire (Vita
roust. 4, 19 sq.).

It was not until his last sickness in 337 that Constaiitine received
the long deferred baptism : but acccording to tradition this first
Christian Emperor was apotheosised by the Senate !

After the bloody family drama of the comprehensive murder of'
relations, to which not only the two nephews of Constaiitine I.,
Dalmatius and Annibalianus, to whom he had destined a share in
dominion, but others also fell victims, though Gallus and Julian
escaped — Constantine was succeeded by his three sons : CONSTAN-
TINE II., in the Northern part of the West, who fell as early as
340 in war with Constaiis as to the limits of his dominion ; Cox-
STANS in the West, who was slain in 350 in the war with Mag-
nentius the Frank ; and CONSTANTIUS (on whom in the first place-
the responsibility for the above bloodshed fell), who succeeded in
the East, and after conquering Magnentius, remained sole ruler
from 353 till 361. In them, Christianity, under a form which is
very little worthy of commendation, confronts paganism with ever-
increasing exclusiveness ; the line of parity which, in spite of visible
preference for Christianity, is always maintained by Constantine I.,
is overstepped. Constantius in particular, the most powerful of
the three brothers, is to be regarded as the real originator of violent
measures against paganism. As early as 341 a law against super-
stition and sacrifice was issued ; a law of 346 (Constaiis and Con-
stantius) forbade the visiting of the temples, but could not be
carried out, especially in the West. Constantius had to pay regard
to the opinion of Rome, and ordered the temples outside the city
walls to be left untouched, because from them was derived the
origin of the festal games, of the celebration of which the Roman
people was not to be deprived. Hence, about the middle of the
century, the Vestals, the worship of Jupiter, Sol, and the Mater
Deum, still existed in Rome. Constantius, as sole ruler, in 352 and
356 forbade all sacrifices on pain of death, and also conversion to
Judaism. The lofty Christian conviction which the Christians had
maintained against their prosecutors, that religion was a matter of
free will (Lactantius : religio cogi non potest), quickly subsided, and
the Old Testament duty of the extermination of the Canaanites
began to be recalled (Jul. Firm. Mat.). But the prohibitions of Con-
stantius were unable to break the tenacious opposition of Rome,
where paganism enjoyed complete toleration. In. Alexandria, too,
its power was still much too great. Elsewhere decided progress
was made ; temples were devastated, not only in favour of Christian

302 CHURCH HISTORY.

churches, but also for the satisfaction of private avarice. Once
more the political point of view is identified with the religious.
As Constantine I. had already connected unity of worship with
unity of administration, and here exactly lay his deepest sympathy
with the Christians, Constantius now identified the new order of
things with his dominion, put the pagan opposition under the aspect
of treason, and was inclined to see conspiracies in the exercise of
heathen customs (Haruspices, sacrifice), perhaps not without super-
stitious fear of them !

Christianity is now accepted in wide circles ; so far as it comes
into close contact with the movement of the world, the multitude
streams in ; the Court, having become Christian, attracts all who
seek influence and favour by the acceptance of Christianity. But
the representatives of the Church, partly out of a worldly, partly
out of a fanatical sentiment, praise and support the procedure of the
Emperor, at least where ecclesiastical party positions do not bring
eminent teachers of the Church into opposition and thereby sharpen
their eyes for the infringement of ecclesiastical rights by the en-
croachments of the pmperor (Athanasius, also Hilary ; particularly
keen, Lucifer of Calaris).

2. The Reaction of Paganism. Julian.

Sources and Literature, : JULIAM Opp. ed. Spanheini, Leipsic l(>0d, 2 vols.
(alontc with CYRILLI ALEX. Contra Julianum libbr.), Hertlein, Leipsic Is7r»;
JULIAN! IMP. libb. c. Chri>t (restored from Cyril), ed. Neumann, Leipsic
!"--() (German transl. Ibid. Isso ; IAMIU.ICIIUS, Adhortatio ad philos. ed.
Fr. Kiessling, Leipsic 1813, De vita Pyth.iLc. '•'! Ki<s-ul, Leipsic 1815,
(lamblichus) De mysti-riis \<-^. «'d. Parthey, Berlin IS.'iT : G.C.A. HUUI.KSS
Das liuch von d< n <"•/////'/. .!///>•/••/•/>//. 7.m- di-scti. <//•/• Selbstaufltisung des
Heidn. He!/.. .Munich 18f>s : AM.MIANTS ,M.vi:<-. (p. L".I."> > I'.U. •_'! 25; The
Invectives of (Jre^ory of iS'a/.ian/.en (vid. lufrii) ; the I ';i m ^yrics in
A. NI:A\IU:I:. A". .lulnin u. s. Z.A., Leipsic 1812; D. Fr.

STRAUSS, Der Rv/ii(iitftl;<-r auf <l<'m Throne der ('<rsn /•<//. Miuiiilifini ls(7
(serving rather the tendencj7 for the present than tin- history of the past) ;
G. \Viu,,i;i;> in Zli'l'li.. 1KI7; J. F. A. Miicke, .Julian, Gottingen l-'iT <:!»;
H. A. NAVILLE, Jul. VApost., Neuchatel 1H77; Fr. RODE, Gesc/i. -/. I,'<;i<-Hun
K. ./.. Jena 1877 ; G. H. RI:M> M.I.. Tin- l-:>n/»-,-»r Julian, London 1ST!) : .1.
\VoKiis\vm:Tii in Smith and Wace's Diet, of Christ. Biog. s. v. Jul. (VITV
copious). A HAiiNACK in RE. VII.

The gross outcome of these measures shows, what had long
been no secret, the internal disruption and weakness of surviving
paganism. But what vital power still remained in paganism, and
especially whatever of intellectual effort after the revival of the
moribund religion had made itself felt since the close of the age of
the Antonines, was now forced to gather itself together once more.

PAGAN REACTION. 303

And they were still no small forces which contested the victory of
•Christianity. Ancient Roman tradition showed the Roman State in
its foundations intertwined with religious institutions, and worked
as a conservative force. The educated world lived in a literature
whose glorious bloom had grown up amid the gods of Greece, and
•classical literature and belief in the gods were sisters (Libanius).
And this literature was cultivated in the schools of rhetoric and
philosophy in the great cities, Rome, Alexandria, Athens, Aiitioch,
•etc., by publicly appointed teachers (among them the celebrated
names of Libanius, Himerius, and Themistius) and continuously
formed the element of higher culture. In especial, however, those
efforts after religious restoration had gained definite form and
direction in Neo-Platonism (pp. 188-190) and worked further in the
latter also during the fourth century, in doing which they naturally
pass more and more into mysterious and turbid theurgical supersti-
tion, as is shown by larnblichus (f 333), whose activity lay in
Athens and Asia Minor. Neo-Platonism found itself undeceived in
its hopes by the turn of events under the sons of Constantino, and
rancorously opposed the new religion. Thus just the higher strata
of society in part exhibit a more tenacious and conscious adhesion
to paganism, which otherwise was only to be found in the rural
populations untouched by the movement of the age. This adhesion
was the more tenacious, the more tyrannical and unworthy the
form under which Christianity appeared.

Thus the elements of an important opposition to the new ten-
dency of the age were abundantly present, an opposition, it is
true, which on the whole had too little fresh inspiration in its pur-
pose, too much artificially reflected feeling, to possess much martyr-
joy - - the steadfastness of an Aristophanes in Egypt (Libanius)
apparently stands isolated. Libanius and Themistius held pane-
gyrics on the Christian emperors too, after the usual fashion, and the
Neo-Platonists angrily retired. The judgment of men of the world
probably also saw in Christianity a simple kernel of religiosity, in
itself not to be despised, but overladen with barbaric superstition.1

Now JULIAN was led as it were involuntarily, by his personal for-
tunes and development, to give welcome to all these opposition
tendencies and to attempt a reaction with the instruments of
government. He was a nephew of the first Constantine ; his father
and several older brothers had fallen victims to the policy of Con-
^antine's sons, on their accession to power. It was only sickness

1 Ammianus Marcellinus on Constantius : Christianam religionem absolutam

j <-/- simplicem anili superstitions confundens.

3oA CHURCH HISTORY,

that saved his elder half-brother Gallus, and his own tender youth
that saved himself from the like fortune. Julian's education had first
lain in the hands of the influential Bishop EUSEBIUS of Nicomedia,
who was related to the imperial house : MARDONIUS, a eunuch, had
been his pedagogue. Subsequently he had to live along with his
half-brother, Gallus, in a castle in Cappadocia, surrounded by
Christian clergy, and himself engaged in clerical vocations — it is
said also as lector ; at all events he here gained the knowledge of
the Bible. From 350 he was allowed to study in Constantinople
and Nicomedia, which opened to him the classical world and litera-
ture after the manner of the sophists of the time. In Nicomedia
he had been obliged to promise not to attend the famous Pagan
sophist LIBANIUS ; instead, however, he read his works. Here in
the province of Asia Minor, in Nicomedia, as also in Porgamum and
Ephesus, he passed into the precincts of the Neo-Platonic philosophy
and manticism, especially under the influence of the philosopher
MAXIMTS. Here he formally, but quite secretly, returned to pagan-
ism. Next, in 354, political suspicion led to the execution of his
brother Gallus and to Julian's being taken prisoner. Nevertheless
he was soon again set at liberty, and was then able to remain a
short time at Athens, the home of all classical memories, which
were strongly cultivated by the school there, and here, though
still retaining the mask of Christianity, he had himself secretly
initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. His military and political
career now l>egan. In o(ir> he was elevated to the Csesarship by
Constantius, and was occupied for several years as \\ general in Gaul
in military activity which brought him glory, but which for that
reason also excited tin1 mismist of tin- Kmperor. When the best
part of his troops were to he called away, they rebelled, and pro-
claimerl Julian Augustus. -Julian gave himself up to the movement,
decamped with his troops eastward from Yienne, now let fall the
Christian mask, and coniniainleil i he opening of the temples on his
progress. While Julian approach*- 1 the capital. Con-1 antius died
suddenly in. Cilicia, in ;>i!l. .Julian now made his entry into Con-
tinople as Emperor and pivs-^l on the campaign against Persia.

Julian's measures in behalf of religious restoration we re- now
intended to be limited to the restoration of the rights of the pa-aa
religion, without persecution of the Christians by force. In accor-
dance with his command, the restoration of the temples and the
sacrificial service was proci \-nh.aml Julian himself gave tl"

example of a conscientious observance of the duties of the pa-au
cultus. All anei.-nt privileges of tne mysta-oinies ;lll(j colleges

JULIAN. 305

priests were restored, on the other hand the immunities and pay-
ments of grain conferred by his predecessors were taken from the
Christian clergy ; the church administrations were to rebuild the
destroyed temples of the gods, or pay their estimated value, and
give up temple properties which had come into Christian use. The
church, from a corporation favoured by the State and equipped with
recognised rights, was to be repressed into a merely tolerated associa-
tion. But he also forbade the Christians to come forward as public
teachers of the studio, liberalia ; in consequence of which, e.g. the
rhetoricians PROILERESIUS in Athens and FABIUS MARIUS VICTORINUS
in Rome had to resign their posts (paid by the State), a measure
which even the pagan historian, Ammianus Marcellinus, described
as harsh (inclement id). The object in doing so was not that of with-
drawing the Christians from the advantages of Hellenic culture ;
for there were still but few such Christian rhetoricians, and the
Christians of that age who were seeking after higher culture, still
received their culture as a rule from pagan teachers, in spite of the
gradually rising scruples against it.1 Rather the intention was that
pagan exposition of classical literature should remain an active
means of combating the Christian ideas, and that the sacred remains
of classic culture should not be profaned by unbelievers. Julian
however felt the necessity of a positive renewal and strengthening
of paganism, a penetration of it with more ideal elements. For that
reason he wished to raise the pagan priestly class, after the example
of the Christian clergy, into a force for popular education. The
priests were to assume a worthy demeanour, were not to go to the
theatre or wine-house, or to pursue any dishonourable trade ; on the
other hand they were to occupy themselves with pious books
Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, the School of Zeno), and daily to
exercise their duties of worship along with their families. The
! importance of Christian preaching caused him also to make priests
i appear on the orator's stage in a purple robe. At the same time
j the pagan cultus was to be made attractive by the development of
i temple music and hymnology, and in hospitals (Xenodochies) Chris-
j tian exertions were to be imitated. The reform thus goes beyond
the antique point of view. Julian appears as a pagan pietist and
| mystagogue, who desires to make of the public cult a religious-
: moral establishment after the fashion of the mysteries — that phe-
,nomenon of classical antiquity which stands in closest analogy with

i

1 Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzen in Athens — contemporary with
[Julian.

20

3o6 CHURCH HISTORY.

the significance of the Christian cultus. He also sought to raise the
estimation of the priests as against secular officials.

Julian, of course, did not allow himself to be carried so far as an
actual persecution of the Christians, beyond the withdrawal which
has been recorded of the acquired rights of the Church ; but grow-
ing irritation at the failure of results and the pagan indifferent} sm
which plainly revealed itself, made him partizan even from his own
standpoint, and not disinclined to mild force ; and where, in cities of
mixed population, the Christians fell into an oppressed state, which
was probably also increased by Christian fanaticism, he showed
himself indulgent towards the pagan party. In apparent impar-
tiality he at once recalled the bishop who had been exiled under
Constantius in consequence of ecclesiastical controversies on doctrine
(Athanasius), placing his hopes on the quarrels of Christians among
themselves. And the ruler did not think shame to appear in the
literary arena with his work against the Christians (ica-ra Xpicmav&v
\oyoi). The attempt also, 011 his progress Eastward, to restore
again the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem, in which, according to the
legend, the workmen were terrified and hindered by flames which
broke forth out of the ruins, was an interference on behalf of a
national religion justified in its wa,y, in opposition to Christianity.

Naturally, considering the manner in which Christianity had
been advanced by the family of Constantino, numerous apostasies
were not lacking ; but they were not able to free Julian from the
premonition that he was swimming in vain against the stream.
Tradition makes him threaten si i irter measures when he had once
chastised the Persians ; and who shall say whether he would not
have been forced to it '? But the whole work of this nobly disposed,
but, by education and vain struggle against the force of the time,
embittered personality, speedily collapsed, when after scarcely two
years' reign he fell in battle against the Persians (363). The words
of the dying man, " Thou hast conquered, Galilean," cannot be i
certainly verified, but denote the impression of the event. The
legend which is found in Ephraem Syrus l < still in the fourth cen- i
tury) expresses a similar feeling. Julian, doubting his luck in war
and his gods, had intentionally taken off his armour in order to
find death in battle without the Galileans witnessing his shame.
" Struck by a spear, he turned in astonishment, and thought of that
with which he had threatened the church by letter on his depar-
ture." There is also a legend, however, that it was a Christian
spear from which he came by his end.

1 Ephraem 's Songs against Julian in Bi< KEI.I.. ZkthTh. 1878, 335 sqq.

. FALL OF PAGANISM. 307

3. Decline and Fall of Paganism.

Literature : H. RICHTER, Das icestromische Reich bes. tinier d. Kaisern Gratian,
etc., Berlin 1865 ; GULDENPENNIG UND IFLAND, Der K. Theodosius d. Gr.
1878; G. HERTZBERG, Gesch. Griechenlands u. d. Rom. III., Halle, 1875.

Julian's sudden death alters with one stroke the position of affairs ;
the foundations which Constantino and his sons had laid in regard
to ecclesiastical matters, after a short interruption, again gain recog-
nition and develop their consequences. Jovian, who was elevated
to the throne by the troops encamped beyond the Tigris (363-367),
was a Christian, but in deference to the opinion of the army pro-
ceeded indulgently towards the late regime and with the promise
of general toleration. Naturally, however, he went back to the
legal conditions before Julian ; former privileges and respect were
again conceded to the church (Soz. 6, 3 ; Theodor. 4, 4), and the
bishops might again enjoy the favour of the Emperor. Steps were
taken against sacrifices only in so far as they prosecuted magical
aims. On the whole the position remained the same under Valen-
tinian I. (in the West till 375), and Valens (in the East, f 378).1
The repression of paganism began, however, more decidedly under
the youthful Emperor GRATIAN (375-383) in the West, who, a
zealous Christian and friend of Ambrose, no longer assumed the
Imperial honour of Pontifex Maximus, and probably allowed the
title to lapse; prohibited the hostice consultatorice ; to the grief of the
Romans banished the altar of Victory (the custom imperil virgo) which
istood before the Curia of the Roman Senate, abolished the privi-
leges of the Vestal Virgins and seized their real estate. These
measures of Gratian, as well as of his young twelve-year old brother
VALENTINIAN II. (383-392), are already under the influence of
(THEODOSIUS I., who from the death of Valens (378) ruled over the
East, and after Valentinian II. 's violent death once more united the
iwhole empire. If at first, in the perilous condition of the empire,
jivhich was so seriously menaced by the Goths, he hesitated to make
iise of thorough measures, afterwards however he forbade apostasy
j.o paganism, proceeded against sacrifices (of the incertorum cul-
\ores\ and in 384 and 386, under the influence of the zealous
l^rsef. Prsetor. Cynegius, proceeded with the entire suppression of
iemple worship in the East. He freed the Christians from the
cceptance of the ap^epwavvr) obligatory on the Curiales, at the
pstivals connected with the temple cultus, the existence of which

I

1 Cod. Theod. IX., 16, 9. But Libanius, II., 163, mentions a law against
I'.oody sacrifices.

308 CHURCH HISTORY.

is still assumed (386). The Christian fanaticism of the populace,
especially of the monks, spurred on by individual bishops, such
as Theophilus of Alexandria, destroj'-ed sanctuaries. ROME and
ALEXANDRIA, however, still stood inflexibly opposed to Christianity,
and here no thorough procedure was permitted ; and in the country,
cases occurred where Christian proprietors allowed temple sacrifices
to exist by their own preference. Meanwhile, in 391, there followed
in East and West a general prohibition of the visitation of the
temples, and in 392 a strict prohibition of all sorts of idolatry on
pain of high-treason. In Alexandria, in 391, the Serapeuin was
destroyed amid wild conflicts, by the violent bishop, Theophilus,
without the earth opening itself and the expected inbreaking of
chaos, and without the Nile denying its beneficent overflow.

In Rome paganism was once more officially protected by the
usurper EUGEXIUS, who had been elevated to the throne by Arbogast,
and was himself a Christian, but entirely under the influence of
the zealous pagan Nicomachus Flavianus. After his overthrow,1
Theodosius, in 394, confiscated the temple properties anew and for-
bade the defraying of the sacrifices from the resources of the State.
In the same year the Olympian games were celebrated for the last
time.

After the death of Theodosius (395 1 the measures against pagan-
ism were proceeded with in the East under ARCADIUS (395-40S) and
THKODOSIUS II. (408-450), with the zealous co-operation of bishops
and troops of monks, who were sent out '- for the conversion, i.e.
for the violent destruction, of the sanctuaries in the provinces, and
this was not always done as the law commanded (Cod. Theodos.
XVI. 10, 16, anno 399), sine turba et tumnltu. In Alexandria,
where the higher culture was still largely represented by philosophic
paganism, HYPATIA, the highly esteemed pagan philosopher, fell (415)
into the hands of the Christian mob on occasion of the quarrel of
Bishop Cyril with the Procurator Orestes. Pagans were excluded
from positions in the state and army (416, 417). The older
ordinances were made more stringent in 423 against " the still
existing pagans," i.e. against the practical exercise of their idolatry,:
for persons are placed under legal protection in an edict of the same
year. And that such remainder should still be abundantly present
not only in districts remote among the rural populace — the hi-

1 Vid. the poem in De Rossi, Bullet., 1868, p. 49 sq. MOMMSEN (Hernies, 4
350).

2 THEODORBT, 5, 29; cf. MARCI DIACONI vita Porphyri episc. Gazensis, ed. M
Haupt, Berlin, 1875 (APrA.).and thereon J. DRAESEKE in ZWL. 1880, 20etseqq

FALL OF PAGANISM. 309

habitants of Maina in the Peloponnese however remained entirely
pagan — but also among the representatives of classical and philo-
sophic culture, is self-evident. In the latter regard Athens especially
remained the protector of the Neo-Platonic philosophy in its decision
against Christianity, till JUSTINIAN (529) closed the Athenian school
and exiled its philosophers to Persia. On his commission, the Mono-
physite Bishop John of Ephesus as late as 546 sqq. traced out and
converted existing pagans, who were still numerous in Constanti-
nople, patricians, sophists, grammarians and physicians. A certain
Phocas escaped by poison from the expected conversion. John
vaunted of having made 70,000 Christians in his journeys in Asia.
The celebrated temple of Isis at Philse is an example of the fact,
that, in the provinces, many famous temple services defied the
Imperial legislation.

In the Roman West, under the weak HONORIUS (395-423), the
former laws did indeed continue and were renewed. But as in
Rome the sentiment of the noblest families remained old Roman, and
their representatives were still found in the highest positions,
Honorius, under the necessity of the times, was unable to maintain
the law of 408 which excluded pagans from the palatinm militare,
and had expressly to abolish it (Zos. 5, 46). The pagan priesthood,
too, were still acknowledged in their legal position as public officials.1
Similarly Honorius, as early as 399, had declared, contrary to the wish
of the African bishops, against the destruction of temples which
still existed but were emptied of their idolatrous contents, and
championed the retention of popular merry-makings and banquets
which were descended from the pagan cultus.

In the provinces, however, things went the length of violence. In
Gaul, Bishop Martin of Tours (375-400) went ruthlessly forward
with the destruction of sanctuaries. Elsewhere pagan revenge still
awakes, e.g. in Suffecte in Africa, (Aug. Ep. 268), in Calarna in
Numidia, where in 408 a pagan festival gave occasion for an
attack on the Christians, or pagan fanaticism against Christian
preaching.2 Under the inroads of the hosts of the Volkerwanderung
Roman Christianity suffered very severe shocks and losses by the
withdrawal of the Roman garrisons from the provinces and from

1 During the siege of the city of Rome by Alaric (408) it is said that Bishop
INNOCENT of Borne secretly consented to the wish of the pagan senatorial party,
that sacrifices should he offered in the Capitol and other temples for the repul-
sion of this danger (ZosiM., H. Rom. V., 41 ; cf. SOZOM., H.E. 9, 6).

* For the murder of the Christian missionaries at Anaunia in the Rhaetic
Alps during the feast of the Ambarvalia, vid. Acta tiaiict.. Mai VII., 38.

310 CHURCH HISTORY.

the frontiers on the Rhine and the Danube, while amid these con-
fusions the rural populace only clung so much the more tenaciously
to their pagan customs fostered in secrecy, which were overcome
neither by Roman ecclesiasticism nor by the raw Arian Christianity
of the barbarians by which it was beleaguered.1

4. Pagan Secular Culture on the Defensive and Christian Apologetic.

Julian, in his treatise against the Christians (p. 302), had still con-
ducted the attack following the older literary opponents of Chris-
tianity, especially Porphyry, as against a contemptible aberration of
the age, though with so much the more irritation, the less he could
hide from himself the power of the Christian idea. To him Chris-
tianity is a corrupt Judaism with some shreds of Hellenism. But
the contemptible Galileans have retained just what is evil in
Judaism and admitted in addition the indolence and immorality of
many heathen. The originally purer ideas have sunk into prayer
to the dead Jew; they despise the gods, but put the martyrs in
their place. Their writings, full of absurdities, are unsuitable to
serve as the foundation of the higher education of the spirit and
character.2 After the death of Julian, pagan culture sees itself
more and more forced into the defensive. Culture and view of the
world are so determined by the classical literature, that in spite of
all the change in the religious consciousness of the age, in which these
men themselves stand, they are unable to break with the religious
ideas, and disclaim this foreign Christianity. A powerful in-
fluence is still exerted by the old solidary interconnection of pagan
rites and superstitions with the whole foundations of political exis-
tence, so that not only the popular consciousness regards the incidence
of tin- misfortunes of the time, and in particular the shock given to
the Empire by the barbarians, as the punishment sent by the deserted
gods, but the educated classes also regard the desertion of the old
religious foundations. tlu> vprooting of religion and morality, as the

1 For the condition of Italy, '•/'</. MAXIM. TAIKIN. c. 1 10. for that of (Jaul rid.
Cone. Arelat. II.. ami. 41:5, for Africa the treatise De promiss. et predict. Dei
in the works of PKOSI-KU. How deep seated the teniu'iou-, maintenance of
pagan customs was even in Home and in the higher circles in Africa, rnl.
SALVIAN, De guheru.. VI. p. 10<! ; VIII. p. l<;r>.

2 Fundamentally underlying this is the opposition of the essentially natural-
istic pagan view to the theologico-theistic view of Christianity. Of a much
inferior sort is the treatise contained in the works of Lilian, hut belonging to
the fourth century, or much later still : Philopatris. with its derision of mon-
asticism and the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Isiioitrnu, Ivl. hist. u. phil.
Schr. II.. 78.

HEATHEN APOLOGETICS. 311

cause of the general depression, and make barbarian Christianity
responsible therefor. Now, however, it is no longer possible to claim
the exclusive validity of paganism, but only toleration for it.

A representative of this pagan culture on the defensive, was the noted rheto-
rician LIBANIUS in Constantinople, afterwards in Nicomedia. He joyfully
hailed Julian's accession, but with a sense of justice and fairness he also in-
terested himself in the Christians and against fanatical oppression ; and the
spirited panegyrist of Julian was nevertheless afterwards on terms of respect-
ful intercourse with Christian teachers who prized his culture. At the times
when Theodosius proceeded against the pagan temples and was further urged
to do so by the bishops, Libanius composed his famous speech in protection of
the temples (riept TO>V lfpS>v), in which he makes appeal to the fundamental prin-
ciple recognised by the Christians, that religion is not a matter of compulsion
but of free conviction (His works, speeches, letters : Opp. ed. Eeiske 1791 sqq. ;
the treatise on the sanctuaries more complete in SINNER, Mon, ss. patrum grcec.
s. IV. delectus, 1842 Paris). Libanius died in 395. SIEVERS, D. Leben d.
Libanius, 1868.

THEMISTIUS, a teacher of eloquence in Constantinople from the middle of the
century, in his speech on the celebration of Jovian's accession to the consulate,
praises his tolerant principles, and says that he would not have men serve the
purple in place of God. Themistius glances with censure at the numerous
weather-cocks who to-day attend the altars and sacrifices and to-morrow the
holy tables of the Christians. He bases his discussions, however, on the general
religious and syncretistic thoughts of the age : God has planted the disposition
to piety in the whole of human nature, but has left the special kind of divine
worship to the will of each individual. Similarly he expressed himself next
against Valens (Orat. VI. de religionibus), indeed, according to SOCRAT. 4, 32 and
Soz. 6, 36, he had recommended the same principles of toleration to him in
regard to the orthodox. Themistius was not only nominated a senator by
Constantius, but also entrusted by Theodosius with the education of his son
Arcadius. Dindorf's edition, 1832.

Here, therefore, the religio cogi non potest, which Lactantius had once spoken
in the name of the Christians, is realised. But the view is returned to, that
there must exist different ways of realising the religious idea which is common
to all, which, however, is only approximately attained. There commonly stands
in the background the notion of the one highest God, who, according to the ex-
pression of Themistius, as Heraclitus says of nature, loves to hide himself, and
is worshipped just because the knowledge of Him does not lie on the surface
and is not to be attained without effort. And in these circumstances the
rivalry of the different religions ought to stimulate zeal for the worship of
God.

Similar als« is the view of Q. AURELIUS SYMMACHUS (circa 355-415, Prsef . Urbi
384, Consul 391 ), who grew up entirely in the traditions of a Roman family of
rank (his father had already been Prtef. Urbi). After the re-abolition of the
altar of Victory, which had been first set aside by Constantius and then restored
by Julian, he, as the ambassador of the pagan senatorial party to Gratian, in
vain represented their desire for its re-erection. In the representation on the
same matter, which as Preef. Urbi he made to the youthful Valentinian II., he
represents the Roman point of view : Rome desires to live after her own man-
ner seeing that this cultus has subjected the whole world to her laws ; since the
knowledge of divine things is locked up from men, it were be^t to hold to the

ji2 CHURCH HISTORY.

confirmed authority of antiquity. But the power of moral conviction is lacking
to this standpoint, with its touching prayers for toleration for what has been
handed down from the fathers ; he would not disturb the Emperor in his private
religion, and his last word is the faded idea of a Highest Being whom each man
follows after in his own fashion, and to whom none really attains. In contrast
to it, the Christian conviction of the Divine revelation represents the victorious
power of undoubted reality of the religious relationship. All the elegance,
polish, and lightness of the diction of Symmachus are unable to conceal the
impression of spiritual hollowness and poverty ; only those letters of the X.
Book (Altar of Victory) are raised to the warmth of an actual interest. Opp.
M. G. antiquiss. VI. with the Vita by SEECK ; cf. H. RICHTEU, 11 Vsf r. Keich. p.
550 sqq., 587 sqq., 599 sqq.

The tendency which indeed accepts Christianity, but has all its spiritual
interests entirely in the traditional belles lettres, and so lives amid spiritual
views of quite another sort, is represented by the rhetorician D. MAGNUS
AUSONIUS (f 390) of Burdigala (the teacher of Prince Gratian. afterwards
decorated with political honours, until finally he entirely devoted himself to
the Muses at his home).

On the other hand, in the work of AMMIANUS MAKCKLLINITS, which is so un-
commonly important for the history of the time, we meet with the sentiment
of the pagan clinging to the ancient, believing in auspices and auguries, main-
taining, though in the blended fashion of his age and with the background of
the mtmai rcp/c.s/e, the polytheistic notion, which endeavours, however, to think
with moderation and fairness even in presence of Christianity (pp. 308,306).

The celebrated poet CLAUDIUS CLAUDIANTS. a zealous venerator of Stilicho, and
to whom, on a proposal of the senate, a statue was erected in the Forum of Trajan
in the name of the (Christian!) emperors Arcadius and Honorius, remained
entirely alien to Christianity (Oitosirs VII. 35 calls him i>a<i<innx j>err/'<-(i,-tssi-
mus). The spiritual atmosphere in which Ansonius lived was fundamentally
very little different from that of a Claudian, and yet the one was reckon, ,1
a Christian, the other a pagan! — The noble Roman Rrnurs NAMATIANTS
(Magister officiorum at the Western Court, in Rome Pra>f. Urbi) in the poem
De reditu suo (</</ /////<•/•,//•/»•»»)— his journey home from Rome to Gaul in the
year 416 — shows decidedly pagan sentiments and contempt for Christianity
(deter lord reads secta venenis, 1. ">_'."> . and especial wrath and irritation against
the monasticism which at that time was making izreat advances just in the
West. R. NAM. De /•<,///„ guo, ed. L. Milller, 1S70. Translated by Itasius
Lemniacus, is7-_'.

The well-known MAcuoiurs TIIEODOSII s also (the author of the Saturnalia
and of the commentary on Cicero's tinim/itm ,SV //*/<,„/>,•), who reverently attaches
himself to the pagan party of Symmaclms. Nicomachus, and the Neo-Platonic
philosopher Pnftextatus— the latter is to him the privileged ,;,njiil,nit of divine
things — in his writings stands quite outside of Christianity, though he may
subsequently have gone over to it (if he is the same who in -122 as /•//• tl/nxfi:
appears in the position of a prcepositus .SY/< /•/ r/ihtml/, Cod. Theodos. VI.,

8,1).

On Greek soil the historians EuNAi'ius (p. 295) and ZOSIMTS fibid.l maintain
inveterate enmity to the new victorious religion. But this is done most tenaci-
ously and on principle by the representatives of the Neo-Platonir philosophy. In
particular the school of philosophers at Athens remains the foc-us of this senti-
ment; here in the fifth century (411-485) Pitnri.rs stands «>ut with special emi-
nence. But about the turning point of the fourth and liftli centuries we also

CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS. 313

still find in Alexandria a decided cultivation of pagan Neo-Platonic philosophy,
the most famous representative of which was HYPATIA, murdered by the Alex-
andrian mob during an insurrection (HocHE, in Philologus, vol. 15, 18GO).
From hence, however, bridges lead over to Christianity.

Over against this gradual retreat of paganism in the field of popu-
lar life and literary culture, the aggressive, rapidly advancing
power of Christianity consists in practical momenta of quite other
sort than literary contention, but all the same the consciousness. of
the age is also mirrored in the latter.

During the whole of the fourth century the Christian teachers still regarded
it as indicated that they ought to repel the hostile attacks of a Porphyry in
controversial writings, which however have been lost along with those of
Porphyry himself (Euseb., Apollinaris, etc.) ; so likewise Euseb. Pamph. wrote
against Hierocles and his glorification of Apollonius of Tyana as against the
figure of Christ.

This activity naturally received a new impetus by tbe accession of Julian,
against whom Gregory of Nazianzen hurled his invectives (two speeches) full of
unmeasured passion, and later, Cyril of Alexandria directed his broadly planned
polemic (p. 302). On the other hand the Movoyevfjs fj 'ATro/cpirt/cds (ed. Blondel,
Paris 1876) of MACARIUS MAGNES (c. 400) still lies in the line of the questions
propounded by Porphyry, etc.

For the rest, the sudden change, the raised self-consciousness, and, indeed, also

the trust in the arm of flesh are reflected in the treatise, De errore prnfanarum

reliffionum of JUL. FIRMICUS MATERNUS, in which the Emperors, Constantino's

sons, are summoned to the forcible destruction of idolatry with appeals to the

Old Testament example of the rooting out of the Canaanites ; a ti-eatise of

rather small value (Corp. scr. eccl. lot. v. II., together with Minu. Fel., ed. by

Halm). On the other hand, the Cohortatio ad Grcecos (in the works of Justin

Martyr), which is probably to be placed in the time of Julian, and which has

with some probability been conjectured to be a work of the younger Apollinaris

(p. 173), is of higher merit and of finer style ; the apologetic treatise of TIIEODO-

RET of Cyros : 'EXX^i/iKOH/ depanevTiKr] TradrifjidTcav (De curandis GrcECorum affccti-

bus, Opp. ed. Hal , vol. IV.) is the theological continuation of the traditional

analysis of dogmatical and ethical conceptions to the advantage of Christianity.

The growing miseries of the time, the incursions of the barbarians, and the

! deep convulsions of the Roman Empire, give higher importance to the accusa-

! tions against Christianity which abundantly sprang from antique notions ;

these miseries appeared as the penal judgments of the deserted gods. And, as a

matter of fact, in the universally increasing dissolution the new element of

iChristianity must have had a further decomposing effect, and, while since

Constantine the attempt had been made to place the sinking ancient world on

this new basis, it had at least not been able to regenerate it as a whole. The

considerations which are thus suggested, as it were the germ of a Christian

[philosophy of history, led the rich, deep and energetic spirit of Augustine to the

jcomposition of the treatise De civitate Dei, libb. XXII.,1 an apology for Christi-

— -

1 J. L. VIVES, Bale 1522, and frequently ; DOMBART, Leipsic 1872, 2 vols. ; cf.
REINKENS, Die Gefichichtsphilosophie des heiligen Augustin, Schaffhausen 18GG ;
}EBERT, G. d. christl.-lat. Literatur, 1874, pp. 214-230.

314 CHURCH HISTORY.

anity in the grand style. The gods have never afforded protection against the
perpetual incursions of evil, and hav« never troubled themselves about the
moral conduct of men. Long before the appearance of Christianity the germs
of destruction were contained in destructive vices (from the Eoman point of
view he recalls the decay of the old simplicity of morals since the destruction
of Carthage). His glance, however, exalts itself further to a universal provi-
dential guidance of human affairs. In the world-rule of Rome, which is more
moral than her belief, something providential is recognised. The highest pur-
pose of this kingdom of the world is indeed not a heavenly, but an earthly end :
the temporal ordering of things ; the moving force is fame, love of it (as the
mere ideal) here dominates all other (lower) desires ; therefore Rome owes her
fortune to quite other virtues than the worship of idols. The long duration
of the Roman Empire, which has actually been vouchsafed to it, appears as
its reward; earthly, indeed, but still a reward. As therefore earthly pros-
perity is not linked to the worship of the pagan gods, so is little to be hoped
from them for a future life. Philosophy also, in particular Neo-Platonism with
its relatively best conception of divine things, finds no mediation between the
human and the divine, such as only appears in the Christian idea of God be-
coming man. Now, however, into the midst of the world-kingdom (the Roman
Empire as the representative of all earthly j»rder) there comes Christianity, the
Christian society as the civitas coslcsfis. Both the cirit<ift>s of God and of this
world are rooted in the Creation and the Fall, and work themselves out in his-
tory and develop themselves in opposition till the final repulsion — the again
transcendent end in the ju'lu-im 'in of the world and restoration of eternal bliss.

While Augustine wrought at this work, he summoned the Presbyter OROSIUS
^p. 7 sq.) to adduce a most comprehensive historical proof against the objection
that the present rime suffered under special sufferings because it had neglected
the gods. The endeavour, by mustering all historical sources, to prove compre-
hensively how the earth in all ages had sighed under heavy sufferings, now leads
for the first time, at the hand of the Cliri>tian belief in the Providence of the
One God guiding all things <r/'</. KKIOKT, I. 326), to an attempt at a proper
history Of the world, conceived of as the history of huiiianitv guided l.y God.

On the other hand, the apologetic treatise of the Presbyter SALVIAN OK MAS-
SII.IA, De gtili<-rniif/nne Dei (properly De pnxsenti judicio), mests the anxious
doubts, which arose amid the convulsion of the Roman Km pi re under the here-
tical and pagan Germans, and in the frightful confusion of Roman society,
whether indeed human allair> were really guided by God's providence, and why
then pa --a n Rome had been fortunate and ( 'hristian Rome was doomed to fall,
with ret. •reuces to the fact that the history of the world is already part of the
judgment of the world ; the treatise turns into a frightful complaint against the
demoralization of the Catholic Roman. >, to whom is held up the mirror of bar-
barian simplicity of morals; but at the same time, the solution lies also in the
fact that the true Christians, i.e. those who live in ascetic renunciation of the
world, to whom all worldly detriment is an advantage, are ipso facto exempt
from the universal judgment.

LEGAL POSITION OF THE CHURCH. 315,,

CHAPTER SECOND.

The Legal Position and the Development of the Hierarchical

Form of the Church.

Literature : G. J. PLANCK (p. 21 under No. 4), Vol. I., Hannover 1803 ; L. EIF-
FEL, Gesch. Darst. des Verh. zwischen Kirche und Staat, I., Mainz 1836 ; B,
NIEHNES, Gesch. des Verh. zivisclien Kaiserthum und Papsttlium, I., 2nd ed.
Minister 1877. — R. LOEXING, Gesch. des deutschen Kirchenrechts, I., 1878.

1. The Legal Position of the Church of the Roman Empire after

Constantine.

THE reserved attitude of the oldest Christian communities towards1
political and secular life had indeed begun to be mitigated long before
Constantine, by a greater willingness to enter into secular life and
culture.1 But it was only the favouring of the church and its eleva-
tion to dominion vouchsafed by Constantine, that brought about that
deep grasping revolution, by which the church, quickly expanding
herself into a comprehensive and abundantly organized institution,
became fitted into the organism of public life in the Roman Empire
as a leading factor. She receives legal protection, property and
means of power, and determining influence on the leaders as well as-
the masses. Her ideas come into the foreground of spiritual interest,
and transform the view of the world ; her demands become active in
morals and law, but she herself also is filled with secular interests of
property and power ; her ideality suffers harm. She receives a pre-
dominating legal stamp, and at the same time passes into great
dependence on the State power. And yet this course was necessary,
as historical development is carried out among sinful men. The
church had to go this road in order to fulfil her world-historical
mission.

I. The altered position of the Church shows itself on the one hand in her
J equipment with rights recognised by the State. To these belong :

1. The property which flows in upon the church and the clergy. Corpor-
ate property, as we saw, existed before Constantine, in spite of the uncertain legal
position. Much richer sources now open up under state recognition, in which
the analogy of the pagan temples and colleges of priests is transferred to the

Vid. the revolution in the estimation of secular official position between the
i Council of Elvira and that of Aries, HEFELE, History of the Councils, I., 208.

316 CHURCH HISTORY.

Christian churches. The development and animation of the idea of the Church
now leads to the transition of the idea of corporate property into that of property
of the institution. It is no longer the whole company of the members of the
Christian community that is the holder of ecclesiastical property (property
destined to church uses), but the individual episcopal churches as the saving
institution founded by God, and represented by the bishop (LOEXIXG, I. 215).
Constantine proceeded with presents of landed property, assignments from the
means of the State, supplies of corn for the purpose of providing for the poor and
for orphans through the bishops, and the like. Considerable concessions from
what had hitherto been temple property, as well as endowments out of commu-
nal resources followed. But especially important was Constantino's law, by
which the Catholic Church became capable of receiving legacies (321). This
law1 was most willingly met by pious inclination (GREG. NAZ., Orat. 20, Opp. I.
321) and the latter was so much promoted by the clergy, that in the year 370.
Valentinian I. was obliged to issue a law against the underhand dealings of the
clergy and monks as to inheritance, so far as regarded its being given to clergy-
men. Jerome did not complain of this lu\v, but of the fact that it was neces-
sary, and individual conscientious bishops made energetic declarations against
the latter, without on that account neglecting to recommend legacies for the
church. In addition, as regards church property, there is its inalienability in
the dead hand, which occasions its growth. Also the exertions of the church
to assure itself of the heritage of deceased clerics who have no blood relation
(LoENiNd, I. 227 sq.) belong to this subject.

2. The privileging of the clergy by tin- gnmtingof n) certain immunities. In
.accordance with the privileges of the pagan priests (whose office itself was of tea
an expensive munits which exempted from other services), Constantine had
already in 313 conceded to the Christian clergy freedom from all personal public
performance of service, which was subsequently repented ( :!•_'! i, and besides was
conferred by Constantine on the presidents of the .lews. ^Meanwhile, as, accord-
ing to the Roman municipal constitution, the propertied classes (Decuriones
Cin-ialt's) wore under obligation to undertake certain ininirr,! />n/>//<-<i
!><tt riiiiuiiiur/i in which involved considerable expense, such persons sought to
avoid tlic>.e obligations by entrance into the lower grades of the clergy. Hence
Constantino desired (320) that in future only poorer individuals should be ad-
mitted to the places of deceased cleric*, which again would considerably have
lowered the status of the clergy. Eence there were numerous changes in the
law in the immediate future. Constantius desired (in 3G1) to make the en-
trance of a Curialis into the clurgy dependent on the const'nt of the Curia, but
with the alternative of the cession of his property to the children, or to the
• extent of two-thirds to the Curia. It was subsequently attempted to make the
entry conditional on the appointment of a substitute at thecxpen-e of thecleric.
Finally, however, resignation of property became the universal law.

6) Exemption from certain taxes. The entire fr lom <>i church property

from taxes which, as it seems, was first intended by Constantine. wa^ however
soon limited, and the subjection both of church property and the property
of the clergy to the fr/'hufd orilintiria (ground tax. contract and the poll-tax
of the colonists on their goods) becomes the rule; they were not even exempt
from all the extntonliinn-io. but only from the exaction*-* xn,-<li<l<v. mmn-ni
sfu-f/tdd, compulsory services Attached to the land and soil, very oppressive
and disturbing, from which Constantine exempted the clergy, as also the

1 Cod. Theod. XVI., 2, 4 ; Cod. Ju>t. I., l>. 1 : .-f. Loaning I., -'-JO.

PRIVILEGES. 317

established rhetoricians and in general numerous classes of persons. Hono-
rius (412) released them expressly and in their whole extent from the exfra-
ordinaria. Meanwhile the State found itself compelled by the increasing
distress of the age and the pressure which bore heavily on the rest of the landed
property, partially to abolish the freedom of the Church from the land burdens
and finally to withdraw it entirely. For the Western Empire this was done by
Valentinian III.

3. Amid heathen surroundings the society of Christians had had cause
(cf. 1 Cor. vi.) to settle its civil disputes within itself and with avoidance of
secular justice, and the authority of the clergy, especially of the bishops, had
led to creating for them the freely conceded authority of arbiters. In this
matter a fixed custom had been formed even since the time of Cyprian. Con-
stantine, in his endeavour, which is here also discernible, to raise the authority
of the episcopate, ordained as eai-ly as 321, that the conflicting parties who had
already made their appearance before the judge, might even yet, before sentence,
bring the matter in dispute before the bishop,1 and again, in 331, that even on
the proposal of one of the parties to the process the audientia episcopalis should
be competent and that there should be no appeal from his decision, and also
that the secular authorities were bound to execute it. However this was sub-
sequently limited to the extent that the bishop should be competent as arbiter
only on mutua promissio (not on one-sided provocatio}.

Ecclesiastical decorum now required of the clergy that in such legal disputes
they should apply to nobody but the bishop. Accordingly the Council of Hippo
of 393 (cf. Cone. Garth. III.) threatened the clergy with deposition on evasion of
the episcopal arbitration, so also Cone. Chalced. 9 with canonical penalties.
But the civil law left it to free choice even when both parties were clerics ; he
who felt himself injured might appeal to the secular judge with success. It was
only later, under Justinian, that this was altered.

4. Besides, the State now recognised expressly the ecclesiastical disciplinary
power over the clergy, without however acknowledging the possession by the
bishops of a criminal jurisdiction proper. Naturally, also, ecclesiastical disci-
pline proper, connected with the sacrament of penance, received another colour,
inasmuch as the Church, with her essential arrangements, had become an
institution recognised and favoured by the State. Ecclesiastical discipline
thereby assumed much of the form and spirit of a secular judicial forum. On'
the other hand, however, the religious-moral judgment of the Church, with the
weight of a spiritual authority speaking in the name of God, could also turn
against the organs of secular authority, and even in certain circumstances
against its very highest bearers, with success, so far as the power of public
opinion or the religious conscience of the person concerned came to her assist-
ance ; a weapon which certainly the ambition and lust of rule of eminent
bishops grievously abused.

5. As the professed representative of the wretched and unfortunate in
presence of the hardships of mere secular justice and of the human passions of
the mighty of the earth, the Church in the spirit of love and mercy laid claim
to a certain right of intercession, to be applied for the protection of the op-
pressed, but also for those condemned to death, the ancient Christian view not
holding the punishment of death in general to be quite Christian (vid. former

1 G. HANEL, XVIII. Const, quas Jac. Sirmond . . . divulgavit, Bonn
1844, Col. 445 ; cf. Eus. v. Const. 4, 27 ; Sozom. 1, 9 ; Const. App. 2, 45 sqq.

3 1 8 CHURCH HISTORY.

period, p. 287). Ambrose regards this as a beautiful distinction of the clerical
office and a triumph of the Church, but warns against abuse of it (quantum sine
perturbations fieri potest, ne videamur jactantice magis causa facere quam
misericordice, et graviora inferre vulnera dum levioribus mederi desideramus).
But these words ring, not only with the voice of love, but at the same time
with the churchman's proud and lofty feeling of his influence (AMBR. De offic.
ministr. II. 21, 29). A state-law under Theodosius (392) and again under
Arcadius (398), along with recognition of this right of intercession when it was
•exercised at the right time, had to oppose the gross abuse that clergy, and
especially monks, sought to obtain by force, and to protect, persons who had
already been judicially condemned, and it was found needful to make the bishops
responsible. With this the so-called right of asylum was closely connected.
As the Vestal virgins in Rome had already made claim to a right of intercession,
so also the right of asylum is a transfer from pagan temples to Christian
churches, which had formed itself by usage. It was necessary to take legisla-
tive steps against abuses of it (as when debtors sought by means of it to with-
draw from their obligations, or Jews sought to gain exemption from punish-
ment by fleeing to the sanctuary, and feigning to have gone over to Christianity,
etc.), still within these limit-; it was legally protected (Theodos. II. in the C. Th.
IX. 45, 4). It was meant to afford momentary protection against popular rage
or private revenge, but not to withdraw men from civil justice. Hence it was
also forbidden to the clergy to give food to those who fled to them for refuge.
Nevertheless, it frequently afforded the opportunity for mediation between
parties.

II. In all the points mentioned we have been mostly concerns 1 with things
which, proceeding from gradual ecclesiastical development, only received a
legal stamp, protection and furtherance, by the recognition of the Church
on the part of the State, inasmuch as the latter came to the support of the
t'hristian point of view. It is true that thereby the nature of the Church,
which originally rested entirely on the principle of voluntariness and indepen-
dence, is altered. By the fact that the Church becomes the object of State
legislation she is at the same time transformed in her inner nature also, and
assumes the character of a legal institution which establishes legal claims
on her members, and in regard to them supports herself on the State's power
of force ; but thereby she passes into a relation of great dependence on the
state powers. The interest of Constantine and his successors in the activity
and the united influence of the Church brings strong influences to bear on the
•concerns of the Church. It is Constantino who in the Arian controversy
brings about the first general Synod, who interferes with decided eM'ect in
the Donatist movement, both times in the interest of the maintenance or
rather the restoration of the unity of the recognised Church ; for only the
catholic true Church is to be recognised, not the heretical associations.
Against them the state-power places its arm at the disposal of the < !hurch ;
their churches are taken away, their worship forbidden, their chiefs banisln .1 :
heresy begins to be a crime against the State. In these circumstances the
Emperors and their counsellors are obliged, in cases of controversy, to take a
side, and in this way there begins a positive influence of the Emperors, or
more accurately, of those who had their ear, on ecclesiastical decisions,
strengthened and furthered by the fact that the conclusions of ecclesiastical
representatives acquired the force of law by Imperial promulgation. Theo-
dosius declares that only those who hold the true doctrine recognised by
him may bear the name of the Catholic Church.

DEPENDENCE ON THE STATE. *IQ

Eecollection of the right of freedom of conscience which was formerly so
highly prized, is not entirely lacking in eminent teachers of the Church.
But the need of guarding the existing church organism against .disturbance
and excitement amid dogmatic controversies, cause the allusions to it to fall
into the background. The secular power is called in for the ecclesiastical
exclusion of aliens, both justified and unjustified. Movements which extend
beyond the province of questions of belief and ecclesiastical usages, and involve
social disturbances, such as Donatism, also go the length of requiring an inter-
ference of the power of the State ; and so an Augustine conies to the point of
justifying the coge intrare (Luke xiv. 23) against obstinate Donatists inac-
cessible to all representations. But the legal conception reaches perfection in
the fact, that false teachers, even where no actions civilly punishable can be
laid to their charge, are visited with civil penalties, with arrestation of pri-
vate property, with corporal or even capital punishment. The execution of
the Priscillianists by the usurper Maximus (385), although based on the accu-
sation of magic, is however apprehended in this sense, and censured by ecclesi-
astical opinion. But Leo I. already says of the Church (Ep. 15, of 21st July
447), "et si sacerdotali contenta iudicio cruentas refugit actiones, severis tamen
chrixtianorum principum constitutionibus adiuvatur. dum ad spiritale
nonnunquam recurrunt remedium, qui timent corporate supplicium. Hence,
although it is recognised in theory both by Constantine and later Emperors
that the decision in questions of faith is the attribute only of the Church, in
its regular representatives, the synods, the bishops, the maintenance of whose
decisions is the affair of the administration — as a matter of fact the thing is
frequently quite otherwise, and the decision lies with the court.

When on one occasion Constantine, at table in the presence of bishops, vin-
dicates for himself also the character of a bishop (as those were the bishops
TUP ei'o-co TT)s fKK\ri(rias, so he was eV. TO>V eVrds. Eus., De Vita Const. IV., 24) ;
nothing is less meant thereby, than the so-called ius circa sacra ; the latter
grew in the manner depicted out of the legal treatment of the Church on the
part of the State, and involved the protection of the Church and the main-
tenance of her laws. Constantine exercised all this pretty extensively, but that
has nothing to do with the above expression, as in general no juristically for-
mulated idea is to be associated with it; according to the context it seems to
affirm that Constantine sought to work in the province of political life, and
by influence on his official instruments, for the spread of a pious disposition, or
rather for the repression of paganism (cf. p. 300).

Among the most important of the rights claimed by the Emperors is that of
calling oecumenical (and other) Synods as the regular instruments of ecclesi-
astical legislation (vid. infra), as again, by their promulgation of them, they
lent their decisions the force of state-recognised law. Also, the clergy recog-
nise in the Emperor their highest judge (even Athanasius does so), and the
Bishop of Borne regards it as his privilege to be judged by the Emperor only.
The notion, which was gradually strengthened with time, of the high Imperial
power, subject only to God. also works upon the Church, as conversely the con-
diict of the Church worked not less advantageously on it. Finally the Emperor
exercises a very important influence on the filling of the most important
ti.shoprics (appointment and deposition), especially of the see of the metropolis.

LHURCH HISTORY.

2. The Clergy.

Literature : THOMASSINI, Vetus et nova eccl. discipl., Parts I. and II., Paris
1691 ; BINGHAM (p. 21, under No. 4), Vol. I., III. of the edition of Grischo-
vius.

The tfge of Constantine found in existence the division of the
clergy from the laity, the gradation of the former into different
grades, and the application of the idea of the priesthood to the
higher clergy, finally the position of the episcopate as that of the
proper representatives of the Church as a saving institution, on
which the existence of the Church rested, and which in its solidary
unity possessed the leadership. It was just this Church's unified
power, dominating men's souls, which above everything else won for
her Constantino's sympathy.

The favouring of the Church by Constantine, and its growth in
number of souls introduced thereby, whereby gradually pretty
nearly all the members of the Empire were won for it, occasioned
first of all a splendid increase in the numbers of the clergy, which
received a still further very powerful incitement from the privileges
and favours already mentioned. Civil and political interests were
encroached upon by the exceedingly great in-thronging to the
clergy ; hence the measures above-mentioned with a view to avoid-
ing the loss of the obligations incumbent upon the propertied classes
by their accession to the privileged clergy.

To the Crowing abundance of the Church's resources there corresponded,
especially in the communities in large towns, the claims on the Church's care
for the sick and poor. Gifts and bequests to the Church were for the poor,
they formed the patrhiinn/mn /i,i/t/»-r/t>n. while the support of the cultus and
the provision for the support of the clergy were to be taken from the regular
olli-rings of the community. Meanwhile altered circumstances, the growing
splendour of the episcopal appearance and the growth into an extensive
administration from the middle of the fifth century, necessitated other arrange-
ments, so that the entire revenues were divided into four parts — a> />/•/> itirnsa
episcopi; b) pm <•/(•/•<>; c) j>r<> fithricn !'<•<•/. ; (I i jiro /xiiijicrihiis — an arrange-
ment which spread from Rome as its centre. In the communities in the great
towns there are now found the Parabolani (church attendants on the sick) and
Copiatae (noirumu^fossores or /'nxsr/r//, hnriers of the dead) to an extraordina-
rily large number, plainly far surpassing Hi" real need, a following who waited
upon the nod of the bishop ; hence frequently limited by law. This lowest but
still clerical grade was sought liy many with the view of sharing MI the eccle-
siastical privileges of the clergy, hence Theodosius II. (C. Theod. XVI. 2, 42 and
•13. of the years 416 and 418) enjoins that the pcirfibnlani are not to be chosen
from among the rich (qui hunc locum ri'ilimanl], but from among the poor. He
lowers their numbers to 500, two years later he allows 600; in both cases for
Alexandria, where they ministered to the terrorism of Bishop Theophilus; hence
it had to be laid down : ut nihil commune clerici cum publico actibus vel rut

THE CLERGY. 32I

curiam pertinentibus habeant. Constantius in 357 conceded the immunity
(exemption from trade tax) indeed to the copiatce, but only for the pursuit of
petty trades. Of the Lecticarii, as the parabolani were also designated, Theo-
dosius II. only allowed not more than 950 in Constantinople (Cod. Just. I., 2,
4) ; Anastasius, however, restored the original number of 1,100. In the great
cities the parabolani and copiatse formed a kind of guild under the supervision
of the bishop.

The quickly increasing duties of administration and the legal business which
they involved greatly increased the numbers of ecclesiastical officials ; olKwofj.oi
were required for the administration of property, in larger towns several;
hence in Constantinople there appears a peyas olKwopos ; alongside of them
there are treasurers, legal assessors (<rw§t/cot, eVSt/cot, defensores), notaries (lectors
or higher clergy), keepers of the archives (xapTo<f)vXaKfs), etc.; therefore not
clerical functions proper, but frequently exercised by clerics. As regards the
clergy proper, here also there frequently occurs a very considerable increase in
the personnel, as e.g. in the lower grades of clerics, such as the Acolytes, and
especially the sub-deacons, who, destined for the subordinate functions, are
equal to the inrrjpeTUL, ministri (it is only the Latin Church of the middle ages
which includes them in the maiores ordines).

For the Diaconate Borne indeed held fast to the requisite number of seven
(p. 239), and on the whole their smaller number gave them a certain distinction
in contrast to the increase of the presbyters ; elsewhere, however, people did not
bind themselves to that number (Sozom. 7, 19). In their quality as servants
of the bishop, not only in the cultus, but especially in the supervision of morals
(as the eyes of the bishop) and in the administration of property and the care
of the poor (as his hand), they frequently acquired a preponderance over the
presbyters, in spite of the higher ecclesiastical consecration of the latter ; and
now, with the growing extent of the episcopal administration, the Archdeacon
at the head of the college of deacons (TOV xopov TU>V StaKiij/wi/ r)yovfj.ei>os, of
Athanasius, Theodoret I. 26,) comes to the front, in the church of Alexandria
elected by the deacons from amongst themselves (Jerome, Ep. 85 ad Euagr.),
elsewhere and probably more generally chosen by the bishop ; at the same time
seniority is to some extent to be taken account of in the choice (Syn. Agath.,
can. 23). As the right hand of the bishop in the administration of Church
property and the exercise of the judicial powers of the Church, also in the
supervision of the lower clergy, and in advising in the appointment of clerics to
office, he attains a very important influence, so that his subordination to the
clerical dignity of the presbyterate, which is maintained in spite of his personal
position, is enjoined without much outcome. As early as the time of Jerome the
archdeacons regarded it as detrimental to their career to receive consecration as
presbyters (Hier., Comm. in Ez., 48 ML 25, 484). In many cases they were
next for the succession to the episcopate.

Among the higher clergy the rank of Presbyters received the greatest
numerical increase on account of the tremendous growth of the Church, as being
equipped by their properly sacerdotal character with the competence essential
for acts of worship and the exercise of the care of souls. They had everywhere
to satisfy the increased need, while the original point of view of the unity
of the episcopal community was maintained even in the largest towns, and
| an increase in the number of the bishops could only be thought of on the
founding of a new church by mission (or on the great growth of a town which
hitherto had had no bishop). In this way an increasing crowd, not only of the
| serving clergy but also of the presbyters came under the leadership of the one

21

322 CHURCH HISTORY.

bishop and raised his prestige. Indeed the raising of the prestige, the dignity
and splendour of the bishops as the proper representatives of the Church was
further promoted in the greater part of the Church by the decided tendency
to set aside as much as possible the x<^Pe77'-<J'KOno<", (vid. sup. p. 246), the rural
bishops. As early as 314 the Council of Ancyra, e.g. had prohibited the rural
bishops from ordaining presbyters and deacons. The Synod of Antioch of 341,
(Can. 19), likewise forbade this and in doing so presupposed a relation of
dependence on the nearest town-bishop (Bishop of the City, 77 inroKdrm airos re
nai r) x^Pa)i wh° bas also the right to create such a rural bishop. The Can.
Xeoctes. 14, and Can. Nic. 8 also show the lowering of the prestige of the rural
bishops. In the sixth Sardicene canon (343) it is forbidden, to set up a bishop in
a village or in a small town for which a single priest is sufficient : ue vilescat
nomen episcopi et auctorfta* ; the bishops of the province shall only set up a
bishop in places where one has already existed ; only when a town becomes
so populous that it seems worthy of a bishopric, shall it receive a bishop.

The Synod of Laodicea (after that of Sardica and before that of Constantinople
in 381) substituted for the rural bishops so-called Periodeutai, Visitatores,
(presbyters in the commission of the city-l>ishop) ; the still existing rural
bishops are to do nothing without the will of the citj^-bishop. The endeavour to
make the episcopal position of the highest possible consideration, is reinforced
by cases of obvious impropriety. Basil the Great found the rural bishops (of
whom he had still lifty in his diocese, Greg, of Naz., De rffa sini. p. <s) not cap-
able of their office, they frequently admitted quite unworthy individuals to
the clergy (persons who desired, perhaps, to avoid military service). According
to the expressions of Basil we must conceive the position of these rural bishops
in such away that they who themselves presided over the church of s»ine
chief marker town, ruled over a number of village churches with their own
presbyters (Basil. Kp. '2!)0 and 142 and iss. /.»•. Canonica I. can. 10). Ba-il
required that the rural bishops should give him an exact list of all the clerics
of their dioceses, and for the future ordain no more without his sanction
(Ep. 54). With the suppression of the rural bishops, therefore, presbyters took
their places with increased authority to pivn'h. administer the sacraments, care
for souls and lead the community, but still in distinct dependence on the city*
bishop. At the same time Theodoret still mentions rural bishops (Ep. 13) in his
metropolitan diocese. In North Africa a considerable number of the bishops
who were here so numerous were nothing else than rural bishops, but it is true
without essentially less consideration than the city-bi>hups. In other parts
of the West little trace of them can be found. At tin- Synod of Riez of I:!!',
with an appeal to the eighth Nicene Canon, a post as chorepiscopus is assigned
to an individual who had been illegally consecrated as bishop, but with the
exception of the name of bishop nearly all episcopal rights are denied him,
with the one exception of the authority to confirm the ha.pt i/ed in his own
church (Hefele, II. 200).

If, therefore, here the ruling principle was that in the rural district
belonging to a city the bishop on his own initiative destined presbyters ac-
cording to his free selection for the rural churches (ecc/<'s/n jil<-li<ni<i) to attend
to divine worship, who were also entirely dependent on the bishop in regard
to their maintenance (parocluix. />!< -litmus), this involved, it is true, the con-
tinued dominance of the idea of the unity of the episcopal community (corre-
sponding to the civitas, the urban district. uzd.LoKMN<;, I. -Ji:1.). l>ut their remote-
in 'ss was of itself sufficient to bring about independence in the at'liliated com-
munities. In the large cities, where the need of creating other churches along-

THE CLERGY. 323

side of the one episcopal chief church had long begun to be felt, and where this
must now have happened in increasing measure, the clergy for these churches
likewise do not pass out of connection with the chief church, but yet a kind
of independent parochial system is formed, at least in so far as supplying of
such a church is permanently confided to a definite presbyter, as we know to
have been the case in Alexandria (Epiph., Hcer. 49, 1), and must suppose to
have been the rule in Constantinople, since here in the case of some merely
affiliated churches, in distinction from this procedure, only a supplying of them
in rotation from the chief church is ordained, (vid. JUSTINIAN I., Nov. Const.
Novell. III.). For Rome also a similar relationship to that of Alexandria and
Constantinople is to be supposed (Ep. Innocent I., Ad Decentium of 416) ; here,
however", the relationship of the presbyters who functioned in the individual
churches, to the bishop, remained so close, that they did not consecrate the
elements of the Supper, but received from the chief church their portions of the
bread consecrated by the bishop.

In general the rural presbyters fall a little behind the city presbyters in
consideration, (Neoccesar. can., 13). They are not to issue (for which their
independent position might afford occasion) canonical letters (letters of peace
which would legitimise strangers elsewhere as Christians), but only to address
their letters (of recommendation) to the neighbouring bishops. The greater
number of presbyters under one bishop now leads to the emergence of an Archi-
presbyter or Protopresbyter at the head of the college of presbyters, to whose
share it naturally fell to represent the bishop during vacancies of the see (so
far as the higher clerical character was requisite for that purpose). At the
same time they never gained an importance equal to that of the archdeacons.

The Bishops now chose all the lower Clergy, including the presbyters.
They themselves, so far as court or party influences of other kinds do not
operate here and break through the ecclesiastical point of view, are chosen by
the rest of the bishops in the province, as far as possible with their personal
participation, but at least three of them shall be present and the rest assent
in writing. But, in theory at least, there is maintained the principle essential
for the ecclesiastical view, that the rest of the clergy also shall take part in
the election and that the assent of the people shall not be wanting : qui
prcefuturus est omnibus, ab omnibus eligatur (Leo I., Ep. 10, c. 3). In fact
the main" point on that view is the election by the clergy and the people. It is
true that the Western Councils gave up the regulation of c. 4 Nic. (as a rule
full provincial Synods for the purpose of election of bishops), but strictly main-
tained : 1) That the written assent of the provincial bishops is to be collected
by the metropolitan ; 2) the majority decides ; 3) in all cases the approval
' of the metropolitan is requisite ; 4) consecration of bishops in the presence of
three bishops. For the rest, cases still occur, contrary to the ecclesiastical
regulations, where an esteemed influential and popular man from the ranks of
the laity, from whom there are hopes for the Church in one respect or another,
is desired by the popular voice and made bishop (Ambrose, Synesius). The
| consideration of the clergy, which has been so increased by circumstances, finds
its most decided expression in the bishop ; hence an increase of pomp and signs
of honour ; the Emperors themselves willingly pay them these after Constantino's
example. Indeed, there is formed for this purpose a definite ceremonial. And
because the goods of the kingdom of heaven are above the goods of this world,
increased power is gained, by the help of fallacy that the servants of the Church
in the priesthood have a dignity above that of kings. The result is naturally
pride, arrogance and lust of rule, and, with their increased riches, determina-

324 CHURCH HISTORY.

tion by worldly motives. On the other hand, it is true that there is not infre-
quently a manly championing of the sacred demands of the Church against the
lawlessness and violence of the mighty of this earth.

Also in accordance with the rise in consideration enjoyed by the clergy is the
fact, that in agreement with the ethical ideal of the age — the ascetic — demands
of a special kind are made on the clergy, especially in regard to celibacy. At
the end of the previous period the Spanish Council of Elvira (Cone. Illiberit.)
had essentially advanced upon the ecclesiastical view of earlier times (p. 28G), in
requiring of married bishops, presbyters and deacons that after ordination they
should entirely abstain from the intercourse of marriage. This involved the
general presupposition that the marriage- of the persons referred to should have
been entered into while they were still laymen, and that clerics after ordination
might not enter into matrimony. In the latter regard only the Council of
Ancyra, Can. 10, contains a certain limitation: deacons who at their appoint-
ment expressly declare that they must marry and cannot remain single, are to
remain undisturbed if they afterwards actually marry, since the bishop has per-
mitted it to them ; in any other case not. The attempt to give general validity
to this strict canon of Elvira at the Council of Nicaea was rendered vain by the
warning of the celebrated ascetic PAIMINTTITS, not to lay too heavy a yoke on
the priests (Socr. 1, 11 ; Soz. 1, '_'.'> : < lelas. Hist. cone. Nic. 2, 32). Doubts about
this narrative are without solid basis and are dictated by Romish prejudice.
The Greek Church on this question maintained its defensive attitude against
the stricter view of the West. The continuance of marriage intercourse in a
once existant marriage remained free, and only remarriage after the death of
the wife, as in general an entrance into matrimony for the already ordained
cleric (bishop, presbyter or deacon) was forbidden. In fact it was forbidden
(Canon. Apost. <>) to the clergy to ]>ut away their wives under the pretence of
piety. The legality of the marr'uge of priests i within the limits set down) was
decidedly taken under protection against the fanatically ascetic Eustathians
(riil. infra}, who de-pi^'d marriage, and on principle refused to take part
in divine worship celebrated by married priests (Synod of Gangra after :ii;i>.
before 3SO). As a matter of fact we shall lind. in the fourth century, highly
esteemed bishops with wives (the father of Gregory of Naz., Gregory of Ny- sa,
in the West Hilary of Poictiers); but even in the Greek Church the tendency of
the age goes steadily towards the notion that the bishop should be unmarried.
Ki-iiMiANius ( I:'i'j>i>*. Ji'li'i '20 at the end of the Paiuir.) develops the idea of the
priesthood entirely from the ideal of the sex-less life. Hence when in the be-
ginning of the fifth century SVNIOSMTS of Gyrene was asked to be bishop, in
opposition to the request he emphasised the fact that he had it in his mind to
continue his recognised marriage without concealment. This of course did not
prevent his being taken as bishop ; but the, very occurrence of the incident
shows that this was beginning to be an exception. Socrates (V. 22) refers to
local distinctions, according to which in Thessaly, Macedonia, etc., abstinenofl
was required of the clergy on pain of deposition, and that in fact the custom
had originated with Bishop ITi:M<>m u;i: of Trikka, most remarkably the same
individual who in his youth had been the author of the erotic romance A'.llii-
njiica! On the other hand in the East the bishops were not legally compelled
to abstinence, which in many cases \\a^ voluntarily exercised.

IntheW-'st, however, the Decretal of the Roman Bishop SlRicius of the 11 Feb.,
385, to the Spanish Bishop Himerius (Constant. /•-'/'/'• !'• <s-:i> signalises the turn-
ing of Rome to the strict principles according to which after ordination all
intercourse with the hitherto wife must cease. It is also required here that the

THE CLERGY. 325

clergy in general should only have entered once into matrimony, and indeed
with a virgin (in which Jerome, in spite of his decided championing of this
principle, concedes however that a marriage concluded before baptism is not to
be counted). Under this conception it was natural that men should begin to
look upon the monkhood (vid. infra) as a seed plot for the clergy ; which Siricius
also recommended. Other synodal regulations in the West move on the whole
in the same direction, even though not quite similar (cf. Council of Turin 401,
c. 8; Council of Arausio 441, c. 22 sqq.). Yet VIGILANTIUS (vid. infra), the oppo-
nent of celibacy, could still appeal to bishops who only chose married men for
deacons nulli coelibi credentes pudicitiam (Jerome, c. Vigil, c. 1). It was soon
attempted to extend this stricter regulation even to the sub-deacons.

In connection with these views we can understand the attempts to bring the
life of the clergy within the forms of the monasticism which had meanwhile
become so powerful, such as were made by individual bishops of eminence, such
as EUSEBIUS of Vercelli (Maximi Taurin. Sermo 9 de S. Eusebio in Muratorii
anecdotis IV. 88, cf. Ambros. Ep. 63 ad Vercellens.) and AUGUSTINE (Augustini
vita auct. Possidio c. 5, 11, Aug. sermones de moribus clericorum, serm. 355
and 356 of the Benedictine edition : " monasterium clericorum ") with pre-
liminary yet only isolated success.

Education of the Clergy. The development hitherto, since the rise of a
theology proper, had led to making the clergy the bearers of a scientific culture
brought into the service of the Church, even though the number of those who
were eminent and leaders in this respect had always been comparatively small.
The favouring of the Church since Constantine, which pushed it to a greater
extent than ever to the centre of the spiritual interests of the age and in the
ministry opened to the educated an influential career, first of all increased the
number of those educated persons who, equipped with the higher scholastic
training of the age, made themselves masters of Christian and ecclesiastical
ideas in order to develep and represent them theologically. Thus the most im-
portant Church teachers of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century
have passed through the essentially pagan schools of training (Gregory of
Nazianzen and Basil), or at all events through living contact with their educa-
tional material, and alongside of it have applied themselves to the study of the
older ecclesiastical teachers, above all of Origen, and so to the blending of scien-
tific and Christian ideas which here already confronts them. Considerations
soon arise, it is true, in the Christian conscience against the education of the
servants of the Church by means of Pagan literature. BASIL, in spite of his
own development, sought to give warning against the over-estimation of pagan
literature, but to a certain extent justified his own case by seeking to screen
himself behind the moral uses to which it could be put (Or. irpos TOVS viovs).
With the growth of the monastic spirit there is seen the increase of this narrow
estimate of occupation with ancient literature ; but at first, however, in the case
of those who had drawn copiously from this fountain for themselves, and in
their later development had abruptly seized upon the ecclesiastico-monastic
ideas, as Jerome, whose dream placed the Christian in him in abrupt opposition
to the Ciceronian, although he was never at great pains earnestly to efface the
latter. In church eloquence in particular the spirit and taste of the pagan
•cultivation of rhetoric continued to have influence. In individual places
theological schools offered themselves for the theological education of the
•clergy ; such above all was the Alexandrian, in which occupation with the so-
called encyclical sciences and with philosophy formed the substratum for theo-
logical study. The Palestinian Csesarea also had become, since the work of

326 CHURCH HISTORY.

Origen. a centre of learned scientific and theological studies. But in the fourth
century it was especially Antioch. to which in the S3'rian Church Edessa and
Nisibis were added, where studies were pursued in the definite forms of a
theological educational establishment or seminary for the clergy (Junilius
prsef.), which were specially distinguished by the exegesis of Scripture.

But these few fall far short of the needs of the Church. In this matter the
most important thing is the practical training in ecclesiastical service bjr as-
cending from the lower grades of the clergy, especially from that of Lector (or
even from Acolyte), where therefore the ecclesiastical functions and the priestly
technique stand in the foreground, and along with ecclesiastical ordination as
the supernatural qualification, are regarded as the requisite equipment, as
though the inner culture of spirit and character could thereby be replaced.
Eminent teachers of the Church combat this danger (Greg. Naz.,£>e.se ipso, vid.
p. 503, sqq.) and offer directions towards a deeper conception (Chrys. ii. Ifpuxrvvrjs.
Aug. DC. docfr. Christiana] ; but in many cases the above training is all, except
where the young cleric has the advantage of attachment to a bishop of intellect-
ual importance. These conditions the above mentioned (Eusebius of Vercelli and
Augustine) sought to raise still further by a form of life of cloistral simplicity.

For, to the scientific and the ecclesiastical factors in the education of the
clergy there had been added the third element — of monkish asceticism and con-
templativeness, which finally /•/</. Siricius and others) caused monasticism to
be regarded as the best seed-plot for the clergy. For many of the traditional
studies a time of withdrawal into solitude was traditional, and the time of
decision between the secular Billing of a rhetorician and the ministry was
passed in ascetic and contemplative occupations (Basil ; cf. Greg. Nyss. ; the
conditions in Antioch, Chry>. .!•/ Tlifidnrii in lii/>xnm.)

If formerly in the Christian corumunitios people of all sorts of railings and
ranks in life had assumed clerical functions, that was quite a different thing
from people out of the most alien callings now seeking their living amony tin-
clergy under the now favourable circumstances of the Church. The Church
was obliged to guard herself, so far as possible, by synodal legislation against
the thronging in of such element-.; members of certain callings (players, dancers
and pantomimes) whose calling seemed incompatible with Christianity, were
held, even after conversion, to be unsuitable for ordination. Military service
also was held to incapacitate for ordination; anyone who as a believer had
done military service was not to become a cleric (Can. i of the Synod of Rome
of 402. and already in the Synod of Rome of 380, c. 3), according to others wore
not to reach the higher grades of deacon (Can. 8 of the Council of Toledo of
400). In the case of those who had not free authority over their own persons
the secular rights of others were to be respected. The condition of slavery, as
such, was not regarded as incapacitating, hence when the master assents and
emancipates, a slave who is otherwise suitable may very well be admitted to
the, clergy (Can. ap. 72). Can. so of the Council of Elvira would have had this
hold only of those whose emancipators (masters) were believers (on account of
a certain remaining dependent relationship of the litn-rti to their patrons).
Leo I. acknowledges : He who enters into the service of the army of the Lord
must be independent of all others (.!</ <•/>/'*•. ffol. 10 Oct. 1 I:!. Ml. "4. 610), and
Valentinian III. confirms on the part of the State the prohibition to consecrate
slaves or colonists. Those who had become bishops or priests however, when
they had been thirty years in the clerical order, were not to be compelled to
return to their masters, but only to restore the pccu/i/nn ; a deacon in tip- like
case may supply a substitute, (Loon. I., 153). Such persons further, as being

THE CLERGY. 327

already Christians had allowed themselves to become guilty of certain moral
failings were to be excluded. On the other hand, the Old Testament conception
of the requisiteness of bodily perfection in the priests was accepted only so far as
bodily defects seemed to impede the exercise of ecclesiastical functions (Can.
ap. 76) ; eunuchs were only to be excluded when they had become such of their
own will. (Cone. Nic. c. 1, Can. apost. 21-23.) Other limitations arose out of
the above-mentioned regulations as to marriage and celibacy, according to
to which, e.g. no bigamist, no one who had married a widow or his sister-in-
law or niece, might be ordained. Clinici also, who had only resolved on
baptism on a sick bed (and therefore not from free impulse), as a rule were not
to be admitted ; at the same time, personal confirmation of faith, and indeed
even the want of other capable men, might still justify exceptions (Can. 12
Neocses. Cone.).

The old prohibition to admit Neophytes at once into the higher clerg3" was
maintained, yet not seldom disregarded in the case of eminent men (examples
of Ambrose and Synesius), hence the 80th (79th) Apostolic Canon takes ac-
count of such cases of special divine grace. Too early an age was also to re-
main excluded. Here the thirtieth year had already been fixed for entrance
into the office of presbyter (and in consequence also into that of bishop), be-
cause Christ, baptized at this age, entered upon his office of teacher (Neocses.
of 314, c. 11) ; for the deacon the twenty-fifth year (Syn. Hippo 393 in Hefele
II. 56 and often). Subsequently there were slight variations.1

The development of principle which had already begun at an earlier period,
according to which the cleric* was to find his life-work purely within the
province of the Church, and not to combine secular offices or business with it,
sought to make itself more efficient. The Council of Elvira had not entirely
forbidden the clergy (and even the bishops, presbyters and deacons) to pursue
a trade, but only to procure mercantile privileges by travelling about in the
provinces (visiting markets). They were only to have business carried on
by a son or freeman, hired servant or friend, for the sake of gaining a liveli-
hood, but themselves might only cari*3r on trade within their own province
(Can. 19). Further on, individual branches of trade were forbidden to the
clergy on the ground of the general requirement, according to which they
were not to mix themselves up with secular affairs (Const. Apost. II. 6). The
taking charge of the affairs of others, commission agency and the farming of
the ground of others are forbidden them (Chalced. c. 3). The already older
requirement (Cypr.) is maintained, that clergy should not accept any guardian-
ship, so far as they are not bound thereto by the law of the State, or entrusted
by the bishop with the care of orphans (Chalc. I.e.). But the pursuit of a trade
in itself continued to be permitted to the clergy, as also handicraft and agri-
culture for the gaining of a livelihood (Stat. eccl. antiq. = alleged third Syn. of
Carthage, 51 and 52), and probably could not be dispensed with. Serious voices,
however, complain of the hunting of the clergy after money-getting by trade
or owning of property, and the Church had always to be repeating its prohibi-
tion to the clergy of pure financial business with the taking of interest. All
taking of interest was regarded as usury according to the dominant view of the
unproductiveness of money and according to the Old Testament prohibition.
The clergy were at least to refrain from what was in itself objectionable (C.
Illib. 20 ; C. Arel. n. 314 c. 12 ; Nicten. c. 17 etc.). The frequent repetition of the

Individual directions in the Decretal of Siricius of 385 (Coustant, p. G23).

323 CHURCH HISTORY.

prohibition of interest to the clergy proves how great opportunity they had of
going into such business.

The pursuit of trade by the clergy received a further stimulus from the fact
that the State, among other immunities (p. 316), had conferred on them exemp-
tion from the burdensome trade dues (343), which was confirmed in 353; the
profits from retail shops (tabernce,) and workshops, however, was to go to the
benefit of the poor ; also their people who were engaged in trade were to be free
from the tax. As has been generally remarked above, these privileges had soon
to be limited. Valens abolished them entirely for the Easter of 3G4 (Cod.
Theod. XIII. I. 5 and <>). Gratian limited them at least (379) to trades of small
extent. Arcadius in 399 required the clergy who pursued commercial trades to
decide whether they desired to be merchants, and in this case forego the privi-
leges of the clergy, or clergy, and in this case forego the versuti qiurNtus.
Konorius indeed, in 401 recognised this tax privilege of the clergy within the
limits of buying and selling in petty trade (c. Theod. XVI. II. 3G) ; but Valen-
tinian 111. in 4-VJ forbade all clerics to pursue trades (lit nihil prorsns in'ijotia-
tionis fxerccant ; in case they should, they were no longer to be covered by the
privileges of the clergy ; Novelise Valent. III. tit. xxxiv. £ 4).

Even earlier than in regard to this the detachment of the clergy from secular
matters had been carried through to the extent that the clergy were not to
assume secular offices (the general conception, Const. App. 11. (i. Can. A p.
<< [7]). It was made a great matter of reproach to Bishop Paul of Samosata
that he at the same time administered the office of a Dnci'ixn-ins jirocti mtur.
Tn later times the incompatibility of the ministry with secular office is fre-
quently expressed. But there is no lack whatever of examples of bishops being
made use of in the service of the St.it.' also Thus Bishop JAMES of Nisibis was
at i he same, time provincial procurator under the sons of Const an t i ue iThuodoret
H.E. I. 30), and also in the case of the very intluential Alexandrian bishops this
was a matter of frequent occurrence, and so likewise in Home, although it is
true that the State legislation started from the point of view: iniircrsis <•/< •/•/<•/.%•
jnii'/i'i- rrc/r.s-/</.s-//co.s- ai-fiis us/if! oiiniino film u/tt's ftliist's </«-,f CN.VC f(»n inn in'

(Novell;'' Valent. III. tit. xxxiv. 7 | -l.'.-J .

In return for this, however, the episcopal administration, especially the
administration of property itself, now assumes the character of a political
function (administration of property, l«'ual controversies, juridical function,
controversies with secular official^!. Th« people. says Greg. Na/. (< >rat. :>-.
p. 520) now seek not priests, but rhetoricians, not carers for souls, but adminis-
trate .rs of monies, not those who sacrifice with a pure heart, but powerful
advocates ; and Syiiesius, who had himself been chosen on account of his family
rank and the inthirn.-e which was exp<'-:e<l from him, complains as a con-
templative man of the much business of the episcopal administration, and that
it is attempt.. 1 to combine the incompatible, in the episcopal post: Tr<>\iTiKi}v
ap(Ti]v ifpwovvfl irwaiTTftv T<> i<X<adeu>

3. The Metropolitan Constitution.

The metropolitan constitution (vid. *»///v* p. '2 H>) is already as-
sumed as universal by the Synod of Nicsea (Can. 4).1 The Metro-
politan is properly only the most considerable Kislmp of the pmviii' .-,
in the political provincial capital (metropolis of the exarchate), who

1 Cf. the ("'optic translation in PITH A. Spicil. Sol. F. r.'Ji; sq.

THE METROPOLITAN CONSTITUTION. 329

by his position and the consideration he enjoys is best suited to take
in hand the common concerns of the bishops of a province ^Can. 1)
Antioch. of 341). He becomes the permanent representative of
the common interests and problems which had found intermittent
exercise in the meetings of the provincial synods ; he therefore keeps
an eye on common interests during the periods when the synods are
not in session, calls the meetings, takes the chair, and is the medium
of intercourse with other churches.

He was not always the bishop of the provincial capital; in Pontus, a pro-
vince which was composed of numerous small districts, where it was only at
the hands of the Romans that a number of the chief places received the Hel-
lenic civic constitution, the leadership of provincial affairs fell to the eldest
bishop. In North Africa, where the leading bishops of Numidia and Maure-
| tania were designated senes, without ever actually being the eldest, this dignity
[ was not restricted to any fixed see ; while for Proconsular Africa the Bishop of
| Carthage was the uncontested metropolitan, and indeed had a preponderance
I also over the senes or primates of the two other provinces, especially in the
j calling of general councils. On the whole, however, the political division of
the provinces was regulative, and hence the cutting up of the extended
provinces into smaller ones by Diocletian (vid. MOMMSEN, Verz. der Provinzen
um 297. ABrlA. 1866, p. 491 sq.) was followed by an increase in the number
of the ecclesiastical metropoles. The 17 can. of Chalced. (cf. can. 12) recognises
(with reference to episcopal arrangements in general) the principle that the
ecclesiastical order should follow the civil, while Innocent I. (Ep. ad Alex. Ant.
V. 415 [Jaffe-Wattb. No. 310]) had declared against it in the interest of existing
| metropolitan arrangements. In Italy, where no division into provinces had
I taken place until the time of Diocletian, and the churches all the more found
j their natural centre in Rome, Diocletian's partition (into the capital and seventeen
provinces) was not followed by the corresponding ecclesiastical division into
metropoles on account of the too strong central attraction proceeding from
Rome, and indeed in the ten provinces of Lower Italy not for a very long time,
while of course in Middle and Upper Italy (province of the Vicarius Italiiu)
[the importance of Milan, which indeed came also into political prominence as
the Imperial residence, and towards the end of the fourth century, as the eccle-
,siastical metropolis, is indubitable, so likewise that of Ravenna after the resi-
dence there of the Emperor Honorius.1 After the death of Ambrose (397) the
Ecclesiastical province of Venetia and Istria (Aquile.ja) seems to have branched
pff from Milan (LOENING I. 445). As to Gaul, there is a lack of accurate in-
formation. The fact that the bishops of Southern Gaul appeal to the North
Italian bishops for the adjustment of various claims points to imperfect arrange-
nents ; at the Synod of Turin in 401 the former decided that Bishop Proculus
)f Marseilles (Gal. Vienn.) only in his own person on account of personal
Delations, but not the see of Marseilles in permanence, should hold the primacy
>ver the bishops of Narbonensis Secunda, as Marseilles did not belong to this
)rovince. Similarly in the controversy between Vienne and Aries, they decided

1 Cf. Loening I. 444, on the spurious Privilegium of Honorius ; however the
|iaetropolitan rights of Ravenna in the second half of the fifth century are other-
wise confirmed.

!

330 CHURCH HISTORY.

according to the Nicene canon that the primacy should be held by that see
which could prove that its city was the metropolis (Hef. II. 85). "When about
400 the Prcefectus prcetorio of the Diocesis Galliarum removed his seat of
administration to Southern Gaul on account of the position of Treves, threat-
ened by the Franks, in consequence of this Aries, amid many rivalries, also
received ecclesiastical superiority over Vienne.

According to the 5th can. of the Synod of Nicsea Provincial Synods were
to be held twice every year in each province (repeated subsequently, C. Antioch.
c. 20). Nevertheless the Nicene regulation was frequently not carried out,
especially in the West, where the disturbed state of the times prevented it.
The Synod of Orange (Arausio ; Can. 29) requires only an annual meeting, the
date of which is to be fixed at the previous meeting.

1. Only the bishops, who are accompanied by presbyters and deacons, pro-
bably also by lower clergy, are members entitled to vote, and they can only be
represented in case of hindrance by a priest, who in such case has a voice. It
is the duty of provincial synods to issue ecclesiastical precepts, which bishops,
clergy and laity are bound to obey. The existing ecclesiastical precepts handed
down from the fathers are to be maintained. The Holy Scriptures, the
decisions of the Nicene Synod and ecclesiastical tradition and usage as attested
in the decisions of the older Eastern and "Western Synods, were regarded as
(authoritative) sources. Binding power, however, is only ascribed to the Can.
Nic. New settlements which become necessary for praxis are issued at first for
the individual provinces by the provincial synods, and have a purely ecclesi-
astical character: as these synods do not require the approval of the State for
their assembly, or for their decisions, so the latter have a purely ecclesiastical
effect, and have no existence for secular law.

2. The provin'-i.il synods form the court of instance over the individual
bishops, from whose docision those fooling themselves aggrieved may lay an
appeal to the provincial synod (c. 5 Nic.),1 and the disciplinary court of resort,
before which complaints against the bishops could bo raised on account of grave
public sin> as woll as of violation of the duties of their office. In this regard
the need of subjecting the right of raising complaints to certain limitations
was soon frit ; heretics and excommunicated porsons, as well as those against
whom themselves complaints are raised, are excluded, except in cases which
concern an injury which has befallen the complainer himself. Besides these
the African councils exclude those persons, who were incapable of raising
secular criminal accusations (women, minors, soldiers, dishonourable per-
sons, slaves, ftcj. A further limitation was supplied by the fact that
the slanderous accuser, on proof of the calumny, was to be excommuni-
cated for life (Cone. Arelat. 314, c. 14). Subsequently, however, the
possibility of reconciliation is conceded. The rule that the false accuser
should meet with the punishment with which the accused was threatened
is borrowed from secular procedure. From the secular side a kind of
supervision and right of regulation over ecclesiastical disciplinary pro-
cedure is claimed (Cod. Theod. XVI. 2, 23), and the Emperors in the Kast sent
commissioners to important councils to watch over them. But the Emporors
also summoned bishops to ecclesiastical courts for the purpose of deciding
definite matters of discipline (Synods of Rome 313, and Arlos 314 in the

1 It was often attempted to counteract the inclination to carry complaints
against the, disciplinary decisions of the bishops to tho Emperor instead of the

synod i Lot -n. I. :;s5).

THE GREAT SYNODS. 331

Donatist affair, Synod of Tyre in that of Athanasius, etc.). The Synod of
Antioch of 341 indeed forbade the bishops deposed by a synod to apply to the
Emperor, but without result. Even the Bishops of Rome recognise the
authority of the Emperors to call synods and entrust them with the final judg-
ment of ecclesiastical offences ; so also the Church of Africa (only not the
ordering of a secular tribunal, Cod. eccl. Afr. can. 104). Finally the Emperors
also had influence to the extent that they caused a secular punishment to result
from the ecclesiastical, even though it was not a question of a secular, but a
purely ecclesiastical crime. This took place particularly by the punishment
of condemned and deposed bishops, but also by the extension of the penalty
of infamy to the false accusers of clergy. Under Gratian it was established
by a universal law, that deposed bishops, who after their deposition carried on
intrigues and imperilled the peace, were not to be suffered within a circuit
of 100 miles from their city, a regulation which was probably issued by the

I Emperor in accordance with the petition of the Roman Synod of 378 under

j Damasus, and to which Honorius appealed in the year 400 (Cod. Theod. XVI. 2r
35). Such bishops are here forbidden also to approach the Emperor as to the
abolition of their punishment.

3. But finally, the provincial synods were the ecclesiastical administrators
in all concerns which went beyond the individual bishopric, on occasion of
controversies between several bishops, the erection of new bishoprics, the de-
limitation of the metropolitan see, approval of the removal of a bishop, which,
in contradiction with the ancient principle of the Church, was, however, in

j many cases demanded by the wants of the Church, as also procured by the
effects of personal ambition; further, they held the power of alienating church
property. Finally they co-operated in the election of a bishop (vid. sup. p. 323)
and exercised a certain supervision over vacant bishoprics.

The election and consecration of the Metropolitan was conditioned in the
East by the rights of the Patriarchs ; in the West, e.g. in Gaul, it was in the

'hands of the bishops of the province ; it was required however in Can. 6 Sardic.

[(Greek text) that for that purpose bishops of neighbouring ecclesiastical provinces
should also be invited. The rights which devolved on the metropolitan alone,
as resulting from his position, were those of visitation (Can. 2 Taurin. 401) and
the concession of permission to travel, especially to the court.

4. The Great Synods.

\Literature : 1. OPTATUS MILBV. De schismate Donatistorum adv. Parmen^
cum monum. vett. ad Donat. historiam pertin. et cum hist. Donat. ed.
L. du PIN, Antwerp, 1702 (Ml. 11). D. VOLTER, Ur sprung des Donatism,
1883.

I. For the history of the Council of Nice : EUSEB. Vita. Const. 3, 6 sqq. and
in Theodoret I. II. ATHANASIUS. De decretis Nic. Syn. and Epist. ad
Afros, opp. I. The Greek ecclesiastical historians and Rufinus. GELASIUS
CYZIC. Hist. cone. Nic. (<nWay/za KT\.) in the collections of the Councils
(Mansi II. 759 sqq.), and in addition OEHLER, in ZhTh., 1861, 439 sqq. —
The whole material in Mansi II. and in addition, from Syriac sources,,
the Analecta Nicsena of Harr. CAWPER ; from Coptic, PITRA, Spicil. Sol. I.
509 sqq., and E. REVILLOUT, Le concile de Nice, Paris 1881 (from the
Journal Asiatique). — HEFELE, Conciliengeschichte * I. 282 sqq. and the In-
troduction 1-82. MARET, Du concil general etc., Paris 1869 2 vols. FUNK,
Der riim Stufil u. d. all;). Syn. Th. Q. 1882.

1. The Synodal system as it had been applied since the Montanist

332 CHURCH HISTORY.

movement, and again against Paul of Samosata, for the fighting out
and adjustment of ecclesiastical controversies, at once received an
increase of importance in the new position of the Church under
Constantino ; it became ever increasingly the exclusive apparatus
for ecclesiastical legislation. The first opportunity therefor was
the beginning of the so-called Donatist movement. The ecclesias-
tico-constitutional aspect of the affair is as follows : after the death
of Bishop MEXSURIUS of Carthage (311) the election of his successor
O^CILIAN, hitherto Archdeacon of Carthage, had been accomplished
with the co-operation of the neighbouring bishops (of Proconsular
Africa) only, and not also with that of the bishops of the ecclesias-
tical province of Numidia, and consecration by Bishop FELIX of
Aptunga had immediately followed. As the Metropolitan of Pro-
consular Al'rica, the Bishop of Carthage at the same time occupied
a position of primacy (as leader of the general councils, ci<l. xttj).}
towards all the African provinces, this procedure was regarded as a
neglect of the traditional rights of the Numidian bishops and their
Senex. Hence an opposition party, according to the pre-supposi-
tion, gained the support of the injured Numidian bishops, and the
t'jH.wnji/ts /»'i/:/<t> .sW/'x in Numidia, Bishop SKCI xi>rs of Tigisis held
himself justified in sending a commission to Carthage \vhirh ap-
pointed an luterventor a bishop as temporary administrator of
the vacant l>ish< >prie). Secundus of Tigisis came with his bishops,
to hold a general council as next in authority ; (\eeilian. who made
no appearance, was declared to be illegally consecrated, and a man
of the opposition party, the Lector M UOKINTS, was elected by the
Numidians Pars Majoriui, afterwards Douati after Bishop Dox.vn s
of Casae Nigra-. and afterwards especially after Bishop DONA-ITS
MAGNUS, the head of the party and the successor of Majorinus in
Carthage). In consequence of the synodal missive of this assembly
to the African churches, which required the holding of no ecclesias-
tical communion with Ciueilian. th" schism spread everywhere. Out
of Africa, however, communion \\as held with Caecilian as legally
bishop, and this was possible, according to the other traditional
views, if no account was taken of the special circumstances of Afri' a.
Hence when the Emperor Constantino, advised by the Spanish
Bishop Hosius, immediately after his decision for the Church, made
over considerable moneys to the African churches for purposes of
divine service, he did so through the medium of ('iecilian of ( Jarthage,
whom he also encouraged to apply to his officers (the I'nu-onsul ami
Vicar of the Pra-feeturej for punishment of the restless characters
who were in resistance (Donatists Eus. H.E. 10, <>; cf. chap. 7.)

THE GREAT SYNODS.

333

Hence the fact that the Emperor had already taken a side, gave
opportunity to the Donatist party to apply to the Emperor with a
complaint and petition for an impartial decision. The latter, bewail-
ing the split among the bishops and its detrimental influence on the
people, acceded thereto and summoned Bishop MILTIADES of Rome
to hold a synod in Rome, to which Reticius of Augustodunum
(Autun), Maternus of Cologne and Marinus of Arelate were to be
invited (the Donatists had petitioned for Gallic arbiters) ; Csecilian
and ten bishops from each of the two parties were to attend. The
Roman Synod declared for Csecilian, against whom no blame was
said to have been proved. At first the heads of both parties were
kept back, the Roman delegates however entered into communion
with Csecilian's clergy. On renewed complaints of the Donatists,
Constantino caused an investigation to be held on the spot into the
accusation raised against Felix of Aptunga as a traditor (vid. infra)
and called the Synod of Aries for the 1st August, 314. In this matter
the Emperor acts on his own sovereign power in the interest of the
unity of the Catholic Church, which was so important in his eyes,
but the bishops were actually to decide. He summoned individual
bishops personally, and laid down how many lower clergy and ser-
vants they might bring with them in attendance, as he laid the
state-post at their disposal (Eus. 10, 5). His object was, by the par-
ticipation of as many bishops as possible to remove the cause of
(controversy, which had already been decided by the former judg-
I merit; this synod however, which Augustine (Ep. 43, cap. 7, 9)
designates plenarium ecdesice universal concilium, can as a matter of
fact only be regarded as a general synod of the Latin West. The
synod which sat under the presidency of Bishop Marinus of Aries
I used with reference to its decisions the formula : placuit prcesente
\tipi ritu Sancto et angelis ejus, and begged Bishop Sylvester of Rome,
who had been represented at the synod by two presbyters and two
deacons, to proclaim its decisions universally in respect of the greater
extent of his ecclesiastical rights of supervision,1 — not at all in
the sense that the decisions required his confirmation. The Synod
at the same time established other regulations. After the comple-
tion of their deliberations, the bishops begged Coiistantine for per-
imission to return to their homes. Coiistantine regarded the appeal
jof the beaten party from the judgment of the bishops as rebellion
jagainst the Lord Himself. The bishops were to endeavour further
to win over the opposition, but the latter were immediately threat-
ened with imperial severity (Mansi II. 47). The resistants were

1 Qui majores diceceses tenes, vid. Langen, Gesch der rom. Kirche, I. 399.

334 CHURCH HISTORY.

brought to the Court and there gained the point that Constantine
invited Caecilian and his opponents to Rome, and as the former did
not appear, on a new date to Milan. Here, however, the decision
(November, 316) fell out in favour of Csecilian (Opt. Mil. ed. Dupin,
p. 187), which the Donatists attributed to the influence of Bishop
Hosius of Corduba on the Emperor.

In the East, too, the need of a greater synod is seen soon after
the death of Maximin (summer of 313), as is shown by the Synod of
Ancyra, held as early as 314, and that of Neocaesarea.

2. The Synod of Aries is the preparatory step to what, after the
break with Licinius and his downfall, Constantine now attains for
the whole Church of the Empire in the Nicene Assembly. Contro-
versy between clerics in the important city of Alexandria, which
now in the Arian, as before in the Donatist affair, threatened the
peace of the Church, favoured by the Emperor and strong on ac-
count of her unity as she was, gave occasion for Constantino's inter-
ference by the letter to the Church of Alexandria (Euseb. C. 2,
64-72). Unity in the worship of God in the Empire, along with
the restoration of political order, was his chief aim, and for that pur-
pose he was afforded an instrument in the connected hierarchy of
the Christian Church, the host of the worshippers of the highest
God, the unanimity of which was accordingly of all importance to
him. While he had hoped that after the overthrow of Licinius,
the enemy of the Christians, he would now gain help from the
East (the source of light and of the worship of God) in the settle-
ment of the Donatist schism, he had to experience greater evil here.
He disapproves of strife over trifles which have nothing to do with
the law and the worship of God, and which also are no concern of
the people, and heartily and forcibly offers himself as the medium
of peace. The letter which was transmitted through Hosius re-
mained without effect, and so Constantine, counselled by the same
Hosius, takes to the same expedient of a council, as in the Donatist
affair (Snlpic. Sev. H. 40, B) but now of a general council which
should extend over both East and West of tin- Kmpire.

The Emperor summoned the assembly. From all parts of the
Empire the bishops assembled in haste on Constant! lie's command,
supported by him from the public resources. There were not want-
ing a few from the Persian empire and one Scythian (Goth). They
came full of hope as to the outlook whieh was opened up for the
Church, and curious to meet the great ruler. The Bishop of Rome,
who on account of his great age. was not, present, but was represented
by two Roman presbyters, neither by himself nor even along with

COUNCIL OF NICE. 335

tiie Emperor summoned the synod ; whether generally he was of
those to whose counsel the Emperor listened, may be doubted, con-
sidering the entire disappearance of his name. Eusebius (Vita Const.
3, 8) gives the number of the participating bishops at more than
'250, to whom were attached an immense number of accompanying
presbyters, deacons and acolytes. Athanasius names about 300, in
one passage (Ep. ad. Afros, c. 2) definitely 318, a number which
Ambrose l already compares with the 318 servants of Abraham.
Along with many Greeks we find only a few from the West, the
most eminent Hosius and C^ECILIAN of Carthage. Many were in
high esteem on account of their piety and sufferings during the
persecution, others on account of their theological learning, but
the great mass were hardly incorrectly designated by Bishop Sabi-
nus of Heraclea as uneducated (Socr. H.E. I. 8).

The synod sat from the end of May or rather June till the 25th
August, 325. Before the solemn session, after the arrival of the
Emperor, conferences and disputations proceeded (Socrat. H. E. I. 8),
at which dialecticians, and philosophically cultured and interested
laymen made themselves notable on the one side and the other ;
until a pious layman, a confessor, objected, and carried his conviction
that Christ and the Apostles had not handed down to us the dialec-
tic art, but the simple opinion of faith (disposition, yu^vrjv ^vw^rfv}^
which was guarded by faith and good works. The dialecticians
were thereby caused to restrict themselves to modest limits. Is the
story of Rufinus (X. 3), of the confessor who by simple preaching
converted to Christianity the eel-like philosophers who were not to
be caught by any dialectical arguments, merely the decking out of
that general account as reproduced by Socr. I. 8 ? It may very well
be based on a characteristic actual incident. And certainly it cor-
responds in a high degree with the position of the time, that in that
conflux of the bishops favoured by Constantine there may also have
been present pagans who were interested in the religious question,
especially if it was reported that a. controversial question would be
treated which appeared to be quite of a philosophical and metaphysi-
cal sort.

The synod was solemnly opened in the central (the largest) hall
of the palace, in which seats were set for the bishops on either hand.
On a given sign the bishops rose from their seats, and Constantine
entered in dazzling robes and dignified demeanour, accompanied not
by a military retinue, but by trusted friends ; he passed down the

1 Defide ad Gratmn., I, prol. 5.

336 CHURCH HISTORY.

middle of the hall to the low (not throne-like) golden chair in a
prominent position, to which 011 both sides the seats of the bishops
converged in a half circle ; but it was only on the expression of the
wish of the bishops that he took his seat. The bishop who occupied
the first seat on the right side l now rose to make a poetical address
to the Emperor and praise God for him, whereupon Constantino, with
serene and friendly countenance looking round about him among
the bishops, addressed them in a soft voice. He extolled this as the
fulfilment of his deepest wish, that God, in addition to all other
successes, had vouchsafed to him to see the representatives of the
Church gathered round him in unanimity, and forcibly exhorted
them to guard and maintain this peace, as most justly beseemed the
servants of God.

His Latin speech was immediately repeated in Greek by an inter-
preter. Hereupon the Emperor gave over the leadership to the
presidents. These are in all probability to be found in EUSTATHIUS
of Antioch and ALKXAXDKI; of Alexandria, the holders of the two
most respected sees of the East, not Hosius of Corduba, influential
as of course he was on account of his position with the Emperor, and
who owes it to his personal position that he is frequently mentioned
in the first place among those who took part in the deliberations
(Socr. I. UK Little reliance is to be placed on the untrustworthy
Gelasius Cyz., who mak«is Hosius the first to sign the canons, ;md
indeed in the name of the Bishop of Rome and all the other Western
bishops, though it would not follow at all from that, that he had
presided.- But the view which regards him as the legate of the
Bishop of Rome is a mere airy imagination. In all the lists of sig-
natures, which are full of errors and only preserved in Latin,
Hosius stands at the top, but, N.B., only in the two lists of Gelasius
(Mansi II. 8Sj>, ^'27 ; with the express addition " in the name of the
Church of Rome and the churches of Italy, Spain, and the rest of
the West," while the two others (Mansi I.e. (i'J'2 and 697) have no
remark on Hosius, and on the two Roman presbyters they note, ac-

1 According to Soz. I. 17 (cf. the inscription of Eus. V. Const. :!, 11) Kusehius
of Cajsarea ; according to Theodon r L, 6, Kn>tatliius of Antioch: the p<><
greeting of the Emperor by Eusel>ius (ICus. I'. Const. :i, 11) however relates to
the f«'sti vity at the celebration of tin- Yi<-> miMia.

- When Athanasius (A/><>/. </< '/"//", p. •"• Mini Theodoret, quoting him (2, 1">),
says of Hosius, "over what synod lias In- not presided? " the general possibility
of referring this to Nicsea is abolished by tlnj \\ords further on, which represent)
him as having distinguished himself at Nicaea, but as having occupied
place at Sardica (tv rfj p.tyn\T) Bicirrpf^as Kara NiVaiav a-vvt'idia, KU'I TO>I> tv

THE PATRIARCHATE 337

cording to the facts, that they sign as representatives of the Bishop
of Rome.

The forms of discussion were undoubtedly still very mutable at
Nicsea, and only became gradually fixed with the growth of require-
ments. The Emperor himself attended the excited debates (Eus.
V. Const. 3, 13) with interest and with the desire of moderating
passions.

With this first General Council of the Church, the decisions (Spot)
of which received the force of law from the confirmation of the
Emperor, a tendency was entered upon which was decisive for the
further development ; decisive also by the fact that the Emperor
held it to be his duty to compel subordination to the decisions of
the council on penalty of banishment, and actually carried out this
banishment in the case of Arius and several of his adherents. The
Emperor summoned general synods, the fiscus provided the cost
of travel and subsistence (also at other great synods), an imperial
commissioner opened them by reading the imperial edict, and
watched over the course of business. Only the bishops and their
appointed representatives had votes. Dogmatic points fixed (86jp.aTa
and as formulated confession GvpftoXa) were to be the outcome of
unanimous agreement, the rest of the ordinances (011 the constitu-
tion, discipline and worship : icavoves) of a majority of votes.

5. The Patriarchate.

Literature: BINGHAM, Orig. I.; AUGUSTI, Denkwiirdig keiten XI. 148 et seqq.
MAASSEN, Der Primat des Bischofs von Rom, 'and die alien Patriarchal-
Kirchen, 1853; HINSCHIUS, System des kath. KR., I. (1869) p. 538 sqq.
LOENING I.e. I. 424 sqq.

As the more stable grouping of the bishops in the government of
the Church finds expression in the accomplishment of the metro-
politan constitution, and accordingly the regular recurrence of pro-
vincial synods became the means of this unified church government
so the need of bringing about united decisions over larger provinces
of the Church by means of more comprehensive synods, was again
met by a higher grouping of the hierarchy, extending beyond the
position of the metropolitans, and indeed, like the metropolitan con-
stitution, in essential analogy with the political organization and
official hierarchy. As the civitas (the city- district) corresponded to
the episcopal diocese, and the province to the domain of the metro-
politan bishop, so the bishops in the central points of the greater
divisions of the Empire, the political dioceses, acquired greater vener-
ation and increased authority. The political division of the Empire,

22

338 CHURCH HISTORY.

founded by Constantine, but subsequently somewhat altered under
Gratian and Theodosius, distinguished in this latter form four great
Prefectures, of which each was subdivided into several dioceses, each
of which included under it a number of provinces. I. Praefectura
Orientis : 1) The Dicecese Ot-iens (Antioch the capital) with fifteen
provinces ; 2) Diocese of Egypt (only under Theodosius, formerly
reckoned in the Dicecese Oriens) ; 3) Diocese of ASM (Ephesus) ; 4)
Diocese of Pontus (Caesarea) ; Diocese of Thrace (Heraclea). II. Prae-
fectura Illyrici Orientalis:1 1) Diocese of Macedonia; 2) Diocese
of Dacia. III. Praefectura Italiae: 1) Diocese of Rome with the ten
suburbicary provinces ; 2) Diocese of Italy (Milan) ; 3) Diocese of
Illyricum occidentale (Sirmium) ; 4) Diocese of Africa. IV. Praefec-
tura Galliarum : 1) Diocese of Gaul (Treves, afterwards Aries) ; 2)
Hispania ; 3; Britannia.

Of the episcopal sees here referred to, Alexandria (p. 251) had
already as a matter of fact attained a higher authority over Egypt
along with Libya and Pentapolis, to such an extent indeed, that
when the bishops of the other provincial capitals became metropoli-
tans of their provinces, the Metropolitan of Alexandria at the same
time exercised power over the other metropolitans — over Libya,
Pentapolis (Cyrenaica) and the Thebaid. This was recognised as
legal by the Gth canon of the Nicene Synod. Similar relationships
of superiority had developed themselves with regard to Antioch,
Rome and also Carthage. It was obvious that for such a position
of superiority over the metropolitanate the political division into
dioceses might be made the standard. In the eastern parts of the
Empire it was actually tried to carry out the conception of diocesan-
bishops in this sense. Thus the 2nd canon of the Synod of Con-
stantinople (381 1 placed the diocesan-bishops of Asia (Ephesus),
Pontus (Caesarea;, and Thrace (hiterto Heraclea) on an equality with
Alexandria and Antioch, in expressions which were probably meant
to meet an overlapping of the bishops of Alexandria and Antioch
beyond their own dioceses. But here also this point of view was
not carried out in its purity. This was the cons. -ijurm-e of the
decided preponderance of the new capital, Constantinople, to the
bishops of which the rank of honour, in preference to all others,
immediately after that of Old Rome, was ascribed as early as the
Synod of Constantinople (381 j. In consequence even contemporaries
already caught the idea of the abolition of the ecclesiastical subordi-

1 Under Constantine still Praefectura Illyrici with seventeen provinces ; it
w:is only later that Illyr. Occident, was separated from it and assigned to the
Prefecture of Italy.

777^ PATRIARCHATE. 339

nation of Byzantium to Heraclea and the ecclesiastical authority
over Thrace. As a matter of fact the ecclesiastical preponderance
of the capital now also absorbed the ecclesiastical superiority of the
neighbouring dioceses of Pontus and Cappadocia, although in face of
much opposition. The Bishop of Alexandria had at first protested
against the 3rd canon of Constantinople, but had to surrender to the
weight of the facts ; and at the fourth General Council, which was
held at Chalcedon in 451, the equality of rank of the Bishop of Con-
stantinople with the Bishop of Rome was recognised in the 28th
canon, in such a way that a subordination of the dioceses of Asia,
Pontus and Thrace, with only a certain guarding of the usual rights
of metropolitans in these dioceses, is undoubtedly expressed. That
is to say, in, the dioceses mentioned, only the metropolitans them-
selves, but in the districts of these very dioceses which were occupied
by the barbarians (Huns on the Bosphorus, Heruli, Abasgi and Alans
on the Euxiiie) the simple bishops also were to be ordained directly
from Constantinople, but the right of the metropolitan to consecrate
the bishops in association with their fellow-bishops remains intact.
Thus the central position of those bishops of Ephesus and the Pontic
Caesarea disappears. On the other hand the two actual diocesan-
bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, with their authority of ancient
foundation, come immediately next to the Bishop of Constantinople.
But at the same time Antioch, the power of which in the great ex-
tension of the Dioecese Orientis was less tense than that of the Bishop
of Alexandria in Egypt, was further injured by the special position
assigned to the Bishop of Jerusalem. As early as the Council of
Nicsea an honourable pre-eminence of rank was conceded to the
latter, but without trenching on the rights of the Metropolitan of
Csesarea (Palest.). Building on this and on the growing reverence
for the Holy Places, the bishops of Jerusalem sought to free them-
selves from their metropolitan and from the Diocese of the East in
general. At the third (Ecumenical Synod (of Ephesus in 431) this
was not attained, but soon thereafter Juvenal of Jerusalem obtained
from Emperor Theodosius II. the ecclesiastical separation of Pales-
tine, Phoenicia and Arabia from Antioch, and their subordination
to Jerusalem. Antioch protested against it and, as a matter of

[fact, was able to assert its claim to Phoanicia and Arabia ; but the

Palestinian provinces were actually placed under Jerusalem (Sessio

VII. of the Council of Chalcedon, vid. HEFELE Cone. G. II. 477;.

For the rest, individual metropolitans were able in this composi-
tion of the greater groups of churches in the Eastern Empire, to
guard an independent position for themselves, which found special

340 CHURCH HISTORY.

expression in freedom from the right of ordination of the diocesan-
bishop. This " Autocephaly " was acknowledged at Chalcedoii as
belonging to the metropolitan of Cyprus. The ascendency of the
Constantinopolitan bishop received at Chalcedoii a handle for further
development of power, which could also be eventually used against
the ancient rights of Alexandria and Antioch. If a bishop or clergy-
man falls into dispute with his metropolitan he is to apply either
to the diocesan-bishop (the Exarch of the Diocese) or also to the
Bishop of Constantinople and seek justice before him (can. 9 and 17).
At first this may have had in view the dioceses of Thrace, Pontus
and Asia, but according to it the preference might be given to the
Bishop of Constantinople over those of Alexandria and Antioch.

We now meet with the designation Patriarch for the great
bishops of Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople and Jerusalem,
though at first gradually and not uniformly. E.g. in the lists of
those present at synods and elsewhere, as a rule they are designated
apXteTTtWoTro? (which, therefore, is here not at all equivalent to
metropolitan). The name Patriarch occurs in the fourth century, in
the West still later, as a title of honour for bishops. In the fifth
century Socrates, H. E. 5, 8, designates the diocesan-bishops, supra -
metropolitans, in general as patriarchs, while elsewhere as a rule they
are called Exarchs. After the close of the fifth century, however,
the title begins to be confined to those great bishops. However, as a
rule, he of Alexandria is designated -jra-rras and only from the seventh
century is he also called patriarch, which title now in general
becomes constant. The Bishop of Constantinople is freely called
dpXi€Tri<TK07ro<; real TraTpiap^rj-; from the sixth century. By Greeks
the name patriarch is also given to the Bishop of Rome ; not so
in the West, where several eminent metropolitans, such as the
Bishop of Aquileia, bear the title.

6. The Roman Primacy

Sources: The Liber Pontificalis (rid. p. 20, under 2 6) ed. Bianchini. 1718 sqq.j
YNINOU, 1724 sqq. (Ml. 127-120). The critical edition of DrciiKsxn
(I. 1886) reaches down to Hadrian I. cf. Lii'sn s, ('/irmiof. »/<•/• rfini.
Bzsefcfl/e, 1869, and JpTh. IsT'.i. WAITZ, NADG. 1*7:1, and HZ. ISSO. and
especially Preiir.sxE in the introduction of his edition which contains Ids
earlier studies completely revised. — Th«' literature p. "21. and rsprr.ially
J. LANGEN, Gescli. d. riJm. AY/v/K1, 2 vols. (to Nicolas I.), Bonn 1881 and
1885.

The matter takes another form in the West. The 6th canon of
Nietea recognised Rome's comprehensive position in the declaration;
that Alexandria should have authority over all the bishops of Egypt

THE PRIMACY OF ROME. 341

along with Libya and Pentapolis, just as such, a superior authority
was customarily exercised by the Bishop of Rome over the suburbi-
cary churches.1 Thereby we must understand not merely the
churches of the regiones suburbicaricB, of the urban province under
the Free fectus urbi (as far as the 100th mile-stone) but the ten sub-
urbicary provinces under the Vicarius, and therefore the political
diocese of Rome, which included the greater part of Central Italy, and
all Lower Italy with Sicity, Sardinia and Corsica. In Upper Italy
(the diocese of Italy) the metropolitan cities of Milan, Aquileia, and
Ravenna (Istria) stood in essential independence. On the other hand
Illyria, which since the death of Julian was subject to the Western
Emperors, held by Rome in the Arian controversy ; in the partition
of Illyria in 379, not only the few bishoprics of West Illyria (capital,
Sirmium) which belonged to the Prefecture of Italy, but also Eastern
Illyria gravitated to Rome. The Pt'cefectiira Illyrici Oriental^ with
Thessalonica did indeed become a member of the Eastern Roman
Empire, and so seemed to have come under the sphere of ecclesi-
astical authority of Constantinople ; but the diocesan-bishop of
Thessalonica (diocese of Macedonia; preferred being vicar of Rome
to being dependent on Constantinople. It is true that Theodosius
II. placed Thessalonica under Constantinople, but he allowed himself
to be induced to withdraw this by Honorius, Bishop of Rome. In
the rest of the West the chair of St. Peter, the sole sedes apostolka
and the most important central point also as mediator between East
and West of the Church, enjoyed an important esteem of ancient
foundation, but at first no exactly fixed ecclesiastical authority ;
but such an authority it was in a position successfully to claim
through the combined influence of many circumstances. As early
as the beginning of the Donatist controversy the orthodox party
of the African Church leaned upon Miltiades of Rome, to whom
Constantine entrusted the management of the affair (vid. sup. p. 333).
But the definitive decision was given at Aries, at the comprehensive
synod (314) called b}^ Constantine, where Marinus, Bishop of Aries,
occupied the presidency (vid. sup.) and where there was no mention
of a superior authority of Rome ; no more did this take place at the
great Synod of Nicsea, which Constantine summoned on the advice

1 The Greek text gives no local limit of this power, but Rufinus (H. Eccl.
X. 6) in the Latin version of the canon designates it as the ancient custom in
Alexandria and Eome : ut vel ille, SEyypti, rel hie suburbicariarum eccle-
siarum sotticitudiuem gerat. The old translation, the so-called Prisca (in
Mansi VI. 1127) has : ut suburbicaria loca et umnem provinciam suavi
sollicitudine yubernet.

342 CHURCH HISTORY.

of Bishop Hosius of Corduba, the Western bishop who had most in-
fluence with him. The synod only declared general recognition of
the primatial rights of Rome for the diocese (political) of Borne,
and the Roman Bishop Sylvester, represented by his two clerics
Vitus and Vincentius, here played a by no means remarkable role.
But the circumstance that Athanasius, in his conflict against the Eas-
tern majority, in behalf of the subsequently victorious point of the
Homousia. found powerful backing in the Latin West and from the
Roman Bishop Julius (337-352), contributed to the elevation of its
authority. At the Synod of SAKDICA in the end of 343 or beginning
of 344 (ritf. infra, the Arian controversy) the bishops of the Athana-
sian party present, from whom the Orientals separated themselves in
order to hold a diet at Philippopolis, conferred (Can. 3) upon Bishop
Julius of Rome a kind of appellate jurisdiction. When a bishop, being
condemned by his provincial synod, believes himself to have just cause,
for the sake of honouring the memory of St. Peter, information is t«.
be sent to Bishop Julius of Rome ; if the latter approves the first
decision, it shall remain as it is ; in the other case the matter shall be
reviewed again before judges named by him (<li't indicex ; according
to the Greek text, from among the neighbouring bishops). This pre-
rogative awarded by an oppressed minority amid the party conflicts
of the time, personally to the then Bishop of Rome, afforded an
important handle for subsequent claims, so much the more as the
canons of S;inli« -.1 were confused in Western assemblies with those
of Nicrea, ami thru themselves appealed to as Nicein-.

The ecclesiastical party conflicts, enhanced by the conduct of the Emperor,
led just on account of the outstanding importance of Rome to grave convul-
sions. LiiiKuirs !.T>-J-3i;0) on account of his taking part with Athanasius, w.-i-
driven from Rome by the Emperor Constautius, and the deacon Felix was M't
in his place; but the people adhered firmly to Liberius and received him with
jubilation, although he had obtained his return through obsequiousness to the
Emperor. Felix was driven away, and Rome found the suggestion of the
Emperor that Liberius and Felix should administer the bishopric in common,
very singular. But the powerful position of a Bishop of Rome made tin- chair
an object, of ambition and popular passions. In opposition to the newls -elected
bishop, DAMASKS c;i;i;-:;s4), to whom it was objected that he had taken the part
of Felix, TTusixrs < I'rsicinus) was hastily elected by the opp<>>iti»n and conse-
crated by Bishop Paul of Tibur; hastily and ruthlessly at the head of the
fanatical m:is-es Damasus combated his opponents, blood flowed in streams
and at sacred places, and the City Prefect Viventius caused Damasus to
be let alone. Ursinus was expelled the city; subsequently the Kmperor
allowed him to return, but was obliged to send him anew into banishment,
The opposition of the parties dragged out for some time longer.

In the agitations of the Oriental parties to attain a union of all the opponents
of the Arians and to overcome the Meletian schism, the Greek East al>"

THE PRIMACY OF ROME. 343

exerted itself to gain the approval of Damasus.1 (M. BADE, Damasus. B. v. B.,
1881. On the legend of Felix II. as the rightful Pope, vid. DOLLINGER, Papxt-
fabeln des M.A., p. 106 sqq.).— His successor SIRICIUS (384-398) made use of the
need of Western bishops of seeking the advice of the ecclesiastical tradition
of Borne in questions of church law and discipline, to give decisions for the
Spanish Church with the claim of canonical authority (Decretals), and like-
wise he communicated the decisions of the Boman synods held under him to
the African Church for observance. Damasus already sought to maintain the
relation of Illyria to Borne above mentioned (p. 341), so also Siricius and his
successor ANASTASIUS (398-402), who " omnia, quce in illis partibus gerantur,
tradit cognoscenda " to Bishop Anysius of Thessalonica. INNOCENT I. advanced
with success and growing self-confidence in these tracks ; he commissioned the
Bishop of Thessalonica as his Vicar for the Illyrian provinces, communicated
his ordinances for observance to other Western provinces and laid claim to the
power of deciding as superior judge in maiores causce (based on the above-
mentioned Canon of Sardica, which was regarded as Nicene) and enforced the
duty of sending information as to important events to Borne. In the conflict
of Theophilus of Alexandria with John Chrysostom he worthily championed
the s'de of the latter, and in the Pelagian controversy, both the Palestinian
Synod, which sided with Pelagius, and the African Church gave him the
opportunity of making his weighty opinion felt, which caused Augustine to
exclaim to the Pelagians : " Roma locuta, causa finita." But the experiences
of his successor, ZOSIMUS (417-18), who by his initial protection of Pelagius
drew upon himself the harsh disclaimer of the African Church and (under the
additional influence of the Emperor Honorius) allowed his opinion to be
entirely converted, showed how little the self-confident African Church was
inclined to recognise a superior authority in questions of doctrine ; and the
affair of Apiarius of Sicca, a presbyter deposed by his bishop, and who appealed
to Borne and whom Zosimus assisted, occasioned the decision of the General
Council of Carthage (418, can. 17), that presbyters or other lower clergy should
only bring their complaints against the judgment of their bishop, before neigh-
bouring bishops, eventually before African Councils or the African Primate,
but should not appeal beyond the sea (on pain of excommunication). Natur-
ally, there is here express reference to clergy only, who seek protection from
the Boman bishop against their own, not expressly to bishops, who consider
themselves opposed by metropolitans ; but in the instruction of Zosimus for
his messengers, whom he further sent in 418 to Carthage to abolish the dispute,
he extended his claim also to the appeal of the bishops to Borne, and founded
the whole on the authority of the alleged Nicene, but actually Sardicene

1 If, according to the investigations of THIEL, De decret. Gela*i> Papce de
libb. recipiendis, Brunsb. 1866, and of FRIEDERICH (Drei unedirte Concilien
aus der Merovingerzeit, mit einetn Anhang it. d. Deer. Gelasii, Bamberg 1867),
the beginning of the decree of Gelasius (De spiritu sancto, De canone scr. .s.,
De sedibus patriarchalibus) already proceeds from Damasus, this confirms
the latter's conscious exaltation of the primacy of Borne, which rests not on
the decisions of councils (Nicsea, to which the synod in Constantinople went
back), but on the evangelical word of the Lord ; Alexandria (as the bishopric of
Mark, the disciple of Peter) has (according to Nic.) the first place after Borne;
Antioch, where Peter dwelt before he came to Borne, the third ; Constantinople
is passed over in entire silence (Hefele, II. 621).

344 CHURCH HISTORY.

canons. This appeal to the celebrated council estranged the Africans, who did
not find the canons referred to among those of Nicsea. They were willing
however, under reservation of investigations into the authentic content of the
Nicene canons, to accept these canons provisionally. Apiarius was actually
first of all again admitted. The transactions on this subject however dragged
on under BONIFACE I. (419-22) and CELESTIXE (422-32) and ended, on an
attempt of Celestine's in the interest of the again hanished Apiarius, with the
result, that the Africans, basing on the silence of the genuine Nicene canons,
and in the sense of the 5th Nicene canon, declared themselves most decidedly
against the appeal to Rome.

Here the Popes were always confronted with an important and characteris-
tically marked provincial Church and its historically developed constitutional
spirit schooled in numerous synods. The case was different in other Western
provinces, especially in Gaul, where Christianity had only completely prevailed
since the time of Martin of Tours, and the constitution, especially the metro-
politan constitution, was only in process of development. This immature con-
dition is indicated by the conflict between the bishops of Vienne and Aries
and Massilia as to ecclesiastical privileges about the end of the fourth and
the beginning of the fifth century, in which the ancient ecclesiastical authority
<••!' Vier-ne was repressed by the importance of outstanding Aries favoured by
circumstances (p. :-5HO). These circumstances, and especially the effort of Bishop
PATROCLUS of Arelate to assert a j.nsition of episcopal superiority over the
bishops of Gallia Viennensis and the two Gallioe Narbonenses (I. and II.), in
particular in the right of ordination in these provinces, were made use of by
Zoshnus in 417. He conceded him this right %<»imi Epist. ad EplSC. Gallice)
appealing to the authority of the alleged origination in Rome of the work
of Trophimus, the first Bishop of An-hitc, from which as source the whole of
(laul had received the stream of the faith, but at the same time he made him
the Vicar of Rome: whoever in (Jaul desir.d to journey to the Roman see or
abroad in general, required for that purpose : the lifi-ni' fnrnniftr of t lie Metro-
politan of Arelate. Meanwhile the metropolitans of the individual provinces
successfully opposed, and the effort of Patroclu-. whoso episcopal seat now
became the capital of seven provinces (llnnorii cunstifiitio of Us, rid. (iies. 1.
2, 219), after a corresponding extension of his rights, already found opposition
on the part of BONIFACE I., who took his ground on the Nicene principle that
the individual provinces should each have its metropolitan ; and when Bishop
Hilarius of An-late proceeded with his effort after a kind of primaey of South-
ern Caul, and deposed the Bishop of Yesontio < IVsancon), Colidonius. who in
accordance with the political partition of the district, according to which
Vesontio was the capital of Maxima Se,,uan.. is to be regarded as a metro-
politan, the latter found a willing ear for his complaints in the Roman Hishoj)
LEO I. (440-401). The latter knew a v, a\ the opposite of that of Zosimus— and
since then very often employed — to vindicate his authority over t he ( :a!li« ;m
churches. Hilarius supported his cause in person at Rome and in decided
opposition to the Roman bishop, but was obliged to leave Rome in secret, and
a Roman synod (445) not only restored Celidonius and censured Hilarius'
usurpation of provinces not his own, but also denied him t he privileges con-
ceded by Zosimus to his predecessor, and even the province of Vienne (as
metropolitan of which the Bishop of Aries had regarded Inm-elf since the
Synod of Turin in 401), and accordingly would have made him a simple bishop.
As a matter of fact Hilarius had to submit. Here, therefore. I,e,-, suppressed
the aspirations to primacy of a very capable and energetic bishop in the

LEO J. . 345

interest of the papal power he was striving after ; the right of uniting the
Gallican bishops in a common synod was ascribed — but as a privilege of age— to
Bishop Leontius of Forum Julii (Frejus). Leo further obtained in 445 from the
young Emperor Valentinian III. (the son of Placidia) an edict which recog-
nised the primacy of the Bishop of Eome " over the Church " as the best
guarantee for the peace of the Church, designated resistance to the Bishop of
Eome as treason, ascribed the force of a universal law to his regulations, and
ordained that persons summoned should in case of need be brought before the
Bishop of Eome by the secular arm. (Tune enim demum ecclesiarum pax
ubique seruabitur, si rectorem suum acgnoscat universitas [Novelise Valent.
III. tit. 16]).

With, the Gallican affair we enter upon Leo's so epoch-making
and consciously designed activity, which was equivalent to the
carrying out of a developed theory of papal monarchy. Its first
foundation is laid on the Apostolic-prince Peter as the Rock (Matt.
xvi. 16-19j, who, established by Christ as the true foundation, and
one with Him, is to bear the building of the eternal temple as its
fixed basis. To him He commended all His sheep to be fed, from
him as head the gifts of Christ were to flow to the whole body.
His superiority in rank above the other shepherds, the Apostles, is
! transferred to the Roman Church ; to the head of the Church,
i Eome, the head of the world has fallen, as his seat, and his superi-
I ority in rank is transmitted to all his successors, for all of whom
1 Christ's command and His prayer (Luke xxii. 32) hold good. He
i who dares to depart from the rock of Peter loses his part in the
divine mystery. Not all bishops are to arrogate everything to
; themselves. Over the bishops of a province one shall preside who
j shall have the first word (the decision) among his brethren ; over
'them again, in the larger cities, like superiors with a more compre-
hensive circuit of influence C patriarchs '?), per quos ad unam Petri
\\sedem uuiverxalis ecdesice cut'ci conflueret, et nihil usquaw a suo capite
\dis*ideret. The bishops are summoned to take part in the cares of
jthe successor of Peter (for souls), not however to exercise the same
i j fulness of power (appointed in partem solUdtudinis, non in phni-
\tudinempotestati*, Ep. XIV. 1).

The condition of secular affairs in the West was adapted to further
jthese claims. The oppression of Roman Gaul under the German
land Arian kingdoms which were in process of formation, the inva-
Ision of the Huns, the shattering of Roman administration and
i ecclesiastical arrangements alike, such as called forth the exertions
- |of the energetic Bishop Hilarius in favour of ecclesiastical centralis-
ation, now perhaps appeared in a still higher degree suited to
recommend attachment to Rome. Not less so in Africa, whose
flourishing and powerful church had been overflowed and destroyed

346 CHURCH HISTORY.

by the Arian Vandals. The church of the part which was pre-
served to the Roman dominion, viz. Mauritania Csesariensis, now
offers no opposition to Leo's endeavours to rule it, to obviate unca-
nonical occurrences and to decide appeals thence.

In regard to the East also, although here Leo's theory of the
universal papal monarchy was not recognised, Leo's pontificate
indicates the close of an advancing development, which finds its
explanation in the need of the parties in the Greek East of finding
support in Rome's approval and confirmation amid their embittered
doctrinal controversies.

The fact that his age invested the Roman Bishop Julius with authority in
the East also, was conditioned by the position of DAMASTS. In the angry
controversy between Theophilus of Alexandria aiid Chrysostom ((•/</. infra)
the tirst bishops of the East, each individually applied to the Roman and
Italian bishops for assistance and help, but the style of Innocent's exertions, to
bring about an impartial synodal decision by the mediation of the Emperor
Honorius, shows how little there was here of any superior episcopal authority
over the East. But in the inflamed Xestorian controversy, CVRII, of Alexandria
sought to win over to his side the Roman Bishop CEI.KSTINE I., to whom,
" according to ancient ecclesiastical custom," it was his duty to send information
on everything which concerned the faith ; he desired only in association with
him to abolish ecclesiastical communion with Nestorians. And Celestine at
once made use of this state of afl'airs, to assume the role of an arbiter in the
East, by means of his legates to the Council of Ephesus (for the Roman bishops
discreetly avoided going themselves to the East). When he commissioned his
legates, to guard the authority of the apostolic see, and in case it should come
to controversy, to judge upon the opinion of others but not to submit them-
selves to foreign judgment (nnti suh/r<' <•<•/•/,///«•/(), the question is, whether the
latter is to be understood as by Langen, I. si 5, only to the extent that they
were to appear in the character of judges over the Nestorians (*•/</. the letter
in Constant, 1 152 1. The judgment of the Cyrillian Synod of Ephesus against
Nestorius resulted " on the ground of the canon and in accordance with the
letter of our most holy Father and fellow-priest Celestine,'' and Celestine had
the satisfaction of seeing Maximianus, a monk from Rome, occupying the see of
Constantinople instead of Nestorius ; from the letters of Celestine (Mi<;\K, 50,
5)>7; 541; 5-17: 5 IS) may be gathered, with what legitimacy he was called a
complete creature of Celestine's. Celestine says that the Church of Rome, to
which (by his origin) he had always belonged, would testify for him as for a
member of its body (LANCKN, I. 83). Similarly he recommended the simple
new teacher to the community of Constantinople ; they might suppose what th
hitter had learned at Rome from the forefathers. His successor Sixtus (Xystus
III. did not omit to congratulate John of Ant inch on his adhesion to the con
demnation of Xestorius. with allusion to the impoi-tance of being in acco
with Rome and not estranging oneself from the doctrine of him (Peter) whom
the Lord Himself had instructed as the first among the apostles (Langen, I. 844).

In their natural opposition to Constant inople the Popes willingly sought tc
find support in Alexandria, as the see of Mark the disciple of St. Peter, and in
Antioch on account of St. Peter's temporary activity there.

The fruits, howevev, of the state of affairs brought about by flu

LEO I.

347

Oriental doctrinal controversies were gathered in full measure by
this very Leo, whose assistance was now invoked against Eutyches
(vid. inf.) and just by Flavian of Constantinople, and who now in
the celebrated letter to Flavian gave the dogmatic decision. The
intrigues of Dioscurus of Alexandria and his momentary successes
at the robber Synod (449), at which Dioscurus pronounced excom-
munication against Leo, only served to bring about the strongest
recognition by the party here subjected to force, in its most eminent,
representatives, and especially Theodoret, of the Roman primacy
and its submission to Leo's decision, with a view to finding the
longed-for help in the West, united under him. When in the
next place the change of government in the East brought the
desired revolution, Leo hoped to be able to dictate ecclesiastical
peace solely on the ground of his letter, without a General Synod.
The latter however did take place, but brought him at least the
triumph that his letter was made the basis of the doctrinal decision ;
his doctrine was esteemed as the word of Saint Peter, he himself as
the divinely appointed guardian of God's vineyard, and the con-
clusions of the synod were laid before him for confirmation. If
this in the first place only involved that for an O3cumenical decision
it was necessary to secure the approval of the chief churches, the
encomiastic expressions of the Greeks provided for the point that
Leo could descry in his own approval the only confirmation of the
fact that at the council the voice of God had decided. But the
dogmatic triumph of his doctrinal authority was embittered to him
at the same council by the adoption of the 28th canon, which
declared that honourable preference over all the bishops in the
world was indeed due to the bishop of Old Rome, but that the
same honour was due to the bishop of New Rome, and moreover
acknowledged expressly to the latter, in adherence to former
regulations (Const. 381, can. 3), the jurisdiction over the three dio-
ceses of Asia, Pontus and Thrace. The Roman legates at the
council protested 011 the ground of the spurious Latin style of the
6th canon of Nicasa, but in vain. Leo, who derived his prerogative
not from the rank of Old Rome but from Saint Peter, refused con-
firmation (wished only to admit the validity of the dogmatic part)
and set everything in motion against it, and the Emperor, who-
I required Leo's help, came to an agreement in 444 to issue a law,
i which from its indefinite style might be interpreted as an abolition
'of the canon ; Anatolius of Constantinople was to humble himself
i before Leo. But as a matter of fact canon L28, which Rome never
irecogiiised, remained valid in the Greek Church.

348 CHURCH HISTORY.

Leo likewise was able to retain the Illyrian diocese in the rela-
tionship to Rome which had been especially established by Innocent
I., by appointing the Metropolitan of Thessalonica as his vicar,
whom the bishops were bound to obey, as they were bound to obey
himself, but who had to inform the Pope of everything and accept
his decisions.

If we survey all these circumstances and include in addition Leo's
action against the heretics which was so fertile in results, the
Roman trial (440) of the Manichees, who had again made their
appearance in Italy, his strict church-police measures against them,
and the imperial edict of Valentinian III. (445) which was obtained
by Leo, and which lent the secular arm for purposes of ruthless
persecution ; so likewise his zeal, called forth by Bishop Turibius of
Astorga, against the Priscillianists, when Leo seized the opportunity
of placing the Roman Church of Spain under its German rulers,
.also under his own leadership, the epoch-making importance of his
personality becomes plain, and wo can see with what correctness it
may be said he was the first Pope. He is the founder of the suc-
cessful theory of the papal monarchy as an institution which by
force of divine right includes the whole Church, and the extension of
the papal power beyond the sphere of ecclesiastical legislation and
discipline to the power of deciding in matters of faith also. How far
this theory still remained from being a permanent and universal
practical success, is shown by subsequent times; but the combined
inlluence of different circumstances had given an energetic, acute,
and consciously purposeful personality, abundant opportunities of
successfully making good the claims of this theory.

The imposing spiritual posit inn. of Leo amid tlm disordered cir-
cumstances of the Western Roman Empire, which was advancing
to its fall, necessarily also became influential politically. When,
after the battle on the Catalauniau Plains, Attila with his Huns
lui'l devastated Upper Italy in the year 4o2, Aquileia. Pa via, and
Milan lay in ruins, and now Italy and Rome lay open before him,
Leo (according to PROSPER, Citron, [who is followed by Cassiodorus,
Viet. Tunn. and Jordanis];, on the commission of the Emperor and
the Senate of Rome, and accompanied by two Romans of rank,
betook himself to the camp of the Hunnish king on the Pu (at the
influx of the Mincioj, and induced him to make peao- and withdraw
beyond the Danube. How much this decision of Attila's was due
to consideration of his precarious position and political concessions,
how much to the impression made by the first priest in Christen-
dom, is a question which may be left open. According to CASSIO-

SCHISM WITH CONSTANTINOPLE. 349

DORUS (Varia 1, 4 ed. G-aretius, p. 5), it was his father and the son.
of Aetius, who induced Attila to retreat. Christian fancy, however,
took pleasure in the thought that the Prince of the Apostles himself,
standing with drawn sword by Leo's side and only visible to the
Huns, had saved Rome. When afterwards, in 456, Gaiseric's Van-
dals were at the gates of Rome, Leo, who handed the keys of the
city to the Vandal king, vvas only able to mitigate the lot of the
city, given over to fourteen days' plunder and the carrying away
of many prisoners, to the extent of the prevention of murder and
incendiarism.

HILARIUS (Hilarus) 461-4IW sought to make good the claims of Rome in
the West, especially in Gaul, in the confused condition of things. SIMPLICIUS
(468-483) made a certain Bishop Zeno of Hispalis his Vicar in Spain, raised
opposition to the claims of Constantinople founded on can. 28 of Chalcedon,
and at the same time sought to maintain Leo's influence on dogmatic decisions.
When the faith seemed to he injured by the Henotikon of the Emperor Zeno, of
482, Felix III. (483-492), by his excommunication of the Patriarchs of Con-
stantinople and Alexandria (484), introduced the ecclesiastical schism between
the East and the West which lasted till 519. This took place at a time in
which the so-called fall of the Western Roman Empire ensued (476), and rule
had fallen into the hands of the Rugian ODOACER and his Germans, which
again was followed by the rule of the Ostro-Goth THEODORIC (493-526). The
Roman Church was under heretical (Arian) dominion. These German
princes, such as Odoacer on Felix's entry upon office, laid claim, in the interest,
of course, of public order to control and confirm1 the election of the Popes. But
the orthodox Roman ecclesiastical world in its internal concerns essentially
gave them no trouble whatever, much less would it have thought of wishing to-
compel them to adopt its confession. And the breaking off of the association
with Constantinople was only favourable for the Roman bishops in the eyes
of the Germans. Pope GELASIUS I. (492-496), both in his attitude towards the
Gi'eek Church (cursing all who did not approve the excommunication of the
Greek Patriarchs bj* his predecessor, 495) and otherwise, vindicated to the
fullest degree the claims of the Roman Primacy, and rejected entirely the
equalisation of Constantinople with Rome ; Rome can receive appeals from the
whole world, but from the Roman chair there is no appeal to any other. Rome
has to carry out the decisions of the councils, but can also give judgment with-
out synods and overthrow the judgments of other bishops. In the famous
decretum de recipiendis libris (in which sentences of Damasus are incorpo-
rated, and which was subjected to a subsequent revision under Hormisdas), he,
acting in the fulness of Roman power, combined with the Canon of the Holy
Scriptures the first index librorum jjrohibitorum, so to speak, in which, along
with the Apocryphal Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, the writings also of

1 The interference of the Pretorian Prefect Basilius, the representative of
Odoacer, in the papal election of Felix, and the erdijiance which he carried
through, that no Pope might alienate any of the property or ornaments of the
church, was subsequently regarded (under Symmachus, 502) as uncalled for
interference of the laity (the secular power), and was probably already so felt
at the time.

350 CHURCH HISTORY.

Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Lactantius and Avnobius are given among
the writings not received, and of Origen only a few opuscula not rejected by
Saint Jerome are admitted (the text in the Corpus jur. can. in MAXSI, VIII.
153 sqq. in Ml. 59 and in A. THIEL, De Deer. Gelas., 1866). AXASTASIUS II.
(496-498), who greeted the newly converted king of the Franks, Chlodwig, as
his spiritual son, caused offence in Rome itself by conciliatory steps towards
the Greek Church with a view to abolishing the schism. Therewith connected
was the fact that after his death, in opposition to SYMMACHUS (498-514), elected
by the majority, there was set up an anti-pope in the person of the presbyter
LAUREMTIUS, at the instigation of Felix, a Roman senator, who as Theodoric's
ambassador at Constantinople had devoted himself to similar exertions in
favour of an agreement. The two parties repeatedly came to bloodshed in the
streets of Rome. On the appeal of both sides, Theodoric decided in favour of
Symmachus, as elected first and by the majority. A Roman synod under
Symmachus, having in view these recent experiences, prohibited the canvassing
or promising of votes for his successor during the life of a Pope. On his
coining to Rome (500) Theodoric was solemnly welcomed by the Pope, senate,
and people, and promised to maintain previous imperial laws. When the adhe-
rents of Laurentius accused Symmachus of ecclesiastical failings and carnal
sins, Theodoric caused the Bishop of Attinum to go to Rome to investigate the
matter, and temporarily administer the Roman church property. Against this
Symmachus protested, and sought under pretext of the acts of violence used
against him to withdraw himself from synodal negotiations. Theodoric indeed
insisted on a synodal decision, but allowed it to happen, that at the new
assembly in October, 501 (or perhaps 50i', vid. VO<;T:L in HZ. 1HS3, 400 s^i.),
which was held in the hall ad Pnhiiuria in S. Peter's, the so-called Synodns
Palmaris, " out of reverence for S. Peter, whose authority had been transmitted
to his successors," the bishops should refuse to judge Synnnaclius ; the judg-
ment should be left to God, to whom secrets were revealed. As regards man
therefore. Symmachus. to whom moreover almost tin- whole people adhered,
was to be free from all accusation, and to be acknowledged in the possession of
•episcopal right.-; all who had fallen away were to return to obedience, those
who returned were to be mercifully treated, those \vh<> resisted to be treated as
schismatics. The highly esteemed Bishop Avirrs of Vienne, also commis-
sioned by the bishops of Gaul, endeavoured in this sense to work in favour of
peace at Rome. Against the literary attacks too of tin- <>|.|ic»iti<>n, who re-
garded the singular decision of the synod as a tacit admission of the guilt of
Syiimiaelms and as self-contradictors. MACM'- li;i.i\ Kxxomrs, afterwards
Hi -hop of Ticinum (Pavia), felt obliged to defend the affair of Symmachus and
the Roman Synod in a treatise of his ovtn (Ltbettus adveritUS eat <//i> contra
xynodum scribere prouumpserunt), in which, in his ambiguous style, with
abundant invective against the opposition, he asserted that God had reserved to
Himself alone the power of judging the Bishop of Rome (who is here called
J'apa), and that the merits of S. Peter guaranteed the holiness of all his succes-
sors since they quite outweighed any little moral defects of the latter. At a
synod in 502, Symmachus made use of the previous incidents at the election of
Felix, in order to condemn in them all interference of a las man. in .-pite of
actual approval of the measures for securing the property of the church. The
party of Laurentius still gave him trouble, till Theodoric carried out the traix-
ference of the church they occupied to Symmachus (505 and 506). Laurentius
ended in the retirement of an ascetic, and remained in sjiite of everything in
•the odour of great sanctity.

HEALING OF THE SCHISM. 351

After the tension with Constantinople had become very severe under Sym-
machus, it was first of all the conversion of the Emperor Anastasius, brought
about by the general Vitalian (vid, Monophysite controversy), which enabled
Pope HORMISDAS (514-523) to vindicate his authority in the East with in-
creasing success, to gain ground again in Illyria and Epirus, and after the
death of the Emperor Anastasius, under the Emperor Justin I., behind whom
stood his nephew Justinian, the union really came off, a triumph for Rome
(519) to which during the schism reverence had been paid by all who were
discontented and persecuted in the East on account of the Henotikon. Hor-
misdas now caused the monk DIONYSIUS (Exiguus) to collect the Greek canons
and translate them into Latin, a collection made from the Latin standpoint
(hence without admission of the last canons of Chalcedon from 28 onward).

The peace with the East however involved disadvantageous consequences
for the position of the Pope under the Arian ruler. Theodoric compelled Pope
John I. (523-526), in spite of his resistance, to go to Constantinople, with a view
to induce Justin to restore the churches which he had violently taken from
the Arians, and to allow liberty of return to Arianism. John, the first Bishop
of Eome who appeared in person at Constantinople, was received there with
the greatest reverence, but did not accomplish anything, and probably had no
earnest desire to do so. Whether he made use of his presence for political in-
trigues against the Gothic rule in Italy must remain an open question. After
his return Theodoric threw him into prison, where he died. Theodoric, shortly
before his own death, put an end to the conflict of parties about the papal
election by the nomination of FELIX (IV.) (526-530). The latter sought by a
testamentary disposition to obviate new conflicts, by designating the arch-
deacon BONIFATIUS as his successor in an autograph missive (Sept., 530) to the
clergy, senate, and people, and threatening those who should resist with ex-
communication. This ordinance he had also communicated to his " lords and
sons " the rulers. To this edict, which was posted up in all the parish churches
of Rome, the senate further added the decree according to which arrangements
during the lifetime of a Pope as to the election of his successor were threat-
ened with confiscation of property. Felix probably acted in agreement with
the Ostro-Gothic ruler, to whom he communicated his designation of his suc-
j cessor for confirmation. The selection fell upon a man of German, probably
I Gothic, descent, who, under the Pope instituted by Theodoric, had attained to
| the position which in Rome afforded the greatest prospect of the papal chair.
! The opposition party, which may be called the Byzantine, and which as it
\ appears had behind it the majority of the senate and people, proceeded indeed
I at once, after the death of Felix, with the election of the deacon DIOSCURUS.
But the conflict of parties was brought to an end by the sudden death of
Dioscurus which ensued hardly a month after. Bonifatius, behind whom the
! Ostro-Gothic power seems to have stood, compelled the greater part of the
Roman clergy to seek his reconciliation by express written anathema of
Dioscurus.1 He next, at a Roman synod, appointed the deacon VIGILIUS as his
| successor, and bound the clergy by subscription and oath to accept him, but at
| another assembly soon thereafter this act was retracted and the document
jburnt, while he confessed himself guilty of high-treason.2 After his death,

1 What the papal book ascribes to him as special amaritudo, is celebrated
in the inscription in De Rossi, I. 467, as special clemency in the adjustment of
tut scnism and conciliatoriness towards his former enemies.

2 The political influences here undoubtedly to be inferred are obscure.

352 CHURCH HISTORY.

again after party conflicts for several months in which no bribery was too
great, John II. (Mercurius) proceeded as his successor (31st Dec., 532, till 27th
May, 535) under whom, in the name of the young king Athalaric, a prohibition
of '' simony " in the election of a Pope was issued in agreement with former
decisions of the senate, in which however, in order to avoid too great rigorism,
it was naively ordained that when the election of a Bishop of Rome was being
pushed at Court as much as 3,000 solidi might be expended, on the election of
any other "Patriarch " 2,000 solidi (Cassiod. Ep. 0, 15).

AGAPETUS I. (535-536) at once quashed by burning the anathema which
Boniface II. had uttered over the dead Dioscurus. That was indeed the de-
parture from the principle of the designation of the Pope by his predecessor,
as an infringement of the rights of the Roinau senate and people. Mean-
while the Greek rule in Africa had again been restored, and the generals of
Justinian armed themselves to break the Gothic rule in Italy.

THEODATUS, who, after the death of the young Athalaric, had been raised to
the co-regency by Amalasuentha, sought by pressure on the Roman senate to
make use of the latter to gain from Justinian cessation of the hostile measures
against Italy, and in this mission the Pope had to betake himself to Constan-
tinople. Agapetus played an influential part at Constantinople in ecclesiastical
matters, gained the banishment of the Constantinopolitan Bishop Anthimus
and consecrated his successor Minnas, but the further development of events
hindered his political mission. Agapetus died at Constantinople.1

His successor SILVERIUS (53U s<|.|. still coniirmed l>y Theodatus, after the
dethroning of Theodatus and the banishment of Vitiges to Ravenna, in associa-
tion with the Roman senate opened the gates of Rome to the Byxantine
Belisarius (!»th Dec., 53i!t, but now fell under the pressure of the Empress
Theodora who had won over to her Monophysite tendencies the Roman deacon
Vigilius, who having been at one time designated by Boniface to the Roman
chair had afterwards gone to Constantinople witli Agapetus. Silverius. who
would not bond himself to the wishes of Theodora, and would not agree to ;
acknowledge the Patriarch Anthimus of Constant1 nople who had been deposed
by his predecessor, on whom 1> '-/ides suspicion had fallen of wishing to surrender
the city to the Goths who were besieging it r>:!7'. Ml into an untenable posi-
tion through the intrigues of Vigilius. Belisarius was obliged to seize him, he
was made a monk and banished to Patara in Lycia; nevertheless he was sent,
back by Justinian to Vitiges ; if the accusation (of inviting the Gothic king)
were proved he was to stay in another city, but if he were innocent lie was to,
return to Rome. Silverius now fell into the hands of Vigilius, who caused him
to be deported to the island of Palmaria or Pontise, where he is said to hav
died of hungi'i-.

Viinuus (r):',7-r>.">) bound the Empress by oath, and thereby compelled he
into secret concessions to those who were hostile to the Creed of Chalcedon, wa
skilful enough to maintain his position by double-tongucdness and artilice, thei
in the Three Chapter Controversy (rid. inf.) Ml int.. gi-.^it embarrassment be
tween the imperial ecclesiastical policy and the opinion and traditions of the
Latin West. It is worthy of note that Vigilius sent the pallium and the
nomination to his vicariate to Bishop Aurelian of Aries, with the approval ol
King Childebart and the Imperial pair at Constantinople (L\v.i,. 1 1. 355), whik
at the same time Rome had to suffer again under the siege and storming of thf

1 V!<1. the ii:irnitive of one who took part in the mission to ConstantinopU
in BAUONIUS, ad a. olid, No. 59 sqq.

ASCENDENCY OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 353

Goth Totilas (546). Vigilius, who resided at Constantinople, by his obsequious-
ness to Justinian in the Judicatum (548) occasioned a deep-rooted revolt of the
ecclesiastical West against Rome, so that Synods were held against that
treatise (Illyria), and an African synod under Eeparatus of Carthage excom-
municated the Pope until he had done penance. Next when Vigilius by
means of the Constitutum (553) took courage to oppose the Three Chapter Edict
and the five (Ecumenical Synods, but being soon made pliant by exile, was
recalled and made his peace with the Emperor, he returned to Italy after a
nine years' absence, at a time when Rome and Italy were again taken from the
Goths by the imperial general Narses, and the Emperor in the Pragmatic
Sanction l sought to attach the bishops to himself by numerous privileges and
favours. Vigilius, however, died in Sicily on his return journey, without seeing
Rome again (c. 16 May 555), and his sudden death cast an odious suspicion on
his successor.

The pontificate of Vigilius marks a crushing defeat of the develop-
ment of the claims of Rome. If at the fourth (Ecumenical Council
Leo of Rome was the master of the position, now, a century later, it
was the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, with his Court theology.
The Byzantines now regarded the Bishop of Rome only as one
(though at the same time the first in rank) of the Patriarchs, on an
equal footing with Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusa-
lem. The (Ecumenical Council (the fifth) met against the will of
Rome and excommunicated Vigilius. And the humiliated Vigilius
afterwards accepted the propositions of the council which he had
rejected, and in doing so found himself again in opposition to the
weightiest opinions of the West.

In accordance with the wish of Byzantium there succeeded the most influen-
tial personality of PELAGIUS I. (555-560). Formerly Roman apocrisiary in
Constantinople, next with the riches there acquired, influential in Rome during
the oppression by the Goths in the absence of Vigilius, he had again come to
Constantinople on a political mission, and like Vigilius had fallen into depend-
ence on the Empress Theodora (cf. NADG. V. 536 sqq. 561 ; DBLISLB, Notices et
extraits des manuscr. t. 31, n. 1, p. 7). In Rome it was only with difficulty that
he could find clergy to consecrate him, and was obliged, led by Narses, to purify
himself in S. Peter's by a solemn oath from the suspicion of being the murderer
of his predecessor. On account of the fifth (Ecumenical Council, which was so
detested in the West, and to which Pelagius was bound, the bishops of Upper
Italy (Milan and Aquileia) refused him ecclesiastical communion ; so also in
Gaul he had trouble in working against suspicion of his orthodoxy. Against
the Italian "schismatics" he sought the aid of the secular power, and it is
significant of the altered situation of the Bishop of Rome that he supported his
position by appeal, not to the authority of St. Peter, but to the consensus " of
the Apostolic sees " (on his pontificate cf . EWALD in the Neues Archiv, I.e.).

New storms now broke out over Italy, in which the Greek dominion had to
defend itself against the barbarians, and in the end was unable to prevent the
establishment of the Lombards. Byzantium was limited to the Exarchate of

1 HEGEL, Gesch. d. Stutlti-n-f. in Italian, I. 126.

'23

354 CHURCH HISTORY.

Ravenna, the Duchies of Rome and Naples, and the most south erlv part of
Lower Italy, and the coast cities of Liguria. The external miseries, which pre-
vented a consistent carrying out of Roman ecclesiastical government, were
reinforced by the continuation of the ecclesiastical schism on account of the
fifth council, which the succeeding but insignificant Popes John III. (560 till
573) and Benedict I. (574-578) were as little ahle to overcome entirely as
Pelagius II. (578-590), although a schismatical election to Milan under the
Lombards offered the former the advantage that one of the persons elected
attached himself to the Pope, and although the latter confirmed to Bishop Elias
of Aquileia, who had fled before the Lombards, the removal of his see to the
island of Grado (under Byzantine government). All the same, he was unable
to overcome the opposition of the Istrian bishops. Pelagius died in •".' '< >,
during the ravages of a pestilence which had resulted from floods, and was
followed by

GREGORY I., afterwards called the Great (590-604 ; cf. EWALD,
Neuets Archie, ILL 437 sqq.), a man of respected ancient Roman
faraily (that of the Anicii, to whom Felix III. had also belonged),
who had followed a secular ' career the length of being Praetor of
Rome, had then become a monk (573), had founded monasteries with
his private means, but had also entered upon the clerical cam r.
For about six years he had filled the important post of Roman
Apocrisiarius in Constantinople (till 585) at a time when the political
interests also of Rome, under the Lombard oppression, required help
from the Greek Court, though indeed they met with but little. In
the end, however, he lived in his monastery as abbot. Gregory
struggled against the unanimous choice of the clergy, the senate
and the people, in a way natural to a strong character which was con-
scious that, once torn away from cloistral peace, it must and would
be ready to take upon itself all the consequences of an office in-
volving much conflict; he however received confirmation from
the Emperor Mauritius. We place his history at the head of the
next period.

MONASTICISM.

CHAPTER THIRD.
Monastieism as the Religious-moral Ideal for the World-Church.

Literature : P. 22, No. 6 ; A. MOHLER, in his collected writings, I. 165 ; MAN-
GOLD, De monach. originibus et causis, Marb. 1852 ; H. WEINGARTEN, Der
Urspr. des MOnchth. ZKG. I. 1 & 4, Goth. 1877; Idem in EE. 10, 758 sqq.;
GASS, ZKG. II. 2 ; KEIM, Aus d. Urchristenthum, I. 204 sqq. ; K. HASE,
JprTh. 1880. 2nd Edition ; A. HARNACK, Das Monchthum, seine Ideal und
seine Gesch. 3rd ed. 1886. BORNEMANN, in Investig. monach. orig. quibus
de causis ratio habenda sit Orig. Goth. 1885. EICHHORN, Athanasii de vita
ascet. testim, Halle 1886. BESTMANN, G. d. clir. Sitte II

1. The Anchorites of the East.

Sources: ATHANASII vita Antonii (Opp. ed. Montf. I. 626, Mgr. 26, 836);
JEROME, Vita Pauli, V. Hilarionis, V. Malchi, V. S. Paulse ad Eust. and
others (Opp. ed. Vallarsi II. 2 sqq., Ml. 23) ; SOCRATES, H.E. 4, 23 sq. ;
SOZOMEN, 12-14. 3, 14. 6, 28-34. EVAGRIUS, H.E. 1, 21.— EUFINI Historia
monachorum s. de vitis patrum (Opp. ed. Vail., Ver. 1775, Ml. 21) ; also in H.
EOSSWEYDE, Vitse patrum, Antwerp 1615 (1628) vol. II. PALLADIUS, Hist.
Lausiaca (Mgr. 34 app.) ; THEODORETI, Hist: relig. (<f)i\6deos icrropi'a) Opp. ed.
Hal. 3, 1 sqq. ; JOH. CASSIANUS, vid. sub. No. 3.

CHRISTIANITY as it becomes the Church of the world publicly sets
up its ascetic ideal of the life alien to the world, combating sensu-
ality and devoted to contemplation, in a special class of the perfect,
the hermits and monks. This monasticism has its predecessors and
parallels in numerous extra-Christian phenomena of the East, in the
Indian G-ymnosophists who were the wonder of the Grreek world,
the Egyptian servants of Serapis, the Buddhist monasticism. But
its Christian roots lie in the Asceticism of the early times already
depicted (p. 285), in which Christian and philosophic-ascetic motives
are combined. In the Hieracites we saw societies of ascetics which
stand on the border-line between the ascetics who persevere in re-
maining within the bonds of the family and the community, and
the monastic life proper. Individual Christian Anchorites (hermits)
may as early as the third century, perhaps already as a result of the
Decian persecution, have taken refuge in the desert, although no re-
liance is to be placed on the romantic legend of PAUL of Thebes
(Jerome). But the real father of Egyptian anchoritism is S. ANTONY,
a man not of Hellenic but Egyptian (Coptic) descent. Hearing the
gospel story of the rich young man drove him to the resignation of

35;.

356 CHURCH HISTORY.

his property, which he divided among the poor, and finally to the
retirement of the desert with a view of living a life entirely dedica-
ted to God, in constant conflict with the demons who terrified or
tempted him. For long he lived in the hollow of a tomb, then in a
deserted fort, finally on a desert mountain, supporting life on dates
at a fountain. Other ascetics sought his spiritual guidance and
settled in his neighbourhood, people of all ranks sought out the holj'
man for the sake of spiritual council or healing by his prayer, after
he had appeared in Alexandria about 311 in the time of the Maxi-
minian persecution, like a form from another world. Forty years
later, in the midst of the heat of the Arian conflicts, he again
appeared in Alexandria, having meanwhile become the object
of reverence and sufficiently kept in touch in his desert with the
ecclesiastical conflicts through the stream of those who came to-
him; he was now tin- lather of the ascetics in the desert, among
whom some years later Athanasius found refuge. But the wilder-

\j

ness about him was no longer solitary ; he finally withdrew himself
from his companions and sought concealment, to die there at a great

age .'!."> ( ; .

The Vitii Anton// which bear.* the name of Athnuasius is indeed no sober
hisioric;il narrative. luir a representation of the ascetic ideal, fantastically
adorned by the love of miracle of the :\w, romantic and even inlluenced by a
conscious tendency, in which extreme freedom from needs and tli<;ht from the
world are extraordinarily mingled with mystical and speculative contempla-
tion. But its author-hip by Athanasius, which i- well and early attested
(tireu;. \a/.. and KvauTiu-. vid. Hichhoru, p. :!•"> »i'l-) is not on that account to
be doubted. — Like Antony'- < 'optic descent, many other names Pachomius,
Paphnutius. Ainuii and tin- like point to K.u'ypt. the cradle of monastiei-m.
as its original home. WKIM, \i:ri;\ reealU the tact- that the simplicity and
poverty of the. for the most part, nomadic population of the Upper K.uryptian
• le-ert, who lived half naked, without tents, in wretched hut-, and on milk and
the fruits of the de-en, wa- n eparated from the freedom from wants

of orisxinal mona-tici-m.

In the neighbouring provi; ' bine too. in the desert of

Gaza, a similar phenomenon must Imv appeared early in tin-
Anchorite Hi i. AKION, and for tin- Ka-t <,}\<- "Persian wise-man "
APHIIA \TK>. Bishop Jacobus or' .A[;n- ^[.ittai, east oi M.-iil (till about
the middle of the fourth century is a witness to the transit inn (Voin
the earlier asceticism to ;niclioriti-in ami inoiiastirisin proper. But
it is certain that the hermit-life spn-ul (jui.-kly in Syria, and from
about the middle of ihf century to Ami'-nia ljmnu<. ;nid (\-mjvi-
docia.

s ha- notiaken express notice of the new phenomena in his

History, but the hermit andal-o the, monastic life in common <lid not n-mailk

MONA STIC ISM. 3 5 7

unknown to him, which is attested by his verdict on the Therapeutse (p. 38) as
Christians of primitive times (Eus. H.E. 2, 17), as also by his verdict on the
philosophical retirement of Bishop Narcissus of Jerusalem (6, 9 sq.) ; cf. also
Demonst. evang. 1, 8 and the passages from his commentary on the Psalms in
NESTLE. ZKG. 5, 505. — The romantic character of Jerome's Vita Hilarionis (vid.
Israel in ZwTh. 1880) does not compel doubt of the early emergence of this
hermit at all. The born-Palestinian Epiphanius, before he became Bishop of
Salamis, in Cyprus, in 367, had lived for thirty years as a monk in Palestine,
after having been won over to this mode of life in Egypt. — Among the homi-
lies or instructions of Aphraates (edited in Syriac by WRIGHT. London 1869, in
German partly by BICKEL, Ansgewahlte Schriften der syr. K. F., Kempten 1874,
in Thalhofer's Bibl., completed by G. BERT, 1888), which formerly went falsely
under the name of Jacobus of Nisibis, and which were written between 336 and
-346, the sixth recommends (cf. also the eighteenth) to all who choose the virgin
•condition as the heavenly yoke of disciplehood of Christ, the vita solitaria of the
" brethren of the league." Against Weingarten's untenable bringing down to
a late date of the origin of monasticism vid. in general Eichhorn, I.e.

2. The Monasteries of the East.

Sources : Besides those mentioned under No. 1, the Rules and Monita ascribed
to Pachomius, as also those which bear the name of BASIL in HOLSTEXIUS,
Cod. Regul. I., the Ascetica of Basil (Opp. II. 199 sqq. ed. Garn.), and the
Vita Pachomii in Acta SS. Maji, f. III. append.

The settlement of a larger number of anchorites who assembled
round a venerable chief gave rise at first to the \avpai, villages of
monks, a number of scattered huts, the inhabitants of which could
maintain a certain intercourse with one another and recognised a

O

common superior. Eremitic monasticism held by this form of the
lauras especially among the fathers of the desert in Egypt, but also
in Syria and Mesopotamia. The hermits come together on the first
and last days of the week for common praise and divine worship.
Next, however, there was developed the povaa-Tijpiov proper, the
KOLvoptov or fjidvSa (where the shepherd gathers the sheep), the
gathering of the i^ovd^ovre^ in a common building, which at the
same time necessitated and rendered possible a definite regulation
of the life. This form of monasticism saved it from the eccentrici-
ties of self-torture and self-destruction, and from the degeneration
and rudening of the hermit life when left to itself, and made it a
social institution fruitful for the Church. PACHOMIUS is regarded as
its founder, who, after a long ascetic life in the Thebaid, about 300
or 340, founded a speedily flourishing monastery on Tabennse, an
island in the Nile in the Upper Thebaid.

It would be an important indication of the extra-Christian factors which
•combined their influence in the genesis of monasticism, if, as Weingarten defi-
nitely supposes on the basis of Ptevillont's investigations, Pachomius had for-
merly been a servant of Serapis. The Monastic Rules which bear the name of

35s CHURCH HISTORY.

Pachomius, the larger in a Latin translation which is attributed to Jerome,
and the smaller (extant in Greek), cannot indeed themselves pass as the
authentic work of Pachomius, but the former only as matter which had gradu-
ally arisen and subsequently been put together, the latter as drawn from the
narratives of PALLADIUS, Hist. Laus. c. 38, and of SOZOMEN, H.E. 3, 14, in which
it is impossible to distinguish with certainty between what is original and
what of later development.1 However, these may be regarded as the epoch-
making elements in his work : the grouping of the individual small monks'
cells (three monks to each ? Soz.) into a common habitation, the uniform cloth-
ing of the monks, the duty of obedience towards the president, doubtless also
the fixation of definite strict penalties for all sorts of transgressions, fixed
times for prayer, common meals, regulation of ascetic exercises and of labour
(handicraft), also the fixing of a time of probation before entering the cloister.
With regard to the standard of nourishment or of fasting, a wide freedom
seems to have been conceded; but in accordance with it more fatiguing (bodily)
labour was laid upon those who ate well, and lighter work on the abstinent

(rolj d(rKovp.evois).

The \fn n 'tn ad monasticos ascribed to Pachomius. and a few letters to
friendly heads of monasteries, contain exhortations to monkish virtues: others,
such as the so-called \'<rhn mystica, & Taaas of mystery-mongdring unintellig-
ible to us, rest on a mystical significance attributed to the Greek letters of
the alphabet. To this also belongs the alleged classification of his monks into
twenty-four classes according to the letters of the Greek alphabet, each of
\vhirli was to be distinguished by certain qualities.

The work of PAI ii"Mii ^ quickly attained a wide extension, chietiy in
l.j.ypt. Branch establishments attached themselves, each under its abbot (or
<:,l\tp.avKpiTr]s), but all in a certain connection with the mother establishment.
Prominent aiining contemporary founders wen- Ammonius (Amun) in the so-
called Nitrian .Mountains. x>uth from the Palus Maiv,,t i-,. who is said to have
first lived for years with his betrothed wife but in monastic abstinence, till the
two separated, and as monk and nun each lived apart (Socr. U.K. 4,33; ISoz. 1,
14; cp. Aphraates horn. 6, 4). Similarly the elder M<i<-<irtin< in t he Scetio desert,
said to have been a disciple of Antony. In the Libyan de>e,rt at this day a dis-
trict among the numerous remaMis of monasteries .-till retains the name of the
Desert of Macarius (vid. <;IK-I:I,. 1. •_'.'_': in and thereon Tisi iii:\ixn:i-. //« •/>•<• ///
den "/•/(///, I. IKJ si|i).). Macarius is said to have led a monkish life from '.Y.\0,
but in olO to have beromf priest, and then for fifty years more, till his death,
(391) to have presided over his societies of monks, which are here chielly to be
conceived as in the form of l<un-ns. With him monkish contemplation seems
to rise to a higher degree of theological mysticism; and he seem> already, like
many of these monks since the time of Athanasius, who was in lively intercon
with them and found refuse among them, to have been drawn into the ecclesi-
astical conflicts, and to have been exiled by the Emperor Valens for a consider-
able period.

The uncommonly speed}' expansion of this new mode of life is
only to be explained by the fact that in Egypt and the East a
powerful popular disposition of a dualistic-religious sort, which so
far had nothing Christian in it, and in its exquisite self-torture
and maltreatments of the Hie of the body even assumes a certain,

1 The Ethiopia recension in Dillmaun, Chrestom. ;eth., Leipsic Isiii;.

MONASTICISM. 359

pathological character, so to speak came to meet the specific
Christian impulses to the ascetic life (vid. supra), and that these
found a broad soil in the freedom from needs and the oppressed
social position both of the Egyptian and the rural Oriental popula-
tion. This was reinforced in the case of morally finer natures and
men of higher culture, along with the dispositions already working
in Ned-Platonic philosophy and on the other hand in Stoicism, by
aversion from the corruption of secular culture, the cooling of interest
in political life, the flight from self-seeking, violence, flattery and
venality of opinion in public life, and by the yearning to return
from over-refined and luxurious life to simple conditions and nature.
Hence we can understand how BASIL the Great (vid. infra) became
an admirer and promoter of the monkish life, but at the same time
certainly how he sought to clip down its rudeness and eccentricity
and to bring disciplined monasticism into the service of the Church.
BASIL, in whose family there lived the memory of the Church's
time of persecution, had just filled himself at Athens with classical
literature and the ideals of philosophy, had returned home in the
intention of distinguishing himself as a rhetorician and sophist
(although as a Christian), when he was seized by the powerful drift
of the age towards asceticism, which seemed inseparable from earnest
Christianity. He found his own sister MACEINA with his widowed
mother and one or two maidens already living on the rural property
of the family in abstemious and contemplative life — a cloistral life
which still preserved the family character. They presented him
with the ideal of practical philosophy. On journeys in Syria, Pales-
tine and Egypt he gained the acquaintance of celebrated ascetics
and learned to admire them for the strictness of their life. On hi?
return he divided his goods among the poor and settled with com-
panions of like sentiments near his mother and sister, only separated
from them by the course of a brook, in romantic solitude. Pru/er,
contemplation and study alternated with simple husbandry, in a
life of great strictness and scanty nourishment. He was influenced
by the example of EUSTATHIUS, who was at that time still reverenced
by him. But the life in solitude was to him a point of transition to
(and subsequently of retreat from) ecclesiastical activity. 3ut he
remained both himself devoted to ascetic stringency and the zealous
promoter of monasticism, who however well recognised the dangers
of anchoritism, and therefore gave preference to ordered Coenobitism,
himself gave attention to its careful regulation,1 and began to pro-

1 The two monastic Rules which bear his name (opoy Kara TO TrXaros and
KOT' fTTim^rjv, the main component parts of his so-called Ascetica, Opp. ed. Garn.

360 CHURCH HISTORY.

mote settlements of monks who had hitherto sought the wilderness,
also in the neighbourhood of the city (at Gees. Capp.), whereby they
came into closer contact with the life of the Church, and indeed also
became serviceable in a high degree to dogmatic party-spirit.

In an age in which whole masses of individuals little inwardly
touched by Christianity poured into the Church, and no martyrdom
threatened from the direction of the world, monasticism not only
appeared as a Christian athletic and self-chosen martyrdom, which,
by the mortifying of life voluntarily attained the same end.1 but as
perfect Christianity in general, in which alone the perfection re-
quired by the Lord was realised. For that very reason monasticism
began to be looked upon as the continuation of original Christianity,
and in particular the primitive church appeared in this light on the
ground of Acts ii. 44, iv. '.\~1 sqq.. th> Apostles as abstemious ascetics,
their wives < 1 Cor. ix. 5) as ministering friends ; the Virgin Mary
had already been represented in the Protevangelium of James as a
temple-virgin consecrated to God, Joseph as angelically wedded to
her. So the Therapeutae of Philo were looked upon as ancient
Christians, a type of the first church of Mark i he Evangelist in
Alexandria.2 Indeed Elias and Elisha, the Rer]ial>it< s Isaiah
xxxv. . and above all, John the Baptist, were regarded as original
types of the monkish lift-. The most eminent teachers of the Church,
from At haiia-ni- onward, arc united in praise of the monkish hlc
Basil, (ir- 'gory of Na/ian/j n. Chrysostom, and Epiphanius. It, is
tin' lid' of tire an.Mvis. the conversation in heaven, the true heavenly
philosophy.

In the e; real nit hroMging 1" tin- mode of life, to \vliich many
Attached ilienisdve, fn>in necessity, to avoid pressing obligations, a
social danger to the State wa- soon feared on the part, of politicians.
A law of Valens of the year Mii") (Cod. Theodo-. XII. 1. «'•: 5) com-
manded in regard to Egypt that, those persons who Idt. the cities,
and on pretext of religion attached themselves to the societies of
monks in the wilderness, should In- apprehended by the Comes
Orient is, and compelled either t<> take up their civic obligations or
to dispose of their property to their relative-, who were prepared to
fulfil their civic functions. Subsequently he took harder measures
in order to compel monks to military service. His severe measures

II. I'.'!' si|i|.) certainly go back to the regulations issued by bini, and influential
in tbe widest circles, without tbe possibility of answering for their verbal
authenticity; tbe sborter Rule may with greater coniideucu be regarded ;is his
work.

1 Vid. Basil, in Gass. ZlvJi. II. -JlJo.

: Vid. tlie jiiis-agc> in Cioelur. 1. -. '--

ORIENTAL MONASTICISM. 361

for the rest were connected with the fact that the Egyptian monks
had taken sides against the Arianism which was favoured by
Valens.

3. Unecclesiastical Extremes of Oriental Monasticism.

Sources : Soz. ti, 23 ; Evagr. I. 21 ; JEROME, Ep. 22 ad Eustochium, c. 34 ; Jo
CASSIANUS, Collationes patr. IS, 4 and 7. — EFIPIIAXIUS, Hseres. 70 and 80.
Ancoratus, 14; Theodoret, H.E. 4. 9 sq. ; Hter. fab. 4, 10 sq. — The Acts of
the Synod of Gangra. in Mansi, II. 1095 (Bnuxs, Bibl. eccl. I. 10B), and Socr.
2, 43 ; Soz. 3. 14.

The asceticism run-wild of the wandering bands of monks, who in Syria
and Mesopotamia dwelt on the mountains without any roof, assembled for
songs of worship, and then swarmed out armed with sickles to feed on herbs
and roots, the so-called BOO-KO/, have the appearance of a product of social dis-
solution. In others there appears a somewhat wild form of continuation of the
ancient ascetics, who continued to live in the community, the so-called Remo-
both, whom Jerome depicts with depreciation ; they lived mostly in cities or
in fixed places, by twos or threes together, and endeavoured to gain their sub-
sistence from the result of their common toil : and the products of their work
were well paid for on account of the esteem which they knew how to acquire in
their coarse monks' garb, by mutually vieing in fasts, etc. Jerome accuses them,
saying that among these insubordinate folk there were constant quarrels, that
they despised the clergy, and that when a feast-day occurred they indemnified
themselves for their strict fasting by unmeasured devouring. The Sarabaites
depicted by CASSIAN (Collat. 18. c. 4 and 7) are probably a similar phenomenon.
On the other hand there are found ascetics withdrawn from the world, who
therefore live as monks, yet iu wedlock (Athanas. Ep. ad Dracont.), as also
with symi*aktai (vid siipra, p. 359). A rejection of secular Christianity and
•contempt for the clergy who moved in the secular life, and minimizing of the
value of divine worship, might easily develop themselves in these circumstances.
Similarly the so-called Apostolici— a continuation of the ancient Encratites
and Apotactici — refused to associate with all who lived in marriage and held
property (Augustine, De hceres. 40).

The Syrian AUDIUS (or Udo, Ephr.) from Mesopotamia, a contemporary of
Arius and the Synod of Xicsea. as a representative of monkish moral strict-
ness came into opposition with the secular clergy, and was finally driven out
of the communion of the church with his adherents, among whom were bishops
•also, and became the head of a schismatic party, the Alldians. But the core of
this, as it seems, pretty widely spread party was formed by cloisters and
monastic settlements, partly in the wilderness, partly also in the neighbour-
hood of the cities, so that it was almost possible to designate them a monk's
church. Epiphanius knows also of settlements in the Taurus, in Palestine, and
in Arabia. Banished by the Emperor (which ?) to Scythia. Audius worked as
a missionary among the Goths, and here formed cloistral communities, whose
exemplary life Epiphanius willingly recognises. They were included in the
[persecution of the Christians by Athanaric. The society Avhich, however, sur-
vived the death of Audius, when Epiplianius wrote, only existed in fragments
in Syrian Chalcis near Antioch, in the neighbourhood of Damascus and in
Mesopotamia. Also as adherents of the ancient Quartodeciman celebration of
fhe Passover they stood in opposition to the new Imperial Christianity, and
heir sensuously tinged popular conceptions were reckoned against them as

362 CHURCH HISTORY.

anthropomorphism, and yet mildly censured by Epiphanius, who for the rest
looks favourably on their orthodox}* and the strictness of their lives.

In the Enchites or Messaliani (|^XD Ezra vi. 10; Epiphanius is aware that
this name means ei>x<V6"ot) 01% Enthusiasts (Theodoret) there appeared chiefly
in Mesopotamia ecstatic crowds, which according to Epiphanius are to be
distinguished from the like-named Messaliani related to the Hypsistarians. a
pagan-monotheistic sect. The precept of renunciation of the world and sur-
render of goods and absolute poverty is here extended to the rejection of all
gain by labour. They wander about begging, pass the night in summer on
the streets and squares, men and women without distinction, but indeed with
abstinence, at least as to this point Epiphanius had learnt nothing to the
contrary. They were not to be subjected to fasting: on the contrary, incessant
begging is their lot. According to Theodoret the ecstatic side was prominent
with them, continuous prayer was designed to drive away the evil demon who
dwells in every man from his birth, while baptism, which only takes away
past sins, is compared to the shears which leave the roots of the hair un-
touched; ecclesiastical functions such as the Eucharist availed neither for good
nor evil. The spirit should reveal itself to them in sl.'epaml dreams in visions;
the ecstatic mood ex pn •>-!•> its.-!f outwardly in mystic dances (Choreutai).

The ecstatic spirit of the Enchites and its spiritualistic tendency appear
alongside of external maintenance of the ecclesiastical connection to have em-
brace.1 many monasteries, starting from Mesopotamia, in Armenia, Cappadocifl
and riljc:.i. as well as in fart h'-r S\ ria. A M I'm Lot mrs of Icon him held synods
again-? it. and influenced others to persecute it. FLAVIAN of Antioch caused
one of its revered chiefs, the a^-ed AnKi.nnrs whom lie had made confidential]
to betray iis secrets, and then took steps a-ainst it. It almost seems as tlunigli
they had ingeniously maintained their ideas hnn,i Jiili- merely as an esoteric
rhri-t ianit \ . The obscure notice of Kpiphanius. t hat when ^nes tinned wliether
they were prophets, patriarch-, or Christian-,, t hey at'lirmed everyl hing without
further qua liticat ion. might he entirely at tribnied to confused notions of
inspiration. The Kuchite- who appear Later on, whom TlMOTHEUS the Presbytejj
delineate-,. \-, cll >ln>w how thi> ecstatic -tandpoint could open itself to all sorts
of wider influence-.

The consc'iiience of the \ jew according to which rnonast icism alone \\as
properly Chrisi ianity, and < 'hri-t iaiiity was ncces.-arily mona-ticism. pointed
again-' tli,- continued exi.-tenr. oi the ' 'hurdi. a nd compelleil t lie latter, in spite
of the common monastic ideal, to make a front against Mich exaggerations.
• In-t as 'he /,.;i Ions promoter of n LCism, Kpiphanius. finds himself .'o

pelled to talc,- tlie .jiistilicaiion <,f property and the active gaining of a liveli-
hood under his protection aga:n>t the Kndii'e^ or Me^saliaiis. so also the rcrk-
le-s \ indi. a' ion of monkish claims by the EllStatlliailS in Armenia and the

neigh houring districts of Asia Minor, neces-itaii-d the limitation of thi- move-)

ment which originated in the act ion of Hi v[-ATiilf> of Seba-te, at the S\ nod oi i
Gailgra in Paphla^onia (c. 860-70). These Enstatbians went the length et
deny ing a II hope-, of salvation to the married, would not pra\ in the houses of
married people, and. in particular would not take pjn-t in the prayers of married
presbyters, even denied the hope of salvation to the rich who would not give up
everything, despised all who took part in the feasts of martyrs (associated with
the Agapes ?) and would have no knowledge of the A^ape^ 'the meals of the
poor). Possessed by the monkish preaching, slaves ran away from theii
masters, women deserted t heir husbands, men their wives, to assume the monks
garb the same for men and women, the latter aKo probably bad their hair,

ORIENTAL MONASTICISM. 363

shorn), even parents their children and children their parents. In opposition
to the secular church, Sunday was here kept as a fast, and the fasts of the
Church were disdained.

The Church was obliged to guard itself against the dissolution
into monasticism which was threatened by such extremes. But
among the anchorites themselves the feeling of spiritual eminence
above the priesthood which served the world, frequently makes it-
self felt. Indeed the danger was not distant, that where asceticism
and contemplation are the means of approach to God, the ecclesias-
tical and priestly mediation of salvation should appear dispensable,
at least for the Christian athletes. In. the glorification of these
warriors of virtue with their power over the demons and of miracle,
as it finds voice in the fabulous narratives of the ascetics by Rufinus,
Pallaclius, and Theodosius, the fundamental conception, which in its
essence is not at all property Christian, but dualistic, and which cos
operated in the rise of monasticism, breaks through. Mortification
of the sensuous and thereby the attainment of the supra-sensual
world is everything here. But for the Christian people, these virtu-
osi, who often lived for long without any connection with Christian
worship, become astonishing and revered saints, on whom it sets-
its trust, its leaders of souls and helpers in distress.1 -The height of
holiness is measured according to the measure of the maltreatment
of the body and the rest of the bravura passages. The Syrian
SIMEON (from Northern Syria; crowned his ascetic exertions, which
at first he carried out in and along with monasteries in great strin-
gency, by first starving almost to death not far from a cloister in the
neighbourhood of Antioch, then by having himself laid in an en-
closure, attached to an iron chain twenty yards long, but finally by
causing a pillar to be erected within the enclosure, on which he lived
for many years, the first of the stylites, admired and revered far and
wide both by the surrounding nomadic tribes (Arabs) and by the
cultivated world. In Rome small statuettes of the pillar-saint are
said to have been everywhere offered for sale. He seemed nearer
heaven, to intercede for men and procure for them the divine
grace.

On the other hand, however, by the addition of regulated and
moderated Comobitism to the organism of the Church, there was
formed the sense of the solidarity of ecclesiastical interests between
the hierarchy and monasticism. The exertions of Basil, of Isidore
of Pelusium and many others worked in this direction. Athanasm

1 Vid. what Theodoret narrates of his own childhood, H. rel. c. U, p. 1188,1194
SQ.

364 CHURCH HISTORY.

already made league with monasticism as the representative of
orthodoxy. But regulated monasticism also linked itself to the
ecclesiastical spirit by the fact that it entered into the tendency of
worship and ritual of the Greek Church, and allowed their value
to the sacraments of the Church. Already, according to Basil's
arrangement, each monastery has one or several presbyters for the
purpose of ecclesiastical functions. In the famous monastery founded
by the Roman Studius in Constantinople about 460. the monks, the
so-called Akoimetai, held alternately day and night uninterrupted
divine service.

5. The Beginnings of Monasticism in the West.

•Sources: Jon. CASSIANTS. Collationes patrum ami IV instirutis rtrnobiorum in
ejdm. Opp. ed. Petschenig isT'i Corp. scr, eccl. lat.). al.-«> Ml. i:»aml ">0 ; STL-
i-ieirs S!:vi:ur>, Vita S. Martini Tur.. Kpi>nila- dc Mart inc. IMaloiri in o.jdin.
Opp. fd Halm (Corp. scr. ecd. lat. I. L866) ; HII.AKII Aivlat. vita Honorari
(Ai-tii >S. Hull .Ian. II. l.'i >,,,).). -.1. M AMI U,ON, Obss. de monachis in Occi-
dente ante Benedictum, in A<-ta St. (>nl. r>cin'd. I. i s<|<|.

1. Athanasius is said to have brought the news of the new mode
of life to Rome as early as 341. and an Egyptian ascetic, Ammon
(to be distinguished from the famous Amun . is himself said to have
visited t he graves of the Apostles there along with him.1 In any
case the powerfully increasing movement could not. loutr remain un-
noticed in the West. In the time of Bishop Auxentius of Milan
(the predecessor of S. Ambrose till 117 i), S. Martin af'terward< Bishop
of Tours1 seems to have lived ;is a hermit on the island of (lallinaria
near Genoa, as previously in Illyria and afterwards in (Jaul in the
neighbourhood of Bishop Hilary of Poitiers. The oldest monastery
in Gaul, Liguge 'Lococa^iiun ,, traces its origin back to the monk's
•cell. It was only by artifice that he could be enticed trom his cell,
when he was pressed to become bishop in .'!7.r>. Even as bishop }ie
lived like a hermit in the neighbourhood of Tours, surrounded by
numerous ascetics (beginnings of the monastery of Marmoutier).
When Augustine came to Milan in ."•><"). the name of S. Antony was
already in the months of the pious. Such an one, Pontitiann>. while
in the imperial military service in Tr.'-ves, had become acquainted
with the Vita Antonii in the hands of some " servants of God." who
read it in a hut in the garden before the city, and praised the book
to the still unconverted Augustine.-

1 Socrat. 4, 24. Cf. Jerome. Ail I'r/n'-iji i,nn. !•:/>. 1 J7. •>. wlioiv, nuturailv . earlier
ami later ek-nii-nts cannot be licl<l apart.

2 Au.tr. Confess, s. <;, rf. r>< ntnrlhiis m-f. <-<ilh. I, .".:!.

WESTERN MONASTICISM. 365

In the Greek East there was still 110 information of monasteries,
in the West in the year 370. ! Now, however, Augustine found in
Milan one maintained by Ambrose. Indeed in Aquileia the young
RUFINUS, even while a catechumen, lived in a monastery before 370'
or 371 (in which year he was baptized). Here Jerome, the man who
was to work so influential ly for the advance of moiiasticism in the
West, became his friend.

SOPHRONIUS EUSEBIUS HiBiiONYMUS (Jerome) was born of Christian parents
at Stridon, on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia, but was only baptized in
Home, where in his early youth he had been educated by the grammarian
Donatus and the Christian rhetorician Victorinus, by the Roman Bishop-
Liberius. Here with his companions and under holy seers he sought out the
graves of the martyrs in the catacombs. After different journeys through Gaul
and the neighbourhood of the Rhine, he formed at Aquileia the bond with
Rufinus which was afterwards so rudely broken. Along with Evagrius, Inno-
centius and Heliodorus, men of like sentiments, he bound himself to a journey
to the East. In Antioch (373-374) his inward conflicts occurred. In a dream
there appeared to him Christ, who gave the lie to his assertion that he was a
Christian with the words, "mentiris, Ciceronianux es, non Christianus, for
where thy treasure is, there is thine heart." Jerome now betook himself to the
anchorites, who peopled the wilderness of Chalcis, south-east of Antioch (the
Syrian Thebaid). Here he subjected himself in the hermit-life to the severest
chastisements, which undermined his health, without, as he depicts in frightful
colours, being able to mortify the rebellious flesh or heated fancy, although he
even thought at times to have transported himself to the choir of the holy
angels by self-torture, fasting and weeping, or. with the view of taming his
sinful thoughts, learned Hebrew from a converted Jew. He was next chosen a
presbyter in Antioch, and plunged into Greek theology and dogmatic conflicts,
and after his return to Rome in 382 he placed his knowledge and literary
culture at the service of the Roman Bishop Damasus. Here in Rome he
became the spiritual guide and theological adviser of ladies of rank, whom he
knew how to fill with the ascetic spirit of the brides of Christ, so that they
should flee away from the luxury, the distractions and the pleasures of the
great world. This very result in families of rank drew down upon him in
Rome much hostility and odious calumnies, even on the part of the clergy,
whose worldly mind and ignorance he did not fear to expose. About 385 it
drove Jerome again to the East, this time to the celebrated monastic settle-
ments in Egypt and to the holy places of Palestine. The pious Roman lady
Paiila, with her daughter Eustochium, attached herself to his company. His
friend Rufinus had already entered upon the same journey for the sake of
becoming acquainted with the famous anchorites of the Scetic desert (a
Macarius the elder) and the Nitrian mountains. Here Rufinus was associated
with a noble and wealthy Roman lady, MELANIA, who after the early death of
her husband, caught by the same powerful drift of the age, had at the same
time placed her wealth at the service of Christ's saints. With a great number
of bishops, clergy and monks, banished to Egypt by the Arian Valens, and
whose subsistence she supplied, she went to Palestine, founded a monastery at
Jerusalem, and devoted herself to the reception and care of the pilgrims.

1 Soz. 3, 14.

366 CHURCH HISTORY.

Thither about 978 came Rufinus also and settled on the Mount of Olives,
where her cells afforded shelter to numerous monks. Jerome now followed the
same way, sought out the Egyptian monks' settlements, and settled perma-
nently in a cell near Bethlehem, supported by the pious women, who at the
same time raised shelters for pilgrims and a women's convent. They alsj
built a cloister for monks in which Jerome found a position as president : as in
the Egyptian ccenobia and laiirai, so also here the mere ascetic and contem-
plative life, developed into learned inonasticisni, occupation with theological
exposition of Scripture, above all with the works of Origen ; but there also
arises an Apposition of tendency between this theological and specially Origen-
istic monasticism and one which is more inclined to more popular and sensuous
conceptions, as appears in the Origenistic controversies.

In the West the favouring of the monastic life by AMBROSE of
Milan, and by JEROME and MARTIN of Tours, bore its fruits. The
country houses of noble Roman ladies became cloistral places, in
which along with like-minded friends they led a life of abstinence.
In spite of lively antipathy to this new exaggerated form of piety,
to which Roman ladies of rank sacrificed their worldly position and
claims as well as their health,1 the powerful drift of the age re-
mained victorious. In an age in which, in spite of Christian
Emperors, educated and political Rome still to a great extent res-
pected pagan views, and ecclesiastical Rome was consuming itself in
party conflicts of ambition <Damasus) and popular passion, the force
of progressive piety consisted for the most part in the efforts of
the monks. Augustine (388, De morih/ix ccd . cat/iot. saw in Rome
various cloisters under the guidance of men of rank, insight, and
theological learning, leading a life of love, glory and freedom, who
according to the example of the East maintained themselves l»y the
work of their hands i;- he found many women, especially widows
and maidens, occupied with spinning and weaving in a common
life, instructed in Christian behaviour and knowledge by their
presidents (women), and like the men performing extraordinary
things in fasting. The islands on the west coast of Italy, as also
of Dalmatia, soon also on the south coast of Gaul, Lennum or
Lerina (St. Honorat), Lero (St. Marguerite!, and the Stoechades 'Isles
d'Hieres) became populated by those who sought here the life of
abstinence and escape from the world and its storms, and mingled

1 The early death of Blfrsilla, a daughter of Paula (i.fcv4), was attrilintcd to
her immoderate fasting, and the Roman populace called for the expulsion of the
destestable race of the monks ; they were to be stoned or drowned.

: Augustine (Demoribus ecd. ruth. 70, 71 . makes a distinction bet \\ecn the
ancho rites and coenobites in K^ypt and tin- settlements of monks which had
arisen in the midst of cities i Uonie and .Milan;, which proceed with greater
freedom even in regard to asceticism.

WESTERN MONASTICISM. 367

the sound of their psalms with the rustle of the waves. Pious
women like Fabiola, impelled by that other mighty impulse,
'Christian mercy, turned their munificence towards these monkish
settlements on the Italian islands. This monasticism of the "West,
which according to its original impulse seemed only to minister to
the holy egotism of personal spiritual perfection, here developed
itself amid the storms of the migrations of the nations into an ener-
getic force of Christian civilization. As Bishop of Tours. S. MARTIN,
a man without deep culture but of humble unselfishness and un-
sparing energy even in opposition to the great of this world, firmly
•established monasticism in Gaul, especially in the North, and at the
same time destroyed the temples and sanctuaries of the pagan gods;
it was monkish Christianity which here victoriously conquered and
imposed itself on the people. There does indeed arise a deep schism
between this ascetic Christianity of flight from, renunciation of, and
contempt for, the world, and the worldly and external Christianity
of the multitude, as also of the greater part of the clerg}^ who must
have found this Christianity of the ascetics unpractical. All the
same it is in it that the religious energy of the age is to be found,
•combined in many of those who belonged to the great world with
a deep feeling of the hollowness of all earthly things in an age of
political and social dissolution.

How men of high social standing, wealth and literary culture, could also
be won over to asceticism, is pre-eminently shown by the case of PONTIUS
MEROPIUS ANICIUS PAULIXUS of Nola (where he subsequently became bishop),
born at Bordeaux in 353, belonging to one of the noblest Roman families, of
great wealth and widely extended landed property in Aquitaine. The poet
Ausonius, a friend of his father, worked as a rhetorician in Bordeaux (before
he became the tutor of Gratian) at his elegant schooling in Latin ; a brilliant
worldly career was open to him ; already by 379 he was Consul. The Christian
dispositions of the age first show themselves on occasion of a lengthened resi-
dence in Campania, in the form of veneration of the martyrs ; for the numerous
pilgrims who visited the tomb of S. Felix at Nola he made the way easy and
built shelters. Martin of Tours and Ambrose now gained influence over his
way of thinking ; he was seized by anxiety lest the Last Day should overtake
him amid the vain things of this world. Married to a wife likewise very
wealthy, after a long desired child had been torn from them again after a few
days, he was induced by his wife herself to renounce the world, to sell his goods
and give to the poor, so as, being freed from a heavy burden, to serve God only.
To his noble relations this was intolerable ; to his father's friend Ausonius, who
in vain sought to retain him in high social life and among his old studies, it was
unintelligible infatuation; but Martin of Tours commended him, who with the
sacrifice of the greatest riches had followed Christ, as almost the sole individual
who in these times fulfilled the evangelical precepts, and had shown as a shining
example that it was possible to do so (Sulp. Sev. Vita Mart. 25). He lived with
his wife in the Hospital of S. Felix which he had built at Nola for monks and

368 CHURCH HISTORY.

the poor, in strict ascetism and fasting, on a scanty expenditure, with rough
clothing and regular times of prayer by night. Out of his means he built
beautiful churches at Nola and Fondi, but also a great aqueduct for Nola,
bought the freedom of prisoners, gave assistance to poor debtors, who streamed
to him for help from all sides and great distances. A singular contrast, the
rough monkish mode of life with its renunciation of worldly adornment, and
to see the merits of ministering love commended in the elegant and sparkling
mannerism of ambiguous secular poetry and rhetoric ! But as a matter of fact
in the case of Paulinus, the abrupt transition was unable to erase the funda-
mental trait of gentle and indeed cheerful and benevolent urbanity. In spite
of his intimate relations with Augustine and Jerome, we find him also on
friendly terms with Rufinus, PELAHITS. and Julian; he did not allow himself
to be drawn into the Pelagian controversy. Paulinus died as Bishop of Nola
in 431 (cf. the monographs of BrsK. is.")'!: and LAC.I:A\<;K. 1877; in German.
1882).

3. In Southern Gaul the island monasteries are soon followed by
the influential foundation of JOH. CA-^IANTS. a man of Western,
probably Gaulish origin, who, however, became a member of a monas-
tery in Bethlehem, probably in his earty years. With his friend
Germanus he ventured to visit Egypt and there associated with
monks and anchorites over the whole country for many years ^ten).
At Constantinople he was ordained deacon by John Chrysostomr
after whose banishment he went to Rome, to Bishop Innocentius, in
the interests of the adherents of Chrysostom, about the time of the
conquest of Rome by Alaric (410) ; we find him next in Southern
Gaul, where aft.-r U'h he founded a monastery ami a eonvent for
nuns and, .a thi- desire of Bishop Castor of Apta Julia >Apt in
Upper Pmvence), who request-'d directions for the monastic life,
wrote his two treatises, and thereby provided a lasting impetus and
at th' -'vie time a solid regulating foundation for Western monas-
ticism. They already bear the impre-sion of results of the develop-
ment of n;onastir;sm in the I-'. \&\ .

In tin- -De coenob. institutis In- portrays: 1) the clothing of the

Eastern monks, the girdling l»iii-, the symbol of the spiritual militia.

the cowl (<-u<-itllns) reaching down to the shoulders, tin.: linen garment (>-,,ln-
hiii-iii' ;' .inn- of which only reach to the elbow — to avoid o>tent;itiou they
might only wear hair cloth in -the jwccznfora whirl, h.. id the garment

together at work, the -mall short inanth' ( ///.//'"/•*) over the neck :m«l shoulders,
and the gcat- or s] a, on the fe< uncials only, anil a -ta iT in the hand.

Next. •_• • exercises in psalm-singing and prayer, 'l . ,, mediation

of the third, sixth and ninth hours a> Him s of \ and the custom of hold-

ing . ivi on wi'<'k dav>, were handed

down from t ; • • uz'rf. History of Worship). Among

the monks various cn-roms were deve|.M<'d: the KLT- \>\ i;m monks held daily
twr> conimr.i blius for pra\.-r. with the r. i ..1 |i-aim>. readinj

scripture and prayi :• ihe . - head, one in :

one at i Eter which latter no further sleep was to he alloucd. For 'he

MONASTIC LIFE. 369

rest, in the cells manual labour was alwajTs to alternate with prayer. On the
other hand in Palestine and Mesopotamia originated the assemblages of the
monks at the third, sixth and ninth hours, at each of which three psalms were
sung. To these there was further added, first of all at the monastery at Bethle-
hem, the matutina (Cass. De, inst. Ccenob. III. 4 [or prime, .?]), so that including
the evening and the night service we get the six periods, eventually on the
distinction of the matntine (at daybreak) and the prime, (6 o'clock in the morn-
ing), we get the seven horce canonicce. We also find in the treatise De vir-
yinitate, ascribed to Athanasius, the number six prescribed to the nuns (where
prime and matntine are not distinguished), so likewise in Jerome and Chrysos-
tom. In the rule of Basil (De instit. monach. sermo) the six become seven by
the division of the midday prayer (the sixth hour) into two parts, one before
and the other after dinner. In the night between Saturday and Sunday a
special service takes place with antiphonies, singing of psalms, and lessons.
Saturday (as to which the West thought differently :) and Sunday are free
from fasting. On Sunday the Egyptian monks only hold one service before
the midday meal (the 3rd and 6th hours of prayer combined). Too late attend-
ance at the assemblies involves strict censure and penance.

3) Whoever seeks admission must beg for it for ten days before the door and
expose himself to scornful treatment. Then, he may not retain any of his pro-
perty, of which however the monastery receives nothing. His clothes which
have been exchanged for the monk's hood received from the monastery are
retained till he has proved himself ; in case of his unworthiness he must leave
the society in his own garment, not in the monk's robe. He has, outside his
own monastery, to go through a noviciate of one year under the guidance of an
aged brother, and again for a year more, under an older still, he must exercise
himself in strict, unhesitating obedience in extraordinary things, and is not
allowed to hide any of his thoughts from him who is set over him.

4) Cooked food is scanty, herbs boiled with a little salt, such as the climatic
conditions of the West could not tolerate, as Cassian recognises. Strict obedience
and punctuality is required of the monks, and strict carrying out of the funda-
mental principle of having nothing of their own. Cassian alludes to the fact
that the latter is taken much less strictly in the West, each man carrying his
keys with him and sealing up his boxes, and having scarcely room to store
what he has acquired, or retained on leaving the world, " although we enjoy
the care of an abbot." There is a whole system of lesser or greater punishments
for faults, in the case of graver sins going the length of blows and expulsion !
At table there was to be perfect silence, caps drawn over the eyes. From Cap-
padocia (Basil) the custom of reading something from Holy Scripture during
meals, made its way. While in Egypt the service (preparation of food) of the
brethren is always the duty of one individual, which was suitable to the scanti-
ness of the functions required (cooking), in Palestine and other countries of the

j East the brethren take the duty by turns of a week each.

Of especial importance for further developments is the monastic-morality
| established by Cassian on the basis of his Eastern experiences, and which is
iconcerned with the combating of special vices; gastriniargia is fought by
means of fasts and temperance, in the use of which however a certain modera-
tion and regard to individual constitution is recommended and warnings uttered
against excess. Next, unchastity, which is combated by constant watchful-

1 In the time of Ambrose the Sabbath was held as a fast in Eome, but not in
[Milan.

24

370 CHURCH HISTORY.

ness and in his opinion by solitude ; avarice, anger. Next however appear the
specifically monastic trials, the spiritus tristitiae, which often awakes without
any evident cause, and renders unfit for anjr good and may even lead to despair,
and the spiritus aceiiae (a/o?5t'a), the spirit of apathy and disgust with every-
thing, which was said to overtake the monks about midday.1 A man has a
feeling of disgust at his monk's cell, of weariness of intercourse with the
brethren, is lazy at all work, wanders aimlessly about outside his cell, sighs
and yearns after undefined things — in short, it is the natural re-action against
the pretence of exaggerated spirituality. Finally, the spirit of vanity (conceit
aboi;t vain things or inordinate desire after vain things), which may equally
find some conceit in a specially bad monk's gown and strive after the honour
of clerical rank, and the spirit of pride in the peculiar crags of monkish per-
fection, are the peculiar sins of Lucifer, who wished to ba like God. We are
led deeper into the inner world of religions thoughts, to " the invisible form of
the inner man." by the collationes patrum, in the form of dialogues witli the
pious fathers of Egypt.— The aim of the monastic life is the kingdom of God,
which cannot be attained without purity of heart. For preservation against
the snares of the devil discretio is more important than, anything else, the
single eye, the light of the body, without which diabolical temptations might
be taken for Divina inspirations. The monks' frequent experience of the
abrupt change between conditions of blessedness in God, and sudden anxiety.
sadness and sterility is merited by precedent lukewarmness and la/.iness, but
also serves as a trial of faith, and brings knowledge of one's own weakness and
need of divine grace, and awakening to stronger fidelity. The demons irive
the monks much trouble. <'a>si;tM however seaks to maintain man's moral
responsibility. Moreover the evil spirits have now no longer so much power
over the monks as they had over the few lir-i l/'-inii'Ts. Then they were so
wild that scarcely a few steady elder men could remain in the desert. In the
cloisters, in which from ei^hr to ten livl. they siitlered so much from the
demon-, t hat they did not all dare to sleep al once at night, but a few always
guarded against them by sinking, prayer and reading. Now even the younger
members «-n joy '-rr- ater security, either because the cross of Christ drive- ha -k the
devils, or because, on account of present carelessness, under which it i- hardly
possible to restrain in the cells and keep from wandering about, those who are
commencing monks, the demons no longer think the attack worth the trouble.
Those who are possessed l>y evil spirits are not to be despised, and also are not
to be kept back from the Lord's Supper, which ma\ the rather help to drivu
out the demons. Amongst the demons some are comparat ively harmless teasing
spirits, others are terrible tormentors, or instiir.> u-rave sins — To tie p T- ,

fection of the monk there belongs, along with imni" and constant |

purity of heart, uninterrupted prayer, furthered by the ditlerent kin. I- of
-ingle prayer.s and culminating in the vision of (rod in warm love; the Lord's
Prayer also i- ;i step towards the inexpressible prayer whVh iin<ls venl now by
the -bout of intolerable, joy, aga;n by the deepest silence, ami again by streams
of tears. But such emotions, esp3cially the tears, are not to be force 1.

The really holy do not pride themselves on miraculous gifts. The w\.- -
and misbelievers have also cast out devils in the name of the Lord. Humility
is of more importance. The fathers did not hold those monks pious who put
themselves forward before men as exorcists and bore their gifts ostentatiously
amid great crowds of admirers. It is a greater miracle to root out the cause of

1 Ps. xci. 6, the bainwiov /lerr^ ^Mi'oi' is applied to it.

WESTERN MONASTICISM 37 1

voluptuousness in oneself, than to cast out impure spirits. — If the life in the
wilderness is in general reckoned as greater heroism than that in cloistered
society, Cassian (Coll. 19) yet tells with approbation of a monk who had re-
turned to the cloister in order that here, freed from cares, he might not be
excited to mere vain desire for fame, and on the contrary might be exercised in
subjection. — To think on one's sins is wholesome so long as one still does
penance ; but once penance has been satisfied and forgiveness attained, care is
to be taken that not only pleasure in the sin, but also the thought of it should
be turned out of the heart. Lingering over the thoughts of sins may also have
a seductive effect. For the rest, what S. Paul says in Roin. vii. 19 holds good
specially of the perfect, who see most clearly what they lack.

4. In general the life of the Western monks was less strict than
that of the Eastern, whose destitution of all necessaries could not be
emulated in the rawer climate. This was helped by the settlement
of monasteries in the midst of the great cities also, like Milan,
Rome, and Marseilles, in which the East soon followed also.1
Another garb was also demanded by the climate and the objection
of the populace to the foreign oriental hoods and sheep-skins. Also
these Western monasteries are less set to maintain themselves by
handicrafts, and rather equipped by the munificence of the wealthy
pious (Ambrose in Milan, Fabiola, Paulinus of Nola).

Hence for the most part there are not found here such numerously
populated monasteries as in Egypt, where with small wants they
are maintained by the outcome of their own labour.2 In the monas-
tery at Tours in the time of Sulpicius Severus no manual labour was
practised other than the occupation of the younger monks in copy-
ing, though Cassian, like Augustine, recommended it.

But also the greater restlessness of the more active Western
nature had greater difficulty in allowing the monks to rest in one
place for a lengthened period. Hence there were many ascetics
who roamed about the world, and who imposed on people with
their appearance of sanctity, and sold the bones of some saint,
others in cities, who bore the garb and name of ascetics and yet
kept their share in the diversions, luxury and conveniences of the
secular life.

But the great ecclesiastical significance of regular monasticism
appears in the work of Ambrose, Augustine, and Martin of Tours
(p. 306 . and quite specially in the Monasteries of Southern Gaul.
They have everywhere to deal with the opposition and antipathy of
the world, of those too who bear the name of Christian, most of all
as it seems, in North Africa, where, in the cities, the disposition to-
wards the monks was very hostile, mingling mockery and con-

1 Cf. supra, p 359. 2 Cassian, Instit. ccenob. 10, 23.

372 CHURCH HISTORY.

tempt.1 Nevertheless they become the real gathering points of
ecclesiastical and theological forces. Cassian's foundations in Mar-
seilles, the monks and hermits at Lerinum under Hoiioratus, the
monasteries in the Stoichades, are the real foci of spiritual life.
Almost all the outstanding Christian men of Gaul in the fifth
century stand in close connection with them. The most important
bishops proceed from them ; Hoiioratus and Hilary come from
Lerinum to the episcopal see of Aries, Saint LUPUS to that of
Troyes, Maximus and Faustus become in succession Bishop of Reji,
i.e. Riez in Upper Provence, and several others.

The life of the individual ascetics, too, can in hard times take a
turn, in which the holy selfishness of the flight from the world
suddenly changes into the heroism of self-denying love. The most
outstanding instance of this is that of Saint SEVKKINUS. a man of
Latin Western, perhaps of African, origin, but who had also visited
the ascetics of the East, and now, immediately after the death of
Attila (453), made his appearance in Romish-Christian Noricum,
which was unsettled and grievously menaced by the barbarian
movements, and \vas reverenced as a prophet from whom the help-
less and anxious populace gathered counsel and consolation.

Disciples of the ascetic life who attached themselves to him were assembled
by him in several monasteries which he foimili'tl He him-elf however was
always driven hy the distress «( the age to practical exertion.-. He sought to
till the populace, amid the threatening overthrow of Roman civilization and the
Inundation of the barbarians, with the spirit of trust iniiod.and by means of

frequent fast-days to ahsorh t hem i n religion, instilled Courage and instigated
them to \\orksof love and help, where, amid the universal distress self-interest
would only think of self; indeed lie tried to work for a regular care of the poor
by a general establishment of tithes. The force of hi nality also com<

out in an imposing manner in the presence of t he < ;ermans and their rulers.
who saw in him the prophet and miraele-w >rker. and lies, .u^ht his h!e>-ing. It
effected the emancipation of many prisoner- of war and n.an\ a mitigation of
the hard lot of the Romans. Severinus is said to have foretold to Odoacer his
future mvatne". In accordance with his ordinance, after the death of Seve-
rinus I 1^'J hi-> disc.' pies hrouirht the hody to Italy, when in I .->.-« < >doaeer carried
back the Roman population from Noricum. The corpse wa^ brought to t'
neighbourhood of Naples and found its resting-place in the monastery "f Lucul-
lanum, founded for his monks by a rich lady. liarhara. Yid. Ki <. i i-rirs (a
disciple), Vita S. Severini (written in 511), ed. Sauppe in Mon.Cerm. h. Auton-

antiquiss. I. 2, 1877, and ed. P. KNOKLL in Corp. Scr. Iv-d. Lat. IX. •_'. L886.

1 SALVIAN. D>' <jnh<Tii.<l<'i,§, 4. Augustine (D.oper. motxx h. c. •_'_') complains
at least, that only persons of low rank found their way to this service, \\-\\o IH.T-
haps had more concern about freeing themselves from distressed circumstances
and getting food and clothing, and who thereby gained honour from those hy
whom they were else accustomed to be oppressed and despised.

BENEDICT. 373

5. The Further Development of Monasticism in the West. Benedict of

Nursia and Cassiodorius.

Sources : C^ESARIUS Arelat,. Ad monaohos. Ad virgines, in Opp. Ml. 67 (also in
Holsten. II. 89 sqq.). GRBGORII M. Dialog!, lib. 2 : Vita Benedict! in Opp.
Ml. 77. The rule of Benedict in Luc. Holsten. I.e. ed. Martene 1690, also in
GALLANDI, Bibl. P. XL 298. — CASSIODORII Institutions divinarum et saecu-
larium lectionum (or literarum) in ejdm. Opp. ed. G-aretius 1679 (Ml. 69, 70).
J. MABILLON Annales (p. 22, 6). L. DACHERQ et Jo. MABILLONII Acta Sanct
ord. S. Bened. 1668 sqq.

A great variety of rules of life l at first prevailed in the monastic
settlements in the West. But the writings of Cassian, the regula-
tions of Lerinum, and in addition the Rule of Basil translated into
Latin by Rufmus acted as patterns. But the storms of the migra-
tions of the peoples in the course of the fifth century brought about
in many ways the dissolution of the ordered condition and threat-
ened the social existence of the monasteries ; the convents fell into
ruin and the monks wandered from place to place. Meanwhile
however there arose e.g. in Gaul and the Burgundian district a
number of new monasteries, and Lerinum, even after the invasion
of Aquitaine, Narbonensian Gaul and Provence by the West-Goths
(under Euric 470-475), remained a noted seat of monasticism. Here,
that Antonius who in his boyhood had been blessed by Saint Seve-
rinus, next as priest had survived with him the loss of Roman
Noricum and next had lived in the neighbourhood of the Lake of
Como as a strict hermit, finally laid down his head to rest.2 Here
also for the succeeding age men like Csesarius, afterwards Bishop of
Aries (f 543), received their religious direction, and thereby worked
even under German dominion for the maintenance of Roman civilis-
ation and Catholic ecclesiastical ideas. Csesarius of Aries himself
founded cloisters for monks and nuns, and by his rules worked in
favour of both in wider circles.

Of much more general and decisive importance, however, was the
work of BENEDICT. Born at Nursia, north of Rome, he was intended
to be introduced to the sciences at Rome, but found himself so re-
pelled there by worldly and vicious companions, that in his fifteenth
year he bade farewell to Rome and the world and sought solitude.
Under the guidance of the monk Romanus he lived in a lowly
cavern near Subiaco on the Upper Anio (Teverone) ; other ascetics
began to put themselves under his leadership. In the year 510 the
monks of the cavern-cloister at Vicovaro near Tivoli chose him as

1 CASS. Inst. ccenob. 2, 2 ; tot propemodum typi ac regulce, quot cellce ac
monasteria

'2 Magn. Fel. ESNODIUS, Vita Antonii in Opp. ed. Hartel 1882 (Corp. Script.),
p. 383 sqq.

374 CHURCH HISTORY.

their abbot ; they could not, however, tolerate his government,
which exacted strict obedience. The saint returned to his cave and
gathered the companions, who again flowed in upon him, into small
communities of twelve monks, under an abbot each ; twelve such
cmnobia stood under his leadership. In the end, however, he opened
his new habitation for monks in Campania near Castrum Casinum
on the summit of Mount Casinum. Here there still stood a temple
of Apollo with sacred groves, which exercised its ancient attraction
on the neighbouring rural population. After the example of Martin
of Tours, the object of his veneration, Benedict now destroyed the
remains of paganism, built a chapel to S. Martin, another to John
the Baptist, and erected — amid many but victoriously withstood
diabolic spectres — the monastery of Monte Cassino, afterwards so
famous, to which he gave his Rule. The fast increasing number of
the monks had soon to send out colonies and found new settlements.
Benedict died on the 21st of March, 543.

According to his Rule the abbot is to be elected by the choice of the whole
unanimous community ; but in case of an objectionable choice the bishop and
the neighbouring abbots and Christians are to help the better part to victory.
The abbot chooses the }'r<r/ios/fns. who is hound to obey the precepts (.f the
abbot. In populous monasteries Dccnni are aUo to be set at the head of the
separate divisions. < >n important occasions the abbot i-~ t" consult the whole
congregation: on less important, to act solely on the ad \ ice ,,f ;li(. elder mem-
bers. Admission is preceded by a time of probation, after the expiry of which
the iii'-onier must bind himself to all that is required by the Rule— Stabilitas
loci, conversio nioruni and obedientia. Unhesitating obedience is the tirst
degree of mona-tic humility. The fare is far from exaggerated strictness; ilesh
is of course only allowed to those who are .[iiite weak or sick, hut a little wine
to all. Manual work and the reading of Scripture are to alternate, hut between
them the //'</•((• CanOniCG, are to !»• held, and indeed all the >even.

The cloister.-, as far a-, po^ihle. were to contain wit bin themselves all the
necessaries of life— water, mills, gardens, bakehouses, as well as the appurten-
ances necessary to the exercise of manual labour, so that the monks should not
have to Stray about outside. Hut the monk was to call nothing his own, but
expect everything that was needful from the abbot only.

The Discipline, a m-adation of punishments: -eparaHon from society at
table, exclusion from Intercourse in general hut the excluded were not to be
deprived of the pastoral converse of their elder bivt hreii— stripes, common
prayer by the monks for the sini,. r. tinally expulsion, so that no tainted sheep
should infect the whole flock.

When in the year ">.-( i the mother-cloister of Monte ('a^sino was destroyed by
the Lombai'ds, the monks fled to Koine and settled on the I.aferan. At that.

time Gregory, the Future 1'ope. had ainad\ bestowed his patrimony upon tin

founding of monasteries (six in Sieilv, one in l.'omei; into tin- I,'.. man he him-
self entered and here made Benedict's Rule supr me, which through Gregory
advanced in este >m. As yet. however, it was not possible to think of a ^p
combination of the diili-n in monasteries linked into a unity by means of the
common Rule, an order of monks in the proper -ense.

THE RULE OF BENEDICT. 375

In Benedict's Eule there is still no indication that in the monastic
life anything else is aimed at than the discipline of the monastic
associates themselves, and their guidance towards the perfect life.

The care of the spiritual life in the world about them is not their
immediate aim. Entering into the monastic condition is conversion
from the world (conversio), the monks are the pious (religiosi). But,
as Benedict's appearance on the stage had quite naturally led to
conflict with the remains of paganism and efforts after the con-
version of the populace, so likewise GREGORY entrusted the monks
with the task of the mission to the heathen, about the same time
as that in which the same task was taken up by the Irish-Scottish
monks (vid. the following Period). And besides, the foundation of
monasteries which regarded themselves as appointed to manual work
and agriculture, involved the beginning of their civilising influence
on the fertilization of the soil, which had already begun in the mon-
asteries of Southern Gaul before the time of Benedict.

Another and most important activity was now added to these,
especially through the influence of Cassiodorius. It was Greek sug-
gestions which as early as the beginning of the fifth century had
made the monasteries of Gaul places of theological study, though
indeed it does not at all follow that all the members of these socie-
ties had taken an active part in it. Benedict's Eule, in general, only
presupposes ability to read in the monks (c. 48) and directs them to
reading in the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers, and in particular in
the writings of Cassian ; it therefore counts upon a certain literary
culture. But of any regular scholarly pursuit of knowledge we find
nothing here as yet. This however was the object of the efforts
of Magnus Aurelius CASSIODORIUS Senator, a man of noble Eoman
family, who, like his father before him, served the Gothic king
Theodoric in high office in the State.

About 540 he withdrew himself from state affairs to his property
in the Abruzzi and devoted himself to zealous literary activity in
the monastery of Vivarium, which he founded in a cheerful situation
and equipped with the accessories of learning. Christian science
was here to be cultivated in combination with classical studies as a
foundation, the copying of books was to be an occupation for the
monks, the monasteries were to become refuges for science and there-
by at the same time important centres of culture for the clergy. For
it he composed his Institutiones (vid. sup.), a literary introduction to
theological study on the basis of the artes liberal?.*. To a certain
extent this was a substitute for a school of theological culture in
the West.

376 CHURCH HISTORY.

6. The Legal Position of Monasticism in Reference to Church and State.

Literature: BINGHAM, Origines, etc. ed. Grischov. vol. iii. (1. 7, c. 2-4). L.
THOMASSINUS, Vet. et nov. discipl. Pt. 1. 1. 3. LOEXIXG, I. 1. c. 332 sqq.

The Emperor Yalens already sought to counteract the strong influx to the
monastic manner of life, especially in Egypt ; in particular he forbade the
admission of the curiales who sought to escapa their public obligations by
entry into distant monasteries. They were to be taken by force from the
clo'sters, or else to renounce their properties in favour of those who had to take
over their civic functions. Later on the secular law, in analogy with the
Roman estimation of religious corporations, natural!}' recognised the monasteries
as corporations (collegium, corpus fraternitatis) which required no special
approbation by the State and had the right of acquiring property; in 434 a
right to inherit the property left by the monks was also conceded to the
monasteries. But in other matters the monks were subject to the common law,
had complete legal competence, remained, so far as they had not themselves
renounced it in full possession of their property and their family rights, but
also remained subject to their obligations under private and public law, were
subject to taxation so far as they had not entirely divested themselves of their
property, and had to take over guardianships to which they were legally bound.
On account of existing obligations Valentinian III. forbade the admission of
slaves or colonists to the cloister, and at ( 'halcsdon (c. 4) the udmi.-sion of slaves
was made dependent on the consent of their masters. The ir rowing importance
of the monastic lay societies further necessitated ecclesiastical regulations as
to their relations with the ecclesiastical organism. In particular such were
e-tablished at Chalcedon, as on the whole attained general recognition in the
Church.

The Emperor Marcian by his proposals i^ave incitement thereto, since the
ecclesiastical duties of the monks wen- 1 letter regulated by the ivpre.-, utatives
of the Church itself than by the secular authority. Thus monasticism IN Tame
an ecclesiastical institution. The a-sumption of monastic duties had ori-
ginally only a religious, and not an ecclesiastical character. There was no
ecclosi;i>tically binding oatli ; departure from the monastic association stoo^j
free (as obviously did exclusion also. rid. sn/>. p. :1TI . and did not form a dis-
ciplinary ecclesiastical process prop T. At Chalcedon it is now ordained, thai
monks are not to leave their cloisters, not to rove about in the cities, in gen< r.il
only to appear in the citie> by the bishop's >pecial command. On pain of ex-
communication they were forbidden to leave the cloister to assume any political
office, as was also forbidden to the cler-y. So al-u the marriage. of monks and
the virgins de.licated to God la \ laced under eccle-iaM ical censure, merciful
measures were however allowed regarding it. For the rest, however, leaving
the cloister is in u* neral only to lie aceompaire I by ecclesiastical ] enanre.
It is only in the Benedictine orders that the perpetually binding t-ath is
recognised.

Accoi-ding to the original conceptions of Oriental monasticism, the monk-
were not to pass over to the clergy, that also appearing a- a return to the
world. But At liana si us already rather exhorted to it, and the HP mast cries soon
took the character of the appropriate nurseries for the clergy. The Kmi
Au< Aiurs could recommend the bishops (;5!J8) to supply their need of priests
from that source. A means of doing so was afforded by tho nece->ary ordina-
tion of individual monks as clergy for the ro'iuirement , of the monastery;
practical necessity, especially also in tho West, but on the other hand vanity

LEGAL POSITION OF MONASTICISM. 377

also, and ambition which forgot the original reserved attitude of monasticism
towards the clergy, contributed to this end. Western synods decreed that a
bishop might ordain monks as clergy, but not at least without the consent of
the abbot.

The monasteries, which had originated on the principle of free association,
stood under the ecclesiastical authority of the bishop of their diocese. But
the great importance of the monasteries necessitated an ecclesiastical regula-
tion of this relationship on both sides, in the interest of the episcopal power on
the one hand, and of the independence of the monastic societies on the other.
At Chalcedon the legal authority of the bishop over the monks in his diocese
was recognised. Without the consent of the bishop no monastery or house of
prayer is henceforth to be erectad, but a monastery erected with his approba-
tion is not to be abolished or its property diminished. The priests of a monas-
tery are subject to the regular authority of the bishop, like all other priests ; he
may depose the disobedient, and likewise lay the bann upon disobedient lay
members. On the other hand the bishop has also to bestow his care on the
monastery. Conflicts frequently arose, especially in the West, in which the
monasteries guarded themselves against interference with the authority of the
abbot.' The bishop is not to interfere directly with the administration of the
abbot, or in the election of an abbot ; he is not to arrogate to himself the free
disposal of the lay host of monks. It is also required of him that he shall give
them the benefit of his proper spiritual functions (ordination of priests, prepa-
ration of the chrism, etc.) without remuneration.

As regards the convents of nuns, they had long been preceded by the custom
of the Church, according to which virgins expressly dedicated themselves to
God (by undertaking an oath in presence of the bishop), and this institution of
virgins dedicated to God now also made further advance alongside of the
beginnings of cloistral association. Pachomius is said to have founded the
first cloister for women ; the mother and sister of Basil associated themselves
with other virgins in the cloistral life. S. Paula, the friend of Jerome, with
her daughter Eustochium, worked in behalf of the institution and founded
three convents for nuns in Bethlehem. The president was called ammas, the
nuns ^ioj/a^ai, Nonnce (which is derived from the Coptic), sanctimoniales. A
certain age was now required for the oath which was to be taken by virgins
who desired to dedicate themselves to God ; by Basil the sixteenth or seven-
teenth year, by the Council of Hippo (393) the twenty-fifth year. In fact,
because these oaths of their female members were frequently made use of by
families from pecuniary motives, the Western Emperor, Majorian (458). ordained
I that such a vow could not bd legally taken, before the fortieth year. The
i parents or members of the family were threatened, in the contrary case, with
loss of a third of their property. The breaking of her vow by a dedicated
I person by entering into matrimony, was punished with a period of penance
| lasting for years, at Chalcedon with excommunication, but with the above
| mentioned mitigation, which comes to the same thing. The first Council of
Toledo allowed reconciliation with the Church in case the guilty ene should
'abstaui from the intercourse of wedlock during her husband's life. Augustine
;admonishes against regarding such a marriage as adultery.

1 See especially the Synod of Aries in 455.

FOURTH CHAPTER.
The Theological Development and the Dogma of the Church.

SURVEY.

As in the Roman Church of the Empiiv the existing ecclesiastical
hierarchy developed into a state-recognised all- dominant institution'
as in it the existing ascetic ideal of lift- takes a dearly defme<
expression in contrast to common Christianity, in the powerful in
stitution of monasticism, so now also, under new conditions of life!
there is completed the theological movement the way tor whicl:
was prepared as early as the third century, and in which th>
common inalienable basis of faith of the Christian communit;
omes the theological faith-law of the Church. <>n the acceptanr
of which participa; :oii in the saving benefits of the Church is mad
conditional. The unified institution ot the <'lmrch in its constitd
tional form gives the la\v of faith, the const itutional represent atio
of the Church in synods becomes the lega] tribunal of faith, and r
doing so supports itself on the power of the State, as the ^uarante
of legal order. A richly developed theology, uu<l»-r the favour <
the altered circumstances which push the questions of the faith hit
the centre of the spiritual movement of the age, comes to tli-
service of Dogma. At the beginning of the period this theolog,'
stood on the whole under the universal influence of the learned an
philosophical efforts of ORIGEX, and now in an inere;isin^ degred
chiefly in the sphere of Greek intellectual lite, takes into its sei
vice the existing elements ,,f higher intellectual culture in evnera
The interest of the faith, which it hail to serve above all otherj
consisted in belief in the divinity of Christ, which, no\v, upon tli
basis already given, and amid long conflicts, is definitely expressej
in the doctrino-legal Dogma of the divinity of Christ, of the Trinitj
and of the two natures of Christ. Greek theology has the leadershi
here, though subject to lively and often important exertions of Lati
influence. On the other hand, the peculiar problem of \Vesiern thei
logy, while those "theological" conflicts advance in accordance wit
the immanent dialectic of the dogma, shines out d.-tinitely in An;''-
TINE, and in the doctrines of Sin and Grace introduct s a new step i

STATE OF THEOLOGY. 379

the development of doctrine and the entire conception of the Church,
in which the Greek Church no longer participates in an equal manner.
[Therewith the purbuit of theology is broadened, under the dominion
pf dogmatic points of view it is true, and yet beyond them into a
jmore comprehensive and learned cultivation of scriptural scholarship
jind the problems and interests of the life of the Church as a whole.

1. The State of Theology in the Beginning of this Period.

The learned theological heritage of the past, above all that of
eii, forms the starting point. The increased intellectual in-
terest, which since the time of Constantine, had applied itself to
;cclesiastical questions, favours the broadening and multiplication
>f theological activity, of which EUSEBIUS PAMPHILI is to be re-
garded as the chief representative. In many theologians of the
irst half of the fourth century, a theological influence proceeding
roni Antioch (Lucian, p. 216), makes itself felt. But the theo-
ogian of most intellectual power and character, who gives the
raditional theological material its definite stamp for the present, is
\.THANASIUS of Alexandria.

1. EUSEBIUS, born in the second half of the third century, passed his youth in
'alestine, attended the scriptural expositions of the Presbyter DOROTHEUS at
mtioch, and when during the persecution of Diocletian he found refuge with
Sishop MELETIUS of Pontus received scientific impulse from him, but above
11 received learned guidance from the Presbyter PAMPIIILUS in Caesarea Pal.,
after whom he is called Eusebius Pamphili), and food for his scholarship in the
ibrary at Ca?sarea. After the martyrdom of Pamphilus, Eusebius fled for
fuge to Tyre, and afterwards to Egypt. He soon, however, entered into closer
elations with Constantine, who made him Bishop of Csesarea Pal. (c. 313), s
t Nica>a (vid. sup.), where at the celebration of the Vicennalia he pronounced
is panegyric. Although at Nicsea the course of the proceedings forced the
ampromising Eusebius to retreat, and only regard for the Emperor compelled
im to involuntary consent, he was able to assert his authority and influence
i high quarters and to retain the confidence of the Emperor, on whom he
renounced the panegyric at the Tricennalia with pompous, boastful, and
dulatory rhetoric.

The consciousness of the great historical turning point, which exalted the

jhurch to the first spiritual force of the age, directed the glance of Eusebius to

16 path left behind it by the Church since its beginnings, and made him the

ither of Christian Church History (the editions p. 6 sq., German translations

|\- STUOTII, 1778 ; GLOSS, 1839 ; and STICHLOHER in the Kemtener Bibl. der KV.,

|}70. The publication, by Wright, of an ancient Syriac translation of the

|fth century, in which however Books 6 and 7 are wanting, is still expected).

he great work of the Chronicle (p. 7 and 214) had already preceded, "which

as for hundreds of years the source of all synchronistic knowledge of his-

iry in the Christian world." The history of the martyrs of Palestine (in

iocletian's Persecution), is preserved for us as an interpolation at the end

: the 8th Book f the Church History. The Life of Constantine in four

3 So CHURCH HISTORY.

books is a courtly apotheosis, which, painting in high colours without any
shadows, sees in Constantino the divinely-beloved and chosen instrument
of the victorious carrying through of Christianity, in an offensive panegyrical
tone, though it was not composed till after Constantino's death. Tne three
books on the Life of Pamphilus and the treatise on the Passover are unfor-
tunately lost. The broadest literary scholarship is placed at the service
of Christianity in Eusebius' apologetical treatise, IIpoTrapao-KfVT) €vayy(\iKrj\
(Frceparatio e.vang.). The new divine wisdom is to prove its right to throw
off pagan religion, mythology, cosmology, and philosophy, and its own founda-
tion upon history and the religious wisdom of the Jewish people : nunn>rou?
excerpts from ancient writers (Ed. Tiger., Paris 1628, and others; Heintchenl
Leipzig 1842; Gaisford, Oxford 1843). In the 'An-oSft^t? evayyeXiKr) (Donouatr-.
era?///.), the scriptural proof is adduced from the O. T. against the Jews (of th(
20 Books only 10 are preserved; ed. Par. 1628, Col. ICSii. (iaisford. Oxford 1852 j
the Ofo^aveta, preserved in a Syriac translation, is a kind of epitome of the'
two apologetic works, ed. Lee, London 1842). The Apology of Christianity
against Porphyry is lost, the cne against Hierocles (p. 1DO) mentioned above isj
preserved.

Eusebius, who had on one occasion by Constantino's commission to providj
for the recovery of 50 MSS. of the Bible for Constantinople, served Biblica
research, not only by his commentaries (those on the Psalms and on Johi
preserved in greater part) and the 'E*Aoyni rrpoQrjriKai, a collection of propheti'
pas.-ages to support the proof from prophecy .what is preserved edited h
Gaisford, 1842), but especially also by bis much used Onor.iasticon (ir(p\TtavT<>xiKu>
ovofMTtav €i> TI\ 6eia ypcupf/), translated by Jerome (Larson and Partbey's editioi
18G2. and de Lagarde's, 1870), and the ten evangelical <-<.in<>iu'* for the harmo
ising of the Gospels (in many editions of the N.T.). In his dogmatico-polemi
works (A//r. M.trrrlf/i in and /><;;;•/. //;<•</.. rid /////•<;> Kusebius in opp.
to Marcel lus represent- the average dogmatic based upon Origen. Col
edition. Micr. 1 :'-•_' I STKIN. /•://.^'h/ns- nach seinem Lelx-u. seinen x.7/ /•//'/<•// ////
xi'i HI-HI dm/in. ('Inn-.. \Viirxlinr- is.V.t.

•_'. Til.- inilu inces which proceeded from Antioch show themselves in ART
who like his patron Ki ^i;r.irs nf Nicomedia, is reckoned among the disciples
Lucian. So also in the kindred Arian sophist A.STERI1 s. who wrote coinine
tarie-i on th \'.\ 'i-ileto the Romans, the Gospels, and the Psalms. Tlie Antio
tendency in the exegesis of Scripture, which, in spite of all the impuls
received from Origen, and in opposition to bis allegoric method placed at
service of dogmatic speculation, continues to maintain the sober histm
sense, lupins to make itself worthy of note. ElISTATHIUS, who was deprive
of his bishopric of Antioch on account of his adherence to the Niceue formula
in bis f;unoii> treatise on the Witch of Eudor (1 Sam. xviii.) opj>oses tnj
ftoy/LumoT^s Origen in a highly remarkable manner (ed. Leo Allatius. Lugd
!<;•_'! i; then in the Critici sacri in (iallandi IV. and Mgr. 48, now pnlilishcd !>'
Alb. Jahn in (Jebhardt and Harnack's Texte mid /•'(//•>•<•////////»•/>, vol. ii. 1
But also in semi- Arian theologians, as in the (not preserved) commentaries o
TiiHoixiKK of Ileraclea, a similar exe^oiical tendoiicy may be supposed
s of Emisa (Emfsa) also belongs here. He came from Ede»a. aliva'l
received tliere the foundation of his education, afterwards in Palestine wi1
Eusebius of Csesarea and I'.ai-ophilus of Scythopolis. The Eusebinns wish*
to make him Bishop of Alexandria in place of the exiled Athanasius. This 1
avoided, and became Bishoj) of the little Kmisa in I'lio'iiicia. where at firl
ofTence wa., taken at his mathematical and astronomical >tud;e-. \\ hidi brou.u

t

THEOLOGY.— ATHANAS1US. 381

him the reputation of an astrologer, so that subsequently, when he lived without
office in Antioch, he was sought out by Constantius as adviser. He exercised
influence on the education of Diodoi'us of Tarsus (vid. infra), as also on that of
| John Chrysostom, on the latter probably as an orator.

3. ATHANASIUS, born in the last years of the third century, of Christian
(parents; in his church sentiments still touched by the last period of persecution
of the Church. He became a deacon under Bishop Alexander, and in the begin-
ning of the Arian controversy attained decisive influence. From that point
jthe history of ATHANASIUS, who was raised to the episcopate in 328, passes into
'the history of the Arian controversy. His two closely interconnected apolo-
Igetico-dogmatic treatises, "Against the Hellenes," and '• On the Incarnation of
ithe Logos," which from internal evidence are regarded as works of his youth,
combat heathenism as the idolizing of creatures and of the world, and represent
Christianity as the religion of spirit, which rests upon the revelation of the
[Logos as the principle of the world and of spirit, and completes itself in the
{Incarnation of the Logos as the principle of salvation. They are instructive as
(to the development of theology on the hitherto philosophico-theological founda-
stions, but towards a new step in advance, for which salvation and the redemp-
tion of humanity is based upon the fact that, in the Logos, God not only truly
|and essentially reveals Himself to mankind, but unites and imparts Himself,
jand for which at the same time the conception of the descending emanational
unfolding of God into the world is transformed into that of the inner living-
aess of the Trinitarian unfolding of the Divine nature before the world.
The rest of the chief works of Athanasius grow out of the conflicts of the Arian
controversy, the four Orations against the Arians (the chief dogmatic work of the
jxile of 35fi sq.) to which the circular letter to the Bishops of Egypt and Libya
often prefixed (hence we often hear of five orations against Arius), and the
isarlier treatises, De decretis Niccence Syn. and De sententia Dionysii (AL), as
also the Expositio Fidei ; in like manner the more historical Apol. c. Arianos,
\Histor. Arian. ad Monachos, Apologia ad Constantium, Apol. de fuga, De
tynodis Arimin. et Selene. The doctrine of the Holy Ghost is treated of in the
bur letters to Serapion ; the letters to Epictetus, to Adelphius, and to the
philosopher Maximus, relate to the Christological question. As to the account
>f the life of S. Antony, vid. p. 356. Exegetical are the letter to Marcellinus
|>n the exposition of the Psalms and the comprehensive Expos itiones in Psal-
nos, which find very numerous types and prophecies of Christ in the psalms.
Che Feast-letters for the announcement of each Easter-term are preserved in
iyriac (Ed. Cureton, London 1848, German by Larsow, 1852). Much that is
[purious is intermixed with the works of Athanasius, and the subsequently
nfluential treatise, De incarnations dei verbi et c. Arianos, is much rather
|f Apollinarian origin (vid. Caspari, Alte und neue Quellen, 1879, p. 65 sqq.).
|)pp. ed. Montfaucon, Paris 1693, 2 vols. Fo., and in addition the supple-
aents in Montfaucon's Nov. coll. Pair. s. II. Collected edition by Giustiniani,
'adua 1777, 4 tomes fo. (Migne, t. 25-28). Monographs: Mohler, 1827,
i5ohringer, Kirche Christi, vol. 6 of the second edition, 1874. J. FIALON, St.
Uhanase, 1877.

382 CHURCH HISTORY.

2. The Arian Controversy.

Sources: Euseb. vita Const, and the Ecclesiastical Historians Socrates, Sozomen,
Theodoret and the fragments of Philostorgius ; Epiphan. Hcer. 69. The
controversial writings of Athanasius, rich in documents (vid. sup.), and.
those of Hilary, Basil, and the two Gregories (vid. sub No. 3), the numerous1
proceedings of Councils in MAXSI II. and III. (in FUCHS, BibL der K'rchrn-
versammlungon, 1780 sq. 1 and 2 voll.). The chief formulas in Hahn.!
Bibl. der Symb. 2nd ed. — Literature: WALCH. Ketzerhistorie, II.; Bohringeiv
VI., 2 ed. 1874; GUATKIN, Studies on Arianism, 1882 ; for others vid. RE. 1^
620 sqq., HAUNACK. DG. 2, 182.

The controversy which decided the dogmatic development of the'
Church supposes the hitherto dominant conception of the doctrine ol
the divinity of Christ, for which the idea of the divine Logos hac
afforded the decisive expression. Origeii's doctrine of the etenia
generation of the Logos was meant to designate Christ as the unfold' i
ing of the divine nature, in such a way that the Logos or Son shoulc '
be of the divine nature and yet at the same time should form ai
independent Ego to be distinguished from God (the Father) Himsel1
and to be subordinated to Him. The latter, in order to have ;
suitable bearer of the Divine-human person of Christ, the former ii
order not to hurt the Christian conviction of the unit}7 (Monarchy) q I
God. But the two sides were mutually repellent. On the one han
Sabellianism threatened, on the other an accentuation of the su
ordination of the Son, conceived as distinguished from God, of such
kind that His divine dignity was endangered, and the Son appeare*
as the first and noblest of God's creatures.

ARIUS, a disciple of the Antiochene presbyter Lucian, first
deacon in Alexandria, afterwards presbyter of the church calle
Baukalis, followed up, as Dionysius of Alexandria had former!
done, the moment of personal distinction, and in consequence th
subordination of the Son to the Father, so that the Son emevi;''
from the sphere of the Godhead, and ?Iis generation became acreuti'
by the will of God. God the Father alone is unbegotteu and unb
come: an imparting of His nature would bo division and finitud
hence the Son is the creation of the divine will, not the unfoldi
of the divine nature ; He certainly arose before all worldly time. In
not eternally ; He is free from sin but not unchangeable by natur
but by free determination of will ; God's instrument in the rival ion <
the world, but only exalted to the Godhead by His proof of HimseF

Arius, who found a patron in the influential Bishop Eusebius (:
Nicomedia, was deposed and exiled by his bishop Alexander at|
great Alexandrian synod. Constantine, who above all things s>'t

THE ART AN CONTROVERSY. 383

on the unity of the Church, and hence on the unity of the bishops,
regarded the controversy which burst out as an unimportant battle
) of words. When he did not succeed in calming it, on the advice of
i Bishop Hosius of Corduba who had his ear, he summoned the bishops
j to an assembly, the celebrated first General Council at Nicsea (325),
| the Metropolis of Bithynia (p. 331 sq.). The Emperor in person
! showed great reverence for the assembly, the preponderating
! majority of which belonged to the Greek East, but thereby also
I unavoidabty exercised an important influence, and to this it is to
be attributed that in spite of the opposition of the friends of Arius
(called Eusebians after the Nicomedian bishop of that name) and the
disinclination of a great Greek middle party, the formula of Nicsea was
carried through, being recommended by Hosius, Alexander, and the
young deacon ATHANASIUS. Bishop EUSEBIUS of Csesarea, who was
likewise high in the Emperor's esteem, had attempted to gain accept-
ance for a formula1 which was more in accordance with the dogmatic
view of the majority, but by which the view of Arius did not seem
to be decidedly enough excluded, as his friends were ready to ac-
|cept it. Just for this reason the formula was made more rigid by the
addition to the designation of Christ as the Logos of God, God of God,
begotten of the Father before all aeons, of the further definition,
|of the nature of the Father, begotten, not created, of one nature
with the Father (opooixrios), definitions to which the majority of the
3-reek bishops only agreed against their wills, out of regard to the
Emperor, because they saw in the decisive expression a " Sabellian "
obliteration of the personal distinction of the Son from the Father,
ithanasius on the other hand, who from that time onwards staked
whole life of warfare on the Nicene doctrine, saw in it the
iecisive expression for the divinity of the Son, the unity and
:omplete community of nature of the Son with the Father, and the
jiecessary exclusion of the hybrid representation of a medial nature
>f weakened divinity, which to a certain extent sets forth the
ransition from the Godhead to the creatures. The great majority
.ssented against their wills ; Eusebius of Csesarea vindicated himself
n regard to the matter before his community,2 by means of an
xplanation which weakened its significance. Arius was condemned
,nd contemptuously nicknamed the Porphyrian (after the Neo-Pla-
onic enemy of Christianity) ; only two Egyptian bishops adhered to
.im, subsequently, of course, Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theognis

1 Vid. Halm, Bibl. d. Symb. p. 178.

8 Eus. Ep. ad Ccesarienses with the verbal tenor of Symb. Nic., appended by
jthanasius to his treatise De deer. Nic. Synod. ; vid. Halm, I.e. 78.

384 CHURCH HISTORY.

of Nicsea, because they did not desire to abolish ecclesiastical com-
munion with Arius.

2. But the apparent close of the controversy by the subsequently so
celebrated assembly at Nicsea was in reality only its introduction.
The doctrine represented by Athanasius was opposed to the dog-
matic standpoint of the majority, and the Emperor's view was com-
pletely reversed, under the influence, as it appears, of his sister
Constantia. The influential Eusebius of Nicomedia ventured to
return and agitated powerfully against Athanasius, who had
become Bishop of Alexandria since 8th June, 328. Highly esteemed
bishops had already exerted themselves in favour of Arius, who had
also sought to obtain welcome for his doctrine in a half poetical
treatise (Thalia, i.e. The Banquet); he dared to justify himself per-
sonally before the Emperor by means of a confession which indeed
avoided the distinctive Arian expressions, but did not exclude their
sense. Constantino was concerned about the unity of the bishops ;
if this could not be attained by means of the Nicene formula, th< a
perhaps it could by the setting aside of the most decided opponents
of Arius, viz. ATHANASIUS and Bishop EUSTATHIUS of Antioch. The
latter, Eusebius (of Nicomedia) was able to set aside as early as 330;
but against Athanasius he made use of the elements of discontent
with his episcopal administration, especially thr Egyptian Meletians.
The Council of Nicaea had indeed endeavoured to overcome this j
schism i p. 265), but the clergy of this party thought they had multi-
farious causes of complaint a-ain-t Atlianasius. Eusebius laid hold «
of this point, intentionally leaving on one side the dogmatic ques-
tions. Athanasius indeed was able to invalidate these complaints!
with the Emperor, so that the synod summoned to Cffisarea (334) I
never took place. Finally, however, the renewed exertions of the
opposition led to the synod at Tyre (335), led by Eusebius <>t
Csesarea, and the deposition of Athanasius on account of allege 1 n
of violence in his conduct of office. The bishops here assembled
thereafter betook themselves to Jerusalem on the invitation of the
Emperor, for the solemn dedication of the church built by Constan-!
tine. Here, on the ground of information supplied by the Emperor. j
they declared themselves in favour of the re-admission of Arius. j
Athanasius had gone from Tyre to Constantinople for the purpose!
of vindicating himself, and even now made an important personal i
impression on the Emperor. The latter caused the Eusebian chiefs,!
even before the end of 335, to come from Jerusalem to Constant!- j
nople to answer for themselves ; but they soon gained the alteration
of the Emperor's mind. Athanasius was exiled to Treves, and the

THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY. 385

intended solemn readmission of Arms at public service was only
prevented by his sudden death. After the death of Constantine,
Athanasius indeed ventured to return to Alexandria, but was not
able to maintain himself there against the party, favoured by Con-
stantius the new ruler of the East, of Eusebius (of Nicomedia), who
was now raised to the bishopric of the capital (Constantinople). By
them he was regarded as an intruder, and was obliged to retire be-
fore the new bishop, Gregorius (March 19th, 340), who was thrust
by force of arms on the embittered city populace. Athanasius now
found a friendly reception with JULIUS, Bishop of Rome, and decided
approval at a Roman synod (341). Here also Bishop MARCELLUS of
Ancyra, who had decidedly championed the Homousia at Nicsea,
was received in a friendly manner. But it was just he who by his
doctrine seemed to justify the scruples of the Greek bishops against
the Nicene formula.

Against the sophist Asterius, like Arius, a disciple of Lucian of Antioch, and
who as an apt dialectician had defended the Arian view in lectures and writ-
ings, Marcellus had come forward with a book in favour of the Homousia of the
divine Logos, in a way which seemed to revive the dreaded Sabellianism, not
making the Son a distinct second personality, and not the eternal Son. The
name of Son was only applicable to the historical personality of the incarnate
one, not to the reason (Logos) who dwelt in God from all eternity. This Logos
indeed, for the sake of working salvation, was to come out from God to a certain
mode of activity, and was to become personal in its human appearance, but
only temporarily, in order at the end of the development, after it had subjected
the kingdom to the Father, again to unite with God in undifferentiated unity.
The average Greek view saw in this a revival of Sabellianism, but at the same
time of the false doctrine of Paul of Samosata also, as the historical personality
of Jesus lost its pre-existence (as also its post-existence). After Marcellus had
protested at Tyre against the condemnation of Athanasius, the synod at Jerusa-
lem turned against him contending as he was against the intended readmission
j of Arius. Thereupon the bishops at Constantinople rejected the doctrine of
I Marcellus, deposed him from his office, and entrusted Eusebius of Csesarea with
1 the refutation of his treatise, which Eusebius carried out in the two books
I against Marcellus and at greater length in the three books of ecclesiastical
theology. Constantine's death had also permitted him to return, but he also
had soon again to disappear, and took refuge in Eome. By means of a con-
! fession which allowed the dubious aspects of his theory to fall into the back-
I ground, he gained recognition here, where the Godhead of the Logos and the
i Homousia were above all things else regarded as of decisive importance. Yid.
\ EETTBERG, Marcelliana 1794 ; TH. ZAHN, Marce.ll. v. Anc. 1867 ; and RE. 9,
I 279.

The fact that Borne allied itself with men, like Athanasius and

Marcellus, who in the East had been deposed from their offices by

synodal decision, rendered the opposition more keen. But in he

i East it was not desired to champion the extreme Arian view (the

25

386 CHURCH HISTORY.

creature-nature of the Son), however rigidly the Homousia was
rejected on the other hand. At the great Church Dedication Synod
of Antioch (341) it was sought fundamentally to maintain the
earlier, wide-spread, more undefined and subordinational doctrine, in
different formulae, of which the second, the so-called Lucian, was
meant to serve the interest of the rejection of Arianism proper, but
the third also the rejection of Marcellus in particular.1

The need of bringing about a union was intended to be served by
the Synod of Sardica (Sofia in Bulgaria, on the frontier region of
East and West), which was managed by Constans, but to which
Constantius also assented. But when the Westerns, unconcerned
with the doings of the East, treated of Athanasius, Marcellus and
others as legal bishops, the Easterns, here in the minority, withdrew
from the common conference and held their diets in the neighbour-
ing Philippopolis. The bishops at Sardica, after renewed investiga-
tion, declared for Athanasius and pronounced deposition against the
outstanding Eusebians (Theodore of Heraclea and others).2 On the
other hand, the opposition at Philippopolis addressed to the bishops
of their party a written protest and confession which is based on I
the fourth Antiochene formula, but also combats the doctrine of I
Marcellus. The need of obtaining a unification did indeed make j
itself felt in further negotiations, in the course of which, regard to
the Western ruler Constans also induced Constantius to greater I
complaisance towards the adherents of Anthanasius. Emissaries of I
the Synod of Sardica appeared at Antioch with letters of Constans. «
In the consultations here conducted, the Orientals set up in the so- ,
called long-lined formula1 i /•<//•//////<* makrostichos) a detailed con- K
fession, which decidedly expresses the type of the middle party :W
" We know as the perfect in Himself, unbegotteu, beginning-less, 1
and invisible God, only one, the God and Father of the First-born,)
who alone has being from Himself and alone proffers it without envy •
to all others." But the Sun, in all things like or similar to the ;
Father (6/iotov Kara Travra), has been, by the counsel and will of the ,
Father it is true, but yet in a genuine manner, begotten of God. is I]
perfect and true God by nature, whose personally distinct subsist- 1
ence is emphasised in contrast to Marcellus and the Sabellianism
dreaded in the Arian formula, and in regard to which, however, the!
divine unity is to be guarded not only by the essential dependence

1 Hahn, Bibl. der. Symb. 2nd ed. 14.S sq. and 100.

- Euscbins of Constantinople was already dead, and his death had led to
bloody conflicts in the capital as to his successor.
3 In Hahn, p. 109.

THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY. 387

of the Son on the Father, but also by the conception of the intimate
existence along with and in one another of Father and Son. On this
basis negotiations were carried on with a Western synod holding its
sittings in Milan, the residence of the Emperor Constans (345), which
required from the Antiochenes, but in vain, express renunciation of
Arius.

At Antioch, at the same time with Marcellus, his disciple PLOTINUS Bishop
of Sirmium had been combated. He, starting from Marcellus' doctrine of
the Logos, had arrived at the recognition, in distinction from the essentially
divine Logos which however impersonally coincided with God, in the historical
person of Jesus, only of a supernatui-ally begotten man under divine influence.
He therefore might more correctly than his teacher Marcellus be reckoned among
the following of Paul of Samosata (Epiph. Hcer. 71, 1 sq. Hilary, De trin.
7, 3-7, De synodis, 33 sqq. Vid. the art. in EE. 11, (155). Hence the Milanese
bishops could not avoid rejecting the doc trine of this disciple of Marcellus.

In a short time a greater complaisance on the part of Constantius
is seen, probably under the influence of the Emperor Constans.1
The persecution of the Athanasians ceased, and after the death of
Bishop Gregory of Alexandria, Athanasius dared, after a personal
meeting with Constantius at Antioch, to return to Alexandria (346).
But the opposition was soon sharpened anew ; by the death of Con-
stans (350) the Nicene party lost a not unimportant support. At the
great Synod of Sirmium (351), which definitely deposed Photinus who
had hitherto asserted himself in his office, the first Sirmian formula
adhered thoroughly to the hitherto Antiochene view, and Constantius
now sought, after by his victory over Maxentius he had also become
lord over the West, to enforce upon the Western bishops the unifi-
cation of the Church in the sense of this Oriental style of doctrine,
guided by the present chiefs of the Eusebians, George of Laodicea,
Theodore of Heraclea and Acacius of Csesarea. Without entering
into dogmatic discussions they were to agree to the condemnation
of Athanasius. The bishops actually allowed themselves to be
moved to consent at the assembly at Aries, where only PAULINUS of
Treves resisted, and at Milan (355). The few who declined,
PAULINUS, EUSEBIUS of Vercelli, LUCIFER of Cagliari, and DIONYSIUS
of Milan were sent into exile, so also the most important theologian
of the West, HILARY Bishop of Poitiers, Bishop LIBERIUS of Rome
and the aged Bishop Hosius of Corduba. By the banishment of
ATHANASIUS once more (356) the controversy seemed to be buried.

3. But after the removal of Athanasius and the Nicene doctrine
of the Homousia, the internal doctrinal tendencies of the Orientals
which had hitherto been held together by a common opposition

1 Vid. H. Schiller, II. 282.

388 CHURCH HISTORY.

come to the front and turn upon one another. On the one hand
there arises decided and now unconcealed Arianism, which the
majority by no means desired.

AETIUS, a man of restless and disputatious character, had made his appear-
ance now here and again there and had again worked especially in Antioch as
a teacher, where however Bishop Leoiitius, out of regard to the opinion of the
Church, restrained him from clerical functions. At the same time we find this
versatile person in relations with the Ctesar GALLUS, who was residing in
Antioch, and who frequently made use of him on embassies to his brother
Julian. Afterwards he went to Alexandria, where the Cappadocian EUXOMITS
attached himself to him. Aetius seems to have written 300 theological treatises,
if we may infer from the one which has been preserved to us (Epiph. ha?r. 76,
10), dialectical argumentations in the form of short theses. The fundamental
thought here is, that the Homousia. /.<-. the doctrine, that the Son, therefore the
begotten, i> essentially (lod, contains in itself an inner self-contradiction, since
tin- idea of unbegottenness is .just that which constitutes the nature of God.
Eunomiu^ \v;is the next to supply the further achievements of this strict
Arianism. Every compromise between unity of nature and distinction of
nature is to be given up as untenable, and we must decide for the latter
(Anomceans, eYfpcirqr K«T' ovaiav). As the doctrine of Arius himself bore the
influence of the subordinational Logos doctrine, in the fact that Arius < -f.
Origen) denied the Son tin- absolutely perfect knowledge of the Father, Eunomius
dors not follow him in that point, since, according to him. the perfect trans-
piiivnry of the idea of unbegottenness which exhausts the nature of God. and
consequently the knowableness of God, is accessible to every man. The later
Arianism of the Anomir-ans varies from Arius himself in this point also, that
it regards the divine dignity of the Son as tin- first mediatorial creature, which
it also admits, as a distinction conferred upon Him by God, and not a- a
result gained and authenticated through ethical experience.

<>u the other hand derided Arianism is now confronted with
conscious decision by that tendency in the great Oriental party,
which will know nothing of the created nature of the Son, maintains
the distinction of begetting from creating, and an essential divinity
of the Son, which indeed rejects the Homousia on well-known
grounds, but substitutes for it the Homoiousia

The expression affirms qualitative .similarity of the nature of the Son with
that of the Father, and hence, as ,\f liana-ins recognises. /><> Si/nntl. 41, j
when taken along with the idea of begottenness from the nature of Father,!
is perfectly capable of orthodox explanation. But since it only expressed!
the similarity of nature but not at the same time the element of corn-|
munity of nature, it was also capable of a minimising explanation (mere
likeness of nature), as it was an approach to the older subordinational con-
ception of the second God. At the head of this party we now find Bishop
BASIL of Ancyra.

Between. these two parties of the Anomoeaus aN«> called Kxukm
tians, because the Sun was created eg OVK 6Wwi>, Hetemsiasts. Kunc
mians, and the Homoiousians <seini-Arians) flu-re interpose th(

THE HOMOIOUSIANS. 389

who desire to restore unity by effacing the opposition. From this
attempt there arose, at the Sirmian Synod of 357, the colourless
Second Sirmian Formula, which only maintains the begetting of
the Son by the Father before all time, emphasises the subordination
of the Son to the Father as the greater, and, with a reference to the
unsearchableness of the relationships in ovcria, opoovcrios and such
like, will have nothing to do with controversy. The aged Hosius,
who lived in exile at Sirmium, obtained his return home by means
of this broad formula without express repudiation of Athanasius.
But in the East, EUDOXIUS, now Bishop of Antioch, laid hold of this
broad formula which also seemed adapted to cover the Aetians
whom he favoured. The Homoiousians however opposed him at the
Synod of Ancyra (358),1 whose ambassadors made an impression on
•Constantius for the moment, and whose doctrine was accepted by
a largely attended synod at Sirmium (358). Eudoxius had now
really to give up the see of Antioch, and Aetius and Eunomius as
well as a larger number of more or less decided Arians were exiled.
The decided opposition to the Arians here made it easy for LIBEKIUS
the Bishop of Rome, by relinquishing the Homousia to make peace
with the semi-Arians who turned the scale.

But the counter-tendency immediately declares itself ; the op-
ponents of the Honioiousia again gain ground with the Emperor.
At a new Sirmian Synod the attempt to efface the antagonisms is
combined in the Third Formula, and a broad ground of union
sought in the expression " that the Son is like unto the Father in
everything according to the Scripture." Upon this basis, which
the Homoiousians had also accepted, it is now attempted to work
separately upon the bishops of the West and the East. At the
assembly at Ariminum, in May, 359, the bishops Ursacius and Valens,
the real instruments of the imperial diplomacy, required simple
acceptance of the last Sirmian formula. The bishops, who in a
majority resisted and adhered to the confession of Nicsea, required
the express repudiation of Arius ; but their emissaries to the
Emperor were there worked upon till they signed the formula of
Nice2 which is based on the third Sirmian. It had there been held
forth to them that the synod of the Orientals had already given in.
Ursacius and Valens now obtained in Ariminum the compliance of
most of the bishops, seeing that, as they say, the broad indefinite
formula left room for their view also. The Eastern synod was held
in the autumn of the same year at Seleucia (in Isauria). Here the
Homoiousians had the majority, to which also some Athanasians

1 Synodal rescript in Epiph. User. 73, 2-11. 2 In Hahn, p. 12G.

39° CHURCH HISTORY.

from Egypt, and Hilary, who was living in Phrygia in exile, adhered.
But the Arianising party, under the leadership of Acacius of
Caesarea, attached itself to the last Sirmian formula and desired,
with express exclusion of the idea of nature, to limit itself to the
similarity of the Logos to God i Homoians, Acacianst. A unity was
not arrived at. Finally the deputies of this synod also consented
to the acceptance of the formula of Nice. An assembly at Con-
stantinople, in 360, confirmed this victory of the Homoians, in
consequence of which on the one side Aetius as a decided Ariaii was
naturally deprived of his office, but on the other also the chiefs of
the Homoiousians, Basil of Ancyra, Eustathius of Sebaste and Cyril
of Jerusalem had to leave their sees. Eudoxius now becomes
Bishop of Constantinople, Eunomius Bishop of Cyzicus, and Meletius,
who had just been inducted at Antioch, has again, to retire.

4. By the accession of JTLIAX the position is entirely altered.
Counting on the dissension of the Christians he allowed all banished
bishops to return. Already in late years the Homoiousians (seini-
Arians) had the feeling, that in spite of their antipathy to the
expression Homousios, they stood pretty close to the ail In -rents of
Nictea in their religious and dogmatic intciv-ts. Athanasius. re-
turned from his exile, now sought to gather together all really non-
Arian elements. Necessarily of course he had to maintain the creed
of Nicsea, but the Synod of Alexandria -">(>^ , under his guidance,
declared its wish to disregard former variations, and sought to set
aside the old objection to the Homousia by explanation of the use
of language.

The use of language of the olth-r Ni< ;eans had namely spoken, as of one
ousia, so also of one hypostasis in the Trinity, \vitln.ut distingiii>hini: between
the two expressions, ami ha*! t hereby, in bold and exclusive accentuation of the
unity of being, strengthened the suspicion that this involved a dmial of the
independent personal subsistence of the son, so that on this ground Marcelluf
could regard himself as at one with Athanasius. This |>os>ihle apprehension
was now repudiated by the recognition of the justification of the use of lan-
guage preferred by the semi-Arian party, according to which Hypostasis, as the
exact designation of independent existence and personal subsistence, was con-
tracted witli the Ousia. a> the identical nature. ('One ou>ia. three hypostace>.
\"nl. Athanasius, T'»i>us ml AntiochffHOS, opp. I.. '_', p. tils ed. I':it.

There is really now accomplished an increasing approximation of
the hitherto Homoiousians to the Homousians. On the other hand
the Arians also unite themselves more closely with the Homoians.
The union of all declared foes of Arianism was indeed great lj* hin-
dered by many events. So especially by the circumstances of the
important city of Antioch.

THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY. 391

Her* Eustathius, who in his time had been the decided friend of the Nicsean
doctrine, had been deposed (330 vid. sup.}, and men of the Oriental central party
had succeeded him, but finally that Eudoxius who was favourable to the
Arians. When the latter in the next place, as we have seen, was raised to the
see of Constantinople, the highly esteemed MELETIUS, formerly Bishop of
Sebaste in Armenia, was raised to the bishopric of the so important Eastern
capital by the dominant (Acacian) party. He however disappointed the
expectations of this yet essentially Arian party, by his conceptions of doctrine,
which were very near to those of the Homoiousians, and in consequence he was
shortly deposed by the Emperor, and replaced by Euzoi'us, who was of Arian
opinions. As, however, a considerable portion of the community adhered to
Meletius, there existed in Antioch at the death of Constantius three ecclesias-
tical communities — the Eustathians, who were then under the guidance of
PAULINUS, the Meletians, »nd the community under Euzoi'us. It was just with
a, view to Antioch, that Athanasius now sought to work in the direction of
unity at the head of the above Synod of Alexandria. All who now accepted the
doctrine of Nicsea were to receive pardon for former deviations and remain in
their ecclesiastical offices, so far as they had not belonged to the leaders of the
hitherto existing party divisions. Athanasius and his followers were of course
obliged to regard the Eustathians under Paulinus as the properly orthodox
stock, but were ready to recognise the Meletians if they would fulfil those con-
ditions. A union therefore seemed possible, if a compromise could be brought
about with the personality of Meletius, who was just returning, since at the head
of the Eustathians there was only a presbyter and not a bishop (Eustathius
indeed seems to have been still alive, but at a distance from Antioch and after
an early resignation of his episcopal office there, vid. RE. 9, 534 note). But
Bishop LUCIFER of Calaris, who had lived in exile on account of his confes-
sion since 355 and was not wearied of publishing a series of most vehement
controversial writings against the Emperor Constantius, anticipated the at-
tempts at union by consecrating the presbyter Paulinus Bishop of Autioch.
before the arrival of the emissaries of the Synod of Alexandria, and thereby
greatly endangered the restoration of the peace of the Church, seeing that most
of the Orientals regarded not him but Meletius as the legal Bishop of Antioch,
while Athanasius and the West would not disavow Paulinus as the aged con-
fessor of theNicsean doctrine. On the whole Lucifer opposed the mild procedure
recommended in Alexandria, which as a matter of fact might and did result in
men who had at one time been deposed for their loyalty towards the Nic^ne
Creed, now seeing themselves prevented from returning to their positions, be-
cause the latter had meanwhile been occupied by more pliable persons who
were now making their peace with Nicsean orthodoxy. The zealous and rugged
man wished that all who in late years had been compromised through com-
plaisance towards Constantius — which included e.g. the whole Synod of Ari-
minum — should be received into church fellowship with the loss only of their
ecclesiastical offices, but that all who had been exiled should enter again into
their former rights. Over this matter Lucifer gradually fell into a rancorous
separation from the great church, the mass of the bishops in which he regarded,
not indeed without reason, as bound by false worldly considerations (vid.
Kruger, Lucifer v. Calaris, 1886).

A second difficulty was involved in the drawing of the doctrine of
the Holy Spirit into the discussions. Theological conceptions had
hitherto suffered from great iiidefimteness. It is true that the con-

392 CHURCH HISTORY.

nection of the Spirit with the Father and the Son in the baptismal
formula and confession, and the conviction of the Church that the
divine power was to be perceived in the Spirit which ruled through-
out the Church, in connection with the scheme of the subordina-
tional doctrine of the Logos, led to the inference that the third
place in the circle of evolution of the divine nature was to be
ascribed to the Holy Spirit. But this did not exclude the possi-
bility of seeing in Him a nature which nevertheless stood very
near the grade of the creatures. This consequence led Athana-
sius, as in the doctrine of the Son, so here also, to oppose that
strong subordination, and in place of the representation of an un-
folding of the divine nature descending to the world, which forms
the transition to the sphere of creation, to substitute the representa-
tion of the purely immanent divine self-unfolding into the transcen-
dent Trinity. His aim must necessarily have been the transference
of the notion of the Homousia to the Holy Spirit too. But it was
just this which involved a difficulty for the unification of the anti-
Aiian elements. Many (according to the account of the Egyptian
bishop Berapiou, of Thmuis) were inclined to separate themselves
decidedly from the Arians '' on account of blasphemies against the
Son," but cherished such petty notions concerning the Holy Spirit,
that they regarded Him as a creature, one of the ministering spirits
• Heb. i. 14), and therefore as the highest leader of the angel-world.1
Athanasius, who, in his last exile, had combated these opinions in
his letters to Serapion, r<'<juiiv<l at the above-mentioned Synod <»f
Alexandria i :»»'>•_> in>m all who were to be admitted, along with the
recognition of the Nicsean formula, the rejection also of the doctrine
that the Holy Spirit was a creature and separated from the nature
of Christ, for only he departed from the false doctrine of the Ari;ms,
who did not separate the Holy Trinity or designate anything in it
as a creature. But against this sonic of the semi- Arians strove, who
received the name of Macedonians from the eminent Bishop Mui.>
DOXIUS. In the stormy episcopal elections of Constantinople, which
had often led to tumult and bloodshed, this Man-donnis had fre-
quently played a part as rival to the orthodox candidates, then
again victoriously as the representative of the Oriental middle party
i since 350), till in the last turning of Constantius he had been driven
by the Arians out of the Emperor's favour as the h<-ad of the Homoi-
ousians. As the honoured leader of those Homoiousians who did
not join in turning to the Nicene doctrine, he was regarded as
the representative of that very doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which

1 Yi<l. cvrn ( 'yril «>f .Jcrilx. ( «/«•/,. 1C, -J.",

THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY. 39.,

prevented unification ; the Macedonians were regarded as Piieuma-
tomachi.

Nevertheless, after the death of Constantius and the internal free-
dom which was given under Julian, the process of unification of all
the opponents of Ariaiiism under the banner of the symbol ot Nicaea
makes powerful progress. After the short reign of Julian, Jovian
showed himself the friend of the Nicseans, but exercised much more
reserve than Constantius. Under him, in accordance with the inci-
tations of the above-mentioned Synod of Alexandria of 362, there
was held the assembly at Antioch under Meletius /363), where men
who belonged to the central party (and also the Arian Acacius for the
sake of accommodation) signed the confession of Nicsea. Next, how-
ever, the hostility to all non-Arians of the Emperor Valens, who was
disposed to Arianism, combined the latter ever closer together in
a common resistance. In this cause there now worked a series of
out-standing men, who all, equipped with the higher classical and
philosophical culture of the age, turned their interest towards the
dogma of the Church which had passed into the centre of the
movement of the time.

3. The Representatives of the Theology which had matured in the Arian

Controversy.

1. HILARY of Poitiers (Pictavium), since about 350 Bishop of his native
| city, was drawn into the dogmatic conflicts from which he had previously kept

aloof, by the efforts of Constantius to carry through the condemnation of
; Athanasius in the "West. His resistance led, in 356, to his banishment to the
I Asiatic Provinces, and the years which he passed here where he could move
i freely, increased the intimacy he had already acquired with the G-reek language
I and Greek theology, brought him into intercourse with eminent men, and gave
; him an opportunity of interfering in the controversy, as he did by the book
i De Synodin, by the elaboration of his chief work, De fide contra Arianox

generally called De triititate; 12 Books), then by taking part in the Synod of
.Seleucia (359), by his second book to Constantins (the first was written before
i his banishment) and his third and most vigorous one against him. Having
j returned to the West he used his influence in favour of unity in the sense of

Athanasius and the Synod of Alexandria, wrote against the Arian Auxentius
jof Milan, and died in 266. Grseco-dogniatic speculation is worked up by Hilary
I in an independent and energetic grouping of conceptions of a stamp peculiar

to himself even in linguistic form. In exegesis his commentary on the Gospel
<of Matthew makes use of the typico-allegorical method down to the smallest
• detail ; that on the Psalms, written after his return from the East, exhibits

a more many-sided treatment following Origen ; the one 011 Job (lost) was a
(translation of Origen. On the significance of Hilary for ecclesiastic h\ mnology

>'!<]. infra; Opp. eel. Maurin. 1G93 and Maffei, Verona 1730, Ml. 9 and 10;

UEINKEXS, Hilar. von Poitiers, Schaffhausen 1864.

2. On the Greek side there is to be mentioned APOI.LINARIS ('A7roAAu/d/>ios) the
'son of the Christian grammarian and rhetorician of the same name, who,

394 CHURCH HISTORY.

belonging to Alexandria, had taught in Berytus and had aftervvai-ds settled in
Laodicea in Syria. The son (the younger A.), who was of excellent classical
education, occupied in the Christian community there the position of a Lector
(anagnostes), but attended the lectures of the sophist Epiphanius who had :
remained a pagan, and is said, along with his father to have been tern- •
porarily excluded from church-fellowship by the local Bishop Theodorus, I
because he attended the solemn recitation of a hymn to Dionysos which began i
in the traditional manner by requiring all who were uninitiated to depart.
His listening to the poetical phrases was imputed to him as a denial of!
Christianity. But attachment to the fine arts and interest in the advancing '
power of Christian speculation were here still closely associated. When
Athanasius, on his way back from exile (346), touched at Laodicea, he was!
hospitably received by his countryman the elder Apollinaris and formed a!
friendship with his son. The latter was then, on account of his acceptance of
the doctrine of Athanasius, excommunicated by Bishop Georgius (taking advan-
tage of previous occurrences). The zealous friend of Athanasius then, like!
other Christians, lived at Antioch on friendly terms with the famous paganl
rhetorician Libanius (vid. his letters to ApollinarisX Finally he again appears)
as Bishop of Laodicea at the time of the Synod of Alexandria in 302, a mam
of many-sided literary activity, who combated the treatise of Porphyry the
enemy of Christianity, and made other appearances as an apologist; and when
Julian forbade Christians to become teachers of classical literature, he at-|
tempted to replace the latter by working up Christian matter in classical;
forms. Thus lie rendered the Biblical history of primitive times down to Sauli
in an epic of 24 cantos, making use of Biblical material imitated the comedies
of Menander, the Tragedies of Euripides and the Lyrics of Pindar, and para-;
phrased the I'>aliu> (cf. A. Lrnwiui. Kiniirjsh. Universitdtsprogramm for 1880!
and 1881). His dogmatic view on the Person of Christ (vid. mf.) afterwards
led him off t lie line which was regarded as orthodox and brought him into the;
reputation of false doctrine ; this circumstance has somewhat put in the shade]
in th<» later remembrance of the Church the great and outstanding significance
of the man and his far-reaching authority which may be still perceived from,
the words of Epiphanius ( Ifn-rrx. 77, I sq.) and from those of Suidas h:i-.><l on
IMiilostorgius. Vid. DI^ASKKK, Apoll. r. L. in ZWL. 1HH7, 4! I! I sqq. and Id. in

.iprTh. Xlll. <;.v.i.

3. Along with him account must be taken of the three Cappadocians : first.
BASIL, sprung from an esteemed family holding property in Pontus and Cappa-
docia. in which the remembrance of the last persecutions of the Church lived
as a family memory. Born about 31-50 at Ca-sarea in Cappadocia, the son of the
esteemed Christian attorney Basil, who however afterwards took up his abode
in Neo-Ctesarea in Pontus, and of EMMELIA the daughter of a martyr. Hi-
youth was influenced by his father's mother MACUINA (the elder) a living.1
witness of the last time of persecution, in whom the traditions of Gregory the
Thaumaturge, the famous apostle of Cappadocia, still lived. Three bishops
proceeded from this family; another brother of Basil turned finally from 6
secular career to the monastic life, and in the latter also the daughter. th<
younger Macrina, with her widowed mother, found her life-task. Thus tin
family exhibits in a special manner the power of the Christian tendency o
the age in a family of note. Basil received the higher secular education of th>
time in Caesarea. afterwards in Constantinople, and especially in Athens th-
centre of classical and philosophical studies, which was as yet but littlj
influenced by the Christian spirit of the age, under the celebrated sophist'

THE THREE CAPPADOCIANS. 395

Himerius, Proheeresius and others. Here a like enthusiasm for the sciences

accompanied by preservation of attachment to the Church united him with his

friend Gregory (of Nazianzen), whose close attachment to him began in Caesarea,

and who protected his later arrived friend against the pretensions of the rude

studentry. Here they saw Prince Julian who was silently filling his soul with

the ideals of the pagan past. Basil, who returned (about 357), was powerfully

seized by the spirit of the ascetic life, the practical philosophy of monasticism

(vid. sup. p. 359), but at the same time by an inclination towards the Church

which drew him away from the secular career which stood open to his rank

and education. After the period of his monastic retirement he began his

ecclesiastical career as Lector at his home at Ceesarea. Hitherto standing

aloof from the ecclesiastical doctrinal controversies, he here came into contact

with the chiefs of the Homoiousians ; but in himself there was now completed

the conversion he has depicted, the turning towards the Homousia, in which

the influence of Apollinaris was of weight (vid. as to the correspondence

between the two, DRASEKE, ZKG. 8, 55 sqq.). In this way, as presbyter and

afterwards from 370 as Bishop of Csesarea, he becomes one of the first

champions of the Nicene doctrine in its earlier form. The theology of Basil,

like that of his friend Gregory, is distinctly rooted in the study of Origen.

They composed in common the Philokalia, a florilegium from the works of

Origen, which exhibits his conception of Scripture and also his speculative

views. Also his celebrated exegetical homilies on the "Work of Six Days"

(Horn. 9 in Hexamerori) exhibit the influence of Origen in the introduction

i of cosmological learning and speculation although the ecclesiastical sense here

I lays narrower limits than Origen's on the allegoric method, which however

! Basil by no means despised. Full occupation with classical literature and

i philosophy confirms this Origenistic tendency, but Origen's dogmatic undergoes

a decided transformation in the two friends in consequence of the movement

caused by Athanasius, inasmuch as it turns away from the view which'

prevailed in the Oriental middle party based on an Origenistic foundation, and;

I distinctly turns towards that of Athanasius. Basil becomes, both in practical

I ecclesiastical activity and in literature, an outstanding champion of the-

Nicene doctrine, the latter particularly in the three Books against EUXOMIUS

I and in his treatise on the Holy Spirit (De spir. s. ad Amphilochium). His

numerous and classically tinged letters bring before us his active share in

(ecclesiastical transactions. On his moral writings vid. p. 3f>0. Opp. ed.

Garnier, Paris 1721 sqq., Mgr. 19-32. Cf. BOHRINGER, 7, 1, and RE. 2, 116.

4. Alongside of him stands his friend, GREGORY of Nazianzan, whose father

Gregory had belonged to the monotheistic sect of the Hypsistarians (vid. inf.)

! before, under the influence of his pious wife Nonna, he attached himself to the

[Christianity of the Church, and became Bishop of Nazianzeu in Cappadocia.

The son, born in the neighbouring Ariantium, had, after the residence in Athens

already mentioned, where he pursued his studies for about ten years, first of

jail passed some time with Basil in his monastic retirement He was next and

'half involuntarily made presbyter by his father whom lie withdrew from a

I disposition to yield to the Arians into the opinion of Athanasius. In the

numerous changes of his subsequent life there is betrayed the remarkable

jhesitancy of a finelj- strung but excitable nature, between the inclination

towards the contemplative and learned muse and that to ecclesiastical activity,

ithe darker side of which repelled him in clerical party life, while his rhetorically

jconstituted and not unambitious nature ever again impelled him into it.

Subsequently Basil, in favour of whose elevation to the bishopric Gregory

396 CHURCH HISTORY.

himself had co-operated, made him Bishop of the little city of Sasima ; he was
.able however to withdraw from this position in order to stay beside his aged '
father till the death of the latter (c. 374). He avoided the desire to retain ;
him as successor and withdrew into seclusion, until, after the death of the:
Emperor Valens, he was called by the small orthodox community which, un-i
der the oppression of the Arians, had hitherto kept itself in seclusion in the'
suburbs of Constantinople ; there he now. under an insignificant outward!
appearance, placed the spiritual eloquence which had been schooled in classical1
studies at the service of the Nicene doctrine of the faith, which gained for!
him the name of the Theologian, i.e. the teacher of the Godhead (the Trinity).1
Soon every one desires to hear him ; the passion for dogmatizing and disputa-'
tion of the populace of the capital is attracted, although he does not c, -ase,
alongside of the zeal for orthodoxy, to lay to heart the practical seriousness of
Christianity, and the claims of personal lovo and patience. The Emperor!
Theodosius introduces him and the orthodox doctrine into the chief churc-li of
Constantinople which the Arian bishop is obliged to vacate. At the Synod of
Constantinople (vid. inf.) he is solemnly elected as the rightful Bishop of thej
capital and consecrated by Melethis of Antioch. But. hurt by opposition to hisl
election, tilled with disinclination for ecclesiastical party practices and yearn-
ing for rest, he soon again resigns tins position and br;ngs his life to a clo-e in
his home at Nazianzen and the neighbouring property at Ariantium (tlisjioi
. A skillful author, of polished and not seldom striking language, he exhibits
in numerous letters classical elegance and ;. somewhat sententious quality : oJ
the forty-five orations, the famous so-called " theological" exhibit the dogmatic!
orator, the two directed against Julian (Xoyot a-T^\tT€vriK»i, Inri'i-tira- in ,/nl '
a rhetoric of passionate hate, the orations on elunvh feasts and anniversaries
of martyrs a somewhat self-complacent rhetoric. Among his numerous Poems
not meant for ecclesiastical use. there are some h.\mns of a contemplative sort*
on the Godhead, many finely jointed epigram-, but also mueh insignia-ant
versification; the poem DC r/ta s/ni is not without satirical severity and indig-
nation. Opp. ed. Clemencet, Paris 177s and 1S40, Mgr. 35-;K ULUMANN
(in ijnr rini \iiz/nii::. l^'2't. Bohringer. h'd. in ]iio;/r.

5. GKE<;ORY of Nyssa, the younger In-other of Basil and edueated by him
was retained by Gregory of Naxian/.en in the ecclesiastical .-;uver at a time
when he showed inclination to give himself up to the life of secular rhetoric
Although married, he was made bishop by liasil in the small town of Nyssa ini
•Cappadocia (371 or 372). The persecution of the Nicieans in the reign of
Valens gave rise to the deposition of Gregory, at the instigation of the Proou-j
rator of Pontus. by a Synod in Galatia. under tin- pretext of violation of ecclesi-
astical laws. He escaped into solitude and. after the death of Va!en<. wa-
received again with joy by his community. He now took part repeatedly in
ecclesiastical negotiations, as in the Synod of Constantinople in :!sl. where he
held the funeral oration upon Meletius who died there. The arrangement on
ecclesiastical aftairs took him on one occasion to Arabia and on this opportunity
to the Holy Places. In Constantinople he preached the funeral orationsof thfl
Prim-ess Pulcheria (386) and then of the Empress Phicilla : as late as 394 In'
took part in a synod there and must have died soon after. Of the three ( 'appa-
docian- Gregory is most of a speculative dogmatist, and at the same tinu

adheres most to specifically Origeni-t views; he too however decidedly follows

the bent towards the Trinitarian view of Athanasjus. in which however then
i- ;ilso necessarily involved a certain transformation of the fundamental notion*
of Origen's view of the world. He interferes in the dogmatic- controversy ir

GREGORY OF NYSSA. CYRIL. DIODORUS. 397

his chief work, the 12 Books against Eunomius, in which he enters into the

literary conflict previously carried on between Basil and Eunomius (the so-called

! 13th Book is a smaller independent treatise), in a number of smaller treatises

1 1 towards the doctrine of the Trinity, as well as by his work against APOLLINARIS

\(Antihereticus) ; the Oratio catechetica magna is a kind of Christian apologetic

and dogmatic with an attempt at a rational foundation, giving directions for

ithe instruction and bringing over of (educated) pagans and Jews (ed. Krabinger,

11838). The dialogue De anima et resurrectione treats of the soul, death, resur-

irection and restoration in the form of a conversation held after the death of his

(brother Basil with his sister Macrina, who was near to death (ed. Krabinger,

1837 ; H. SCHMIDT, Gregor von Nyxxci's Dialog iiber Seele und An f erst. Halle-

1864). Linked with the homilies of Basil on the Hexaemeron are the treatises

which are significant for their anthropological views, De hominis opiftcio and

\Apologia de hexaemeron, Opp. ed. Fronto Due. 1615, 2 vols., App. by Gretser 1618.

[In 3 vols., Paris 1638 ; with the onlj- edition since in Mgr. 41-48. Literature on

jhiru in RE. 5, 396 sqq.

6. Sharing in the same bent, we also find Didymus, a decided disciple of the
jOrigenist theology; although blinded in early youth, he became distinguished

for his comprehensive learning ; he was one of the last presidents of the
I Catechetical School of Alexandria, and taught there for over fifty years till
jabout 395. Of his writings, among which the exegetical were very numerous,
for the most part only fragments are extant, but the three books De trinitate
(Ed. Mingarelli, 1764), which were only brought to light last century, are pre-
served, and also the treatise on the Holy Spirit in the Latin translation or
rather revision of Jerome (Opp. Mgr. 39).

7. Bishop CYRIL of Jerusalem, starting from the Oriental middle party of the'
iHomoiousians and as a member of it. incurring the enmity of his metropolitan.
JAcacius of Caesarea, gradually completed the transition to Nicene orthodoxy, was
again persecuted under Valens and took part in the Council of Constantinople in
381. The twenty-three catecheses held by him while still presbyter in Jerusalem
(eighteen addressed to the compdentes, five to the newly baptized) are memo-
rials of the highest value, which show what was regarded as general instruc-
tion in Christianity. Opp. ed. Toutte and Maran. 1720, Mgr. 33.

8. DIODORUS, sprung from a highly respected family of Antioch, was educated
the same sources of classic culture as the Cappadocians and indeed, like

and Gregory, at Athens itself, but combined with these elements the
[learned traditions of Antioch which had proceeded from Lucian, but flowed to
pirn through the instruction of EUSBBIUS of Emisa. Sharply separated from
jthe Origenist school by his aversion from allegorical interpretation of Scripture,
jwhereby however he has no desire to throw contempt on the higher sense of:
Scripture (dtupia) which is necessarily required by the Christian conception of
the Old Testament, he nevertheless takes his place alongside of the Cappado-
jians not only by his enthusiastic devotion to the ascetic life, but also in his
lefence of the Nicene doctrine, for which latter he already worked when a
n-esbyter under Bishop Leontius of Antioch, then under Meletius, and after
I'lis banishment, in the Antioch which was so much broken up into parties,
ext, in 378, Meletius made him Bishop of Tarsus in Cilicia (f 394). Gradually
lowever, in the dogmatic negotiations, especially on the inducement of
iVpollinaris, there appeared in him that conception of the Person of Christ al-
j'eady prefigured in the Antiochene tendency, which is said to have brought him
Into a certain degree of discord with the other defenders of the Nicene doctrine-
Ud to have made him the founder of the dogmatic school of Antioch (p. 407)

398 CHURCH HISTORY.

:

9. In the region of Sja-ian and indeed East Syrian Christianity, outside the:
iiontier of the Eoman Empire and subject to Persian dominion, we note firstly i>
a Semitic Christianity which is still entirely untouched by the movements of,
Greek dogmatism, the distinguished representative of which is the above,
mentioned (p. 356) " Persian wise-man " Aphraates ('A^padn/s). " Mar Jakub "
"Sapiens Perm" as he is called in the one MS. at the end of the homilies, Bishop j
of Mar Mattai (Matthew) near Mosul, according to what appears to be an unex-ji
ceptionable memorandum in WRIGHT (catalogue of Syrian MSS. in the British
Museum. London 1871 II. p. 401, col. 2). His homilies or rather dissertations;
show the strong influence of Jewish Scriptural theology but at the same time ur-j
gent contention against the Judaism which rejects Jesus the Messiah, its specific!
legalism and its religious-national claims. In regard to the not beautiful com-
mands, which cannot give life (Ezek. xx. 25), \v/.. laws of sacrifice and purity,! :
Jie extols the mercy of Him who has taken away from us the hard and grievous! I
yoke and laid upon us His easy one (Hoin. 15», and emphasizes in tbe sense of
I nun. iv. 8 tbe idea that faith was earlier than the circumcision (Horn. 11).;
Ancient Syrian traditions are maintained by him. lie makes use of Tatian's L)ia-j I
tessaron as Holy Scripture, and after effects of Tatian's doctrine of the Spirit of, j
God in man (RE. 15,201) are also found \ Horn. <i.i; views, the objectionability of
which Bishop Gregory tin- Aralran \riil. I!YN-I;I,. /•;/// />'/•/<_/' <;/-.'s </. Arab.,, I
Gotha 1883) sought to modify. Homily 12 exhibits him as a Quartodeciman on I
a peculiar basis. His confession of faitb (Horn. 1. 15) is not yet at all grouped) I
.according to the Trinity. ;md he is entirely untouched by tin- further develop-
ment of Greek theology, especially by the logos-speculation in the sense of thejl
latter, and founds the forcibly emphasised divinity of Christ, purely in the sense I
of John x. 3-1 sq., by appeal to OM 'IV-taim-nt passages, like Ps. Ixxxii. 6 sq.—
The 23 dissertation-;, which were first published in Syriac, by WKKJHT, wore! t
very early translated into Armenian and here ascribed to the other James to bell
mentioned immediately (cf. < Jeiinad. I ' >>• r/r. ill. 1.); vid. Jacohi X/'s/hi'iif <>/i/>.
omn. ex arni<-n<> /// lot. aerm. transl. a N. Antonelli, Rome IT'i'i'also in (Jail.. '
Bibl. V.). Vid. A/i/ird/nit's </<-\ /UTS. MY/.sr/f Il»niilii'ii. <nis </-•/// .S'///-. iilx-rx. urul
t-rlitiifi'i-t run ( .'. Ili-rt iC. bhardt and Ha mark. Texte und For-clmngen III. :.' and
4. Leipsic 1^^ . On him aK«> S\^>i: /'/•'//<-,/. in Ajj/ir. si-rut., Lp/. ls7it. ,lac.|
FORC.ET, DC r/'fii ft >•( -ft/it /s Afihr.. Louvain iss-j.

On the other hand the somewhat older eontemporary of Aphraates in Roman
Syria, JACOBUS (James) of N'isibis (t :;:!s i- already in closer touch with (Jreekj
Christianity. He was present at the Synod of Nic;ea. and liis disciple tilt-
celebrated prophet of the Syrians and fertile author KI-IIKAKM (projierly
Ephraim) was the decided representative of At hana<ian ori hodoxy in the East.;
Born at Nisibis, afterwards, when Nisibis fell l>aek under Persian dominion, he1
lived in and near Edessa, highly estf.-ine.d a^ an ascetic and a (popular preachei
(f 378). To a great extent Ephraem gave its stamp to the theological literature1
of the Sy r;ans, by making it in its peculiar form at the >ame time the h -arei
of the Greek dogmatic (doctrine of the Trinity, afterwards doctrine of twc
natures or rather monophysit ism ). which is more embellished with Orienta
figurative fancy than developed in logical dialectic. Apart from his commen-
taries, which include a great part of the llilile. Kphraem compo-,.,1 the wholt4
of tbe rest of his works, homilies and addresses as well as polemical dis>erta
tions. for (lO)iular delivery and aim, in poetical form, just a^ l'.ardc-:mes and
Harmonius bad at one time sought in this form to gain reception for doctrines
Tliis he did in versus with a deiinitj number of syllables, hut without pro>odii-a
measure in Kphraem mostiy of -even s\ llalile-.. of which each delinite nuiiilx'i

AK1A1V1&M. 399

were grouped as a strophe. This poetical form lent to homilies and addresses a
certain measured solemnity, and in passages of more lyrical character could
rise to a poetical flight. The distinctly lyrical productions, such as Ephraem's
funeral songs, rise to the proper character of hymns. Opp. partly in Syriac,
partly in Greek translation, ed. Assemani, 6 vols. Rome 1732 sq. In addition,
theffymm et sermones, ed. Lamy, Louvain 1832. What is preserved in Armenian
published by the Mechitarist monks, Venice 1836 (cf. p. 176).

10. But in the Latin West the younger generation of Nicaeans is above all
represented by AMBROSE, who, Bishop of Milan from 474, was of the greatest
importance in his personality (vid. inf.) ; through his dogmatic writings also
(Defide, 11. 3; De spir sancto, 11. 3; De incarnationis sacramento) in which as
also in his exegetical works he is dependent on the Greeks, he exercised im-
portant influence.

4. The setting aside of Arianism in the Church of the Empire.

Sources: Codex Theodosianus XVI., 1 sqq. Cf. p. 382 and A. HARNACK in RE.
5, 353, and UHLHORX, ibid. 15, 408.

Valentinian I. (364-375), elevated by the army, had succeeded
Jovian, and himself entered upon the empire of the "West, but gave
over that of the East to his brother VALENS ( — 378). In the "West,
after the oppression ceased with the death of Constantius, attach-
ment to the Nicene doctrine, to which the Emperor Valentinian also
addicted himself, had again become victorious, although many
bishops who had been appointed by Constantius, e.g. AUXENTIUS in
the important city of Milan, still stood on the Arian side. Roman
synods, under Bishop DAMASUS (369, 374), likewise a great Illyrian
synod in 375, decidedly declared for the Homousia of the Son, and
I not less, against the Pneumatomachi, for the divinity of the Spirit,
to which the expression of Homousia is already expressly applied
in this Illyrian synod. Now also in Milan, AMBROSE, the secular
official of high repute who found himself suddenly called to the
(episcopate by the people, appears decidedly on this side, although
jArians had also voted for his election, and exercises a determining
! influence on the young Emperor Grratian (375-383).

On the other hand in the East, VALENS, who had been baptized
by the Arian Eudoxius of Constantinople and remained under his
j influence, had laid hold of the Arian party, as finally favoured
| by Constantius (Homoiousians with repudiation of Ae'tius and
Eunomius as the extreme party), and in his tyrannical way sought
to make it supreme. In Alexandria, where Valens feared popular
'Opinion, Athanasius indeed remained unassailed till his death (373).
'Then, however, his orthodox successor, PETER, was displaced by
|Lucius, who was brought in by force of arms, and persecution
iwas carried on against the Egyptian monks who were devoted
Ito Athanasius. But it was especially the East, where on account

400 CHURCH HISTORY.

of Persia, Valens resided for some time after the close of the Gothic
war, which had to experience his ruthless and capricious attacks -
In Constantinople the capital also, after the death of Eudoxius it
came to vehement conflicts between the two parties; the destnic- •<
tion on a burning vessel of a great number of orthodox presbyters
and deputies who had brought their complaints before Valens in
N loomed i a, was ascribed to the instigation of the Emperor.

Under this Arian rule, the amalgamation of the Homoiousiansj
with the Niceeans, in spite of the opposing difficulties, made in-
creasing progress. Homoiousians indeed attempted at the Synod
of Lampsacus (365) under Eleusius to maintain their earlier middle i
position, but, as they would hold no church fellowship with Eu-
doxius, fell under the same persecution as the Nicseans (banishment
of the bishops .

Different semi- Arian synods of Asia Minor now sought by:
emissaries attachment to Rome and the Roman Bishop LTBERIUS,!B
and the protection of the Emperor Valentinian I., and as a matter; j
of fact were recognised on the ground of the Nicene Symbol! J
approved by them (about 366 1. Meanwhile much vacillation was! I
also exhibited, as in the case of EUSTATHIUS of Sebaste, who had|l
stood at the head of this embassage and who afterwards fell back I
again to the Arian side and with him many others. The three
Cappadocians, however, worked successfully in the interest of arealil
theological e..nviction in the ways of Athanasius, by at the samejl
time seeking to set aside the old objections by moans of prudent;
definition of dogmatic terminology, and --which holds especially •,
of Basil— by proceeding in their championship of the Godhead off!
the Spirit with great prudence and regard to the ideas which ;
had hitherto been so fluctuating. The negotiation with Rome
(Damasus) for the restoration of complete ecclesiastical peace, in the
cause of which Basil exerted himself, at first still supported by
Athanasius, advanced slowly on account of the distrust of the]
Latins in the uprightness of the Orientals and on account of the
Meletian affair. But the victory of the Nicene doctrine was already
internally decided by the adherence to it of personalities which
turned the scale in favour of this doctrine which was most in
accord with fundamental Christian sentiment, when after the death
of Valens (in August. .'578) the oppression ceased, and the Km prim
Gratian, who from the very beginning of his reign in the West
(:>7r>, had been an adherent of the Nicene doctrine, permitted the
exiled bishops to return. A great assembly of one hundiel and
lorty-six Oriental bishops, under the presidency of Meletius at

END OF ARIANISM. 401

Antioch (in the autumn of 378), now subscribed to the dogmatic de-
clarations of the Roman Synod of 369. The rulers, GRATIAN and
the Spaniard THEODOSIUS who had been elevated by him to a share
in the Empire, now, by the edicts of 380 and 381, took up the
part of the orthodox confession on behalf of the State, the churches
in Constantinople were taken from the Arians, heretical worship
was forbidden in the cities in general, and the great Synod of
Constantinople (381), attended by bishops of the Eastern half of
the Empire, confirmed the Nicene doctrine, and after vain attempts
to win over the Macedonians, repudiated their doctrine of the Holy
Spirit, as also the doctrine of Apollinaris.

The so-called Niceeno-Constantinopolitan Symbol (HAHX, Bibl. d. Synib. 2, p.
37 sqq.) is not the Nicsenum which was provided with additions at this synod
and brought into acceptance in this form, but a creed brought forward and
recommended by Epiphanius (Ancoratus, 121) as early as 374, which, as a
baptismal creed completed in the Nicene spirit, shows itself to belong to the
Church of Jerusalem. While CASPARI (zur Gesch. des Taufxymbols, in ZITh.
1857, 634, and the pieces adduced in the Quellen zur Gesch. d. Taufsymb., I.
1886, p. vi.) regards this creed as accepted by the Fathers at Constantinople,
HARNACK (RE. 8, 212), following HORT (Two dissertations, Cambr. 1876) and
others, has made it obvious that it was not attributed to this synod, which indeed
in the letter of the synod of 382 to that of Rome was already designated as
oiKovfjLfvrj crvvoSos (Theodoret, 5, 9), but in truth only attained the authority of an
oecumenical council later on, not till somewhat later than 451 (Chalcedon).

In the West, where, contemporaneously, a Synod of Aquileia
deposed two Illyrian bishops for Arianism at the instigation of
Ambrose, a certain bad feeling against the Greeks was still domi-
nant, especially when, at Constantinople, by the choice of Flavian
to succeed Meletius, they had allowed to pass the opportunity
of adjusting the Aiitiochene schism, which might have resulted
from the recognition of Paulinus, the head of the Eustathians. At
Aquileia there was a desire for another great assembly, perhaps at
Alexandria. But Theodosius summoned another to Constantinople
j(382), which rejected the invitation of the Latins to come to Rome,
and confined itself to issuing an orthodox declaration appealing
to the volume of the Synod of Antioch of 378 and the declaration
of the Synod of 381, in a synodal letter to the Roman assembly
(Theodoret, 5, 9), in which Epiphanius of Cyprus and Paulinus of
Antioch took part along with Ambrose and Jerome.
j Nevertheless, the continued agitation of parties gave Theodosius
{occasion once more to bring the parties to negotiate. The new
'Patriarch of Constantinople, Nectarius, was obliged to negotiate
{with the Novatian Bishop Agelius (vid. sup. p. 264) as to the means
of winning the Arians ; confessions were presented from various sides,

26

402 CHURCH HISTORY.

even from EUNOMIUS ;x but the decision was given in favour of ortho-
doxy. In the West, JUSTINA, the widow of Valentiuian I. and
step-mother of Gratian, after the early death of the latter, as
Regent for her infant son Valentinian II., still sought to maintain
the Arianism to which she was passionately devoted. Freedom of
assembly for worship was conceded to all adherents of the resolu-
tions of Ariminum (386, vid. Cod. Theod. XIII. 1, 3) : all who resisted
them were threatened with severe punishment. The scattered
elements of Arianism sought refuge at her court at Milan ; but just
here Ambrose most tenaciously resisted her exertions to gain ground
for Arianism, and successfully refused (Easter 385 and 386) the
surrender of a basilica to the Arians ; his position at the head of
the orthodox populace of the capital was more powerful than that
of the Empress, who, in opposition to the spiritual authority of
Ambrose, could not even put her trust in the soldiers. When
VALENTINIAN II. had obtained the help of Theodosius against the
usurper Maximtis, and Justina was dead .">ss . Valentinian II. went
over to the side of orthodoxy and Arianism gradually declined in
the Church of the Empire. After the emancipation of the Church
by Constantine had led to its recognition by the State, and in con-
sequence it had become one of the most important institutions of
the Empire, under these historical circumstances the long Arian I
conflict had the result that among1 the conflicting" party confes-
sions only the one which was reg-arded as orthodox received State i
protection and recognition ; the unity of belief of the church pro-
tected by State resources was maintained by the suppression of the
parties holding other beliefs, so far as they sought to give them-'
selves a distinct character in worship and constitution, and heresy
in this sense became a crime prosecuted by the, State. The measures'
of Gratian and Theodosius decisively laid the foundations therefor.il

The Arian conflict, starting from the divinity of Christ, but also including! I
the divinity of the Spirit necessitated the more exact development of the
doctrine of the Trinity in fixed technical terms. The Son and Spirit, to whom,
eternal Godhead, but at the same time eternal hypostatic independence injl
contrast to the Father was ascribed, had to be so grouped in a trinity (T/nas,j (i
trinitas) with the Father, as to assert both the unity of God and the triuitarianj
distinction. After initial vacillation in the use of language, the terminology!
was fixed on the basis of the discussions especially of the three Cappadocians:
One nature (ovo-to, essentia) in three subjects (vTroo-rao-tis, persona1.) whereby
the unity of nature was not merely to be the generic conception for tin
independent individuals, and the hypostases also not mere modi, but in

1 Vid. in G. RETTBEKG, Marcelliana, p. 147 sqq. and THILO, Bif>l. ]>nfr. Grc
doymatica, II. ftlG sqq.

ORIGENIST CONTROVERSIES. 403

dependent bearers or centra of all the common divine qualities, each under a
particular determination (ayevvr/a-ia of the Father, yiwqcris of the Son, eKTroptvcris
of the Holy Spirit). At the same time the Greeks adhered firmly to a certain
subordination of the Son and Spirit to the Father as the highest all-including
apxr) of the Godhead. AUGUSTIXE (De trinitate, vid. inf.) was the first to
attempt to set this aside. While strictly holding the unity he makes the whole
Godhead present in each of the persons, and indeed in such a way as to make
these persons appear as different internal relations of the One God. who stand
in an entirely reciprocal relation to one another ; a relation which he explains
by the analogy of the different moments of the unitary human self-conscious-
ness-

5. The Origenist Controversies.

The theology of Origen (vid. p. 209) was early the object of attacks. On the
whole however among the theologians of the fourth century the feeling that they
stood on his shoulders was very strong. ATHAXASIUS does not allow himself to
be induced by the attachment of Arius to the one side of the Origenist doctrine
of God and his appeal to the authority of the Origenist Dionysius, to deny the
consciousness of the connection of his own view (doctrine of the eternal genera-
tion of the Logos) with the theology of the great teacher. He believes that in
j the positive doctrines he has him essentially on his side, from which he seeks
to distinguish what else is brought forward by the industrious scholar in the
way of free investigation (De deer. Nic. Syn. c. 27). The Oriental middle party
in the Avian controversy had still further ground for adhering to the traditions
of Origen, and their representative, Eusebius of Csesarea, follows his traces in
the whole extent of his theological erudition. But even the adherence of this
middle party to the decided Nicene doctrine does not hinder the Cappadocians
from reverencing the great theologian to whom in a special degree they owed
jtheir culture; and GREGORY of Nyssa and DIDYMUS of Alexandria along with
Idecided orthodoxy in the doctrine of the Trinity yet represented unhesita-
jtingly many Origenist special doctrines, which had already aroused objections.
Western Church teachers too, Hilary, Eusebius of Vercelli and Ambrose,
Irew from the stores of Origenist Scriptural theology. But during the same
jperiod the mistrustful attitude towards Origen finds nourishment, and it is
just in the powerfully rising monasticism that fanatical hatred for Origen
the heretic, such as is attributed to Pachomius, stands alongside of reverence for
Drigen and zealous study of his writings. Epiphanius saw the heresy of Origen
sprouting up among the monks and anchorets. And the spirit which quickly
gains ascendency in the whole conduct of the Arian controversy, the spirit
i)f ecclesiastical dogmatism, nourished antipathy to the free speculation of
Drigen, in which indeed in so high a degree the Gospel is mingled with alien
bhilosophy. The most decided representative of this spirit of ecclesiastical
Wthodoxy is the EPIPHANIUS already mentioned, who was born in the neigh-
jjourhood of Eleutheropolis in Palestine ; seized in his early youth by the new
Ipirit of the rising monasticism, he freed himself in Egypt from the seductions
i>f the Gnostics and by delivering up their books to the bishops brought about
he expulsion of eighty heretics from the cities. The strict monastic spirit
s here combined with zeal for correct ecclesiastical doctrinal propositions.
lifter he had presided as abbot ovor a Palestinian monastery for nearly a life-
ime, he became in 367 Bishop of Constantia (Salamis) in Cyprus. His literary
leal was directed towards the inculcation of the orthodox faith. His 'AyKvpwro?
,374) — " the firmly anchored," a presentation of the orthodox belief, — shows

404 CHURCH HISTORY.

what points were at that time included in the latter. This great, very wide-
sweeping and felicitously composed but at the same time most uncritical work,
though to us it is most valuable because of the sources of which it makes use,
consisting of a representation and refutation of all the false doctrines which
had appeared in the Church from the beginning, bears the title of Panarion,
i.e. Apothecary's chest in which the antidote to all heretical poison may
be found, and enumerates eighty heresies. The 'Ai/aKe^aXaicoo-t? is a short
epitome of these heresies in a somewhat different order. An essay on Measures
and Weights in Holy Scripture (completed by LAGARDE, Symmikta, vol. 2,
1880, from the only preserved version, in Syriac) treats, besides those mentioned
in the title, of many other matters relating to Biblical Introduction. Opp.
ed. D. Petavius. 2 vols. Paris 1622, Dindorf, 5 vols. 1859, Mgr. 41-43.

In the doctrine of Origen Epiphanius saw particularh* incurable heresy
which he combated with the whole zeal of his limited but honourable nature.
The opportunity of doing so offered itself to him on a visit to Jerusalem.
Here in the last decades of the fourth century there had gathered a circle of;
men who were devoted with equal zeal to the monastic life and to theological
studies; they were in close intercourse with Bishop John of Jerusalem, an
admirer of Origen. To this circle belonged RrKixrs of Aquileia \ri<l. >'//>.
p. 365), who had attended the Origenist Didymus in Egypt, and JEROMK. the
most zealous collector of Origen's writings. who>e ambition it was to approach!
him in scholarship and theological knowledge. He began to make Origen
better known in the West by Latin translations of his writings. But alter
some other attacks had already made him more prudent, Epiphanius came to
Palestine (394) and preached against the false doctrines of Origen. .John
regarded him as a narrow zealot, but with the multitude he enjoyed the
reputation of great sanctity. He broke with Bishop John and required the like
action of Jerome and the monks over whom he presided at Bethlehem •
Infringing on the rights of John he, himself ordained Paulinian, a brother ol
Jerome, presbyter. Jerome, concerned as to his repute for orthodoxy, took1
the side of Epiphanius. and thereby came to variance with his hitherto friend
Rufinus. This conflict in Palestine was indeed adjusted through the inter- i
vention of Bishop TnEOpmn's of Alexandria. But. after his return to the
West, llutinus translated the Apology of Pamphilus for Origen (p. 216), glanced* |
at his belittlers in the preface, but guarded himself against certain falsi
doctrines of Origen's, especially in regard to the Trinity and the doctrine ol
the Resurrection. He thought to be able to relieve Origen by the hypothes^
that false teachers had interpolated his writings. Next, in the preface to hifi
translation of Origen, !><• I'riiH-i piix, he vindicated his undertaking and th(!
method he had observed of modifying certain dogmatically dubious expression*
of Origen's, by appeal to the similar procedure of Jerome, who formerly hat'
so highly praised Origen, but now appeared to have discontinued his transla
Hons. Jerome took this in very had part, wrote, in order to expose tin
procedure of Rufinus, a verbal translation of the chief work of Origon. am
sought in every way to disavow his Origenist past. Hence arose a most odioiii
conflict between the two old friends (Rufini A/>»l»i/><i «. inr«-tirtr in lli<-r»n
11. -J ; Hieronymi. A/>/>/or//d a/I'-, /,'n/in. 11. :!. Ml. ~2\ ). Bishop AnaMasius of Rome
induced by Theophilus of Alexandria, who was now also turning against th1
Origenists, cited Rufinus, who had retired to Aquileia. before his tribunai.
Rufinus however did not come. >ent in a written defence, and Anastasiua
the matter drop.

The prodigal and ambitious TIIKOIMULUS had declared himself in 399decidedl.

THEOPHILUS OF ALEXANDRIA. 405

against so-called anthropomorphism, i.e. against that popular view which, in
the sharpest contrast with the spiritualism of Origen, ascribed to God a body
and a human form, he had represented the doctrine that the Godhead but also
it alone was to be conceived as entirely non-material ; on this point he was
attacked by the fanatic monks, highly reputed for sanctity, of the Scetic Desert,
and was so intimidated, that he assented to a condemnation of the works of
Origen. At the same time he made use of this change of attitude against out-
standing Origenist monks of the Nitrian Mountains, especially the " Four tall
brothers," who had assisted the Presbyter Isidore when the latter, by his can-
did censure of the episcopal administration, had drawn upon himself the hatred
of the bishop and fled to those monks. Theophilus now actually pronounced
the condemnation of Origen at a Synod at Alexandria (399). carried through a
similar declaration at a very stormy assembly in the Nitrian Mountains, and
declared himself of the same opinion in the Easter Letter for the year 401.
Hundreds of monks were expelled by him, of whom a great part turned to
Palestine where also John of Jerusalem was afraid to receive them; others,
among them the " tall brothers," came to Constantinople. Here flourished at
that time the most celebrated orator of the Greek Church, JOHN, called CHRYSOS-
TOM by posterity. He was born at Antioch about 347, the son of Secundus the
Magister militum Orientis and Arethusa, from whom he derived his strongest
religious impulses. He had received his higher education in the spirit of the
age from the famous rhetorician and sophist Libanius, but from the secular
career of a rhetorician which he had begun, he turned to that of the church,
was instructed, baptized and made a Lector by Bishop Meletius of Antioch.
Like so many of his eminent Christian contemporaries he was powerfully seized
by the spirit of monasticism, lived for years retired in monkish society, but
was at the same time introduced to theological studies by DIODORUS (p. 397).
After becoming presbyter in 386, he developed the powerful preaching activity
in which pure Greek rhetoric was yet combined with deep moral earnestness,
and thereby became a popular guide of souls of the highest influence. Next
the influential favourite of the Emperor Arcadius, the eunuch Eutropius, who
ruled the empire, had made him Bishop of Constantinople, and Theophilus of
Alexandria had been obliged to give him the necessary consecration. In this
way he had come into a very threatening atmosphere. The Goths as dangerous
friends were in the pay of the Emperor and in the heart of the Empire. Their
leader Gainas was the first general of the Eastern Empire. In Asia Minor the
Goth Tribigild threatened a dangerous insurrection. Gainas made use of the
threatening state of affairs to bring about the fall of the hated Eutropius, but
besides, to compel the Emperor to dismiss his most capable statesmen. He now
demanded a church in Constantinople for the Gothic Arians, a requirement
which Chrysostom most decidedly opposed. It was only by an unexpected turn
of events that Constantinople was preserved from becoming a prey to the Goths.
Chrysostom had championed the so-called right of asylum of the church (p. 318)
in opposition to Eutropius. Eutropius procured a law which was meant to
withdraw this right from the church, but had himself to take refuge by the
altar when the general storm broke out against him. In regard to the church,
Chrysostom had been obliged to make himself not a few enemies. At the
Synods of Constantinople (400) and Ephesus he had deposed a number of
bishops from their offices and appointed new bishops. Now, those Egyptian
monks applied to him, he received them (401) and interceded for them with
Theophilus, respecting meanwhile, however, their excommunication by him.
The monks gained the Empress Eudoxia for their cause, and at her instigation

406 CHURCH HISTORY.

Arcadius summoned Theophilus to Constantinople to answer for himself. The
latter however now set all his levers in motion; he required the agedEpiphanius
whom he had already induced to an express condemnation of Origen (401), to go
to Constantinople to join him in combating thei'e the protected Origen. In his
zeal he actually came to the capital, but here his eyes were opened to the sordid
wiles of Theophilus, and he turned his back on the court, but died on the way
home. But Theophilus knew how to dra\v to his side all the elements of the
clergy and the court that were discontented with the Christian earnestness of
Chrysostom ; the Empress too was wounded by the strict preacher of mora-
lity. Thus Theophilus, after some hesitation (403), appeared not as the accused,
but as judge, and held a synod (*//». <"J quercttm) at the Imperial estate near
Chalcedon called >: The Oak," as he was afraid of the populace of the capital.
Chrysostom refused to attend this hostile synod, and was deposed on the ground
of all sorts of complaints against his conduct of office which were brought
forward by clergy and monks hostile to him. It was at the same time left in
the hands of the Emperor to banish him, as he was a No charged with treason.
The matter of the Origenist monks did not come under consideration. The un-
easiness of the capital, increased by the occurrence of an earthquake which terri-
fied the Empress, caused the recall of Chrysostom, who was already on his way
into exile. Chrysostom returned in triumph and Theophilus Hed to Alexan-
dria. But the rehabilitation by a .synod which Chrysostom demanded was
delayed, and the populace foi-ced him at once to resume his office. The proceed-
ings at the erection of a silver memorial pillar for tin Kmpress gave opportu-
nity for expressions of Chrysostom which anew excited her wrath. Theopliilus
continued his intrigues ; a new assembly declared ( 'hrysostom deposed because
he had resumed office without being restored (according to Canon 12 of the
Synod of Antioch of 341). During the Master vigil of 401 Chrysostom was
suspended and sent to Nictea. and then farther to Cucusus on the Armenian-
Isaurian frontier. From this point he remained in lively correspondence with
the part of the community remaining faithful to him, and wrought at missi
work among Persians and Goths. Innocent I. of Home recognised his ortho-
doxy, and with the support of the Kmprn.r Honorius demanded his return.
But Chrysostom was banished still farther to Pityus on the Black Sea, suc-
cumbed to sickness and fatigue on the way, and died with the words. " Cod be
thanked for everything" K>7i. In Constantinople the community of the
Johannites held themselves apart. The second successor of Chrysostom, Attica^
did indeed restore the obliterated name of Chry.-ostom to the tables of the
church, but the schism did not cease till the Patriarch I'roclus, the successor of
Nestorius, caused the bones of Chrysostom to be brought to Constantinople
(438), and the Emperor Tliendc»ins II.. aft"r asking pardon on his knees, caused
them to be laid in the Imperial vault.

6. Greek Theology from the close of the Arian Controversy to the

end of the Period.

1. In the odious conflict which has been depicted Chrysostom only comes
under consideration as the occupant of the see of Constantinople who was hated
by the hierarch of Alexandria, not with reference to his theological tendency.
His theological culture is rather that of Antioch. His importance lies h-- in
the sphere of dogmatics, although he also took part in dogmatic polemics (ml.
the 12 Homilies against the Anonueans, !)<• in<-<»n i>r<'liriixihili) than in that of
ecclesiastical pulpit eloquence; of great effect e.0. were his sermons De statute

CHRYSOSTOM. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTJA. 407

ad popul. Antiochice, delivered by him as presbyter in Antioch, when the
people, excited by great pressure of taxation, allowed themselves to be carried
the length of throwing down the statues of the Emperor Theodosius and his
family (387), and when on that account severe penalties were threatened, for the
turning aside of which Flavian, the then bishop of Antioch, successfully exerted
himself. Many homilies extend as running scriptural expositions over a great
portion of books of the Bible, in which Antiochene scriptural exegesis finds a
modified ecclesiastical application, i.e. without entirely disdaining the use of
allegory in the service of dogmatic theology ; as a rule they end in moral
applications. Alongside of these there are a few commentaries proper. The six
books Uepl lepoa-vvrjs are in the form of a dialogue between Chrysostom and Basil
the friend of his youth (not the Cappadocian, who was nearly twenty years
older), in vindication of the fact that he had himself withdrawn from the
priesthood (office of bishop), while by a trick he had induced Basil to assume it.
The treatise extols the high spiritual dignity of the priesthood, which makes
the highest demands of purity and holiness in the offerer of the holy sacrifice
and demands wisdom in the treatment of souls and devotion for all, knowledge
of the world and entire mastery of the Word, spiritual eloquence. Separate
editions by Bengel, 1725. Leipsic 1825, 1865. Greece c. notis ed. Leo, Lps.
1834. Frequently translated into German e.g. by SCHOLZ, Magdeburg 1847.
HANS, Tubingen 1868. Tractate in recommendation and defence of the monastic
life and the ascetic conception of Christianity. Opp. ed. Montfaucon, 13 vols.
Paris 1718. Mgr. 43-64. Opp. prsestantiss. ed. Lommler Rudolph, 1840. A.
NBANDER, Chrys. 3rd ed., 1848. Bohringer, 2nd ed., IX. TH. FORSTER, Chr. u.
s. Verh. zur. antioch. Schule, 1869. Funk, ThQ. 1875.

In regard to science and learning the school of Antioch reaches its highest
point in THEODORE, born at Antioch, educated in rhetoric by Libanius, in
theology by Diodorus (vid. sup.), at the same time under the influence of the
latter's somewhat elder disciple John (Chrysostom), who kept him to the prob-
lems of the Church and the ascetic ideal when he was inclining towards a
secular career (Chrysostom, Ad Theodorum lapsum). Ordained a presbyter in
Antioch, he next went to Tarsus to Diodorus, and finally became Bishop of
Mopsuestia in Cilicia Secunda, where he died in 428 or 429. Of his commen-
taries extending over the greater part of Holy Scripture that on the Minor
Prophets is preserved in Greek, that on the Epistles of Paul in a Latin transit*
tion (with exception of Romans and Corinthians) under the false name of Hilary
(in Pitra Spic. Solenn. I. 49 sqq. Vid. JACOBI, Die hallische, Programme, 1855-
1860, and especially SWETE, Theodori in ep. Pauli comment. 2 vols. Cambridge
1880, 82) ; numerous fragments in the Catenas, especially on the Epistle to the
Romans. Much must still be to be found in Syriac translation or revision (on
the commentary on the Psalms, vid. BATHGEN in ZAT. 5, 53 sqq. ; 4, 261 sqq. ;
7, 1 sqq.). This Antiochene study of Scripture is essentially of the Hellenic sort,
based on the LXX., in Theodore himself accompanied by a low estimation of
the Syriac translation of the Bible. Theodore wrote on allegory and history
against Origen (cf. sup. p. 380), doubtless in the sense of Diodorus of Tarsus.
Grammatico-historical explanation and observation of the temporal horizon of
the writer, even where the indwelling typical character of prophecy is recog-
nised, and on the other hand free judgment on the canon and the value of
individual books, are the outstanding characteristics of the exegesis. — Theodore
stood on undisturbed relations with Theophilus of Alexandria, and sent his suc-
cessor Cyril his explanation of Job; but in his combating of Apollinaris and
Eunomius (fifteen books composed while still in Antioch), and the treatise

408 CHURCH HISTORY.

written thirty years later against Apollinaris (both lost except mere fragments),
the Christological view is clearly impressed which concealed within itself sharp
opposition to the Neo- Alexandrian tendency ; so also his treatise Ilpns TOVS \tyov-
Tas (pvcrai KOI ov yixaprj irraitiv TOVS dvdpunovs (list of contents in Phot. Bibl. C. 177)
confronts Jerome in defence of the Augustinian doctrine of original sin. — Opp.
Mgr. 66 ; SACHAU, Th. Mopsv. fragmenta Syr. Lps. 1869, BATHGEN I.e. —
FKITZSCHE, De Theod. M. vita et scriptis, 1836. H. KIHN, Th. v. M. und Junilius
Afr. als Exegeten, 1880. RE. 15, 395.— A brother of Theodore, POLYCHRONIUS,
Bishop of Apamea, was, according to the fragments preserved in the Catenas,
an outstanding representative of Antiochene scriptural exegesis, wrote commen-
taries on Job, Daniel and Ezekiel, and in opposition to the current view of the
Church as represented by Apollinaris, maintained the historical reference of the
Antichrist in Daniel to Antiochus Epiphanes. Vid. Mgr. 101. BARDENHEWER,
Polychr. 1879.

Finally the school of Antioch also owes its learned culture to THEODORET.
Having grown up as a boy in reverence of pious ascetics, then, educated in a
monastery in the neighbourhood of Antioch, he adopted the ecclesiastical career,
which he ascended from the lectorship, and about 423 bacame Bishop of Kyros
or Kyrrhos in the ecclesiastical province of the Euphrates, a very wide-spread
but poor diocese. In this Eastern district he combated all sorts of heretical
communities, Marcionites especially (cf. p. 174). He is a very learned and many-
sided theologian whose Commentaries on the Prophets, the Psalms and the
Song of Songs as well as on the whole of the Pauline Epistles (including
Hebrews) form the noblest exegetical inheritance of the Greek Church. To the
Commentaries which exhibit the fruit of his schooling at Antioch, but make
very essential concessions to the dominant spirit of the Church, which separate
him again from his great predecessor Theodore, there are added the somewhat
late Qucestioiifs in ()ctn>>-nchnm and /// //<</. et Chronic., discussions of indivi-
dual exegetico-dogmatic questions. His Church History, vnl. *n/>. p. 7 and 'J!C>,
liis Jl/'sfortit i-i'l/i/tusn. vid. p. :!.Vi. In his heereseological treatise, //rr/v/. I'db.
cnmp. (alpfTiKTis K(iKnp.vdias €7riro/iij), the fifth Book contrasts the entire stability of
the ecclesiastical doctrine with all heretical doctrines. The Apology for Chris-
tianity ('E\\T)VIK£)V dfpanfi'TiKrj rradrjp.iir(ai>, D<' fit nnnf/s <f ni'i-urit nt dffectibuS .and
the ten orations on Providence (irtpi npwolas) both show in how high a mea-
sure the Christian theology of the Church, with all its opposition to Hellenic
wisdom, itself stands on the ground of Greek religious philosophy. To ecclesi-
astico-dogmatic polemics belong the refutation of the twelve Anathematisms
of Cyril and the Three Dialogues under the. title 'Epai/urn^ f] Jlo\vpop<pos, in
which the Alexandrian dogmatic of Cyril which is attacked is set forth as a
false doctrine made up of scraps from various heresies, but especially as a
rechaufft' of Apollinarianism. — Numerous letters of historical value. Opp. ed.
J. Simnnd. 4 vols. Paris 1H1J. with an auctarium by .1. Marnier 1684 — ed.
Schulze et Nossclt, Halle 17«i!» *\<\.. 5 vols. Mgr. si)-sl On Theod., Gamier in
the fifth vol. of the Halle edition. E. BINDKK. IJu,/rs sm- TMod. Geneva 181 1.
Si'ECiiT. Theod. von M<i/>sin-sf;,i und Themln ret. Munich isTl.

A middle position is occupied by ISIDORE of Pelusium, presbyter and abbot of ,
a monastery near Pelusium on the Eastern chief mouth of the Nile 1 1 about !:;.">>,
in so far as on the one side he highly regarded John Chrysostom, and in his
treatment of Scripture, shows the influence of Antiochene principle-- without .
carrying them logically out; and, on the other side, in regard to ilo-matics he
attached himself to the orthodoxy of Cyril, which was dominant in his neigh-
bourhood, over whom indeed the purity of his spiritual character elevates him

THEOLOGY.

409

I

' advantageously. His numerous letters (about 2.030), partly pastoral, partly of
exegetical contents (discussions of particular exegetical questions), edited com-
plete after BELLIUS and RITTERSHUSIUS by A. SCHOTT : De Is. Pel. scriptis et
doctr., 1825. RE. 7, 36 L.

2. The Antiochene tendency is now met in the Christological conflicts by
I a Neo- Alexandrian, the chief representative of which is Bishop CYRIL of
! Alexandria, the nephew and successor of Theophilus, by whom he was also
i educated, and whom he equals in fanatical ecclesiastical mania for rule and
. intrigue. At the head of the Alexandrian mob he drove the Jews out of Alex-
] andria by violence. During the disagreements which hence arose between him
i and the Prefect Orestes the latter was wounded by the stones of the mob of
| monks on Cyril's side, and the philosopher HYPATIA, because she appeared to be
j on the side of Orestes was shamefully murdered (Socr. 7,15). His treatise against
[Julian, vid. p. 802. As a theologian he wrote an esteemed treatise on the
| Trinity, his chief work against Nestorius (5 books), and commentaries which

by means of the allegorical method draw the word of Scripture entirely into
j the service of speculative dogmatic. His seventeen books " on prayer in spirit
and truth " explain the Mosaic law in the same fanciful way. as also the so-called
are cabinet-sketches of such exposition. His Festival-Orations (Xoyoi
on the proclamation of the Easter-Festival expatiate on ecclesiastical
questions of the time. A short treatise addressed to the Anthi'opomorphiteo
i(p 405) discusses other questions which were agitated in monastic circles besides
{that designated by the title. Opp. ed. Aubert, 7 vols. Paris 1633. Mgr. 66^
177. KOPALLIK, Cyr. v. Al. Mayence 1881.

Alongside of the two tendencies (Antiochene and Alexandrian) which emerge
in the ecclesiastical controversies, two other ciirrents make themselves notice-
able, viz.—

3. That of Monastic Mysticism, that spiritual contemplation directed upon the
inner condition of the soul, which forms the essential complement to asceticism.
The earliest literary representative of this monastic mysticism which in subse-
Iquent times was so fruitful, is the so-called elder MACARIUS (vid. p. 358) from
iUpper Egypt, said to have been a disciple of 8. Antony, a monk and then pres-
byter and president of the numerous monks in the Scetic Desert, whom he is
said to have led for half a century till his death in 391, at the same time a pro-
ifessor of the Nicene faith, for the sake of which he was banished for a consider-
able period under Valens. He is regarded, with what correctness must remain
'questionable, as the author of fifty Homilies (ed. Pritius, Lps. IG'JS. in German
jby G. ARNOLD, Ein Detikmal des alien Christenthumst, Goslar 1702), as also of
jsome other pieces (FLOSS, Mac. Aegypt. epistolce, homiliar. loci, preces, Col. '
11851; the so-called opuscula ascetica are later compilations from the homilies.
!The Greek doctrine of freedom is here broken through by the mystical accentu-
ation of human weakness and incompetence, which can only receive from God,
|and so far we have here a certain approximation to the Augustinian doctrine of
iG-race; but it goes quite ingenuously hand in hand with the Pelagianizing
[doctrine of freedom. Opp. Mgr. 34. vid. LINDNER, Symbolce ad hist, tlieol.
\my*t. De Macario. Leipsic 1846. FOHSTEU in JdTh. 1873, 439 sqq.— This also
[holds of MARCUS EREMITA, a monk in the Scetic Desert about 400, in whose
jnine tractates (in Gall. VIII., Mgr. 65) it is possible to find Calvinistic and Pela-
gian elements contentedly side by side (Ficker in ZhTh. 1868). The sententious
form of utterance which is generally beloved in monkish moralizing shows itself
here. Such are the writings of EVAURIUS PONTICUS, who had formed himself
'under the influence of the three great Cappadocians, and afterwards lived in

4io CHURCH HISTORY.

intercourse with the two Macarii. Gennadius, as previously Rufinus, translated
writings of his which are said to have been useful to the monks. Gall. VII., 551
sqq. ; Mgr. 40.— As alread\^ here in part, so still more in the sentences of S.
NILUS, the background of classical philosophy appears throughout this whole '
ascetic contemplative way of thinking. Sprung from the higher social circles
of Constantinople the capital, this disciple, friend and admirer of Chrysostom, •
gave up a high secular position and a marriage blessed with two children, re-
signed his wife and daughter to an Egyptian convent, for the purpose of living
with his son (as did many others) as an anchoret on Mount Sinai, some time ,
about 420 to 440. In his letters (of which many are rather sentences or ex- j
cerpts, which only improperly bear the name) and in his parsenetic writings the !
monastic life, is praised as the true philosophy of Christ, which claims man \
entirely and solely, and forgetfulness of the world as the means to the freedom
of the soul and union with God ; but the caricature of the ordinary monasticismi
of handicrafts which makes a trade of divine bliss, and the disposition which
only seeks in it escape from civil obligations or the satisfaction of vanity, are.
openly denounced ; the dangers of ascetic exaggeration and the special tempta-
tions which the monk in vain endeavours to escape by flight from the world,
are soberly kept in view ; on the other hand also the new sort of worldly pre-'
occupation with many things which grows up naturally in the great much'
frequented monastic associations. Opp. Mgr. 73.

4. Other parallel currents are those which are represented by Christian
philosophers. NKMKSIUS, Bishop of Emisa in Phoenicia, in the style of his
philosophy as well as in time approaches the three Cappadocians, especially,
Gregory of Nyssa, accepts the ecclesiastical doctrines of the Trinity and Incar-
nation, but turns his interest to the more neutral questions of philosophical
anthropology, on the nature of man, the relation of the soul to the body, on the
individual faculties of the soul, etc., on freedom and providence, and alongside
of the influence of Plato, shows, in his inclination to the empirical examination
of natur<\ a strong influence of Aristotle. Nem. DI> niitnra hominis, edl
Matthaei. Halle 1*0:2; Mgr. 40 rid. Hri!i-:u. J'tu'tns der K.-V. 1859,321 sqq.

Svxrcsirs of Cyrene, born about 370 of a Hellenic family of rank, educated al:
Alexandria in poetry, rhetoric and philosophy, the friend of Hypatia, lived ir
the Libyan Pentapolis (Cyrenaica) in aristocratic leisure, led an embassage oil!
the live cities to Constantinople in the interest of the province (397 or 3HS), helc
an oration before the Emperor Honorius on the kingdom, lived through verj
stormy times in the capital (vid. Aiyvirnoi tf irtpi irpwoias, in Greek and Gennar
1>\ Krabinger. 1K>5). and lived as a polite-scholar, producing works after th<
manner of the Sophists and at the same time his hymns of Neo-Platonicreligioi
mystical contemplation, but was won for the Church in spite of the strong
opposition of his aesthetic and contemplative character by Bishop Theophilu:
of Antioch, and made Bishop of Ptolemais. His poetico-rdigious speculation^
of a Neo-PJatonic tinge were the bridge; he at the same time openly admittec'
his dogmatic incorrectness, but also was unable to get free from the feeling o:
internal dividedncss and the encumbrance of his episcopal affairs, which wa
most burdensome to his philosophic leisure ; t about 414. The majority of hi
works are outside the ecclesiastical sphere. Along with the Hymns (best in W .
CHRIST et PAKANIKAS Antholorjia fjrceca carmininn /•// /•/.%•/. Lps. l.sTl) hi
letters are valuable from the point of view of church history, "pp. ed. Petav
(1<;12) 1033, KRAIUXGKR (uncompleted) 1850. Mgr. Ci!. R. VOI.KMANN, Syn. >
Cyr. isii!). Others vid. RE. 15, 112 sqq.

If in the case of SynesiusNeo-Platonic ideas and the Christianity of the Churc'j

DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITA. 41 B

are only loosely bound together, and if Neo-Platonic ideas in ecclesiastical theo-
logians, such as Basil, Gregory of Nazianzeii and others are worked up in the
ecclesiastical and positive spirit, but also dominated by it, then the writings
which bear the name of DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITA (Dehierarchia ccelesti, De hier.
epclesiastica, De divinis hominibus, De mystica theologia ; besides twelve
letters, published by Corderius, Antwerp 1634 and frequently, Mgr. 3 and 4.
German : L. G. V. ENGELHARDT Die angebl. Schriften des Dion. Ar. Salzb. 1823),
exhibit a complete penetration of ecclesiastical Christianity with Neo-Platonic
ideas and its transformation into mystical philosophy and mysteriosophjr. By
abstraction from all positive determinations the ascent is made to the highest
definitionless transcendent being as the essence of all essences (apophatic
theology), which only reveals itself to mystical absorption in the nameless ; but
by continuous bringing forth of positive but also ephemeral utterances (cata-
phatic theology), he unfolds Himself in the infinite manifold of the descending
chain of essences, who share in being, and in which the nameless becomes the
all-named, the transcendent being, the being in all beings. In this Neo-Platonic
emanation of all essences from the source of the Godhead a place is also pro-
vided for the Christian Trinity. In the " heavenly Hierarchy " of the higher
spirit-world there is completed the descending revelation and illumination,
and on the other hand the means of gradual ascent of all lower beings to union
with God. But with this general philosophical view there is linked the idea of
the Incarnation of the Logos as the descent of the divine into the human sphere
for the deification of humanity. But all saving efficacy for individuals is bound
up with the mediation of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and its consecrations
which are conceived under the aspect of purifying, illuminating and perfecting
mysteries. These writings are first mentioned by name at an ecclesiastical
j assembly in the time of Justinian (Dispittatio cum Severianis, 533 or 531 vid.
inf.), and were early regarded as works of the Dionysius the Areopagite who was
I converted by Paul (Acts xvii. 34). Their origin is in modern times ascribed by
many to the end of the fifth or beginning of the sixth century, but may well
i have belonged to a period as early as the end of the fourth. But it was certainly
remote from the intention of the author himself (according to Ep. 7, 3 a Diony-
sius) to give out his writings as the productions of the Apostolic Areopagite ;
what might have given rise to the appearance of such an origin in Pauline circles
Iwas perhaps afterwards further strengthened by interpolation. Vid. F. HIPLER,
\Dlon. d. Ai'coj>. 1861. E. BOHMER, D. Ar. in Giesebrecht's und Bohmer's
(Zeitschriit : DAMARIS 1864, 2 ; NOLTE ThQ. 1868. J. DRASEKE, Dionystaka,
iZw Th. 1882, 300 sqq. Cf. PITRA, Analecta sacra III. and in addition LOOFS
JThLZ. 1884, col. 554 sq. Other matter RE. 3, 616. On the question as to the
teacher HIEROTHEUS revered by Dionysius : FROTHINGHAM, Stephen Bar Su-
daili, the Syrian mystic and the, book of Hierotheos, 1886, cf. BATHGEN, ThLZ,
1887, No. 10— A. HARNACK, DG. II. 426.

5. The application of the traditional forms of Greek poetic art to Christian
matter also already showed itself in the attempts of APOLLINARIS (p. 394)r
which emerged on a special opportunity. In like manner, about 400, NONNUS of
Panopolis, who in his Dionysiaca treated the mythological material with equal
(industry and antiquarian learning and rhetorical art, turned the evangelical
jiistory into hexameters in his paraphrase of the Gospel of John (edited by
PASSOW 1834 ; MARCELLUS, Paris 1861 ; SCHEINDLER, Lpz. 1881). Mention
las been made above (p. 395) of the numerous poetic performances of Gregory
)f Nazianzen. DRASEKE would ascribe the poem Xpttrro? TTC'HTXOV which is
>rinted in the works of the latter to Apollinaris (Jpr.Th. 1884), while others.

412 CHURCH HISTORY.

place it in a much later age (J. J. Brambs, De auctor. tragcedice Xp. TT. Eichstadt j
1883). The hymns of Synesius stand on the horder of Christianity. — The i
famous and classical educated Athenian Athenais, who, raised to be wife of Theo- ;
dosius II. as Empress, assumed Christianity and the name EUDOCIA, and finally j
lived in retirement in the Holy Land as the friend of the Monophysites, com- j
posed poetical paraphrases of the Octateuch, and sang the Christian legend I
of Cyprian of Antioch and Saint Justina in hexameters (what is preserved, pub- i
lished by Bandurini, vid. Mgr. 85). The 'O^poKevrpa (or-KeVrpoji/es). representa- I
tions of sacred history composed of whole and half verses of Homer, which in i
amr case belong to about her time, have likewise been ascribed to her.

Entirely appropriated by the spirit of the Christian Church, popularly i
transformed, and guided in quite other courses than those of the antique j
prosody, Greek poetry next appears in the liturgical songs and hymns (rid. the |
history of divine worship).

6. In the Syriac-speaking province the production of ecclesiastical poetry,
or theology in a poetical form, continues after the great example of Kphraem; ;
.and indeed both in church addresses and treatises, and in hymns and L
liturgical recitations. Representative are CYKIU.OXAS in northern Me-opo-
potamia (about 400), ISAAC of Antioch in Edessa. and afterwards in Antiochfl
(t about 4<JO), -)A< ours of Sarug. who died as I'.i-hop of Batumi ^Batn;iM about!
51!*. whose homilies and sermons were read at Syrian divine worship; hisi
hymns of praise to the Mother of God show him to have been already an
•opponent of the Council of Chalcedon, and therefore of that tendency which
Rabulas of Edessa (v !:;:;•< had already entered upon (rid. inf. No. Tl. F«/.||
examples in MHKKI.I,, Aits<(<'ir<'ililt<' (li'iln-litf </<•/• si/riw/H-ii Kirchc>n'ater,\
Kempten 1872, and Att^ffi-tri'ililti- ,SV ///•//'/<// </<•/• .S'///\ AV/-<7/c///Y/Vr/-. Ibid. 1874.

7. From the time of the Council of Chacedon, Greek theology moves, on the I
whole, in fixed channels, where), \ dialectical dexterity is advanced by tin1 spirit
of ecclesiastical controversy, and in connection herewith the influence of Aris-
totelian philosophy is increased, but original and pioneering performances arejl
on the whole of less frequent occurrence. The continued influence of the Neo-||
Platonic philosophy which was cultivated in Alexandria and Athens leads to
continued endeavours on the part of Christian belief to separate itself from)!
the philosophic conceptions which permeated the general culture of the age.
.I'.NKAS of i la/a, a disciple of the Neo-1'lutonist Hierocles ;lml a rhetoricianl
:tt Alexandria, wrote about |s7 the dialogue Theophrastos against tlio
doctrines of the eternity of the world and the pro-ex istenc,; of souls, and in
favour of the resurrection of the. body. X.\< IIAKIAS Snioi. \STH is tlie rhetor-
ician, educated at the school of law at Herytus. afterwards lii-hop of Mityleno
in Lesbos, who took pnrt in tlie ( 'ouucil of (Constantinople in '>'.<<• p. 1-71

.composed under the title of Ammonius. a dialogue on tlie doctrine that the, •
world is not co-eternal with (iod. hut Hi- work and creation. This dialogue
was jiuhlislied in li;i!> at the end of the Philokalia of Origen. liv Tarinus. lioth
•ed. by Boissonade, Paris ls:i<;. Mgr. s.">.

During the Monophy.site controversies prominent places u- rlieological
leaders are taken specially hy Si-:vi-:i;rs of Antioch. and XI:\\.IA> trom Tahal
in Persia, called by the ^rerk name Philoxenus, I'.ishop of Mabug (Hierapolia]
in Kuphratcsia, from whom tlie so-called I'hilox.'uian Syriac translation of tin
New Testament bears its name (dedicated to Philoxenus by its author Poly-
carp . The latter wrote a number of treatises on tlie Trinity and the Incarna-
tion (fragment-, in ASSI;M\N\I. liihl inlh. i>rl<-nt . I i .•_'."> s>|<|. ). The most important

.dogmat ist and polemic on the side of Chalcedonian orl hodoxy, h-n apprehendei

CHRISTOLOGICAL AGITATIONS. 413,

in the spirit of Cyril of Alexandria, is LEOXTIUS of Byzantium, one of those-
Scythian monks who in 519 wrought in Constantinople and Rome in behalf of
the so-called Theopaschite formula. Leontius, a kinsman of the Byzantine
Count Vitalian, lived afterwards among the monks at Jerusalem (hence also
called Leontius Hierosolymitanus), by whom he was sent as deputy to the
Collatio cum S&verianis in 533 or 531, as also to the Synod of Constantinople in
536. He wrote three books against Nestorius and Eutyches, seven further
books against Nestorius, a treatise against the Monophysites. and several others,
all having reference to the Monophysite controversies. To him also must be
attributed the matter of the treatise De sectis (properly Aeoi/n'ov o-xoAao-rtKov
Brf. o-xoAta OTTO <t>a>vfjs SeoScopou), which was first put together after his death, at
the earliest in the end of the sixth century. Leontius shows how the continued
and increased interest in the dialectical development of dogma gives growing
weight to the influences of Aristotle. Opp. Mgr. 86.— Fr. LOOPS, Leont. v.
Byzant. I. 1887 (Gebhardt and Harnack, III. 1 and 2, Texte und Unters.}. Cf.
ThLZ. 1887, col. 336 sqq. — The same preponderance of Aristotle is seen in-
the learned and many-sided JOHANNES PHILOPONUS (Phot. c. 55 calls him
paraioTTovos because of his opposition to the Council of Chalcedon) ; like Zacharias
Scholasticus, a disciple of the Alexandrian philosopher Ammonius Hermese,
he took a lively part in the Monophysite controversies in the time of Justinian
(and Justin). Starting from the Christological question he was brought by
his conception of the terms nature and hypostasis to results regarding the
Trinity, which were interpreted against him as Tritheism ; in this he was
followed by Johannes ASCUNAGHES and others. Besides his purely philosophical
writings, he composed a treatise (lost, except fragments) called Aiatr^ri)? 17 irepl
eva><rfa>s. defended the Christian doctrine of creation against the Neo-Platonist
Proclus in the treatise De cetemitate mundi : a detailed commentary on the
Mosaic teaching as to creation (ire pi KooyiOTrouas), and a treatise on the Resur-
rection which was objectionable to orthodoxy. G-ALLANDI, XII. — TRECHSEL in*
StKr. 1835.— A. NAUCK in Ersch and Gruber's Encyl.

7. The Christological Agitations.

Literature : The Histories of Dogma.— F. Chr. BAUR, Gesch. d. Dreieinigkeit
u. Menschicerdung ; I. DORNER, Entwickelungsgesch. d. Lehre v. d. Person-
Christ II. 24 sqq., HEFELE, Conciliengeschichte, 2nd ed., vols. 2 and 3.
WALCH'S Ketzergeschichte, vols. 5-7.

I. Down to the close of the Nestor ian Controversy.

Sources: The writings of APOLLINARIS (p. 394), GREGORY of Nyssa (p. 396),
and CYRIL of Alex., THEODORE of Mopsuestia. THEODORET and others
mentioned under No. 6. The remains of the numerous writings of
NESTORIUS, in Latin in MARIUS MERCATOR (ed. Baluz. 1684. Gal. VIII.
ML 48), and in the Acts of the Councils (Mansi IV. and V.) ; the so-called
Synodicon also included in Mansi (ed. Lupus 1682, and also in the Halle
ed. of Theodoret, V.). Also much in the Acts of the Synod of Chalce.lon
(Mansi VI. and VII.), and of the Three Chapter Controversy (Ibid. IX.).
SOCRATES, H.E. 7, 29 sqq. EVAGRUTS, H.E. 1, 7 sqq. LIBERATUS, Bwriarhim
caiisoe Nest, et Eutych., ed. Garner ius 1675 (also in Mansi IX.). The other
material vid. RE. 10, 515.

Just as the divinity of Christ, the Son of God, was found in the
1 fact that the eternal divine Logos is this Son, the question was

CHURCH HISTORY.

iurther pressed, how the latter could at the same time be the his- k
torical human person Jesus, i.e. how were the divine and the human !
to be conceived as combining in the Incarnate One in the unity of :
.a person. The true humanity was to be maintained — at least in i
theory — just as much as the divinity. In opposition to Docetic j
fancies OEIGEX had alread}'- laid stress on the truth, that in Christ
there ought to be conceived not merely human corporeality as the '
shell of the divine Logos, but also a truly human (reasonable) soul.
To this the Arians, for whom the Son or (improperly so called) Logos i
in his higher nature was yet only a creature, could not assent. To '
them. Christ was just the supra-mundane creature, but embodied by i
His human birth. The Athanasians, however, felt that in the !
interest of redemption the notion of a real incarnation, and therefore !
the hypothesis of a complete human nature must be maintained, i
even in face of the great difficulty of carrying out the conception of
a real union of the divine subject with a complete human nature,'
without resulting in the notion of a double personality. For this;!
reason they opposed the attractive attempt of Bishop APOLLIXARIS I]
(vid. sup. p. 3(J4j, to found a real incarnation of God on the basis of
the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, by means of the doctrine, that|
in the Person of Christ the divine Logos was that which the human I
logos (spirit, reason i is in other men, so that only the soul and body'
in him are to be regarded as human, but the spiritual personality is
to be regarded as divine. Only by this means would the unity of I
person of the God-man be attained, which would otherwise be burst1!
asunder by the duality of complete natures ' 8vo reXem). Underlying i
this theory was the so-called Platonic trichotomy which distinguishes I
spirit, soul and body in man. This attractive attempt, which was
carried out with religious fervour, seemed i<> avoid the Ariau objec-H
tion of teaching the existence of two Sons, a divine and a human,
and at the same time to be allied to numerous earlier utterances on
the assumption of the flesh by the Logos. But in its culmination,!!
this notion still appeared as an infringement of the incarnation, II
because a denial of the completeness of the human nature. The'
Synod of Alexandria of 362 (p. 39<»i already established the propo-
sition, perhaps even then in view of beginning Apollinarian move-H
ments, that the Redeemer had not assumed a sensationless and!
spiritless body. But the two Gregories no\v especially undertookl
to combat this theory of Apollinaris. Only the union of God with
a complete human nature can effect the redemption and restora-
tion of all mankind. Hence it is now emphasised that in Christ
two natures are to be distinguished, without involving two Sons.

CHRISTOLOGY. 41 5

Although two bodies mutually exclude one another, two spiritual
natures do not do so ; the latter can unite themselves in most inti-
mate fashion with one another and with bodies. It is particularly
in the human spirit that the middle-term is to be seen, by which
jthe union of God with the flesh is completed. In this opposition
'DIODORUS of Tarsus and his disciple THEODORE of Mopsuestia and
others were at one with GREGORY of Nyssa ; l but in the attempts
to conceive of two complete natures as combining in the unity of
i the God-man, two tendencies, which are already recognisable in the
! fourth century, now confront one another in the sharpest contrast
I in the fifth. From the suggestions of Athanasius, and also the
j Cappadocians, there is developed the tendency which seeks to base
the unity of the divine and the human, and therefore the reality
of the incarnation, on the hypothesis that the Logos, conceived as
a person, appropriates all human attributes (as it were the material
| of human nature) as its organ and form of appearance, fully assimi-
lates them and so immediately itself becomes the personal subject
of all human action and passion. In consequence, Gregory of Nyssa
already looks upon the union of the human nature with the divine
as a mingling (/cpao-t?), in which the human finite nature dissolves
and is deified in the infinite. In this conception, the rational
human soul, which is of course attributed to the God-man, sinks
i back into the shade in the representation, and is swallowed up in
(the divine Logos. Hence the explanation of the fact that the
lApollinarian representation which was repeatedly repudiated by the
Church, in spite of this repudiation gains actual influence. A great
portion of the Apollinarians, with some obscuration of the point of
1 difference rejected by the Church, makes peace with the Church
i(Theodoret, H.E. 5, 3 and 37) and thereby strengthens and influences
jthe Neo-Alexandrian tendency. Writings of Apollinaris himself
and his adherents acquire influence 2 under the names of respected
Fathers of the past. Thus it is really Apollinaris who preaches
under the famous name of Athanasius : " the same is the Son of
God and God after the Spirit, the Son of man after the flesh ; we

1 Antirrheticus adv. Apollinarium is our chief source for his doctrine.

2 Of such are the Exposition of the faith attributed to Gregory Thaumaturgus
\(fl Karafjiipos TTIVTIS vid. CASPARI, Alte und neue Qudlen, Christiania 1879, 1 sqq.),
the confession of the incarnation of God gathered from the letter of Apollinaris
to the Emperor Jovian and ascribed to Athanasius (vid. Mai scr. vett. nova Coll.
[VII., 1, 17) (Athan. opp. ed. Montf. 2, 1), and also a letter and a treatise (irtpi i-fjy
ev Xpicrro) fvor^ros TOV o-oytaTo? Trpbs rf)v deoTijTo) which bear the name of Bishop
Julius of Rome. Cf. on these and some others: DRAESEKE in JprTh. 1883, 2,
1884, 2; ZwTh. 1883, 4; ZKG. 6, 4.

416 CHURCH HISTORY.

do not ascribe two natures to the one Son, of which one is prayed
to, the other not prayed to, but one incarnate nature of the Logos

of God (jjiia c£uc7£<? TOV ©eov \6jov aeaapKW^ev^).''1 This solution of
Apollinaris is now vigorously taken up by CYRIL of Alexandria,
who yet regards himself as the successor of Athanasius. To this
Neo-Alexandrian tendency, although it does not deny the duality
of the natures, everything human in Christ appears as only the
accident of the divinity. The divine Logos becomes the bearer of
those predicates also which are in themselves human. Mary, the
mother of the Lord, becomes the mother of God ($eor6/co?), the
Logos himself is designated the crucified.

This tendency now meets with decided opposition on the part of
the great Antiochenes. DIODORUS of Tarsus (p. 397) and his disciple
who excelled him THEODORE of Mopsuestia (p. 4O7). Both belong
to the adherents of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, but both
also to the most decided opponents of Apollinaris. This opposition
brings the Antiochenes into variance with the Alexandrian ten-
dency also.

In order to maintain the representation of a really human ethical)
personality in the historical person of Jesus, not only the complete-'
ness, but also the independence and the permanent distinction of
nature of the human nature is emphasised. The human nature is
to be conceived as complete, and therefore in particular as endowed ,
with a human free will ; a real ethical development of Christ is to;
be supposed 'Luke ii. 52; the Temptation, Gethsemane). Christ is
not sinless according to the necessity of the divine nature, but by
His human decision resting on freedom of choice. The human
nature, of course, stands from the beginning under the influence of.
the divine nature in consequence of the indwelling of God ( eVot/o/cn?).
But this indwelling must not be conceived as physical, for such
a physical indwelling, if it wen- <>th>-r than the universal divine,
omnipresence, would be incompatible with the unlimited character on
the divine nature ; it is much rather to be referred to tin- ethical
relation of the divine approval (ev&otcia), by which alone (rod can
be near to one while He is far from another. Such an ethical
indwelling takes place in the case of all righteous men, but in a
special manner in that of Christ, because here, the Logos by His in-
dwelling unites the whole man Fie has assumed with Himself and
gives him a share in all divine honour. But as ethically mediated.
the union is one which grows with the ethical development ol j
Olirist and is only perfected in the state of exaltation, in which the

an, on account ot his inseparable combination (Gvvdfaia with the

NESTORIANISM. 41,7

divine nature, is seated at the right hand of God and prayed tc
along with Him. In this combination (not union or amalgamation*
of the two natures, each remains indissoluble in itself, each main-
tains inflexibly what is essentially proper to it even in the combina-
tion with the other. In this way, it is true, the unity of the divine-
human person runs in danger of being split in two ; the God-Logos
dwells in a man as his temple.

The two tendencies now fell into vehement conflict with one
another in the Nestorian controversy. NESTORIUS, born in Ger-
manicia in Syria and educated at Autioch, had won a great
reputation by his strict life and orthodox zeal and by his sermons,
when he was raised to the Bishopric of Constantinople (10 April,
428). His presbyter, ANASTASTUS, preached against the favourite
designation of Mary as the mother of God (0eoTo«o?), which
caused great offence. Nestorius took his part : not God, but only
the man assumed by Him has a mother, the creative has not borne
the uncreated. " They call the life- creating Godhead mortal and
dare to degrade the Logos to the fables of the theatre, as though
He had been wrapped in swaddling-bands and had died." In this
the populace, and especially the monks, saw an attack on the
mystery of the incarnation. Clergy preached against the bishop,
laymen interrupted him in the pulpit. Bishop Cyril of Alexandria
made use of the opposition of the dogmatic tendency, for the pur-
pose of striking at his rival in the see of the Capital, immediately
set everything in motion against him, prepossessed the sister and the
wife of the Emperor against him, and won to his view the Roman
Bishop Celestine also, who besides was offended by the reception of
exiled Pelagians by Nestorius. At a Roman Synod (430) he de-
manded the recall of Nestorius and exhorted Cyril to the further
prosecution of the matter. The latter, in the name of an Alexan-
drian Synod, required of Nestorius the acceptance of twelve dogma-
tic propositions (Anathematisms), which give the harshest expression
to the Alexandrian view. Nestorius, who deigned no answer to the
emissaries, set up twelve other propositions, counter anathematisms
(cid. Hahn, Bibl. d. Symb. p. 238 sqq.) ; at the same time other men of
the Antiochene party turned against Cyril's propositions, especially
Theodoret (Opp. V. 1 ; of. IV. 1288). For the settlement of the con-
troversy, the Emperor Theodosius H. summoned a general Synod
to Ephesus (431). Here the arrival of the Syrians was delayed, and
in the meantime the bishops, under the leadership of Cyril and
Bishop MEMNOX of Ephesus, declared Nestorius, who from the
beginning was treated as an accused person, to be deposed for

27

4i 8 CHURCH HISTORY.

blasphemy against Christ, although the Imperial Commissioner
protested against the procedure as precipitate. The later arriving
Roman emissaries assented. The Eastern bishops, who now made
their appearance, replied by the deposition of Cyril and his friends.
The Emperor, on the report of his commissioner, declared the
decisions of the Cyrillian assembly to be invalid and then wanted
to confirm the depositions declared on either side, with the view of
discharging the controversy by exiling the chiefs. But there now
began negotiations, in which Cyril step by step gained the pre-
ponderance in the Capital and the Court. He finally carried
through the banishment of Nestorius, but was obliged to agree to
the acceptance of a compromising confession which the Antiochenes
had presented to the Emperor in justification of themselves. This
did not properly satisfy his views, as it did not expressly exclude
the Antiochene view, which however had been his intention in his
anathematisms. On the other hand, most of the Antiochenes,
especially the leader, JOHN of Autioch, agreed to let Nestorius fall.
Cyril, however, and his tendency now gained increasing innuen«v.
Adherents of Nestorius were persecuted, and the endeavour to
maintain the agreement which had taken place caused JOHN of
Antioch also and the Emperor to take the side of Cyril. A decided
Antiochene party of Asiatic, but also Thes-;dian and Mu-sian bishops
now stood in hostile opposition to the three Patriarchs of the East.
and was as t';ii- as possible repressed. Xi -T'>I:MS was sent into exile
in Arabia, his writings were burned, his adherents branded as
Simonians. Then we find him a^ain in Upper Egypt, wandering,
now here, now there ; it is not known where he found rest in death.
Cyril sought to pur-u-- t he victory further. In alliance with him,
\( \HULAS of Edessa, a former disciple of Theodore of Mopsuesiia,
condemned the writings of Diodorus and Theodore and expelled
some individuals who were addicted to the Antiochene tendency
from the School of Edessa, although they had previously assented
to the agreement. But the attempt to degrade the memory of the
Antiochene teacher was opposed by JOHN of Antioch, and the,
Emperor forbade such throwing of suspicion on men who had died
in the communion of the Church. After the death of Bishop
Rabulas (435), one of the expelled Edessenes, Ibas, a declared
adherent of Theodore, became his successor. Of these expelled
teachers some had gone to Persia, where, especially in the impor-
tant city of Nisibis, Theodore's doctrine was held in high esteem.
With these Persian Christians Edessa under Ibas remained in active
intercourse, as the decided representative of the Antiochene dogma-

EUTYCHIANISM. 419

tics. In consequence of further developments in the Greek Empire
the School of Edessa was destroyed (in 489, under the Emperor Zeno)
as the last fortress of Nestorianism in the Greek Empire, and the
latter found refuge under Persian rule, and assumed ecclesiastical and
literary form in separation (schismatical) from the Church of the
Empire. The Antiochene teachers, above all Theodore, the exegete
par excellence, here remained in the highest esteem.

II. The Eutychian Controversy and the Synod of Chalcedon.

Sources : The Acts in Mansi V. and VI., where also the letters of Leo (opp. ed.
Ballerini I., Ml. 54 and in THIEL, Opp. Rom. pontif. I.). BREVICULUS Hist.
Eutych. in Mansi IX., 674=GELASli gesta de nomine Acacii vid. THIEL
Epp. Pontif. p. 70 sq. 510 sqq. — The Appeals of Flavian and Euseb. Dor. to
Leo in GUERRINO AMELLI, S. Leone e V Oriente, Rome 1882 (vid. GRISAR in
ZkTh. 1883, 191 sq. and MOMJISEN in NA. XI. 2, 1886, 361 sq.). The Syriac
Acts of the Robber Synod ; Germ, by G. HOFFMANN 1873 (the Kiel Festschrift
for Olshausen) ; in Syriac with an English translation by Perry: The Second
Synod of Ephesus, 1887 ; in French, MARTIN, Actes de brigandage d'Ephese,
1875 (and ejdm. Le Pseudosynode, etc. 1875). A report of DIOSCURUS on
the Council of Chalcedon, from the Coptic by REVILLONT in the Revue
Egyptologique, 1880, 187 ; 1882, 21 ; 1883, 17 ; (vid. KRUGER, Monophys.
Streitigkeiten, 1884) is declared to be apocryphal by E. AMELINEAU, Monu-
ments pour servir a Vhistorie de VEgypte Chret. aux IV et V siecles, Paris
1888 (vid. ThLZ. 1889, No. 2).

The opposition of the two Christological conceptions continued

i to persist after the above vague compromise and was sharpened

j anew, when, in 444, Cyril was succeeded as Bishop of Alexandria

by the most passionate and violent DIOSCURUS. He pressed upon

the Emperor the deposition of Bishop Irenseus of Tyre who was

disposed to Antiochene views. On the opposite side, along with

Bishop Domnus of Antiochus there stood the most important

theologian, the Antiochene THEODORET, Bishop of Kyros on the

Euphrates. In the previous conflicts the latter had never assented

to the express condemnation of Nestorius, and as he was otherwise

favourable to union this had been overlooked. In order to break

j his influence the Emperor now commanded, at the instigation of

j Dioscurus, that Theodoret should confine himself to his diocese

and not come to Antioch, where he preached and worked zealously

•for his party. He now combated the opposing view by his three

I dialogues under the title : Eranistes (p. 408 j, in which he empha-

! sises the unchangeableness of God which is also to be maintained in

,the doctrine of the Incarnation, and fights against the mingling of

j the two natures and the degradation of the divine nature in suffer-

ing and human affections. But the actual controversy broke out

420 CHURCH HISTORY.

through the action of the aged Archimandrite of a monastery near
Constantinople, EUTYCHES, who, even earlier, had been a zealous
instrument of Cyril's party, and had sought to interest the Roman
Bishop Leo against the Antiochenes as Nestorians. Christ, said he,
indeed arose out of two distinct natures, but after the union one
nature only is to be confessed ; the humanity of the Logos of God
is so permeated and appropriated by the divinity that even the
body of Christ is not to be regarded as of one nature with ours.
This advance upon the Alexandrian dogmatic, which, for the restr
was put forth without dogmatic precision and hence with a certain
rudeness, also hurt the feelings of partizan associates. Domnus of
Antioch had in vain denounced him to the Emperor as an Apollin-
arian. Now EUSEBIUS, Bishop of Dorylseum, himself a vehement
opponent of Nestorius and zealous adherent of Cyril, laid complaint
against him before the Patriarch FLAVIAN of Constantinople at
a local synod there (448). Flavian, a moderate adherent of the
Antiochene tendency, only engaged in the matter after resistance,
knowing as he did the fanaticism of the Alexandrians. Eutyches
was condemned on account of the doctrine ; but he had on his side
a powerful party, the Court and Dioscurus, who willingly seized on
this opportunity to interfere. Favoured by the Empress, Eutyches
obtained a revision of his case at ;i new assembly at Constantinople
in 449, which however only confirmed the previous judgment. Dios-
curus now urged on the call ing of an oecumenical council, which
Flavian and Bishop Leo of Rome in vain opposed. Here, as the
Imperial summons already says. Nestorianism was to be extirpated
to its last diabolical root, i.e. tin- . \ntiochene style of doctrine was to-
be completely suppressed. Dioscurus opened this synod in August/
•1 I'-1, at Ephesus, which \vas under his ruthless terrorism. Eutyches,
without even hearing his accuser Eusebius of Doryla3um, was again
restored, Flavian and Fusebius deposed by the intimidated bishops.
\Vhen one or two bishops made as if they would make represen-
tations against it, Dioscurus called soldiers and monks into the
assembly, who put down the last opposition with shouts and threats.
"Cut those in two, who speak of two natures" was the cry. Flavian
was grossly ill-treated, then transported into exile; he died on the
way. The Ifoinan legate HILAIMCS, who had protested against his
deposit ion. saved himself by secret night to Italy, so likewise Euse-
bius of Doryheiini. In the subsequent sessions the most esteemed
Antiochenes, Ibas of Kdessa, Irenseus of Tyre, Theodoret and
Domnus were deposed, and the Emperor prohibited the writing-
of Theodoret, which were to be burned. This Robber -Synod

COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON. 421

(Latrocinium Ephesinum), as it was first called by Leo the Great,
indicates the culminating point of the domination of the Alexandrian
doctrine.1

The reversal however soon resulted on the death of Theodosius II.,
who was succeeded by his sister PULCHERIA, with her husband, the
capable MARCIAN. Bishop Leo of Rome had already, at an earlier
stage, in a letter to Flavian of 13 June, 449, sought to give the
dogmatic decision, by fixing a just mean between Nestorius and
Eutyches, but at the Robber-Synod his legates had not even gained
a hearing. After it he had rejected all its conclusions at a Western
Assembly. All those who were done violence to by the Robber-
Synod set their hopes on the Roman bishop and exalted his authority,
as also did Theodoret in very strong expressions. Leo now wished
to give the decision on his sole authority, or at a Western Synod
under his leadership. But in Constantinople the arrangement of an
oecumenical council was preferred. During the preparations for it,
Dioscurus also is said to have come to Constantinople accompanied
by zealous adherents, and there in the presence of the Imperial pair,
matters came to heated discussion. The council met at Chalcedon
in 451, quashed the Robber-Synod, deposed Dioscurus for his acts of
violence, of course recognised Cyril, but on the other hand Theodoret
also, as orthodox, the latter indeed only after very painful scenes,
after he had still however assented to a condemnation of Nestorius.
On the basis of the previous formula of agreement and especially of
Leo's letter to Flavian, the confession was formulated, to the effect
that Christ according to His Godhead is of one nature with the
Father, according" to His humanity is of one nature with us
(apart from sin;, and that this one and the same Christ is recog-
nised in two natures, which indeed are united without inter-
mingling- and without passing over into one another, but also
indissolubly and inseparably (ao-uy^ura)?, arpe^rrw^, dStctipeTco's,
axwpia-Tax;), inasmuch as the distinction of the natures is by no
means abolished by their union, but much rather the peculiar pro-
perties of the two natures are retained and only combine in the
unity of the person or hypostasis. By this it was intended that
both the Monophysitism of Eutyches and the splitting of the
personal unity of Christ of which Nestorius was accused should be
rejected. But this Chalcedonian formula, with its careful defini-
i tions of the style and manner in which human and divine predicates

8

We learn the details of the history of this notorious assembly from the Acts
of the later Synod of Chalcedon, to which the recently published Syriac Acts
'Afford essential supplements.

422. CHURCH HISTORY.

are to be ascribed to the unitary person of Christ, and how each of
the two natures is to be expressed, as it was directed against an
extreme expression of the Alexandrian tendency, naturally received
the reputation of a concession to the Antiochene party. As a matter
of fact, it was an expression which gave little satisfaction to all the
adherents of the peculiar character of Cyril's style of doctrine.
Hence for numerous adherents of this Alexandrian tendency, the sor
called Monophysites, the formula of Chalcedon became a rock of
offence. Matters came the length of the famous Monophysite
controversies, which deeply unsettled the Church and weakened the
Empire, and which dragged out through the second half of the fifth
and the whole of the sixth century ; and, in fact, in their continua-
tion as the Monotheletic controversies filled even the whole seventh
century, but besides, as the X< st<>ri;iu controversy had already done,
led to the final exclusion of a great scliismatic communion from
the Church of the Empire.

8. The Monophysite Controversies.

$ mm'* • : The Acts and Papal letters in MANSI. VII -TX. the latter best in
TIIIEL, Epp. Rom. Pout. I. llraunsl). isi;7. The Church History of
XUIIAKIAS limiToK. >.\ riai- in LiAVD, Anecdota >'///'. III., 1880 (fragments
in Assemauni, liilil. <>,-. II. ,V> M(1|. und A. MAI, Scr/j>l. r.7. n»ra. fill. X. ;
cf. KKM.KK. \fonophys.Streitigkeiten, isi I. -jo >,(.). K\ AI.KH s II. K. I'.kk.

2-5. Tin "|II>I:K. Lrrti.r. Fni-inciita rid. s/i/>. p. _'!i5). Li r.i :i: \ TI s, Bre-
viaruin ami (GBLASIU8) I'.rrvinilu.-. rid.siift. p. II:', and 1 '_'•_'. Tlio Church
lli-toryof .Iuii\ of Ephesus, Syr. in CuRETON, the third pan <>l the Kn-les.
Hi>t. of John Bp. of Kpln-u>. < Ktm-.l is;,:;. Aiml. l>y .1. I'AYM: SMITH. < txford
l^'.O, (ii-nii. l>y Scii'i\i i:i.i'i:i: IM'.-J iQtlier matter hy John of Kplic^us, in
LAUD, Ann-. >'///•.>. Tiir:iii-iiAM.>. ' '"///'. / '/irii,iniii;iji/ii<i .•.! (loar (Com lid is.),
I'aris li;.V) iiilso ed. Ci. \>--i:\ in NrEBUHE's Corp. scr. £yz.) and especiallj
c.l. ili- I'.iiiu:. two vols. Lps. !>- \vith tlir Hi>tor. tript-rt. of Anasta>ius

i;ililiotlnv;iriu>). — The clinniirlors Man-ollinus. Victor Tnnnmirii-i-.. M;ilala
and others.— CYKI 1. 1. 1 Si vrmii-dUrAM /•//,/ X. /•;//////////// ,ilil>. in COTKI.DIUI
M'lii/nn. eccl. i/ni'i-. II. 200 (shorter in Analivt.-i t;r. nl. I.IIIMN.. Mmnfiiuc.
etc., Par'iN less. I,i-;o.vnrs |;v/. (md. >•///*. p. •\\\\)lil>ri :\ ,xlr. Xi-st. et

l\iihj<-lii,ni,,s.<li- \<-f7/x (o-^(iXtd XfofTtou anu f/ja)i/7;v- f)n>8d>pm '. t'lirt '.', <i,lr. \< st.,
,'tii/frn iiii>iiit/t/ii/s. and otlu-rs M.^r. SC. TIMHTMKI> Pn-,1). !)<• r< • •< />//<nte
hcBreticorum, in Cm •IH.KKII-S Mnmmi. <•<•<•/. <//•. II. :;77. Pat rum doctrina de
verbi incarn., Justinian! imper. (alleged tractatn^ ainl .sonif otlicrsin A.
Mai, Script, reft, uov coll. VII. A^NASTASIUS SINMTA nfyyt'is adv. Ai-cp!
Mgr. 89. (jKi.Asirs. /><• </u/i/>us mituris in <:/ir. iidr. i'.iil. <7 AV.\7. in Thiel,
Epp. Rom. Pont). Vn;ii,irs Taps. «<lr. .V»-.s7. <7 /•;/////<•//. i Ml. r>S). Ui sricus,
Adr. Aceph<t/i>x (Ml. i;7) and several others.— GIESELER, ('mum. </n<i Mmio-
jiln/tiit. . . . oj'iiiioi/rs . . . ilhist ninfii /','_' jiarts, (Jottin^m 1^:15
and 1838. Looi's Lfnnlins run /ii/r.nn-. Is.-. 7, i-sp. p. 1!) sqq. KuTiiKU, I.e.

First of all the monk THEOIM.SII-S, on his return from Chalcedon^
raised a frightful outbreak in Palestine by his fanatical preaching

THE MONOPHYSITE CONTROVERSIES. 423

against the council. With the help of freed criminals Jerusalem
was filled with fire, robbery and murder, Bishop JUVENAL was forced
to take flight, and Theodosius ruled for twenty months in his place.
The Emperor exerted himself in vain to overcome the prejudices of
the monks, on whose side moreover stood the Empress-Dowager
Eudocia, who lived in Palestine.1 Also, after the putting down of
the insurrection, Theodosius remained with the monks on Sinai,
removed from the power of the Emperor. In Egypt a large party
did not recognise the deposition of Dioscurus, who had had to go
into exile. The election of PEOTERIUS led to uproar and bloodshed,
in which soldiers were burned alive by the mob in the former
temple of Serapis, now a church. Proterius only maintained his
position by the protection of the military ; the adherents of Dioscurus
gathered round the Presbyter TIMOTHEUS ^ELUROS, who had accom-
panied Dioscurus into exile, but was now, after the death of
Marcian, elevated to the Patriarchate.2 During the insurrection
which arose, Proterius was slain at sanctuary. The Emperor Leo I.
indeed, after the approbation of the majority of the bishops had been
declared in favour of the retention of the doctrine of Chalcedon,
externally restored the authority of the state-church. Timotheus
M\. was exiled in 460, and TIMOTHEUS SALOPHAKIOLUS was set in his
stead, who however to a certain extent took account of the Mono-
physite disposition. But in Antioch too, and therefore on soil not
hitherto favourable to the Alexandrian doctrine, Monophysitism now
made its appearance, represented by the monk Peter the Fuller
(rVa^ev?), who was favoured by Zeno the Isaurian, the son-in-law
of the Emperor Leo. About 470 Peter effected the insertion in the
liturgical formula of the trishagioii of the words referring to the
Second Person in the Trinity " who was crucified for us," involving
that human suffering should be immediately ascribed to the Second
Person of the Godhead. After the death of Leo (474) and his
grandson Leo II., ZENO himself succeeded, but was overthrown by
BASILISCUS in 475. The latter depended for support upon the oppo-
nents of the Synod of Chalcedon, which he expressly repudiated in
a circular letter in 476. Bishops to the number of 500 obeyed and
subscribed. Timotheus ^Eluros and Peter the Fuller retired, but
Basiliscus was soon overthrown by Zeno, who now again restored
the authority of the formula of Chalcedon. PETRUS MONGUS, who

1 GREGOROVIUS, Athenais, oder Geschichte einer byzantinischen Kaiserin.
Lpz. 1882, p. 226 sqq.

: AiAoupoy in Evagrius, "EXovpns in Theophanis, perhaps (GELZBU in JprTli.
1883, 316 sqq.) = Herulus, of. Theophan. chron. 174 ed. De Boor.

424 CHURCH HISTORY.

had succeeded the meanwhile deceased zEluros in Alexandria, had
to retire, as also Peter the Fuller in Antioch. Here, however,
passions were so hot that one of his orthodox successors was tortured
to death in the church. Zeno, who had formerly favoured Peter
the Fuller, took a close interest in the attempt to heal the deadly
quarrel by a compromise. Zeno, on the advice of his patriarch,
Acacius, who had already come to an understanding with Petrus
lEongus in Egypt, issued a decree of union Henotikon, 482, Evagr.
3, 14), which was meant to establish peace by avoidance of the con-
troverted expressions, by express approbation of Cyril's doctrine,
and by an ambiguous attitude towards the Council of Chalcedon.

The Henotikon naturally failed of its purpose. In Egypt it was
indeed accepted by the Monophysit • Patriarch, Petrus Mongus, and
on that account he was confirmed in his patriarchate, while in 485
Peter the Fuller was raised to the see of Antioch. But the stricter
Monophysites renounced it as much as the adherents of the Creed of
Chalcedon, such as the Patriarch Johannes Talaja, elected by the
latter party. And the latter now found assistance at Rome, where
Felix III., after his exhortations had remained unheard and his
emissaries had allowed themselves to be intimidated an;l drawn by
Acacius to his side, rejected the Henotikon, and in 1st pronounced
tin- ban against A' -acius as its real originator, as ;ilso against Peter
the Fuller. Thereby ecclesiastical communion between the Latin
and the official Greek Church was broken off; bnt, the numerous
adherents of the Council of Chalcedon in tin- Greek Church, in
Constantinople particularly the Akoimet" monks of the monastery
of Stndion, remained in league with Itome. Zeno's more won hy
successor Anastasius.1 from I'M who from the beginning was
inclined to the Monojihysite conception, but on Ins accession to the
throne had bound himself to the Patriarch to take in hand no further
innovation as to the Henotikon. did in fact maintain it. but the
endeavours to exploit it more and more in the Monophysite sense
increased. In the East, XKXA.IAS PIHLOXKXUS), who had been ele-
vated by Peter the Fuller in Antio, h to tin- bishopric of Hierapolis
i .Metropolitan of the East Syrian Province of Euphratensis), offered]
ever bolder opposition to Peter's successor, FLAVIAN of Antioch, on !
the side of Monophysitism, and thereby gained the favour of the
Emperor. In Constantinople itself indeed, whither he had conic,
he accomplished nothing against the Patriarch Macedonius and the'
disposition of the populace. But in Antioch lie forced Flavian toi
continued submission. In the end. however, it came to murder and
1 Cf. A. ROSE, Kaiser Annxtuxin* I. Part I. Halle

THE MONOPHYSITE CONTROVERSIES, 425

manslaughter between the monks fanaticised by him and the Coele-
Syrians who hasted to the help of Flavian. The Patriarch ELIAS
of Jerusalem likewise found himself thronged about with Mono-
physite passions ; but in Constantinople there now appeared the
most important theological representative of the Monophysite party,
SEVERUS, who stirred up the people against the Patriarch Mace-
donius, who finally departed secretly in 511. At the instigation of
Xenajas, the Emperor now desired Flavian of Antioch and Elias of
Jerusalem to hinder a synod at Sidon, at which they were to be
forced to decisions against the Council of Chalcedon. They got
the start with a personal and very ambiguous declaration that they
repudiated all heresies and innovations of doctrine, and did not
accept what had taken place at Chalcedon because of the scandals
which had thence arisen. Hereby they thought to be able to
prevent the taking place of the intended synod. On the other hand,
Xenajas, at the head of an assembly at Antioch, now declared
Flavian to be deposed, and raised Severus in his stead. But Elias
of Jerusalem, leaning on the support of the populace and the monks,
did not recognise Severus and was therefore banished by the Impe-
rial Procurator. Now, however, in Constantinople, where the
resistance to the heretical Emperor had again grown into an insur-
| rection, the general VITALIAN rose at the head of the troops and
i interfered on behalf of the party of Chalcedon.1 The Emperor had
j to promise to restore the exiles and make peace with Home. Diffi-
culties, however, emerged which enabled the Emperor to drag the
affair out for years longer.

Rome demanded, as it had previously done under Gelasius and
'afterwards under Symmachus, so now also under Hormisdas, com-
plete recognition of the Synod of Chalcedon and condemnation of
Acacius, whose name was to be obliterated from the diptych, which
i was equivalent to the renunciation of the whole past since the issue
of the Henotikon, — a demand which the Emperor and opinion at
! Constantinople decidedly resisted. The difficulties were further
heightened by the fact that the party opposition between Rome and
Constantinople had come to a conflict in the church province of
Tllyria as to the ecclesiastical superiority claimed by Rome. The
! negotiations with Rome appeared to be elapsing without result,
| when the Empsror Anastasius died in July, 518. The Prajfectus
Praetorio JUSTIN (J. I. 518-527), a man of rude and limited soldierly
'character, behind whom however his nephew Justinian stood as his

1 Cf. the fragments of Job. Antioch., Hermes VI., 344 sqq. and in Miiller,
1 Fragm. grsec. hist. V.

426 , CHURCH HISTORY.

real spiritual guide, gained possession of the throne, and thereby
the ecclesiastical current which had already been represented by
Vitalian became dominant, for Vitaliaii, as Magister Militum, was
on intimate terms with Justin. The Patriarch John of Constanti-
nople now saw himself compelled to utter the anathema against the
Monophysites and celebrate the memory of the saintly fathers of
Chalcedon ; in the East the adherents of this synod universally rose
against their hitherto oppressors, and the Emperor invited Hor-
misdas Bishop of Rome to restore ecclesiastical peace. The Roman
emissaries actually carried through the demands of Rome in Con-
stantinople (519). SEVERUS of Antioch and JULIAN of Halicarnassus I
were deposed and took flight to Egypt ; Xenajas also had to retire.
But it was immediately seen that Rome's harsh procedure awakened
opposition even among such as willingly recognised the Synod of:
Chalcedon.

In close alliance with Yitalian himself were the above-mentioned:
Scythian monks, who during the ecclesiastical schism had main-
tained church communion with Rome and recognised the Symbol
of Chalcedon, conceiving the latter however in the sense of the
dogmatic of Cyril, whom indeed the fathers at Chalcedon had
expressly recognised, and during the embassy of H<>rmisd;is i<> Con-
stantinople they declared in favour of the proposition that one of the •
Trinity was crucified. This proposition, which had formerly bee^ I
vindicated l.y the Monophysite Peter the Fuller, was of course still
compatible with the definitions of the Synod of Chalcedon, as like-]
wise the designation of Mary .'is the Mother of God. Rejected hy
the Romish emissaries in Constantinople, they thereupon turned to
Hormisdas at Rome. Their leader .)OIIAX\I:S MAMMITS. upheld,
this conception most decidedly. A Leontius also was am on-- these.'
monks and in him the highly esteemed dogmatic author Leontius
of Byzantium has recently been again recognised.1

The rejection of the above formula, in which we recognise the
spirit of Cyril, was regarded by those men as Nestorianism. Butt
Hormisdas, bound by the over-hasty declaration of his emissaries,
avoided their request. Now however this tendency, which seeks to
maintain the doctrine of Chalcedon but at the same time strikes
the note which corresponds to the religious disposition in Mouophvsite
circles, found so much the more sympathy from Justin's successor
JUSTINIAN I. (527-567), as he had at heart the gaining over of the
Monophysites and as his wife Theodora was secretly much inclined
to them. By the above formula it was attempted in negotiations

1 LOOKS, Leontius v. K, p. -J2S

THE MONOPHYSITE CONTROVERSIES. 427

to win the moderate Monophysites (Severians), especially at the
religious conference with the Severians at Constantinople in 533. *

In Rome, Justinian presented a confession of faith with that formula
and required of the Roman Bishop John II. the recognition of his
orthodoxy. The Akoimete monks in Constantinople, strengthened
in their opposition by the previous hostility of the Roman
emissaries, were now persecuted as Nestorians. The growing favour
for the Monophysites becomes more and more plain. ANTHIMUS
of Trapezus, who had co-operated with the Severians at the con-
ference, now becomes Bishop of Constantinople, and enters into
intimate relations with Severus who now conies to Constantinople
himself. A tacit return to union with the Monophysites was aimed
at. Just for that reason resistance now arose. Bishop EPHRAIMIUS
of Autioch approached the Roman Bishop AGAPETUS, and the latter,
who had come to Constantinople in March, 536, at the instigation
of the Gothic king Theodatus, who was hard pressed by Belisarius,
effected the enforced retirement of Anthimus and the elevation of
MENNAS in his stead. Soon thereafter Agapetus died while still
in Constantinople ; but, at a synod there under Meiinas in 536,
Anthimus and, with the assent of the Emperor, the heads also of the
Monophysites were excommunicated. Justinian forbade Anthimus
and Severus to visit the capital. But the favouring of the Mono-
physites by Theodora went on all the same in secrecy. Bishop
THEODOSIUS of Alexandria, who indeed was afterwards again turned
out by G-AJANUS, an extreme Monophysite, was on close terms with
her and her intimates subsequently remained the centre of Moiio-
physite efforts. The Roman deacon VIGILIUS, who had come to
Constantinople with Agapetus, bound himself to the Empress, in case
of his elevation to the Roman see, to set aside " the Synod," i.e.
that of Chalcedon and to enter into ecclesiastical communion with
Theodosius, Anthimus and Severus. For his sake Silverius, who had
meanwhile been elected at Rome, was sent into exile by Belisariu&
on a political pretext, and Vigilius was consecrated under the protec-
tion of Belisarius in 537. When Justinian sent Silverius to Rome
for a judicial investigation, Vigilius was able once more to set him
aside (p. 351). Vigilius now began his double game, as for the sake
of opinion in the West he had to adhere outwardly to the Synod
of Chalcedon. He thereby fell into great straits, when Justinian
sought to win the Monophysites in another way in the so-called
Three Chapter Controversy.

1 Perhaps 531, vid, LOOKS I.e. p. 261.

428 CHURCH HISTORY.

Sources : The most of the Acts in MANSI, Coll. Cone. IX. LIBERATUS vid. sup.
p. 413. FACUNDUS of Hermiana, Pro defensione trium capital. 11. 12 and
Contra Mocianum, ed. Sirmond. Paris 1629, in Sirmondi opp. 1696 and
ML 67. FULGENTIUS FBRRANDUS, Ep. pro tribus co-pit. Ml. 67. BUSTIOUS
Adv. Acephalos ad Sebast. Ml. ibid.— Works on the subject: H. NORISII
Diss. Hist, de syn. quin. in opp. ed. Bailer. I., 550 sqq. Verona 1729. Joh.
GARXERIUS, Diss de syn V. in the Auctarium opp. Theodoreti (Ed. Hal. V.,
512 sqq.).

The latter is to a certain extent connected with the revival of the
Origenist controversies. The previous attacks on Origen, in spite "
of the condemnation of his errors expressed by the Synod of
Alexandria in 400 and approved by Rome, had not hindered his
theology from continuing to find numerous admirers, among whom
DIDYMUS and EVAGRIUS PONTKTS rhl. sup. p. 4O!i) remained re-
spected authorities. In the sixth century the Origenists gained
sway especially among the Palestinian monks, and in the great
Laura, the great monastic settlement founded by S. Sabas. Here
a controversy had arisen in consequence of which the numerous
Origenists were expelled and found their gathering point in the so-
called New Laura. Bishop Ephraim of Antioch condemned the
doctrine of Origen at a synod ; in opposition to him the Origenists
in Palestine sought to gain Bishop Peter of Jerusalem to their side.
The latter brought the matter before the Emperor. \vho allowed
himself to be induced by the Roman Apocrisiary Pel;i-ius (the
subsequent Pope) and the Patriarch Siennas to issue a theological
rescript agajnst the Origenist false doctrines (Ep. ad. M< I/IHI/H in
Ma us. IX. 4S7 sqq).

On this basis there resulted, at a Patriarchal Synod at Con-
stantinople in .~)14, an ecclesiastical condemnation of that doctrine;
in Rome too a similar judgment seems to have been expressed by
Vigilius. An Origenist monk from Palestine, who through the
favour of the Emperor ha 1 been made Bishop of Caisarea in Cappa-
docia, THEOPOKTS A-KIDAS. seems now. with a view to diverting
the attention of the Emperor from further proceedings a.u/iinst the
Origenists, to have represented to the Emperor that the Monophjj
sites were to be won by expressly renouncing the chief representa-
tives of the Antiochene Xestorian do^mat ic. It i in led 1 came to this,
that Ephraim, the representative of the Antiochene tendency, was
at the same time the decided opponent of the Origenists. Justinian
agreed, and in an edict of 544 expressed repudiation of the so-called
Three Chapters, i.e. 1) the person and writings of Theodore of
Mopsuestia, 2; the writings of Theodoret in favour of Nestorius
-and against Cyril, 3) the letter of Bishop Ibas of Kdessa to the

THE THREE CHAPTER CONTROVERSY. 429.

Persian Maris (vid. sup. p. 418). If orthodoxy had hitherto rested
upon a compromise between the Alexandrian and the Antiochene
schools, the Antiochene tendency was now to be renounced, and
j the retained Symbol of Chalcedoii to be explained according to Cyril
only, although at Chalcedoii Theodoret and Ibas had also been
recognised as orthodox.

After a brief resistance Mennas and the Greek Church submitted
to the demand of the Emperor, while the Latin West, especially
the Church of North Africa (Facundus of Hermiaiia, Fulgentius
Ferrandus and Liberatus) would have nothing to do with it..
Vigilius of Home had been obliged to come to Constantinople :.
under his presidency a number of sufficiently intimidated Greek
bishops entered their votes in the name of the Emperor, and
Vigilius also agreed to the Judicatum of 11 April, 548, but with
express preservation of the authority of Chalcedon. Facundus
wrote Pro defensione trium capit., and a Synod of Carthage under
REPARATUS excommunicated the Bishop of Rome. In his per-
plexity, Vigilius obtained from the Emperor the withdrawal of his
Judicatum, in order that the decision might first of all be arrived
at by a greater synod ; he was obliged however secretly to bind
himself by oath to exert himself to bring about a decision in
accordance with the Emperor's opinion. But the Illyrian bishops
refused to come to the synod, Reparatus of Carthage came to
resist the Emperor and was deposed on political charges.

Justinian anticipated the synodal decision with a new dogmatic
edict (Mansi, IX. 537 sqq.), and under the pressure of the West
Vigilius now resolved to take courage. In the Constitutum of
14th May, 553, he indeed rejected a number of propositions of
Theodore of Mopsuestia as erroneous, but protested against the
! condemnation of the Three Chapters. He absented himself from
I the Council (the fifth (Ecumenical) held in May, 553, under the
presidency of Eutychius of Constantinople. The Emperor, whose
anger he thereby excited, now revealed the previous secret engage-
ments of Vigilius. On the 2nd June, 553, the Council, which
besides also confirmed the condemnation of the Origenists, uttered
its decision in accordance with the wish of the Emperor. The
I Church of the Greek Empire submitted without any considerable
resistance, but the hoped for regaining of the Monophysites was a
failure. Vigilius, detained in the East, finally again submitted, and
after some years, the resistance of the African Church was also
overcome by the exertions of Primasius of Carthage. For the

CHURCH HISTORY.

bishops of Rome lasting difficulties arose out of the submissiveness
of Vigilius (vid. sup. p. 353).

To the manifold attempts to gain over the Monophysites, there now corre-
sponded the emergence of internal divisions among themselves : for those
attempts always found response only among the moderate Monophysites, the
most eminent theological representative of whom was Severus. As a matter of
fact these Severians stood essentially at the standpoint of Cyril and his one
incarnated nature of the divine Logos, had no wish to be Eutychians or degrade
the human nature of Christ to a mere Docetic illusion, but rather to maintain
the hypothesis of a complete human nature, and rejected any actual mingling
and transformation of the natures ; but after the incarnation only one nature
was to be spoken of, because the duality as of two independent factors involved
the notion of two subjects or individual essences. The divine nature and per-
son of the Logos, conceived as perfect in itself, becomes man by means of the
assumption of the flesh with its reasonable soul, proceeds from tin' woman as
man and remains one, since through inseparable unification Iff possesses the
body as His own and transforms ;uul glorifies the flesh unto His own glory and
activity, without prejudice to the retention of its natural properties (tfiiorqj q
KdTu (piiatv). Severus teaches one composite nature in Christ, to which all the
activities of the divine-human personality are to be referred, and therefore
a.-^imies a synthesis of the united element.-* to form a higher unity. Iu opposi-
tion to this view of the Severians or Theodosians), which was essentially held
also by Philoxeuus, there now appears that of the Julianists. as Julian of
Halicarnassus proceeds from the unity of nature to the unity of being (wala)
and of peculiar character (ifiuopi, TTOIOTTJS). The doctrine of the indestructi-
bility (Aphthar.-ia) of the body of Christ, i.e. that the body of Christ is not
subject to 000/iu, is regarded as a consequence of this. l'>y their opponent- t hex-
are designated Aphthartodocetics or Phantasiasts. while the\ retort upon
their opponents with t lie reproach of worshipping one who is subject to corrup]
tion: Phthartolatry. Inasmuch :I> the Severians only ascribe <ijilit/t<irs/ii to
the exalted condition of Christ, they conceive of His earthly life as still sub-
ject to the natural law- of life, and find the implied antecedent of theofrour-e
voluntarily undertaken suH'erinirs of ('hrist in the natural capacity of sullering
of the body. <>n the oilier hand, the Juliani-t-- relegate the Immniisiii of the
i-ist with that of other men to the Mii-lc moment of the assumption
of the lies! i. and t hence ,,nu an Is conceive of Him as the bodj of < i, id completely
permeated with the Godhead, which undergoes suffering not through it- natural
i|iialit:os but purely in conseq >i voluntary assumption. This conception

appears in its culm'natin_ form in a party of Julianists or GajaniailS. who
ti-aeh that the hod\ of < nri>t. from the moment of union, is not only incorrup-
tible but even uncreated (Aktistetai. who for that reason designated their
opponents as Ktistolaters). On the other side, among the Severians, the endea-
vour to get right with the reality of the human element . in spite of the a--T-
tion of the unity of the (composite) nature, went the length of approval of the
view of thedeacon TIIKMISI n •>. t hat as the bodj' of Christ was subject to natural
condition-, so also the human soul must not be conceived as omniscient Agnoe-
tal), and Chrisl a- a man must have been ignorant of many thine,-: that there- I
fore in relation to the exercise of cognition the one divine-human energy en*
one thing in divine, the other in human fashion; a view which on the ot her
hand was not approved even by the adherent* of the doctrine of ('halcedon.
On the contrary, the Alexandrian sophist STKI-II \\r- NlOBBS went so far as to

THE MONOPHYSITE CONTROVERSIES. 431

assert that if Moriophysitism was to be taken seriously, every distinction of the
human and divine in Christ must be denied (Niobites or Adiaphorites.)1 He
was opposed by Bishop DAMIANUS of Alexandria.

The further spinning of logical speculation on the ideas of nature, being, and
hypostasis led in these Monophysite circles to conflicts in the Trinitarian
sphere also. JOHN ASCUNAGHES, who taught philosophy at Constantinople in
the time of Justinian, and the better known JOHN PHILOPONUS, by their con-
ception of the idea of nature, in consequence of which three natures were to be
distinguished in the Trinity, fell under suspicion of dissolving the Trinity into
a Tritheisin ; in combating them, however, Damianus emphasised the reality
of the divine nature common to the three Persons, in which they participated,
so that his view might equally be regarded as a modalistic doctrine of the
Trinity and as Tetratheisin.

During the whole period of Justinian, we find Monophysistes in and
near the capital, especially under the favouritism of the Empress
Theodora: Theodosius therefore is here their leader. By him Mono-
physite bishops were consecrated for the East, such as a Theodore
for Bosra on the request of the Arab Prince Harith bar Galaba, and
j especially JACOBUS, born in Telia in Mesopotamia, who, fifteen years
I a monk in Constantinople, now as bishop (from 541 or 543) displayed
a restless activity and wandered about ceaselessly for forty years
clothed like a beggar, keeping together those who were of the
same opinion everywhere and consecrating bishops and clergy ;
[thus as JACOBUS BAKADJEUS (el Barada'i), named from his beggar's
'cloak (also r^ai/r^aA-o?;, he received and strengthened the Mono-
physitism which in consequence of the measures of Justinian was
languishing, and became the chief of the Syrian Monophysites, the
Jacobites, in Syria, Mesopotamia and Babylon. Also, the important
position which JOHN of Ephesus (of Asia) occupied with Justinian for
more than a lifetime (vid. sup. Chap. I. p. 309) is noteworthy for the
practical influence of Monophysitism in spite of the official main-
tenance of the Council of Chalcedon. Through the influence of
Theodora, Monophysite monks and nuns who had been expelled from
|the Eastern countries (Antioch, Isauria, Cilicia and Cappadocia)
jfound admission to cloisters in Constantinople and all around it.

The dominant current of feeling at the court, being what it was,

sufficiently explains the fact that Justinian shortly before his death

(made an attempt to gain recognition for the extreme Monophysite

opinions of the Aphthartodocetists. The Patriarch Eutychius, who

tad been compliant with the wishes of Justinian in the Three Chapter

controversy, here however resisted, and was deposed by a synod

According to Timotheus presb. De rec. hcer., p. 397, Diaphorites, for which
However we must read Adiaphorites, vid. Dionys. Ant. in Assemanni BibL
\>rient. II. 32.

432 CHURCH HISTORY.

under John (of Sirimis, Sarmin near Aiitioch), who succeeded.
Justinian's edict however met with most decided resistance, as in
the case of ANASTASIUS (Sinaita) the orthodox Patriarch of Antioch,
and the matter was ended by the death of Justinian.

Under Emperor Justin II. (565-578) the toleration which had
hitherto been extended to the Monophysites, who had held their
assemblies in the capital and elsewhere unmolested, again gave
place to persecutions and attempts at unification from the year 571.
It was desired to compel clergy and monks of this party to hold
ecclesiastical communion with the adherents of the " Synod."
Tedious negotiations were intended to bring the retired bishops,
among them PAUL of Antioch and JOHN of Ephesus, to agreement;
adjustments were again attempted, but were finally broken off, as,
out of regard for Rome, the sacrifice of the Synod of Chalcedon was
not to be seriously thought of. For a long time Paul of Antioch;
allowed himself to be retained by the attempts at union and ac-
quired important influence over the Emperor, but he finally escaped,
and again made his peace with the Jacobites.

The Monophysite communities again come to the surfaiv in the
latter years of the imbecile Justin II. ; under TiitKiurs (sole ruler!
from 578), the exiled Eutychius again becomes Bishop of Con-i;
tstantinople, and in opposition to the Monophysites, although lit
himself fell into an opinion on the doctrine of the Kesurrertioni
included in the heretical Monophysite doctrine which had emerged.';
again proceeded as far as rejection of the Theopaschite formula
Kvcn then there still existed in the Imperial palace of Marina ajj
Monophysite oratory, which Km \vhius destroyed !

Under Emperor M \i KITH > r^-j 'I'1'-' and the Patriarch JohriJ
(Jejunator) the measures against tin- Monophysites eeascd. Among]
the latter themselves, however, and apart from the doctrinal differ-
ences mentioned, there had meanwhile arisen numerous controversies!
[iirtly personal, as to the elections of bishops, especially betweerjl
Jacobus Baradaeus, and Paul of Aiitioch. for the settlement of which!!
even in the time of Tiberiu-. ne^-nt iations had been conducted ai
Constantinople under the protection of the Arab chieftain M midair
barCharet, who was of grc.it inlluence with the Emperor on account
<if his military deserts. In thoc ne^-. .nations Damianiis of Ai xan-
tlria alo took part.

But ihe isolation of Monophysite ecclesiastical affairs advanoec
> completeness from that point onwards with in<T.Msii
ness among the Syrian Jacobites, and in tin
A! iy iuu and Armenian Churches ,<•/'</. ////'.).

AGE OF AUGUSTINE. 433

9. Western Theology and Christian Literature in the Age of Augustine.

We have seen the Western theologians of the Arian age taking part in the
movements which arose on Greek soil. It is now our business to turn our
attention to the theological life which was peculiar to the Western Church.
AMBROSE (p. 399) as regards scholarship, is it is true, to a great extent depen-
dent upon Greek theology ; in the practice of allegorical interpretation of Scrip-
ture he is directed by the spirit of Origen and the Alexandrian school, and
in fact like the latter goes straight back to Philo (De paradiso, De Cain et
Abe!, De Noe et area, De Abrahamo, De Jacob et anima, etc., biblical tracts
partly arising out of sermons or (De Abr.) addresses to catechumens). In par-
ticular in the exposition of the story of Creation (Hexaemerori) he draws from
Basil, though with independent judgment also; but in his dogmatic works
above-mentioned he is also thoroughly dependent on Greek theology (Athan-
asius, Basil, Didymus). But Roman sense, gravity and dignity blend with
Christian impulses in the scion of a noble race as tne inheritance of political
and national culture, and the practical ecclesiastical tendency of an eminent
orator and churchman, gives him with all his scientific dependence a peculiar
Roman importance. A spiritual Cicero, but of far stronger character, he does
not disdain to give to his spiritual sons, the clergy, in the De officiis ministrorum,
a Christian doctrine of ethics, which in marked dependence on Cicero, De
Officiis,1 twists round its stoically tinged popular-philosophical morality into
the Christian, by substituting religious transcendentalism and the ascetic
points of view of the moral theory of the Church, which makes the work
scientifically loose and somewhat wanting in unity ; but the ascetic (monastic)
view of life, which is elsewhere recommended by Ambrose with his whole
energy (vid. the treatises De Virginibus, De viduis, De virginitate), is thus
moderated and counterbalanced. In the problems of sin and its consequences
and of grace, there crops up, in the midst of views which are governed by the
Greek doctrine of freedom, a tendency, which next reaches its logical outcome
in Augustine. The Roman attitude is also to be traced in the vindication of
of the claims of the Church and its discipline as against the great of the earth.
Vid. the catastrophe at Thessalonica and the " Penance of Theodosius " in
FORSTER, Ambros. p. 64 sqq. The dramatic delineation of the event in the
Acta Ambrosii and the Greek ecclesiastical historians is an embellishment, but
the kernel of the affair is vouched for by the Oratio de obitu Theodosii. His
very conscious ecclesiastical disposition comes to light in his partizanship for
the Christians of Callinicum against the Jews whom they used with violence
FORSTER, I.e. p. 60 sqq.), and his procedure against the Empress Justina and the
Arian party. For his significance for worship, preaching and hymnology, vid.
inf.— Opp. Maurinian edition, Paris 1686. Venice 1741 sq. 1748 sq. Ml. 14-17 ;
a splendid new edition, Milan 1875 sqq. — BOHRINGER 2nd ed. X. Joh. FORSTER,
Ambrosius v. Mailand, Halle 1884.

TYRANNIUS (Turranius, Toranus) RUFINUS of Aquileia, mentioned in the
Origenist controversies, born about or after 340 and early caught by the
(monastic life, which bent led him (p. 366) to the East (t 410), although without
independent theological importance, became of great importance for the Western
Church through his translation of Greek works of Origen, and also of Eusebius

1 Vid. P. Ewald, Einfluss d. stoisch-ciceron. Moral auf die Darstellung der
\Ethik des Ambr. Lpz. 2. 1881. EBERT, I. 125 sqq. LUTHARDT, Gesch. der
hhristl. Ethik, I. 174.

28

434 CHURCH HISTORY.

(whose Church History he at the same time continued down to the death of
Theodosius), Basil and others. The Historia Monachorum s. De Vitis Patrum
also (in Her. ROSWEYDE, Vitce patrum, Antwerp 1615, the second Book in
1628), which became so influential, is founded on Greek material (cf. ZKG. VII.
161 sqq.) To his Expositio symboli apostolici we owe most important dis-
closures as to the history of the Creed, Opp. Ml. 21. — It is in the adaptation of
Greek science for the Latin Church that in great part the importance consists
which has been attained by the most learned of the Latin Church-Fathers,

SOPHRONIUS EUSEBIUS HlERONYMUS (JEROME, for his life Vtd. p. 365). This

scholar, trained in the classics, of deep learning in Greek and to some extent
in Hebrew and Chaldee also, of comprehensive though wide rather than deep
scholarship, " the first ancestor of the Humanists," an adept in style, began
about 382 at the instigation of Bishop Damasus of Rome prudently and con-
siderately to improve the text of the ancient Latin translation of the Bible
which had gradually fallen into great corruption. He began with the New
Testament (the Gospels fii~st) ; in the Old Testament, first with the Psalms
which he revised with reference both to the usual text of the Septuagint
(Psalterium Komanum) and to the text of the Hexapla (Psalt. Gallicum), after
which latter he began also to revise the rest of the Old Testament (the Book of
Job preserved). But the necessity of going back to the original Hebrew text
so forced itself upon him, that he undertook a new translation of the Old
Testament from the original text (from 392) and finished it in twelve years, not
without thereby giving manifold offence. Thus, out of the improved ancient
Latin translation of the New Testament and the new translation of the Old
Testament from the original text, there arose the Vulgate which afterwards
gradually attained universal dominance in the Church. His Biblical Com-
mentaries, a mine of wealth for after times, unite with discussions of the his-
torical sense all sorts of allegorical fantasies. His treatises De nominis
hebrceicis s. de interpretations nomhunn Hdbrceorwm follows similar works of
Philo; his book De situ ft nowtinibwi locorum lli'hra'nrum is a free revision
of Eusebius (p. 379). With the latter is also connected the continuation of the
Chronicle of Eusebius, which he translated and revised. The treatise De viris
illiixtrihus (De scriptoribus ccclrN/'dsft'cis), an imitation with reference to
Christian literature of the work of the same name by Suetonius, is intended to
enumerate the Christian writers in series, and briefly to state any notable
utterances they may have made with reference to the Holy Scriptures ; a work
which in spite of many cursor inesses and lack of proportion is of great im-
portance, but which stands in need of still more exact investigation in regard
to its sources. He has found numerous successors (among whom, Gennadius,
etc., ed. by J. A. FAHRICIUS, Bil>ln>Ht<'ca eccleftiast. Hamburg 1718 folio). His
Lires of the Saint N, that of S. Paul of Thebes which quite strikes the fabulous
note of a popular legend, that of Malchus and of Hilarion, as also the biographi-
cal sketches of pious women of his personal acquaintance (S. Paula, S. Paulina,
Fabiola and Marcella), are entirely devoted to the recommendation of monast icisin.
His controversial writings: against the Luciferians (A/fi-rcntin Luc if. ft Orf/iod.),
against HELVIUIUS, against VKJILANTIUS, and the unedifying correspondence
with Rulinus, exhibit less dogmatic significance than literary pu-n.i. it y and
personal excitement and party passion. His numerous letters, which in con-
siderable part go beyond a merely private character and are literary productions
meant for the public from the first, form a rich quarry for the history of civiliz-
atidii and the inner history of the age. — Opp. ed. Bened. (Martianay) l^i'.'i sqq.,
ed. Vallarsi, ed. alt. Venet. 1766 sqq. Ml. 'JJ-36. The older literature upon him

AUGUSTINE. 435

in ZOCKLER, Hieronymus, Gotha 1865. E. L. CUTTS, M. Jerome, London 1878.
On his contemporaries, SULPICIUS SEVERUS, vid. sup. p. 7 and p. 295 ; PAULINUS
of Nola p. 367.

2. Jerome's contemporary, AUKELIUS AUGUSTINE, introduces a
new epoch for the Latin Church, in which a new conception of
Christianity emerges and gives to Western ecclesiastical development
most powerful impulses which affect the whole Middle Age, and
which also continue in the age of the Reformation, and, indeed, in
one direction are only then fully realized. His life, especially the
early part of it, as it is elucidated by himself in a dialogue of his
soul with God in the Confessions 1, written about the year 400, is of
the highest interest in relation to the form of Christian view of the
world which now emerges. Augustine, born on the 13th November,
354, at Tagaste in Numidia, owed his first deep impressions of a re-
ligious sort to his mother Monica. Of exceptional talents, the boy
took in instruction in everything which was then regarded as in-
cluded in a liberal education, with a burning desire for knowledge
which was not free from ambition ; afterwards with a view to edu-
cate himself as a rhetorician (forensic orator) he studied classical
literature and rhetoric in Carthage, while at the same time his pas-
| sionate nature led him into the life of pleasure of a great city. The
1 religious impressions of his boyhood fell into abeyance. The read-
I ing of Cicero's Hortensius (in praise of philosophy) powerfully
; aroused his slumbering yearning after a higher truth and wisdom
j which should satisfy mind and heart at once, which he afterwards
'regarded as his first movement towards God. The empty glitter of
i rhetorical fame pales before this sacred thirst for truth. He also
jgrasps at Scripture, but could not find himself at home in its
Ihomely simplicity. With a view to dialectical training he studied
Aristotle's doctrine of the Categories. But the thirst for truth which
ishould satisfy his religious feelings now led him to the sect of the
\Manichees, then widely spread in the North African province, whose
istrictness of life made a strong impression on him, and whose
jmysterious seclusion excited his curiosity and allured him by the
promise of deeper knowledge of truth. From his nineteenth to his
iwenty-eighth year he allowed himself to be retained in this com-
i :nunity (as auditor or catechumen) by the prospect of final initiation
jnto the full secrets of the truth after which his soul aspired. But
lie was gradually undeceived and fell into new doubts of all truth.
I ft was Neo-Platonism which next paved the way for him, by means
|f its idealistic religious dogmatism again awakening his faith in

1 Edited and explained by K. v. RAUMER, Stuttgart, 1856.

436 CHURCH HISTORY.

objective truth and revealing to him a new world of thought. The
Dualism of the Manichees was specially counteracted by the Monism
for which only the Good is the substantial, the truly existent, while
evil is a mere negative. Augustine, who had formerly taught rhet-
oric with much approbation in Tagaste, next in Carthage, came in
383 to Rome, in 384 to Milan. Neo-Platonism had made him again
receptive of religious truth, but he still looked upon the Christian
faith as a substitute for philosophy for the common man. Now
however the Pauline epistles seriously attracted him, and the
Christian substance of the sermons of AMBROSE, which he first
attended only on account of the beauty of their form, began to
influence him. With severe inner conflicts he was converted to
Christianity and was baptized by Ambrose in 387, at the same time
as his natural son Adeodatus. In Rome he now began the conflict
with Manicheism which continued throughout his whole life.

Returning to Africa in 388, he at first lived for several years in
rural and monastic retirement, but was chosen as presb}rter against
his wish in Hippo Regius in 392, and in 395 was elected bishop
there. His life from now till his death in 430 belonged to the
Church, the essence and the substance of the faith of which, as he
had grasped them on the ground of his own religious experiences,
he sought to defend both against thn Manichees, and now also
against the important sectarian phenomenon of Donatism and
against Pelagianism. In opposition to the Donatists, he developed
the idea of the Church in a way which had a decisive influence on
subsequent times ; in opposition to PELAGIUS, he developed the
doctrine of sin and grace as the real pith of his original concep-
tion of Christianity, which has set its definite stamp on the Latin
Church, although the latter never in the full sense owned to Ihe
Augustinian dogma, to which indeed evangelical Protestantism also
linked itself.

The earliest writings of Augustine (Contra Ac<it/<'>i>/<'»s ; DC Vita brn/<i ; Dt
orditte), indicating the transition from philosophy to Christian theology, are
devoted to the overthrow of Scepticism and the attainment of subjective
certainty of truth ; also the Soliloquia and the treatise DP immortalitatc anh
revolve round the conditions of the knowledge of God. From these beginnings
there is further developed the vigorous endeavour to .•ulv;uice from the undeni-
able facts of self-consciousness, of personal thinking, which at the namo time
contains the guarantee of personal existence, to the recognition of an objective; ;
truth which is the necessary presupposition of our thinking. Inasmuch as
he sees this eternal truth in God. more accurately in the Logos of God as the
essence of the eternal laws of reason, this is made the foundation for the pre-
supposition for all thinking of a faith, which must precede the bringing about
of knowledge. We must have God Himself for teacher if we are to know truth

AUGUSTINE. 437

But this philosophic notion of faith, of the necessary trust in the truth which
attests itself to the spirit, and which is superior to man and is the condition of
his thought, is immediately converted, from consideration of the sinful weak-
ness of man and his spirit, into the ethically and religiously tinged notion of
the faith, which is based on the renewal and divine illumination of man as
brought about by the revelation and redemption of the Son of God. — Truth
itself, viz. the Son of God, the eternal Word, founded this faith. In this way
he reaches the positive ground of the Divine Authority, which the Church,
possessing Scripture and tradition, brings to men. In the energy with which
Augustine maintains this positive foundation of divine revelation, and indeed
in the definite historical form of the truth delivered to the Church, there is
reflected the process of his own development, which first attained contentment
when he was powerfully seized upon by Christian truth. Like Origen he holds
firmly that faith must precede knowledge and is the way to it, but in more
profound amplification ; but in like manner he also holds that it is a duty to
advance through faith to knowledge and insight : intellectus enim merces est
fidei (Tract. 29 in Ev. Joh., § 6, cf. cp. 120). God Himself, as He is the highest
object of faith, is also the proper and highest aim of all knowledge, although
He cannot in the proper sense be conceived but can only be negatively and
approximatively known. With great speculative energy Augustine follows out
the doctrine of God and the Trinity (libri de triiiitate, cf. p. 403) from pre-
suppositions which preserve the influence of the,Platonic philosophy but adjust
it in a new way with positive Christian belief. All the essential fundamental
lines of ecclesiastical speculation are here already drawn. But while in this
speculative doctrine of God Augustine not only condenses in an independent
way the previous development of ecclesiastical dogma, but also modifies it into
the doctrine of the Trinity, on the other hand he is at the same time led by his
personal development to force the essentially deepened conception of Christian
salvation, as the converting effect of divine grace on sinful man, into the
centre of the Christian view of the world. — But the influence of Platonism may
also be clearly demonstrated in Augustine's general idea of the world, and the
finite and evil in the world. Although, by the distinct accentuation of the
creation of the world out of nothing, as the free act of God, the ground of the
Greek philosophy of the age had long been deserted in the Church, it still had
after effect in the way in which God was conceived as the true being in all
beings, the world as mingled of being and non-being, and evil not as something
positive and substantial but as a mere accident of the good, a defect or
privatio. (Cf. G. LOESCIIE, De Aug. plotinizante. Jena 1880; Id., ZWL. 1884,
7. J. STORZ, Die Philos. des h. Aug. 1882. K. SCIPIO, A.'s Metaphys. im Kahmen
seiner Lehre vom Uebel, 1886.) Augustine still coincided with the way of think-
ing of the Greek Church in his decided maintenance, especially against the
Manichean explanation of sin by a natural principle, of its derivation from the
free moral self-determination of man. But these general ideas, the form of
which he took partly from the Platonic philosophy, partly from previous Greek
theology, are filled out in his case with a content thoroughly peculiar to himself.
On the ground of his own life and conversion, the conviction of the moral weak-
ness and corruption of human nature, as it arose in the original free turning
away of the human will from God (Adam's Fall), but is now become a universal
power abolishing man's freedom, as also of the exclusive efficacy of divine
grace, gradually acquires such a fundamental importance and such far-reaching
consequences are drawn from it, that his entire Christian view of the world iio\v
revolves around the cardinal point of moral regeneration (sin and grace). And

438 CHURCH HISTORY.

this regeneration is historically conditioned by the incarnation of the Son and the
salvation therein given, and conveyed to mankind by the Church, but is founded
beyond history in the divine counsel and the predestination which forms theo-
retically the ultimate expression for the religious fundamental conviction of
Augustine, that salvation, light and life are given to man solely through divine
grace, determined by nothing outside of itself, unconditional and omnipotently
efficacious. From this starting point his theology also receives its completion
in a comprehensive religious examination of history : De civitate Dei, II. 22 (p.
314).

For Augustine's most important writings against the Manichees vid. p. 289.
For his own Christian view of the world besides Demoribns ecclesicB cath. et de
moribus Manichceorum, the writings against the Donatists, vid. inf. No. 11 :
those against the Pelagians. No. 12. His apologetic and dogmatic chief works
(De Trin.) have been mentioned. The essence of the Christian conviction
—as regards its apologetic foundation, is given in the book De rera
religione, — in respect to its condensation for ecclesiastical instruction, in Dejide
et Kymboln, De catechizandis rudibits (on its methodical aspect) and in the
Enchiridion ad Laurent turn s. defde, spe et car it ate (ed. Krabinger — Ruland
1801). The work DC doctrina Christiana rather gives directions for the exposi-
tion of the Holy Scriptures and for Christian instruction (mmhis inveniendi qw&
intelligenda sunt and modus profi-rc-ndf <i>i<r ///fi //<•< -fa sinit). Among his
numerous exegetical writings, f)i- gcnfsi ail lit>'r<nn II. 12 (to be distinguished
from the uncompleted treatise of the same name directed against tho Manichees),
the Qiicestioncs in ll<-]>fnfi'iichum, the Knnarrtitimn's in J'sahnos, partly in the
form of sermons for the people, call for special at tout ion; the treatise De
consensu evangeliatarum in furtherance of the harmonising of the Gospels, the
treatise on the Sermon on the Mount, the tractate on John and the numerous
explanations on the Epistles to the Romans and (lalatians. writings in which
religious congeniality compensates for defects in regard to language and method.
—On the questions of the practical life of the Church are bestowed the treatises
De bono conjugali on the one side, and on the other !><• sancta virginitate and Df
bono riilnr'fdfis ; DC inlii/frriiiis finijinjiis : Df HJXTP monachorum in recommen-
dation of manual work for the monks, and many others. Finally his numerous
sermons (scrnwnrs) and his not less valuable numerous letters. His Ifcfracta-
tiones, libri duo, in which, towards the end of his life (c. 427) he subjects his
numerous writings to self-criticism. Opp. ed. Bened. (by Blampin and Cou-
stant) Paris 1»;7!> sqq. Issued again by J. Cloricus (Phereponus) 1700-1703,
12 vols. folio, and Paris 1S3H s<|.|. MIUNK 32-47.— Monographs by BINDKMANN,
1844-1869,3 vols. in Bohringer 2nd ed. XI. A. DOKNKK, Aug., srin tlicof. ,v//.s/V»i
etc., Berlin 1873. REPTKH, Augiisttnisc/i>' Stn,li<'n %K<;. Voll. 4-7), Gotha
1887. E. FBI-KKI.KIN in HZ. vol. 22.

3. In Christian Latin Poetry there had been most characteristically accom-
plished since the age of Constantine that general tendency in which pagan
forms of culture sought to blend with Christian matter, and indeed with the
intention of satisfying the aesthetic taste of the educated, by applying classical
forms to the Christian notions which had become prevalent. The Gospel
History is celebrated in poetry about 330 by C. VETTIUS Agnusrs .JrvicNcus,
a native of Syria, in comparatively flowing hexameters, a Christian epic in
furtherance not of fables but of the truth, with expedients borrowed from Virgil.
The authorship by Juvencus of a similar treatment of Genesis, and the extensive
versification of the books of Moses and .Joshua only recently published by Pitra,
Spicil. Solesmense /., is quite uncertain. Ed. Ml. 1! »,«:/</. UK. 7. :J27. Other

CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 439

poems of a similar sort by unknown authors follow it. This is the beginning of
a poetical treatment of biblical matter, which became of the most far-reaching
importance for the Middle Ages. Perhaps COMMODIAN, who was above assigned
to the third century, belongs also to this period (vid. WEiNGARTEN,.Ze^q/eZn und
Ueberbl. 3, KG. 3rd ed. 1888, p. 37, 231). Such also were the Metro, in Genesin
by a certain Hilary (perhaps him of Poitiers) (in the works of Hil. Pictav.)) and
the Commentaria in Genesin of CLAUDIUS MARIUS VICTOR (probably the
Massilian rhetorician Victorius or Yictorinus, Gennad. De vir. ill. 60), which,
exceeding the limits of a poetical paraphrase, give many excursus and show
a tendency to the instruction of the young (vid. EBERT, I. 353). CCELIUS
SEDULIUS (ed. Huemer, Corp. scr. X.) likewise belonging to the fifth century,
celebrated in his Carmen paschale the good deeds of Christ, who as the true
Paschal Lamb was slain for us, and contrasted the true miracles of Christ with
the invented myths of the poets. The Opus paschale is an amplified prose
version of the same evangelical matter in very turgid diction, while the Carmen
is free from this fault.

We have Christian epigrams by Bishop Damasus of Borne, partly epitaphs
on saints and martyrs and other Christian persons, partly inscriptions in
churches and chapels in memory of his own buildings and foundations. But
the ripest fruit of the process of the permeation of the forms of antique Roman
culture by Christian ideas and opinions is the Latin-Christian composition of
hymns, of which Hilary of Poitiers is regarded as the beginner ; to him
however none of the hymns ascribed can with entire certainty be assigned.
Opposition to the Arians and their successful cultivation of hymnody is sup-
posed to have induced Hilary to the composition of his Latin Hymn-book. His
incitement wrought upon AMBROSE whose hymns already exercised a powerful
influence on worship (vid. inf. History of Worship), but also served as models
for subsequent times : Ambrosian Hymns, the designation of the sort. Only
four can with full certainty be named as the work of Ambrose himself : the
three hymns for the daily hours (Deus creator omnium, ^Eterne rerum conditor,
Jam surgit liora tertia) and the Christmas hymn Veni redemptor gentium.
Each hymn has 32 verses in iambic trimeters, of which four are linked together
in a strophe. Metre and quantity are strictly maintained, the hiatus is avoided.
In contrast with the serious simplicity of these hymns, which in virtue of these
qualities had so much influence, are the poems of AURELIUS PRUDENTIUS
CLEMENS. He was a noble Spaniard (born in 348, probably at Saragossa), who
retired from the world and a high political office (Rector of a Spanish Province)
to serve God by his spiritual poetry. The book Cathemerinon contains twelve
hymns, of which six are likewise intended for use at the ecclesiastical hours of
prayer. A close connection with Ambrose is evident, but the hymns are much
longer (hence only selected strophes passed into church use) and less popular;
he makes use of most various metres, the treatment is partly artistic, partly
more broadly pictorial and narrative. Of the collection Peristephanon, hymns
in praise of the martyrs (especially the Spanish and those whose graves Pruden-
tius had visited in Rome and Italy), part is written in popular style and part on
the other hand in very artistic form. Of these hymns, which are very long,
only isolated stanzas have made their way into church usage. The very
extensive poems, Apotheosis (in defence of the divinity of Christ against
heretical views) and Hamartigenia (the Fall), rather belong to didactic poetry,
with their polemic against Marcion and highly coloured picture of perdition ; it
is worth noting that the poet does not venture to claim full salvation for him-
self, and only prays for mitigated punishment in the future world. The two

440 CHURCH HISTORY.

books against Symmachus are partly based on the treatise of Ambrose against;
the latter. The detailed allegorical poem Psychomachia, depicting the battlej
of faith and the Christian virtues against the vices, became of endless influence!
in the Middle Ages. Under the title of Dittochceon epigrams were collected. — •
Aur. Prud. CL carmina, ed. A Dressel. A. BROCKHAUS, A. Prudentius, 1872.

Less rich in fancy and brilliant in colour than these poems of Prudentius, but"
more elegant and in accord with formal taste are those of his contemporary i
PAULINUS of Nola (p. 367), the disciple of Ausonius. " The heart, consecrated to I
Christ, denied itself to the Camcense and locked itself up from Apollo," but!
celebrated in a whole series of panegyrical songs the holy martyr Felix, andj
John Baptist as the first ascetic, and in an ode, Bishop Nicetas of Dacia whoj
spread Roman Christian civilization among the barbarians beyond the Danubea
Even the Epithalamic species of poetry here finds an application in the!
Christian spirit. By a friend of Paulinus, ENDELECHIUS, we have also a Chris-'
tian bucolic song, De mortibus bourn, in praise of the cross, which has afforded!
protection against the rinder-pest ; by a Certain Bishop OuiKNTirs (middle of!
the fifth century ) there is a moral-didactic poem : Commonitorium. Prosper, the j
admirer of Augustine, apart from his dogmatic and polemic poems (Carmen dc
in gratis, vid. section IB) poured forth u whole hundred dogmatic sentences in I
the form of epigrams. Ecclesiastically however, it was of special importance'
that the above mentioned SEIHTLIUS followed his predecessors Ambrose and)
Prudentius in the composition of hymns. In the alphabetical hymn on Christ I
(A soli* ortitv card i IIP) the tir.-t seven stan/as of which (A — G) became thei
church's Christinas hymn, the following four the Epiphany hymn (H//stis
Ili-rodis impie), he follows the model of Ambrose, like him observes quantity,
liut shows the beginning of a remarkable change and poetical popularisation. I
Already the hiatus is no longer avoided. rhyme is used and it is attempted to*
make the accent of the verse and of tin- grammar coincide. J. HfKMi.i:. Dr
vita. etc. Ib78

10 Priscillianism.

Sources: PRI8CILLIAN) fjtirp *>i /»rsu nt rr<- <; Srhepss (Cor/>. scr. ('<•>•!. lot.
XVIII.) Vienna iSSil. Cunn/n-s .S'//». ('<i-s<ir<iu</. M:m-i III. (533) the acts I]
of the so-called Toledan Synod (Mansi III. 11)97 and Fi.m:i:/. /•>/;. *,/,//-. VI. ,
app. p. 319) and the Canons of the Ryu. Hracarens. MUUM IX. 773).—
Sri.i-ictrs SiovKurs. Chrnnn-mt II. 4i;-.r)l. Dialog. 3, 11 sqq. PACATI I,
DUEPANII 1'inti'fiyrtcns Tlii-ii(/"sti> l.dlftnx c. 28 sq. (XII. ]'tiin-;/i/r/ct tuf/iti '
ed Bahrens, Lpz. 1S47. p. 2i»7). P. OKHSITS, Ad Aur. Ainjnstiiiiiui <-«ni-
iiionttni-itnii </<• i'i-r»ri' /V/x«-. <-f Ori'j. (in the works of Aug. t. VIII. .Ml. :'>!,
124 and at the end of the edition of Priscillian X Ann STINE, De /w/r
c. 70. .li:i:o.Mi:, !)<• rlrlx ill. 121. LKHNIS M. <•//. <td TH rihiuni with the
narrative of Turibius (Ml. r>4, p. <;77). Dilii'i-ent letters of Augu>tine and
Jerome. — Literature: Walch, J\'i'f~r,-i/. III. L. v. VRIES, Dins. frit. d<' /'rise.
Ultraj. 174'). Lri'.KEU, De hoeres. Prise. Hannover IS II. MANHKIIN \< H,
Gesch. des Priscill. 1851. SCHEPSS, Prixi-illi<ti<ns cin urn <m /'</<•/// n</rn<>r
Sehriftstvlli-,', Wiirzb. 1886. LOOKS, ThLZ. 1SS(J, col. 392.

The originator of this movement which excited the Church of
Spain and the neighbouring Aquitanian Gaul at the close of the
fourth century is Priscillian, a man of noble family, of giv;it in-
tellectual vivacity and high culture, the disriple of a rhet<>nri;ni

PRISCILLIAN. 441

Helpidius (Elpidius), probably one and the same person as the
admired rhetorician and poet DELPHIDIUS (Jerome, De vir. ill. 120.
Chronicle on the year 355) in Aquitanian Gaul, whose widow and
daughter are afterwards mentioned among the adherents of
Priscillian. The recently discovered tractates of Priscillian give
expression to a strong and decided devotion to belief in Christ the
sole God, who is life and wisdom and everything to believers, a
faint echo of mystico-pantheistic views of the one God in all
things, who desires to find His resting place in the divine image,
man ; in addition a lively grasp of biblical, especially of Pauline
conceptions (of sonship, the Christ in us),1 but also the conviction
that the action of the Spirit of God is not bound to the narrow
limits of the biblical canon, since he has had and has his prophets
everywhere. In his defence addressed to Damasus (pp. 34-43) he
decidedly adopts the belief of the Church (the Apostles' Creed),
although his accentuation of the divinity of Christ and the unity
of God smacks of a Modalistic conception of the doctrine of the
Trinity, and his conception of the Incarnation sounds Apol-
linarian and he seems to regard the human soul as of divine
substance. Also the founding of the doctrine of the resurrection
of the body on Matt. xxii. 31, may indicate an intentional abstention
from the crasser ecclesiastical conception. He is penetrated by the
idea that the world and the kingdom of God stand in sharp con-
trast, that the friendship of the world is the enmity of God, that
the ascetic realization of Christianity is to be gone about with
bitter earnestness. Behind the ethical dualism there here peeps
out the possibility of a metaphysical dualism. In these tractates,
in spite of their often harsh mode of expression, the force of a
religious personality which had the power to enchain religious
minds of serious purpose may be divined.

Bishops too (Instantius and Salvianus) are found on the side of
this layman, who drew them into this spiritual and ascetic move-
ment. The Bishop of Corduba, HYGINUS, drew the attention of
Bishop IDACIUS (Ydacius) in Emerita (Merida). the capital of the
[ neighbouring Province of Merida, to conventicle Christianity, to
I which bishops also attached themselves, but subsequently when
Idacius took passionate measures against it and lighted the
ecclesiastical conflagration, he took the parb of Priscillian. The
! movement seized upon various Spanish provinces. In the year 380

1 Of this the Canones epistularum Pauli (ed. A. Mai, now recently again
i edited from the MS. by Schepss), which were edited by Bishop Peregrinus with
some alterations, also afford remarkable evidence.

442 CHURCH HISTORY.

a synod was held at Csesaraugusta (Saragossa) in Tarraconensiai
Spain, in which Aquitanian. bishops also took part. Its eigh!
canons are aimed against conventicle Christianity with its tendency
to harsh asceticism and separatist retirement from the church an<i
sacerdotal clergy, especially forbid pious women to attend sucl
conventicles, repudiate the custom of fasting on Sunday and no^
really partaking of the communion received in church, censtiri1
abstinence from attendance at church, and proceed against clergy
who desert their office to live as monks. It is the contiict witl
ascetic separatism which is here carried on, a separatism whic]
is aimed against the secularisation of the clergy. No one i1
to put himself arbitrarily forward as a teacher, and no bisho-'
(who may to some extent side with these pietists) is to receiv
any one who has been excommunicated by another. From th:
17th December till Epiphany every one is to attend church daily
on penalty of the ban on all who during this season abstain fror;
doing so, disappear into the mountains and go barefoot. We pei
ceive an ascetic opposition to the feast of Christmas which ha>'
made its appearance, whether arising merely out of hatred to th
pagan tendencies of the celebration of the festival, or from Doceti'
points of view. The canons mention no name, but at Saragoss;
the Priscillianists, who were not present, viz. those two bishops an!
the laymen Helpidius and Priscillian, were excommunicated (Sulj
Sev.. This, Priscillian (L/hcr ud Dtinm*., p. 35, 15; 40, 17) coijj
tested, with an appeal to Bishop Symposius (Symphosius) who ha'
himself been present at Saragossa, and who along with Hyginu
was among the well wishers and advisers of Priscillian. Syinposhr
(Mansi III. li*'.»7 sq.) was only one day in Saragossa and would no
hear the condemnation of the Priscillianists. The condemnatio:'
was therefore without legal trial and followed by contradiction o>
the part of members who did not acknowledge it. But Hisho
Ithacius (Itacius) of Sossuba (Ossonoba in the Province of Emerita'
—seeing that Hyginus, the bishop of the provincial capital, nov
took the part of the accused — was commissioned to make known fa
the bishops the judgment of the synod, and especially to exhor
Bishop Hyginus in the same sense.1 Ithacius, who is depicted 1>;
Sulpicius Severus as an entirely unworthy, fleshly-minded man
now becomes head of the opponents of Priscillian. But Idaciu
(Ydaciusi, after his return from Saragossa, was accused of evi
offences by his own clergy, and Priscilliau, who meanwhile ha(
been elevated by the bishops who were friendly to him to th<!
1 I read Sulp. Sev. II. 47, niaximu Hyj;inum cvmnioncjaceret.

PRISCILLIANISM. 445,

bishopric of Avila (in the same province), interfered ; he himself
came to E merit a, was indeed insulted here in church, but received
public support against Idacius in the pious party, received here the
profexsio (confession of faith) of the laymen, i.e. of those who were
hostile to Bishop Idacius, and desired to make priests of such.
Powerful parties are therefore formed, and a war arises against
secularized bishops. Hyginus and Symposius advised the adjust-
ment of the conflict by means of a synod.

In this party conflict Priscillian's opponents now raised accusa-
tions of magic and Gnostic or Manichee heresies. The associations
of Manichees owed a great part of their influence to their strict
asceticism. Where unusual ascetic stringency was observed to
accompany coiiventicular gatherings, similar heresy was con-
jectured. Now Priscillian was never an actual Manichee, and the
derivation of his heresy from the alleged Egyptian Gnostic Marcus
(Sulp. Sev.) is worthless. But the accusations had a real basis in-
Priscillian's mathemati co-astrological occupations, his actually ex-
isting inclination to Gnostic speculations on the conflict between
souls descending from the higher world and the powers of the
world, and in a dualistic view which was breaking through.
Ascetic Christianity naturally seeks a theoretical basis in Gnostic-
dualistic ideas, and a certain tendency to conceal an esoteric specula-
tion behind the creed of the Church, with the religious kernel of
which he is in conscious unity, may also be traced elsewhere in
Priscillian.

His opponents now sought to reach the Priscillianists through the
secular arm. They obtained an edict of Gratian, whereby the Pris-
cillianists were to be banished. Priscillian and the other bishops of
his party now betook themselves to Rome for the purpose of seeking
help from Damasus and also from Ambrose of Milan.1 They took
their way through Aquitaine, where they found many adherents,
especially in Eluza (Euze in Gascony). Bishop Delfmus of Bor-
deaux re jected them ; they found a friendly reception at the country
I seat of the widow of the rhetorician Delphidius ; she and other pious
women accompanied them on the way to Rome, which gave rise to
lodious rumours. Damasus and Ambrose did indeed hold back ; but
the Priscillianists through Macedonius, the Magister Officiorum
(according to Sulp. Sev. by bribery), effected the recall of Gratian's
decree ; Priscillian and Instantius were given back to their churches
;(Salvian had died in Rome), their opponent Ithacius had to leave
Spain and sought in vain to influence Gregorius the Prefect of
1 Their written vindication is no longer extant.

.444 CHURCH HISTOR Y.

•Gaul against them. Then he turned to the usurper Maximus who;
had just come into power, and who, after his victorious entry into)
Treves, caused the Priscillianists to be set before a synod in Bor-
deaux by the Prefect of Gaul and the Yicar of Spain. Here;
Instantius was deposed by the bishops ; but Priscillian withdrew'
himself from their judgment by appealing to the Prince himself.'
But in the trial, held by command of Maximus before the Prefect?
Evodius, as the result of the accusations, Ithacius, after admissions
of magic and immoral doctrines and assemblies had been forced from,
him by torture, was found guilty and executed by the sword, with;
him also Euchrotia, the rhetorician Latronianus and others, while1
Instantius was exiled to a British island. Maximus sought tovindi-!
cate himself by communicating the transactions to Bishop Siricius oi
Borne ; he is besides accused of covetousness of the property of the
accused, not only by the panegyrist Pacatas, who in his panegyric orj
Theodosius is inclined to depreciate Maximus, but also by Sulpiriur'
Severus (Dial. III., 11, 11). The whole procedure of the episcopal in;
formers, who were inclined to espy heresy in every pale ascetic, wa-j
indignantly opposed by earnest churchmen, such especially as Marth
•of Tours. He had sought in vain to prevent bloodshed and, in general
the interference of the secular authority in the ecclesiastical question!
and he would have no fellowship with the compromised bishops a
Treves. In the end he was at least successful in keeping Maximu.
from farther persecution of suspected persons in Spain. The chiei
agitator in the affair, Ithacius, was finally deposed as the individual
most compromised. Idacius himself retired from his bishopric
When Ambrose appeared as the ambassador of the \\Vstern ruler a
the court of Maximus, he would have no fellowship with the bishop:
who had co-operated in bringing about the death of Priscillian, anc
Siricius of Rome must have been of the same way of thinking. Tin
schism on this point dragged out for some time longer.1

By his party in Spain PRISCILLIAX was regarded as a holy martyr j
the bodies of the executed were brought to Spain ami t here solemnly
buried. The Priscillianists continued to spread in Spain, especially
in Gallicia. Here wrought SvMriiosns. Dictinnius, whom he raisec-
to the episcopate (also known as the writer of his party , Paternus Oi
Braga and others. Ambrose already sought, probably in agreemen(
with Bishop Siricius of Rome, to interfere as mediator so as to niak'

1 The bishops who stand in ecclesiastical alliance with Bishop Felix, who ha
been consecrated at Treves by bishops who were his fellows in i^uilt. sn-k i
vain at the Synod of Turin in 401 to reunite the ecclesiastical connection whic
had been broken off.

DONATISM. 445:

I

{reunion with the Church possible to Priscillianists like SymphosiuS'
!and Dictinnius under certain conditions, if they would sacrifice the
I commemoration of Priscillian. At first he was unsuccessful, but at
'the Synod at Toledo (about 400), reconciliation seems really to have
I been attained ; but still with opposition on the part of zealous oppo-
jnents in the Provinces of Bsetica and Carthagena, to the hushing up
i of which Innocent of Rome (404) sought to contribute.

The Priscillianist party however became a sect which was able to maintain
! itself undisturbed amid the restless times of the pouring of the barbarians into
Spain. When LEO I. in Home had taken proceedings against the Manichees,
his attention was drawn by Bishop Tuiumus of Asturicum (Astorga) to the
Priscillianists who were widely spread in Spain. Leo demanded the holding
of synods against them, of which one was held in Toledo (447), another in
Spanish Galicia. For the last time however steps were taken against them,,
after the kingdom of the Suevi had meanwhile gone over from the Arian to the
Catholic creed, by Bishop Lucretius at the Council at Braga, in 563. The sen-
tences there directed against them were based upon Leo's accusations and the
corresponding anathematisms of the (Toledan) synod, which are preserved
' in the Acts of the Synod of 400, but belong to the synod of 407. Among the
i false doctrines attributed to the Priscillianists, along with the accusation which
I was made from the very beginning, of using apocryphal scriptures, which were
| probably derived from Priscillian himself, there may specially be perceived a
Modalistic doctrine of the Trinity with the consequences therein involved for
Christology (filium dei antequam ex virgini nasceretur non fuisse), the doc-
trines of the substance of souls, of their pre-existeuce, and those astrological
speculations which relate to the correspondence of human faculties and limbs
with the sidereal world-powers; therewith however were combined strong
dualistic notions connected with the rejection of the flesh (marriage and the
eating of flesh), which must have had a hold likewise on Priscillian himself, of
which however it would be difficult to state clearly what in the Priscillianists
was popular coarsening of the conception or what of Manichee, i.e. dualistic con-
ceptions was transferred to them.

11. The Donatist Controversy.

Sources : OPTATUS and the Monumenta in du PIN, vid. p. 331. Of Augustine's
writings, Contra Epist. Parmen. II. 3, De baptismo II. 7, Contra litteras
Petiliani II. 3, Contra Cresconium II. 4, Breviculce collationis C. Don. 11.3.
— Literature : NORISII hist. Donat., continued by the Ballerini in the works
of Noris, t. 4. WALCH Ketzergesch. vol. 4 EIBBECK, Donatus und Augustin,
1858. BINDEMANN, Augustin, II. 366 sq. III. 178 sqq. VOLTER., vid. sup.
p. 331.

In the Donatist movement (p. 331) the constitutional question was
combined from the very beginning with enthusiastic opposition to
a secular Christianity, which was further increased by the inter-
ference of the coercive power of the State. The old world-alien
Christianity of the times of persecution seemed to live on in the-
Donatists, who still asked even now, as Tertullian had once asked,
in presence of a state force which was hostile to Christianity, u quid

I

!

446 CHURCH HISTORY.

imperatori cum ecclesia ? " The forbearance too, by which, from 321,
Constantine endeavoured to soothe the heat of the controversy,
and the cessation of persecution, were unable to heal the breach ;
the party which in 330 sent 270 Donatist bishops to one synod was
conscious of its power. An asceticism of a rude sort, run wild,
professed by uneducated folk, who were at war with the world for
•Christ's sake, and wandered about begging (militex Chrixti, Agonis-
tici, Circumcelliones), propagated the excitement, especially since, after
the death of Constantine, Constans again began to take measures
.against the Donatists. This fanatical disposition against a secu-
larized imperial Christianity received a religious-socialistic stamp,
inasmuch as peasants, impoverished by the oppression of taxation,
and runaway slaves, were seized by the agitation, and ideas of
freedom and fraternity were mingled with the ascetic flight from
and conflict with the world ; on the other hand the ardent glow
of fanaticism was augmented till it became martyrdom of frenzied
self-annihilation. Against these wild masses the more moderate
minority of the Donatists themselves had at last to appeal to the
help of the state-power, which then restored peace even by force
of arms. But the separation from the catholic party of the Church
lasted on, even when the death of the hated Bishop Caecilian of
Carthage seemed to offer an opportunity of settlement. In Car-
thage, and in almost all the cities, Catholic and Donatist bishops
stood opposed. In the year 348, Constans sought to win over
the Donatists in a friendly way, by causing monetary support
to be offered to the Donatists who had been impoverished by the
disturbances, and who for the most part proceeded from the poorer
classes of the populace. But Donatus Magnus at their head pro-
ti'Sted against such seducements, and another Donatus (of Bagai)
met the negotiators with armed Cireumcellioiis. It came to an
insurrection, in consequence of which Donatus of Bagai was exe-
cuted ; Donatus Magnus and others were exiled. The revolution
under Julian again gave Donatism breathing space, its exiled
bishops might return ; in place of Donatus Magnus, who had died
in the meanwhile, PARMKNJANUS was conducted to Carthage under a
military guard. Against him was directed the theological polemic
of Bishop OpTATtisof Mileve: De xchixmate Doncttixtdrtun adv. J'tirm.1
which went a tolerable length to meet him, and willingly acknow-
ledged their common basis of belief. In the last decades of the

1 The first six books (as far as proved by Jerome De vir ill ustr. 110) were
written somewhere about 308 ; the seventh book, if written by Optutus at all,
must in any case have been added later.

THE DONATIST CONTROVERSIES. 447

jentury however, considerable differences make their appearance in
':he Donatist party itself. We find men of scientific culture among
them, who entered on a milder and more moderate policy without
'oeing able to overcome the rigorists and fanatics. To the former
belongs the grammarian TYCHONIUS, who is also known by his
<-egidce septem ad investigandam intelligentiam sacrarum scripturarum
Gall. VIII), to which Augustine does not disdain to make reference,
,md who does not approve the Novatian principle of the Donatists
jind especially the non-recognition on principle of baptism by
Catholic priests. We now find bishops of the stricter and the
'nilder Donatist observance alongside of one another and in feud
with each other, in many places, such as Carthage. AUGUSTINE now
interfered with vigour by writings and negotiations at synods, with
!i view to adjusting wherever possible the schism which was doing
ileep injury to the African Church. But the advances by which a
jfew allowed themselves to be won over, only awakened anew the
'fanaticism of the majority. Even Augustine now no longer resisted
ifche desire, which found expression among the Catholics, to call in the
laid of the secular power and the penal law. To it the Emperor
JEonorius responded in 405. Pecuniary fines, the exile of the clergy,
land the taking away of churches were applied, and the opinion of
the Catholics drove him to give up the attempted return to tolera-
tion in 409. Up till now the Donatists had evaded the desire that
ibhey should engage in a public disputation ; the Emperor now com-
pelled them to do so. In the famous Collatio cum Donatistis in
111, Augustine and Bishop Aureliusof Carthage contended with the
jDonatists Primian and Petilian in presence of 286 Catholic and 279
Donatist bishops, and the imperial commissioner assigned the victory
iuO the Catholic party. From that time onwards decisive measures
Were taken against the beaten party, to which, in 414, all civil
Bights were denied, and in 415 the holding of assemblies forbidden
bii pain of death. Soon however both parties had to suffer equally
severely under the invasion of the Vandals ; the Donatists only dis-
jippeared gradually.

The controversy had started from objection to the ecclesiastical
iction (consecration of a bishop) of a traditor, one therefore who by
'real or apparent) surrender of the sacred books had denied the faith.
IPhe Donatists attacked the validity of such sacramental actions
;is were performed by clergy under the taint of mortal sin: the
Catholics asserted that the validity and force of sacraments were
not, dependent on the subjective condition of the administrating
priest : sacramenta esse per se sancta, non per homines (Opt. Mil.).

448 CHURCH HISTORY.

But among the Donatists the more general tendency, following the:
notions of Noviatianism, now becomes prevalent : the true Church is!
only to be recognised where its essential predicate of holiness is
guarded by the expulsion of all who may be guilty of mortal sin ; in
contrast whereto the Catholic conception held strictly to the principle,
that the holiness of the one true Church was not abolished by the
dead or impure members who remained in the Church, but was.
essentially based on the divine foundation of the Church and the|
Holy Spirit and its means of grace conferred upon it as an institu-,
tion as the objective conditions of holiness.1 But on the Catholic
side the actual universal diffusion of the (Catholic) Church, in con-,
trast to the small Donatist community which was limited to Africa:
and to some extent to Rome, was also regarded as the practical
confirmation of the predicate of catholicity which was equally
essential to the one true Church.

12. The Pelagian Controversy.

Sources: The writings of PELAGIUS : Expositiones in epixt. Pauli, Epi*f. ad
Demetriadem (ed. Semler, Halle 1775) and Lihi-llus fidci ad Innocenthim,
all in the opp. Hieronymi ed. Mart. V. — ed. Vallars. XI. (Ml. 30 and -IS), thei
Confession in HAHN, liibl. <l . .S/////6.2, p. 213 sqq. — A fragment of the Con-
fession of CELESTINB in Augustine (Hahn, Ibid. 218). Numerous frag-
ments in Augustine and Jerome, especially those of JULIANIUS Eclanensis,! i
whose eight books Ad Florium contra Au/fiisfini nccinnliim de nupti/^may
be mostly restored from Augustine's Opux hnperf. contra Jul. AucrSTiSB'slj
numerous controversial writings in the tenth vol. of the Benedictine edition;
(Ml. 44 sq.). JEROME, Ep. ad Ctrsiphontcm and Dialogi c. Pclag. ed. Mart.-
IV. 2 (Ml. 23). P. Ouosirs, Apologia c. Pclag. (opp. ed. Zangemeister, 1882,j|
p. 601 sqq.) MARIUS MKKCATOR, Common, adv. hares. Pclag. et Cwl. and
Commonit. super nomine Cozl. (Ml. 48). The Acts of Councils, Mansi IV. —
Of the older works on the subject, G. J. Vossius, 1618 (1655), H. NOKISIUS,
1673, GARNIER, 1673 (vid. RE. 11. 425) ; of the more recent WALCH, A>teer-|
gesch. IV. and V. ; F. WH;I;I;KS, J'r/i</jn. Durst. </rx Aiii/ttxtinism., itnd Pelag.ll
2 vols. 1831, 33. WORTEK, Dcr /'</,/,/. 2nd ed. 1874. KLASBN, Die innere
Entw. des Pel. 1882. J. L. JACOBI, Die Lehre des Pel. 1842.

The Greek Church gave expression to the belief in the super- :
natural nature of Christian salvation in the dogma of the divine
incarnation, in which the Godhead reveals itself to man, and really
unites itself with human nature, so that the knowledge of God is
opened to the human spirit, and human nature is raised to a<$>0apaia.
But, inasmuch as it conceived the divine work of salvation on the
one hand as a revelation for the human spirit, on the other hand as
deification of human nature, it looked upon the personal appropria-

1 Sanctitas desacramentiscottigitur, non de super b ia ptr sonar um ponder a •
tur. Opt. Mil.

THE PELAGIAN CONTROVERSY. 449

tion of salvation less with regard to the question of the extent to
which the divinely effected benefit of salvation consisted in religious-
moral conversion itself, than to the extent to which the acquisition
of transcendent salvation is conditioned by moral effort. Greek
theology had chiefly the interest which was nourished by Greek
philosophy, of setting man free from the bonds of pagan naturalism.
; Opposition to Gnosticism with its tendency to reduce moral contrasts
| to natural powers, was here specially influential. In opposition
| thereto, man is above all things to be regarded as a responsible
moral personality, who breaks through the ban of nature. Hence,
this constant and preponderating accentuation of human freedom,
the avregovcriov, among the Greek Fathers from the Apologists and
i Origen on to Chrysostom and farther, and the shyness of everything
( which was capable of making sin appear as a natural power. Hence
however willingly the present natural condition of man is recognised
as deeply degraded by the Fall, however decidedly enchained
sensuality and, as a consequence of it, death and therewith the
weakness and easy seducibility of the will by the world, the devil
i and demons, and the obscuration of the God-consciousness which has
become so strong, are looked upon as consequences of Adam's sin,
yet actual sin always remains man's own deed, proceeding from that
i one attribute which cannot be taken away from man without abolish-
ing his moral nature, his free power of will. The universal sinful-
ness of man is indeed admitted as a universal fact of experience ; at
the same time there remains, as is also here and there expressed, at
least the abstract possibility that perhaps a few men may have kept
themselves free from sin. For the condition of man is after all only
,become more difficult, his inner nature is not so far altered, that he
jshould be subject to sin as to a power of nature. But it is true that
all human freedom was yet unable by itself to abolish the actually
jexisting separation between God and man. The very obscuration of
the knowledge of God can only be set aside by divine revelation ;
land the corrupt condition of man occasioned by the Fall, his subjec-
tion to transiency and death, requires divine redemption. In this
objective sense it stands firm for the Greek Church teachers, that
iman can only have salvation by grace, viz. in the actual grace of
the Incarnation and the supernatural effects which proceed from it.
But even so, it also remains fixed for them that man must appro-
bate the salvation which is offered him, by the right use of his
spiritual freedom, and it never occurs to them that the most
decided emphasising of human freedom in appropriating salvation
pould involve any prejudice to grace ; and where and to the extent

29

4 so CHURCH HISTORY.

that this point is reflected upon, it is found sufficient to recognise a
necessary co-operation of grace and human freedom. Thus both!
sides appear in their practical significance but without any deeper
adjustment, e.g. in Chrysostom, who energetically emphasises freedom!
with a view to incite men to moral effort and to take away fromj
carnal indolence the excuse which it finds in the appeal to the sinful
frailty of human nature ; but he none the less, for the purpose of
exalting the divine grace, depicts human wretchedness from which
divine grace alone could rescue man. But even where he gives ex- \\
pression to the pious consciousness that the whole of redemption is]
not our work but the work of divine grace, he adds, but we must!,
draw it down upon ourselves, indeed, in order to obtain the divine:
mercy we must make ourselves worthy of it. At bottom the i \vo
methods of looking at the matter run alongside of one another,
without touching, inasmuch as, where grace is praised, in regard tcj
it the supernatural bringing about of a so-to-speak physical con-i
dition of salvation is set before us, but where appeal is made to th«j
moral independence of man, the moral process appears as the means
of obtaining the salvation which itself is not found in mere moral
renovation.

Another attitude to these problems had however been preparing
in the Latin West. Following Tertullian's example, HILAKY and
AMBROSE had assumed, with appeal to Psalm H. 7, as a result o,
Adam's sin, a peculiar sinfulness (vitiox/tdx ani/iuc) which was proi
pagated from Adam downwards by generation; corresponding to i|j
grace also was designated not only as the objective principle oj
salvation, the cause of the rescuing of man from misery and th<j
state of death, but also as the efficient cause of conversion and imj
provement, and salvation is therefore also perceived in moral ivgen:
eration itself.1 At the same time, in Ambrose himself, the innuencej j
of Greek theology and that specifically Western turn of thought still
move on alongside of one another. But in Augustine, a considerable
time before the outbreak of the Pelagian controversy, and as thj
result of his personal development, these fundamental views ha«
already arrived at their logical development, according to which, en i
the dark ground of the corruption and guilt of man through origina :

1 In the Commentary on the Pauline Epistles which has been ]>\-.« •• <l mnon.
the works of Ambrose, the so-called Ambrosiast (Ml. 17), the view of the propaj i
gation of Adam's sin is already found and indeed in the part of th>- i-, mmiriitar
^•liich seems to belong to the old stock. C. MAROLD in ZwTh. ls*l 1ms n-n ntl
upheld the unity of this commentary which according to;i IM--.I ;e in Ai ai MIS
is ascribed to an (unknown) Hilarius.

PELAGIUS. 451

sin, his religious and moral regeneration is looked upon as his salva-
tion itself wrought exclusively by God.

PELAGIUS, a British monk, of whose early life nothing is known, came, some-
time about the beginning of the fifth century, from his home to Rome, and as
a respected representative of monastic piety, was there on friendly terms with
eminent men such as Paulinus of Nola, Sulpicius Severus and also Eufinus. His
education was also influenced by acquaintance with Greek theology. As re-
gards Pelagius' turn of mind the letter written (413 or 414) to a Roman lady of
rank. DEMETRIAS, is of special interest. Demetrias, who, before the destruction
of Rome in 410, had fled to Carthage and been there gained to the monastic life by
the speeches of Augustine, corresponded with Augustine and Jerome ; Pelagius
I also sought in the letter to give her instruction on the regulation of morals and
j a holy conduct of life. As a zealous monk of strict morality, Pelagius was
i scandalized at the wide-spread laxity and indolence, which would enjoy the
gifts of Christian grace without energetic moral effort, and excused itself by
' human frailty. In opposition thereto he desired to awaken the feeling of moral
responsibility ; God required nothing impossible from men, as the sinner's own
| consciousness of guilt attested. The only point was to become conscious of the
power for good which God had implanted in human nature (the bonum naturce),
; that capability of freedom, which indeed involves the possibility of evil, but
| also the faculty of voluntary affirmation of the good, and in favour of which
;| the voice of conscience, the naturalis sanctitas, bears witness. Pious men lived
j in holiness according to this law written in the heart, before there existed any
I positive law, and thereby showed what human nature was capable of. Of
I course the long custom of sinning has darkened the light of reason and made
j necessary the appearance of the divine law. But if that custom of sinning
•seems to a certain extent to have acquired the strength of nature, the divine
l law and, further, the Gospel, contain an increasing divine support. If even
[before the law, and under it, many have lived in righteousness and holiness,
I jhow much more must that be possible for Christians, who are instructed by the
: grace of Christ and born again better men, reconciled and purified by His blood
j and incited to perfect righteousness by His example. The Christian can now
I (either keep to avoidance of what is forbidden and obedience to all that is com-
i iinanded, and in contempt of the higher perfection, avail himself of all that is
| (permitted, or, for the sake of the higher reward, he may abstain even from what
| [is allowed and aspire after the counsel of perfection, which however does not
lEmancipate him from the law which is binding upon all. Nor do special ascetic
I exercises of virtue absolve him from the inward duties of overcoming self. On
I .he contrary he censures as hypocritical humility the conduct of such as can-
Inot plainly enough bewail their sins and misery and yet allow themselves to be
•a let in a heat by the smallest insult. The legal and one-sidedly moral stand-
point of Pelagius, however, never allows him to recognise the living root of
porality in the religious attitude of man to God. He regards the religious
i |lement as only an external, accidental means of progress. For that reason
;: is also concealed from him, that a sharpened and deepened consciousness of
\ 'in might, by faith in the grace of God, give rise to the birth of a great moral
Inergy. He nowhere conceives grace as an inwardly-working, but always as
i n increasing external support of the will, corresponding to the increasing
I lower of sinful habit, and as the revelation of the divine will for the intelligence
I |E men, emancipation from the guilt of past sins, a spurring on by the holding
I at of divine punishments and instruction. Augustine judged of the period

452 CHURCH HISTORY.

before the controversy, that Pelagius (in a letter to Paulinus) occupied himself
almost exclusively with the forces and capacities of nature (the naturally moral
equipment of man), and in doing so allowed the idea of the grace of God to
disappear almost entirely. From this point Pelagius could only see objection-
able and morally dangerous notions in the conception of original sin and of
a sinful corruption, the result of which must be death, and in the exclusive
foundation of conversion and all good — even the good movements of the will —
on the grace of God. He turned away in indignation when a bishop appealed
to Augustine's expression in prayer: Da quod tubes et iitbc quod vis.

It was not Pelagius who brought the conflict which was agitating
the Church to its outbreak ; but CCELESTIUS, a man of noble origin
who from an advocate had become a monk and had attached him
self to Pelagius. Both had come from Rome to Africa (411) ; Pela
gius had come slightly into contact with Augustine, had evinced hi
admiration for him and had then parted from him on good terms tc
go to Palestine. Ccelestius, however, exerted himself in Carthag
to obtain a position as presbyter. He was then accused by th
Presbyter Paulinus from Milan at a synod at Carthage (412). Th
six points of the accusation reproached him with denial of origina
sin and a deep corruption of human nature introduced by Adam'
sin, especially also of the derivation of death from Adam's sin, th<
last therefore a point in which he had the whole preponderate:
of the opinion of Greek theology (though not that of Theodore o
Mopsuestia) against him. But these questions became burning
through the consequences which they involved for the significanci
of infant baptism. Adam would have died, even if he had no
sinned. Children are born in the same natural state in whic)
Adam was before the Fall, have also eternal life if they die un;
baptized, for Adam's sin only injured himself, not the whole humai
race ; but before and after the coming of the Lord there have beer
individuals who did not sin ; the work of the Saviour does not fora1
such a deeply marked contrast to everything previous, but : lex sut
mitt it ad regnum ccelorum, quemadmodum et evangelium ; as Adam.'
sin may not be regarded as the cause of the dominion of death, s|(
also the resurrection of Jesus may not be looked upon as the sol! •
cause of our resurrection. Coelestius appealed to the fact that th I,
question whether any tradux peccatt existed, was not a di.ginac
the Church, but a free problem, and sought to show that infant-banl
tism was compatible with his principles, seeing that participation i
the kingdom of God, which \\as still to be distinguished from
life, was not to be attained by the power of nature, but only by
The synod however, as he would not retract his pniirip es. < M-«>I
municated him, and Crelestius betook hiinsrli to th<' (nvrk l-'ast,

THE I-ELAGIAN CONTROVERSY. 453

Pelagius had meanwhile found a friendly reception with Bishop
JOHN of Jerusalem. JEROME, who since the Origenist controversy
had been on a strained footing with John and had been informed
as to the controversy in North Africa by Augustine — he had sent
him the Spanish Presbyter OROSIUS in 415 in order that the latter
might learn the true fear of God at the feet of Jerome — now turned
against Pelagius (Dialogi adv. Pelag. and Epist. ad Ctesiph.) in whose
[doctrine he was inclined to see a revival of the Origenist heresy,
i Without deeper understanding of the points to be decided, with
[odious attacks he fell especially upon the assertion that weak men,
standing so far below the holy God, should have been able to exist
without sin. In an assembly of the Jerusalem presbyters under
Bishop John, Orosius reported on the discussions in Africa, read
(publicly a letter of Augustine's, and asserted that the Pelagian
ioctrine was already condemned there and by such eminent men as
Augustine, and now also by Jerome. John, who caused Pelagius to be
(seated among the presbyters, required definite accusations. Orosius
kpbraided him with the assertion that man could be sinless and
j'asily keep the commandments of God; John however was satisfied
vhen Pelagius admitted, that man could only do so by divine help ;
>ut consented, seeing that Pelagius belonged to the Latin Church,
p apply to the Bishop of Rome, and that meanwhile Pelagius should
r.eep quiet. But in the same year two deposed Western bishops,
HEKOS of Aries and LAZARUS of Aix, composed a written accusa-
:;:on against Pelagius, on the ground of which negotiations were
pnducted at a Synod at Diospolis (Lydda) under Bishop EULOGIUS
IK Csesarea. But here too Pelagius was able to gain recognition,
irtly by giving a sense which seemed unobjectionable to the Greeks,
i) the odd and confused style of expressions, partly by repudiating
[sponsibility for sayings of Coelestius and agreeing to the condemna-
: jon of the latter, which was not quite candid and without reserva-
: bn ; Augustine asserted (De gestis Pelagii) that as a matter of fact
ji .|?lagius thereby pronounced his own sentence.
jOn information of these proceedings, further measures were pro-
(jeded to in Norch Africa, in order to counteract the impression made
lj them especially in Rome. The Synod of Carthage under Aurelius
6) demanded of the Bishop of Rome, that however Pelagius and
slestius might declare themselves, a general condemnation should
expressed of those who : 1) taught that human nature had power
ugh in itself to overcome sin and keep the commandments of God,
therefore showed themselves to be enemies of grace, and who, 2)
lied that children were freed from a state of corruption and made

454 CHURCH HISTORY.

participant in eternal life by baptism. The Numidian bishops ex-
pressed themselves similarly at an assembly at Mileve against the
Bishop of Rome, and with the special acquiescence of five African
bishops, Augustine at their head, who felt the absence in Pelagius or
his party of the idea of Christian grace as a principle working1 in-
wardly by the imparting1 of the Holy Spirit, since by grace partly
the merely natural equipment of freewill, partly the revelation of the
divine will, partly the forgiveness of sins effected by Christ was under-
stood. Innocent I. praised the African bishops for applying to the
authority of the Roman see, and concurred with them. Meanwhile
Pelagius also had applied to the Bishop of Rome with a confession of
faith which bore out his orthodoxy in the dogmas, which alone hither-
to had been regarded as decisive (those regarding the Trinity and
Christology), but expressed himself indefinitely on the points which
had now become controversial, yet in such a way as to indicate his
assertion of the freedom of men though they still required divine
help, as the correct middle way between the Manicheau assertion thai
man could not avoid sin, and the one which was ascribed to Jovixi \\,
that it was not possible that man (sc. the regenerate man) should sin.

The letter and confession of Pelagius found Bishop Innocent no
longer in life. His successor XO-IMI s n<>\\- also received explana-
tions from Coelestius, who had become a presbyter in Ephesus, but
seems afterwards to have been driven a\v;iy from Constantinople
as a heretic by Bishop Attims. He strictly maintained that then
was no question of dogma, but of <inti'xfi<»/<>.<< pnrfer fidem, avowec
himself ready to receive instruction from the Roman see, but yet
on his part decidedly maintained his repudiation of original sinj
(tradux peccati) because sin was not natures <l<'l/cf/i/n but volnntatim
(Iclictiiin. Zosimus discussed at Roman assemblies the affair of
Coelestius and (the absent i Pelagius and found both explanations
satisfactory, as they nowhere put grace or the divine aid out of
sight ; and accordingly in his writings he blamed the Africar
bishops, for carelessly granting a hearing to the accusations of mei
of evil repute (the deposed Gallican bishops) against, men of sue!
entire faith, and exciting controversies which went beyond th>
province of the simple faith of the Chun li.

But the African bishops now declared at the Synod of ('ait ha;
(end of 417 or beginning of 418 > that the matter should stam
on the decision of Innocent, until Pelagius ;md Coelestius h;n
plainly ass ntcd to the pn>jx isjt i< m thai the grace of God by Je 3115

Christ assists us not only to the knowledge, but also to the
exercise, of righteousness in every siug-le act. so that without it'

THE PELAGIAN CONTROVERSIES. 455

we should be able to think, to say or to perform nothing truly pious
or holy.

At the General Council of all the African Provinces at Carthage,
in which Spanish bishops also took part, the Pelagian false doctrine
was further solemnly condemned in the same year (418), especially
the propositions, that man had been created mortal and would have
died without sin, that children had no inborn sin, that justifying
grace in Christ only effected the forgiveness of past sins and did
not help towards the avoidance of future sins ; as also all those
assertions which denied an inwardly working grace. Zosimus had
already begun to hesitate after the first declaration of the provincial
Synod of Carthage ; now, however, the opponents of Pelagius
obtained a Rescript of the Western Emperor Honorius (30 April,
418) to the Prsefectus Prsetorio Palladius, which threatened the
adherents of the new heresy, of whom there seem to have been not
merely a few in Rome, with expatriation. In consequence of this
Zosimus thought it advisable likewise to break with them. At
a Roman synod, Pelagius and Coelestius were condemned, and in
his Epistola tractoria (Ml. 20, 693) which was sent to all foreign
churches and of which only fragments have been preserved, he
declared for original sin, the significance of infant baptism based
thereon, and the doctrine of the inward working of grace. The
Western bishops had to subscribe. Among the few Italian bishops
who did not submit and sacrified their office to their conviction, was
JULIAN, Bishop of Eclanum in Apulia, an acute and gifted man
whom Augustine had formerly for a long time wished to draw into
his neighbourhood. He now came forward as the most capable
champion of Pelagianism which he sought to found deeply, funda-
mentally and systematically, in literary conflict with Augustine.
The Augustinian doctrine of original sin, its foundation on the evil
inseparable from generation, seemed to him to lead to the rejection
of the intercourse of the sexes altogether and even to Manichean
inferences ; and in the contention with the Augustinian doctrine
of grace the doctrines of election by grace and predestination also
came under more distinct consideration than hitherto.

In the next years the measures for the suppression of the Pelagians
were prosecuted. Bishop BONIFACE of Rome, the successor of Zosimus,
was in close alliance with Augustine, who sent the African Bishop
Alypius to Rome in 420 with his treatise C. duas epp. Pel. composed
by desire of the Pope. According to Julian, Alypius seems to have
been commissioned by the African bishops to agitate by means
of presents and incitements against the Pelagians. More severe

456 CHURCH HISTORY.

measures against the " despisers of grace." especially against
Ccelestius, actually ensued under Constantius, the co-regent of
Honorius. Of Pelagius himself we learn nothing further that is
trustworthy. Julian, and probably Coelestius also betook themselves
to the East to Theodore of Mopsuestia, who indeed had already
with his Greek idea of freedom, in his treatise mentioned above,
p. 407, attacked the doctrine of original sin — "this sickness which I
had made its appearance in the West" -occasioned as it seems by
the procedure of Jerome against the Pelagians. That Theodore t
nevertheless afterwards condemned Pelagianism at a Cilician i
assembly, is an erroneous supposition ^vid. RE.2 15, 399; Coelestius
once more in 424 demanded an investigation from Pope Celestine, '
but had to leave Italy and betook himself with Julian and other ,
Pelagians to Constantinople with a view of winning the Emperor j
Theodosius II. and the Patriarch Nestorius to their views. But tin-
fact that Nestorius endeavoured to take their part, involved them j
in his fate. To his representations, Celestine answered, that
Nestorius' predecessor Atticus had already declared against them, j
and MAKICS MF.RCATOR, who was devoted to Augustine, obtained their
expulsion from the capital by means of the Commonitorium X//IHT
nomine Ccelestii, which was delivered to the Emperor, and the Synod
of K]>h''-us in 1,-Jl condemned Coelestiu- ;m<l his party along with Ni-s- i
ton us. without entering into their erroneous doctrine (Can. 1 and 4).

In the conflict with Pelagius and especially with .Julian of Echumm, I
ALDGUSTINB had t:ikcu the opportunity of thoroughly developing his views on |
sin, freedom and grace. The Pelagian doctrine of freedom said that sin
\vas not an atl'.iir of nature hut of will, only what had proce ••! d from a man's |
will could be attributed to him as sin. This will consisted in the capacity j
of deciding equally for the good or for the evil. Wliat precedes one's own !
voluntary decision cannot be sin. Hence man comes into life pure, there is .
no original sin or original guilt. The lir-t man came into the world like an j
innocent child, whom God sought to guide hy an external command corre-
sponding to his power of apprehension, but who allowed Irmseif to be enticed
into transgression by the sensuous charm of the forbidden Iruit. The sinful I
element in the natural opposition, not in itself sinful, between the sensuous
and the spiritual nature, merely consisted in the fact that tin.- will, guided by
God's command did not dominate the charm of sense. For in itself con-
fiipis, -i ntia is essential to the human nature which God created. Hence by
tuat act of disobedience also there arose no essential disturbance of the

bar i.v of human nature; bodily death is natural, and not the result of the

sinful disturbance of human nature. Hence also there is no propagation of
sin by generation. New-horn children are in the same state us Adam
was hefoiv the Fall. A sinless life led by man's own p. iwc-r i- at lea-t not
absolutely impossible, however much the cu-tomary power of sin. increased
by had edrejition. is to !>•• rei-ogni~e-l. ] )6 will can alway- at the derisive

moment shake <>{}' its ban.

AUGUSTINE'S DOCTRINE. 457

To AUGUSTINE, on the other hand, sin and guilt appear so to have grown,
together with the empirical nature of man down to its most secret beginnings,
'that he always finds himself already in a state of non-freedom and weakness.
JAnd this sin appears to him as a deep anti-divine principle, which has entirely
,altered the attitude towards God which corresponds to human nature. The
joriginal attitude was founded on entire and exclusive openness to the guidance
of the divine influence ; man's real freedom consists in the fact that he receives
ifroni God. obtains all goodness from Him, and keeps it as the fulfilment of his
own most real nature. Therefore Adam's sin, which turned him away from
!&od by means of the formal freedom which was suited to the mutable creature,
is an immeasurable one, which cuts man off from the highest good and dis-
jorders his whole nature, sacrifices it to spiritual death and bondage, as sin
'works out into its consequences, especially unchaining the lusts of the flesh
against the spirit in him who is separated from God, and thereby at the same
jtime laying the germ of death. This human nature corrupted by sin generates
j sinners, inasmuch as concupiscence is especially active in generation. And
jthis inborn sinfulness is actual sin and guilt in every child of Adam. For in
Adam all his successors were not only potentially but really present, since the
first man contained the whole race. We all existed in Adam, since we were all
{that one individual (Civit. Dei, 13, 14), we all sinned in Adam, according to
jEom. v. 12 (in quo omnes peccaverunt) ; thus original sin is at the same time
rtactual sin, and the punishment of the guilt which is common to all. The whole
;of natural humanity forms a massa perditionis, men are by nature children of
iwrath (Eph. ii. 3), and sin is present, even before individual sinful acts exist. Just
from this natural condition there follows moral slavery, the impossibility of
living without sin by one's own strength, the absence of all true virtue among the
'heathen, the damnation of unbaptized infants and heathens, even the noblest.

This involves an idea of grace quite different from that of the Pelagians, who
i by grace partly understood the capability of the moral nature bestowed by
JGod (freedom), partly the external supports which come to the assistance of
jthe will through divine guidance, through the law and the Eevelation of
[Christ, which through doctrine, threats and promises, remission of the punish-
ment of sins and holding out the perfect example incite and support the will
\(auxilium diviiium), an ascending assistance in contrast to the growing power
of habit of sin, the action of which however is always dependent on the free
• (resolution of the will. On the other hand, according to AUGUSTINE, it is the
[fundamental problem of divine grace, to raise man out of the state of guilt
Hand complete unfreedom for goodness, in which he indeed acts under the form
|pf the liberum arbitrium, but is only capable of acting sinfully. Grace
I abolishes the hitherto state of guilt in baptism, extirpates the reatus of original
sin, which however remains actu as capability of sin, as concupiscentia carnis,
and thus continues ever anew to make man the child of wrath, if grace does
not further convert the will and thereby make it free for goodness. This
itakes place not only by revelation and teaching which influence the will by
(intelligence, but by creating good impulses of will, by the inbreathing of
I divine love, by which the sinner is converted into a righteous man. This grace,
:he divine compassion, must come first, must prevent man; even faith itself is
:he work of this grace. Previously, it is true, Augustine in connection with
:he conflict with Manicheism and under the influence of Greek theology (rnl.
sup. p. 437) had adhered to the position, that believing, as the apprehension of the
Divinely offered salvation, and willing, were man's affair, to which then God's
i;race gave the corresponding power of performance (Exposit. quarund. propos.

4S8 CHURCH HISTORY.

ex. Ep. ad Rom. c. 61) ; but some considerable time before the outbreak of the
Pelagian controversy (at first decidedly in the Qitcestiones ad Simplicianum of
397) he had already recognised, that even faith itself, from which alone any
goodness can come, is the exclusive work of converting grace. Only after
preventing grace (gr. iirceveniens) has operated (gr. operans) has the will,
which throughout has become free, the power to enter into co-operation with
it, but even here only in such a way that grace continues to work in the
regenerate one (as gr. subsequens), and co-operates with the will (gr. co-
operans). For even the converted man can do nothing without grace, requires
it for each individual act, and even with it man is unable to keep himself quite
free from sin. Thus properly speaking all human merit is exclusively the
work of grace; in the good works of the pious, God rewards His own gifts.
But finally, since salvation depends exclusively on the divine grace by which
alone the will is converted, this grace must be conceived as working irresistibly
(gr. irresistibilis) ; otherwise there would always be a certain merit in the
human will, in so far as it might submit to or resist the divine grace; we must
much rather say : God makes willing men out of unwilling, and the human
will cannot resist the Almighty.

Hence there are now developed those conceptions of election by
grace and predestination, which, combated by Julian as particu-
larly objectionable, must also have further nourished the opposition
to strict Augustinianism. It was solely divine irresistibly working
grace which was able to rescue men who had fallen into the corrup-
tion of guilt. Now if only a part of mankind are participatory in
t his grace, the cause can only lie in the sovereign will of God, who
thereby reveals His justice and His mercy at the same time. Out of;
the mass of humanity which has fallen into corruption His grace
selects a definite number, to bring them to believe and make them j
vessels of compassion. Those who are affected by this selection byj
grace, the elect, are those who are predestined by the eternal
counsel of God (prcsdestinati). Predestination is founded uponl
God's own act and is the prceparatio (/rafiir ; the actual working!
of God's grace is the effectus pr&destinationis. But the divine pre-1
science — not predestination which is the narrower idea— is also
directed towards what God will not do, and therefore towards thel
fate of those whom He does not accept, the reprobi. Since all have!)
by right fallen subject to damnation, and none has any claim on'
grace, the selection of a number and the passing over of oih'Ts
involves no injustice to the latter. Hence it follows, that God does
not properly will that all should be helped: the doctrine of the/;
particularity of the divine will of grace. Not even the rocatio of;
the individual is yet proof that he belongs to the elect, the sccinnlnni
pi-o/iuxitiitii rncnti (Rom. viii. '28j ; it is only endurance till the fii-
by means of the divinely conferred i/n/inm jn-rxi-n'i-ii»fi(i', which:
gives assurance.

POST-AUGUSTINIAN THEOLOGY. 459

This doctrine seemed to Julian of Eclanuni to be immoral and

dangerous ; but even the admirers and adherents of Augustine drew

! dubious inferences from it. Among the monks at Hadrumetum in

North Africa some opined, entirely denying man's free will, that

| one might not say that on the day of judgment God would reward

1 every man according to his works, indeed one might not blame any-

i one (neminem corripiendum esse) if he did not do the commandments

of God, but pray for him, that so he might do them ; others in

, order to avoid these inferences, thought it necessary however to

retreat from the strict Augustinian reasoning to the assumption that

the grace of God was granted on some kind of human merit

j (secundum aliqna merita humana dari gratiam). Augustine endea-

1 voured to defend his doctrine against these scruples (De correptione

, et gratia ; De gratia et liber o arbitrio). Free will is not abolished

by grace, but rather remains the form through which grace works ;

I the punishment and censure of sinners is not unjust, since they bear

the guilt of their sins ; nor are blame, punishment and discipline

; useless, because they may possibly be the means by which the

j grace of God achieves its purpose in the elect.

Natural repugnance to the high Augustinian doctrine of grace
and predestination now led to the decided appearance of the ten-
dency, which subsequently (in the Middle Ages) was designated
semi-Pelag-ianism-

13. The Post-Augustinian Theology of the Fifth Century.

1. To the closest of the adherents of Augustine who were stimulated by him,
belong : the Spanish presbyter, PAULUS OROSIUS, who became acquainted with
Augustine on a journey in 414, asked his advice about Priscillianism, and was

| sent by Augustine to Jerome in Palestine for further theological equipment,

! where he took part in the battle with Pelagianism (Liber apologeticus [c. Pelag.

\ de arbitrii libertate}). He then, being prevented from returning home by the
war troubles in Spain, wrote in Africa, at Augustine's instigation and follow-

j ing the thoughts in his De civitate Dei, his 7 books Historiarum contra
Paganos (p. 314). Opp. ed. Haverkamp, Leyden 1767. 4. Ml. 31, the Hist, and
the Apologeticus, ed. Zangemeister, Vienna 1882 (Corp. scr. eccl. lat. V.). —
MI'IRXER, De Orosii vita eiusque hist., Berlin 1844. — PAULINOS of Milan, who
raised the complaint against Coelestius in North Africa, and wrote a Libcllt/s

| c. Ccelestiiim ad Zosimum Pap am (Ml. 20) is better known by his Life of
Ambrose written at the instigation of Augustine, a valuable book although
devoted to the love of the miraculous which was characteristic of the time and
which moreover in the form in which it has been preserved has suffered sub-
sequent modification. — MARIUS MERCATOR, sprung from the Latin West, a
learned layman in Constantinople, and who worked there as an admirer of
Augustine, for the condemnation of Pelagius, and in doing so also found occa-
sion for polemic against Nestorius and Theodore of Mopsuestia. Opp. ed.

| Gamier, 1673, better edition by Baluz, Paris 1684, Ml. 48 (after Gamier).—

I

460 CHURCH HISTORY.

PROSPER AQUITAXUS (Pr. Tyro), was a learned layman, educated in the schools
of rhetoric in Gaul, who after the death of his wife was on terms of lively
intercourse with the monastic circles of Massilia, but as a zealous adherent of
Augustine, whose writings determined his theological conceptions throughout,
came into collision with the semi-Pelagian ideas which were dominant there.
Among his writings which have reference to the conflict over Augustine's
ideas, the Carmen de ingratis, which was written before Augustine's death,
in 1000 hexameters combats semi-Pelagianism, as falling under the same
verdict as the Pelagianism which had been repudiated by the Church ; of the
rest, the chief is the treatise De gratia Dei et libcro arbitrio contra <-<>il<it<>rcm
(i.e. Cassiaii, the author of the Collationes Patrum) written about 433. In the
Sententlarum ex operibits Ax </n*> <'//'' t/elibatarum liber excerpts from Augus-
tine's writings are gathered together, the order of which is on the whole
followed by the book of 106 epigrams of dogmatic substance. Besides these
works belonging to the movement of the time, we have a Chronicle by Prosper,
which in its first part is an abstract from Eusebius and Jerome with some
amplifications, in the second, the work of Prosper himself ^dowii to 45 ~i). It
was probably begun in Gaul and completed in Rome where from about 434 he
constantly resided, a- i; ;i | pears, in the service of Leo the Great. Opp ed.
Bened. 1711, Ml. 51. The book De vocations, yi'nlitnn. which, while maintain-
ing the fundamental Augu-:inian conception, sought by a milder form to
mitigate the objection to the doctrine of God's particular will in grace, is
attributed to a Prosper, who however cannot have been the A«nuianian;
positive support is wanting to the attempt to ascribe thrs book to Leo the
Great.

The theological position of Leo the Great is a universal one, conditionel
by his lively relation to the Greek Church, but it was also essentially
determined by Augustine. His eminently ecclesiastical attitude gives his
numerous letters an out^iandini: importance, as also his sermons. Opp. after
<v'neMiel, published by tin- I'.allerini. 1763-57, Ml.-M. Monographs by Arendt,
L835. I'ertbel. 1*1:;. ;Uid ll«m:iN-<.i;i;. — His contemporary. ISi-hop l'i:n;i: of
Ravenna (f 450), won for himself the name of Chrysologus by his highly prized
sermons (Sermones opp. Ml. .VJ). He. a- al-> Hi-hop MAXIMTS of Turin, the
author of numerous homilie^ and s.-rmoiis which are interesting for the
history of morals (ed. Urunus, Rome 1V'J4, Ml. til) took part in Leo's Christo-
logical negotiations with the <.re,'k-.

-. Tii'- - al activity of the Church of Gaul in the fifth century

has its in. -t ••niini'iit representatives in the semi-Pelagian group, and grows

up. fructilii'l by the /ealously adopted and cultivated niona-t iei>in riil. SHJ>.

p. 364) out of the classical education, which was .still as>iduou.-ly rult '\ated in
Roman Gaul, and the influences of Greek theology which were -p'vially brought
over by .Fun AN.NKS ('.\sxi.\\is. For CASPIAN'S life ami those of his writin
which are important for the history of monastici>iu. riil. \\. :!'is s |,|. In his
seven books D>- incarnatione Domini contra Nestor ium lie trenches upon the
Christological controversies of tlie Ka-t, but sreks at the same time to demon-
strate an inner connection i a .\V-torian and IVh^ian heresy. <'pi>. e.l.
Alardus (ia/.ieiis. Frankfort IT'-'-'. Ml. 1'.'. PflTSI HBNIG in tli' Corp. scri/it. eccl.
lat. vol. XVII. (torn. I. L888). — \'IM KMII - LBRINBNSIS, who after a troubled life
in tlie world, found iv-t in the mona-tery of L^rinuin. wrote in 1:11. uinl.-r the
pseudonym of iViv-Tinu-. hi- Commonitorium /'/•" catholicce _//</.•/' ,///////////(//»•
i / universalitate, in wln'cli, in plain opposition to Au^u.-Tine'-. hiyh doctrini
;i per'lou^ innovation, the safety of the Church is sought in attachment to

POST-AUGUSTINIAN THEOLOGY. 461

ancient and universal ecclesiastical tradition. An edition along with Salvian
by St. BALUZ ; by G-. CALIXT (along with Augustine's De doctr. Christ, and De
fide et symb. 1629 [1654]), numerous modern editions, among them that of
Kliipfel, Vienna 1809. — SALVIANUS, born about or after 400, probably in Treves,
of a highly esteemed family, married a wife who was still a pagan, and after
her conversion, both bound themselves by an oath of abstinence ; he passed into
close alliance with the monastic circles of Southern Gaul, became presbyter at
Massilia and undertook the education of the son of EUCHBRIUS, who since 422
had been a monk at Lerinum and subsequently became Bishop of Lyons.
Salvian did not die till after 480, at a considerable age. His treatises, Adversus
avaritiam, one of the strongest commendations of meritorious almsgiving to
the church (vid. cap. 5, 2), and De Gubernatione Dei (vid. sup. p. 314), are both
of great importance in the history of morals. Opp. in Ml. B3, but especially in
Halm's ed. 1878 (Monumenta Germ.) and ed. of Pauly, 1883 (Corp. scr. eccl. kit.
vol. VIII., cf. Sitzungsber. der philhist. Klasse der Wiener Akad. vol. 98).
ZSCHIMMER, Salvian, 1875. — The above-mentioned EUCHERIUS, who after occupy-
ing a position in the world, retired to Lerinum where his sons were educated,
and then to the island of Lero, but became Bishop of Lyons in 434, and died
about 450, is the author of several treatises lepresenting the ascetic conception
of Christianity (Epist. parcenetica de contemtu mundi et sceculari philosophia,
De laude eremi), homilies, and the Liber formularium spiritualium, elucida-
tions of scriptural expressions and scriptural sayings according to the mystical
sense, and a few others. Opp. Ml. 50.— The most eminent and many-sided theo-
logian among the semi-Pelagian group is FAUSTUS, Bishop of Hies; in Upper
Provence (Faustus Eejensis), a man who, after being educated in the schools of
philosophy and rhetoric, worked for a while as an attorney, but afterwards
applied himself to the ascetic life and the study of Holy Scripture in the cloister
of Lerinum, where he acted as abbot from the year 434, until, like his prede-
cessor Maximus, he was transferred thence to the bishopric of Eeji or Regium
(462); a man of outstanding ecclesiastical activity in the maintenance of the
Catholic confession under the rule of the Visigothic Arians (King Euric sent
him into exile on account of his opposition to the Arians, from 481 to 484),
for ecclesiastical order amid the storms of the time and for the promotion of
the ascetic life ; he died in high esteem after 491. For his dogmatic chief
work vid. inf. in the semi-Pelagian controversy ; besides it he wrote different
letters and tractates of a polemical sort against Arians, Macedonians, Nestorians
and Monophysites, and discussions of other dogmatic questions. Opp. Ml. 58.
In a small treatise, not entirely preserved, Faustus (in conflict with the Arians
for the Homousia of the Son) had put forward the assertion (which in its foun-
dation goes back to Origen, and was shared by Hilary and Didymus and main-
tained by Cassian and also Gennadius) that God only is absolutely immaterial,
but that all creatures, even the higher spirits and human souls were something
corporeal ; the denial of the Homousia of the Son would, in his opinion, make Him
a corporeal being. This was opposed by the presbyter CLAUDIANUS MAMEKTUS,
presbyter in the diocese of Vienne and brother of the bishop there, a man of not
less classic culture, in the treatise De statu animce, in which the influence of
Augustine may be traced (ed. Engelbrecht, Vienna 1S85. Corp. scr. eccl. lat.,
cf. RONSCH in ZwTh. XXX. 480 sqq ).— A common friend of the two last men-
tioned was SIDONIUS APOLLINARIS, a man of noble origin and position, son-in-
law of the Emperor Avitus, and born at Lyons about 430. He was indeed a
Christian, but in his rhetorical and poetical compositions he showed respect
to secular classical aims in a thoroughly profane manner; all the same, for the

462 CHURCH HISTORY.

sake of his worldly influence, lie was made Bishop of Urbs Arverna (Clermont-
Ferrand) in 472, defended this city against the Visigoths, but after its fall I
knew how to make his peace with them (King Euric), and died about 487. His I
letters, interesting for the history of culture, exhibit the man, who from his j
elevation to the episcopate desired to bid farewell to poetry, in friendly rela- I
tions with eminent ecclesiastics. — GENNADIUS, presbyter at Massilia, who died I
after 496, was a fertile theological writer, and acquainted with Greek theology. I
According to disposition he also belongs distinctly to the semi-Pelagian group, I
as is shown in the treatise De theologicis doymatibus, provided we are to recog- I
nise in it the Epistula de fide, sua, which Gennadius, according to De vir. ill. \
c. 100, sent to Pope Gelasius (at the same time it would be possible, accord- I
ing to Mansi, VII. 1011, to ascribe the book to Bishop Patiens of Lyons). The I
original treatise (fifty-five chapters) has been expanded to eighty-live chapters I
by later interpolations in the interest of Augustinianism (Letter of Celestine I
to the Gallic Bishops and various dogmatic propositions of Councils \ The I
treatise De viris illustribus s. de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis follows the work ]
of Jerome of the same name. The original composition has however received I
spurious additions and interpolations. Cf. JUNGMANN, Qucestiones Gen>i<t<l/(tnce,
Leipsic 1881. The younger AUXOBIUS (Ml. 53) also belongs to this group. — Cf. I
in general EBERT, Gesch. der christl. lateinischen Literatur, I. and the Hixtoir<-
litteraire de la France, I. and II.

14. The Semi-Pelagian Controversy and the Final Preponderance of

Augustine.

Sources: The relative works of Cassian, Prosper, Faustus Reg. (vid. xi/pra
under No. 13) and Fulgentius Ferr. (vid. infra No. 15) ; the Acts of Councils ,
in Mansi, VII. and VIII., the book Praedestinatus, \. pr<zdcst/it<tf<>rnm ,
hceresis etc., ed. Sirmond, Paris 1643 (Galland. X.). Vid. the literature on ;
Pelagianism, and Wiggers in ZhTh. 1844 sqq. SIRMOXU, Hixtoria pra-i/cxti- •
nafiana, Paris 1648 (opp. VI. and in Gallandi X.) and MAUGUIN, Vindicice
prcedestinationia et yratice, t. II. Paris

PKOSPER of Aquitaine, the zealous admirer of Augustine and
Hilary, informed the latter in the last years of his life (Augustine
epp. 225, 226) of many servants of Christ (monks) in Massilia, who
had found propositions in Augustine's controversial writings against
the Pelagians, which in their opinion were objectionable and in
contradiction with the doctrine of the Fathers ; a few had been
convinced by Augustine's treatise De correptione et </r<itid ( r/W. */<]•>. p.
459), but others had been only so much the more alienated from him.
Men otherwise of such admirable distinction in all zeal for virtue,
they stood in danger of falling victims to the Pelagian false doctrine
and just because of their pious reputation, of leading others astray.
Thereby Prosper glances at the tendency, which was dominant in
the monkish societies at Massilia and which had John Cassian as its
theological head, and with which the most eminent representatives
of ecclesiastical and monastic piety in Southern Gaul, e.g. Hilary of
Aries, were in active association. The delineation of their doctrinal

THE SEMI-PELAGIAN CONTROVERSY. 463

i

j conception coincides in essential points with that expounded by John

Cassian in the thirteenth of his CoUationes patrum with obvious
i reference to Augustine. He distinctly guards himself against the
doctrine of Pelagius, and will specially recognise that all have
i sinned in Adam, and that none can be saved by works, all rather
! can only be so by the grace of God, by means of second birth in
baptism. Deep reaching results of Adam's sin for human nature
are therefore recognised, namely death and a hereditary sinfulness,
j a disease of the moral nature of many which consists in weakness
i of the will and in the opposition between flesh and spirit which is
! first called forth by sin. Man cannot himself make himself whole,
j or by himself attain salvation. He is also willing to see in divine
j grace, more than a support coming from outside, an illuminating
i and vivifying power, working inwardly upon the will. But man is
j only morally weakened, sick, not dead. With the moral power of
! free will which remains to him, he can make himself receptive of
I divine grace. The interest above all, here, is to save the universality
of the divine grace and to avoid absolute predestination. For that
; reason, as against the notion of irresistibly working grace, the will
| to believe and obey is looked upon as the decisive factor on the
I human side, which as a rule is precedent, and by which man
I appropriates the externally offered grace, in order then to attain
i actual saving faith by its support : nostrum est relle, Dei perficere.
I Human will and divine grace must always work together, must not
I be separated from one another, or mutually exclude each other.
I As a matter of fact, indeed, in the presentation of their relation
I there is only attained the notion of an alternation between the two
' instead of a real co-operation. But grace is always conditioned in
its working by the decision of the will ; the will can always resist.
I Instead of election by grace and predestination, there comes the
I notion that pre-determination to bliss or damnation is conditioned
by the fore-knowledge of the free moral procedure of man.

Augustine wrote further against this tendency of the Massilien-
| sians the treatises De prcedestinatione sanctorum and De dono perse-
\ verantice, without thereby being able to set aside the objections
I to his doctrine. After Augustine's death Prosper exerted himself
personally in Rome, to determine the Roman bishop to interfere in
the interest of Augustine, also obtained a letter of Celestine's,
which in general upheld the authority of Augustine and threw side-
glances on the Gallic presbyters and their prying questions, but with-
j out condescending on the controverted points (Mansi, IV. 454, also
1 in Augustine's works in vol. X. of the Benedictine edition). The

464 CHURCH HISTORY.

Auctoritates de gratia appended to this letter in ancient collections ot
church law (with what right is not clear), do indeed represent the
Augustinian doctrine of grace, but evade the gratia irresistibiUx and
the doctrine of predestination. Prosper, little satisfied by Celestine's
reserve, went on with his literary opposition (vid. supra p. 460), and
in his treatise against Cassian's doctrine set forth the Augustinian
doctrine of grace in skilful ambiguities, concealing the difficulties. :
Also the above mentioned work De vocations gentium sought to give'
modified expression to the essential Augustinian conception, without
however sacrificing anything essential to Augustine's doctrine.
From the semi-Pelagian side on the other hand, the zealous adhe-
rents of the Augustinian doctrine of election by grace are represented •)
as the sect of the Predestinationists, and the actual and alleged
harsh consequences of the doctrine of predestination are imputed to
them, whereby they were made to appear as a heretical party,
which unfairly appealed to the celebrated name of Augustine. Such
is the case in the Prsedestinatus, a celebrated book by an unknown1]
author first published by the Jesuit Sirmond. The author depicts'
his opponents as wolves in sheep's clothing, who have mingled with,
the catholic flock and by their writings under the name of Augustine ;
have already wounded nearly the whole world. A catalogue on
heretics, following Augustine's book De hcerexibux, is prefaced ; as
the last and ninetieth heres}* that of the predestinati is adduced;!
then as proof of it there is given the alleged treatise of a pre- :
destinationist, which, written under the false name of Augustine, is, I
secretly read in the party and held in great esteem. Probably this1 1
book was not discovered by the author of the treatise, but composedlj
from the writings of Augustine and his adherents, and supplied with \
odious exaggerations and deductions therefrom. In the third part
of his book the author follows with a refutation from the semi-id
Pelagian point of view.

A clear decision was not at first arrived at between the Augustinian i
view and that of the Massilians. On the one side the name of Angus- 1
tine stood too high to be directly attacked ; but on the other side'
the ecclesiastical importance of the Gallic circle of thinkers was tooj
great to be pushed aside by exertions such as those of Prosper or tc
be successfully brought under the stain of heresy. In the seconcB
half of the fifth century, we find the highly esteemed Bishop
FAUSTUS of Reji in negotiations with a pivsl>yter, Lin-idus, a decided
adherent of Augustine's doctrine of predestination. FauM us /•.'/>. tut
Luc., also in Munsi, Coll. Cone. VII. 1008 sq.) attempted to refute him.
Divine grace and human practical proof by conduct are always to be )

SEMI -PEL A G2ANISM. 465

thought of together ; whoever asserts predestination to the exclu-
sion of the latter, is as much to be blamed as Pelagius. All pride
in his works must be taken from man, since he was not born with-
out sin, and cannot become free without grace. But he who is lost
j by guilt, might have been saved, if he had not refused his own
obedience to divine grace ; he who comes to perfection through
grace by means of obedience, might also have fallen through neglect
and have been lost by his own guilt. Hence the principle must
above all things be maintained, that Christ died for all, that God
desired that all men should be helped ; and the opinion is to be
rejected, that a vessel unto dishonour could not have become a vessel
unto honour. Lucidus seems to have appeared before the synod
at Aries (475). He recanted in writing (Mansi, I.e. 1010). Another
synod was held shortly thereafter at Lyons. By both synods
Faustus took occasion to draw up his work De gratia et humance
\ mentis libero arbitrio, which was so highly esteemed by his consen-
tients and contemporaries.

While the semi-Pelagian view thus remained unattacked in Gaul,

and was shared in by Arnobius the Younger and Gennadius, in

Africa of course the tradition of Augustine, and in Rome at least

his name, were powerful. In the beginning of the sixth century a

new attack followed by those Scythian monks who wished to gain

recognition for the Theopaschite doctrine in Constantinople under

Justin I. (vid. sup. p. 426). Pre-eminent among them was JOANNES

MAXENTIUS. In Constantinople they delivered to the emissaries of

the Roman bishop Hormisdas, a confession of faith, in which they

also declared decidedly against the enemies of divine grace, also

against those who say : nostrum est velle, Dei perficere. Here and

also in Rome, even with Hormisdas, whither four from among them

betook themselves, they found no attention. On the other hand,

! they and their letter, both on the Christological question and on the

relation of grace and freedom, found favour with the African bishops

in Sardinia, expelled by the Vandals, especially with FULGENTIUS of

iRuspe, who is designated their lingua et ingenium. Their missive

lis directed not only against Pelagius, but also against the books of

IFAUSTUS, who was said to combat against predestination and to

[subordinate the help of divine grace to human nature. Fulgentius

responded approvingly with the treatise De incarnatione et gratia,

jbut without naming Faustus. Also, when the African bishop, Pos-

SESSOE, applied to Hormisdas on the commission of Vitalian and

Justinian, on account of the controversial questions raised by the

Scythian monks (520), he received from him an evasive answer,

30

466 CHURCH HISTORY.

against which Maxentius came forward most decidedly in the
Responsio ad epist. Hormisdce (Mgr. 86, 93) : if the writings of
Augustine were yet valid, Faustus must necessarily be a heretic.
Fulgentius continued the war against semi-Pelagianism in the (lost)
books against Faustus, and in the treatise De veritateprcedestinationis
et gratia, in which the Augustinian doctrine of predestination is dis-
tinctly expounded, though with prudent repudiation of predestination
to sin. And the African bishops staying in Sardinia sent, in 528, a
declaration to Constantinople (Epist. synodica in. Mansi VIII. 591
sq.) which accepted the appeal of Hormisdas to Augustine in itself,
but for that very reason declared the writings of Faustus heretical.
In Gaul also a tendency to recede from semi-Pelagianism (the domi- I
nant Gallic theology of the fifth century) and follow the growing]
influence of Augustine gradually prevails, represented by AVITUS of
Vienne and C.ESARIUS of Aries. The exertions of the latter in this
regard found support from Pope Felix IV. On occasion of the dedi-
cation of a church built by the Prefect Liberius, a synod of fourteen
bishops was held, in 529, at Orange Arausio) in the ecclesiastical
province of Aries, then still under Ostrogoth rule. This synod
accepted the capitula (" which had been collected from the ancient
fathers and Holy Scripture ") sent them from Rome. These are not
to be regarded as the above-mentioned autoritates of Coelestiiie, on
which the Arausicanian decisions only touch and with which they
do not coincide (vid. RE. 14, 90).

The twenty-five propositions accepted at Arausio, taken from say-
ings of Augustine and Prosper, in general contain decidedly the
Augustinian doctrine of original sin, human inability for goodness,
and grace transforming the will as /HX////V///" <1il<'cti<>His, so that laith
itself is already a gift of grace, but do not enter into Augustine's
more exact definitions as to the propagation and imputation o:
Adam's sin, and evade express confession of the irresistibility o:
grace, of predestination and the particularity of the divine wi
of grace, although these doctrines are logically involved in tb
principles established ; indeed, in the final confession, the bishop
content themselves with confessing that by the Fall the will
been so bent and weakened, that no one can love God as he ough
no one can believe and do good for the sake of God, unless he i
prevented by the grace of the divine compassion. The Old Tes
ment saints also only had their faith through God's grace.
prcedestinatio ad malum is expressly repudiated ; finally it is sough
to maintain, at least for all the baptized, the universality of tin
divine will of grace in the universal possibility of obtaining salv

WESTERN LITERATURE. 467

tion by means of baptismal grace, " si fideliter laborare voluerint."
The definitions of this synod were confirmed by the Roman Bishop
Boniface II. The Synod of Valence, about the same time, which
was also brought about by representatives of the church province
| of Aries, also declared in the same sense.

Even the universally acknowledged authority of Augustine was

unable to bring about straightforward admission of the conse-

i quences drawn by Augustine himself from his doctrine of grace.

j People fell back upon the sayings of Augustine which were of

| immediate religious importance, and the whole spirit of the Church

I repeatedly led to great weakenings of his doctrine, however little

! inclination there was to sacrifice his authority. Thus e.g. in

GREGORY the Great views which are conscientiously taken from

i Augustine are intermixed with practical views of a more semi-

j Pelagian sort.

! 15. Survey of the Theological and Christian Literature of the West from
the close of the Fifth and in the Sixth Century.

1. At the transition from the fifth to the sixth century stands MAGNUS FELIX

I ENNODIUS, born about 473 in Southern Gaul, of an esteemed but poor family.

I He was early left an orphan, but received into a rich and pious household, in

which he found his wife. Having received a purely pagan education, he passed

I over to Christianity ; but it was a severe illness which first wrought conver-

j sion in him. He had hitherto lived entirely in the pursuit of profane literature

i (poetry and rhetoric), but passing now into the ranks of the clergy (his wife

| took the veil), he made his gifts available to the Church, as a deacon in Milan

[I and finally (from 511), as Bishop of Ticinum (Pavia). His rhetorical culture

| was often made use of in public affairs. He accompanied his predecessor,

Epiphanius of Pavia, on his mission to Gundobad, king of the Burgundians, on

it the commission of Theodoric ; twice he went to Constantinople on the commis-

i sion of Hormisdas, Bishop of Rome. On his share in the controversy as to the

; Roman episcopate of Symmachus vid. p. 350. He died in 521.

Ennodius is one of those figures in which profane pagan literary culture,
! which passes off into skill of form, versification and stilted artifice, without
t deeper content, becomes reconciled with the Christian culture which has been
apprehended, and a certain ecclesiastical disposition. As regards the former,
j he to some extent follows Sidonius Apollinaris, as regards the latter, the semi-
j Pelagian theologians of Gaul (vid. Epp. II. 19). Theologically important are
i the Eucharisticum de vita sua, a kind of confession as to his earlier life, his
(treatise for Pope Symmachus, the biography of Bishop Epiphanius of Pavia
land that of the ascetic Antony, which latter ministers to the ecclesiastical taste
|of the age. In most stilted epigrams, we have Christian epitaphs and inscriptions
jfor church buildings, poems on bishops and saints occurring between such as are
i Jin the spirit of Martial. Opp. ed. Hartel (Corp. scr. eccl. lat.) 1883, and by Fr.
iVogel (in Monum. Germ, hist.) 1885. — MAGANI, Ennodio, 3 vols. Pavia 1886.
|His somewhat elder contemporary, the African poet DRACONTIUS, likewise ex-
•hibits in his Carmina minora the survival of antique scholarship and the
lingenuous intermingling of antique (mythological) and Christian images.

468 CHURCH HISTORY.

His poem of repentance addressed to the Vandal King Guthamund, whose
anger he had incurred, is important as showing the relation of the Roman
populace to the German rulers. Of the larger theological poem, De deo, the
section on the history of creation has been independently preserved (EBERT,
I. 367 sqq.). The classical forms and sesthetical views of Latin poetry are
pervaded in an increasing measure by Christian tendencies and ideas.— The
influential bishop and theologian ALCIMUS ECDIDIUS AVITUS (r/'d. inf.) in his
biblical poem De spiritalis glorice gestis (The Fall, etc.) rises to free poetical com-
position ; he has been called a predecessor of Milton. PAULIXUS of Perigueux
gave a poetical biography of Saint Martin of Tours after Sulpicius Severus.
The juristical^ and rhetorically cultured ARATOR, who had been closely
associated in his youth with Ennodius, and had next served under the Ostro-
goth Athanaric and, when the war with Byzantium broke out, had entered the
clergy on the instigation of Bishop Vigilius of Rome, was author of a poeni
De actibus apostolorum, which he dedicated to Vigilius and delivered publicly
in the church of St. Peter ad Vincula several days in succession with great
approbation. The union of the spiritual and the profane tendency of Latin
poetry is especially represented by VENAXTIUS Hn.xnuirs CLEMEXTIANUS
FORTUNATUS, on the one side closely attached to Ambrose and Paulinus, on the
other to Sidonius Apollinaris. Educated at Ravonna in grammar, rhetoric and
jurisprudence, he afterwards came into the Austrasiau-Frankish kingdom under
Sigebert, then to Tours and Poitier, where he formed a close spiritual friend-
ship with the widow of the Franki-h king and Thuringian princess Radegun-lis,
who lived there in cloistral seclusion. Venantius entered the clergy. ;;nd finally
became Bishop of Poitiers. Of his very numerous poems (mostly in elegiac mea-
sure) many are panegyrical in subject, on potentates or martyrs ami saints, or
relate to the erection of eccl'--i:i-;i.-al edifices and the like. His swinging
hymns are partly Ambrosian (in iambic dimeters: Vi-.i-illii ri'ij/a prodeunt),
partly composed in the popular measure of the Roman soldiers' songs, the tro-
rlmic tetrameters (catiili-rffciis, (J\uii/f limiun <//<>r/»si). — At the end of our
period the great Pope, GREGORY tin.- (Jreat.also enters the ranks of ecclesiastical
hymn-writers. Although there arc also two of his hymns in sapphics known,
they mostly follow Ambrose, whom ho also imitates in his prayer-like t.onr and
moralising tendency : hi- hymns, however, are more sober and less fant
than those of his predecessor. While his hymns, like those of Ambrose, an
still to be regarded as entirely metrical, and do not give so much space to
rhyme as those of Sedulius and Fortunat ti>, at t he same time, alongside of t he
so-called rhythmical hymns already make th"ir appearance, in which, breaking
with antique prosody, that popular form arose which gained ascendancy in the
Middle Ages (EitEirr, I. 521 SM

2. As regards the development of theology in particular, there is a trend i
back again from the hitherto preponderating semi-Pelagian theology in Gaul,
more towards Augustine, on the part of the above-mentioned AM -nirs Kciumrs
AVITUS, a man of highly esteemed Gallo-Roman family, Bishop of Vienne (t :•-'">
under Burgundian rule. His appearance at the religious conference of Catholic!
and Arian theologians I'.i'.i. procured him the confidence of King Gundobad,
whose son Sigismund came over to the Catholic confession under the influence!
of Avitus. His letters, of great historical importance, exhibit him in the most
important associations on every side. Fragments of numerous homilies are
extant. Opp. ed. Simond, Paris 1643 (Gallandi X. Ml. r>:i. L91).

C,ESARIUS, of humble descent as it seems, elucated in the cloister of Lerinum,
£hen deacon, and finally (from 502) Bishop of Aries till 542 (t), is distinguished,

AFRICAN THEOLOGIANS. 469

as a practical churchman and promoter of monasticism (vid. sup.}, and especi-
ally as a popular preacher. His treatise, De gratia et lib. arb. in support of
the Augustinian doctrine, is lost. Of his sermons many have been preserved
under the name of Augustine, others under that of Ambrose.

3. The following eminent theologians arose in the African Church : FUL-
GENTIUS of Ruspe, born at Telepte in North Africa, of a family of rank ; soon
turning from secular employment (Procurator of his native city) to the monas-
tic life, he suffered under the persecution of the Catholics by the Vandal King
Thrasamund, betook himself to Sicily and Koine, after his return became abbot
of his monastery, and then in 508 Catholic Bishop of Ruspe, in the Province of
Byzacene, but was shortly banished along with a number of Catholic bishops,
and betook himself with the majority of them to Sardinia, where he established
a monasterium clericorum according to the rule of Augustine, and kept up
active intercourse with the outside world (vid. sup. p. 466). After Thrasa-
mund's death, Fulgentius returned to his native land, and died in the year of
the overthrow of the Vandal rule by Byzantium in 533. The conflict with
Vandal Arianism gave occasion for: Liber contra Arianos and Ad Thrasi-
mundum II. 3, and some other works ; the Scythian monks to : Ad Petrum
diaconum de incarnations et gratia Domini n. J. C. ; serni-Pelagianism and
especially the writings of Faustus, to the seven lost books against Faustus and
the above-mentioned treatise, De veritate prtzdestinationis. Opp. ed. Mangeant,
Paris 1684, Ml. 65. His pupil, friend and biographer is FULGENTIUS FERRANDUS,
who lived with him in Sardinia, afterwards became deacon at Carthage, and
died about 547 ; known through his literary participation in the Three Chapter
Controversy (Pro ep. Ibce, etc., Adv. Acephalos), a number of missives relating
to the Trinity and theology, and his Breviatio canonum, a collection of the
church-laws, obtaining in North Africa, from Greek and African synodal
decisions. Opp. Ml. 67, and in addition the letters in REIFFERSCHEID'S Anecdota
Casinensia, Breslau 1871. — FACUXDUS, Bishop of Herrniana in North Africa
(Province of Byzacene), the most important representative of the African oppo-
sition in the Three Chapter Controversy. Vid. the literature, p. 428. Ibid, the
works of the Roman deacon RUSTICUS, and p. 413 those of the Carthaginian
Archdeacon LIBERATUS.

4. In remarkable contact with the scriptural study of the Syrian East, stood
about the same time JUNILIUS, a North- African by birth, who lived in Con-
stantinople in the position of a high state official (Qusestor sacri palatii) and
composed, at the desire of Bishop PRIMASIUS of Hadrumetum, who had come to
Constantinople on occasion of the Three Chapter Controversy, the treatise, Insti-
tuta reyularia divines, legis (erroneously, De partibus divince legis, after the
title of the first chapter), an introduction to the Holy Scriptures in form, extent
and content, the substance of which sprang from the Persian Paul, who had
been educated at the school at Nisibis. In this treatise the views of Theodore
of Mopsuestia, which survived in Syria, as to the canon, and also his dogmatic
views, are reflected. These were therefore offered to the Latin West, at a time
(c. 551) when the very name of the great Syrian was to be tainted with the
stain of heresy by the Church of the Greek Empire. JUNILII AFRICANI instituta
regularia divince legis, ed. H. Kihn, Freib. 1880. KIHN, Theodor v. Mopsv. und
Junilius Afr., Freib. 1879. — The PRIMASIUS mentioned, himself composed a
commentary on the Epistles of Paul and five books on the Apocalypse (Ml. 68),
excerpting from older exegetes.

5. For the maintenance and propagation of the entire learned culture of
Classical and Christian antiquity on into the Middle Ages, two men belonging

470 CHURCH HISTORY.

to the .Roman Church in the time of the Ostro-Gothic rule gained the greatest
merit, viz. :—

(a) ANICIUS MANLIUS SEVERINUS BOETIUS (Boethius), born about 480, of the
noble family of the Anicii, Consul in 510, he was held in high esteem by
King Theodoric; later, however, he himself fell under political suspicion
through his bold defence of the Senator Albinus, who was accused of a treason
able league with Byzantium, was in addition accused of magic, condemned to
death, and after long imprisonment was executed under torture in 525. — Ac
quainted with Greek science in a rare measure, he purposed the translation o
the entire works of Aristotle and all the Dialogues of Plato, with the view o
exhibiting their agreement. He actually carried out the translation of am
commentating on the logical writings of Aristotle and their Greek commen
tators; he translated and commentated especially the Isagoge of Porphyry
which was so much made use of in the Middle Ages ; also arithmetical, musica
and geometrical works of antiquity ; in prison he composed the famous fiv
books De consolatione philosophise (poems in the most various metres alter
nating with prose, after the example of Martianus Capella). The. philosophic]
grounds of consolation in this work, based on eclectic popular philosophy rootec
especially in Platonic conceptions and Stoic ethics, do indeed represent mono-
theistic belief in providence and are in light touch with Christian conceptions
but quite ignore positive ecclesiastical dogmas. Hence, the dogmatic treatise
of quite another sort on the Trinity (Quomodo Trinitas itnns Dens, etc.) am
on Christology (De duabus niifnr/s et una jxTsona mlr. Kid. cf. Nest.) an<
some others which have been attributed to Boctius, have been denied to bo hi
(following others with special force by FR. NITZSCH, Das System des Boethhis
I860). But the strong logico-dialectical interest and the ecclesiastical circum
stances of the time form the bridge between surh heterogeneous elements in
the thought of Boethius, and T>i M.K (A>in-<!<>f<»i Jlnfdrri. Bonn 1S77), ha
adduced important external testimony from a fragment of Cassiodorus. C:
J. DRAESEKE in JprTh. XII. 312 sqq., and against SCHEPSS (Gescliic/ifh'c
aus nocthiux' llimlschrifti-n in NAD. XL 125) in the ZwTh. XXXI. 94 sqq
(other material in ALZOG, Patrologie' p. 478 sq.). Opp. Ml. 63, 64, and ed
PEIPER, Lpz. 1871.

(b) MAGNUS ATRELITS CASSIODORH-S, rid. *>//>. p. 373. Besides the chief writ-
ing there mentioned and the llistoria tripnrfita (p. 7, cf. ibid. JORDANIS also
and the Varice, which are important for the history of the time, he also com
posed commentaries. Opp. ed. GARNET, K'.T'.i, Ml. 69, 79. Monographs by THOR
BECKE, 1867, and FRAN/.. lsT-2.

On the literary activity of GREGORY the Great see the following period.

LIFE WITHIN THE CHURCH. 47 1

FIFTH CHAPTER.

Life under the Law of the Church.
1. Entrance into the Christian Society. Catechumenate and Baptism.

Sources : Const. Aposfc. 2, 7. 3, 9 sqq. 7, 22. 8, 32. CYRIL of Jerusalem, Catech.
mystag. 1 and 2 (Mgr. 33, 1066). GREGORY of Naz., Or. 40 in s. bapt. (Mgr.
36, 359). GREGORY of Nyssa, Or. in eos qui differunt bapt. (Mgr. 46, 415).

CHRYSOSTOM, Kai-^o-ety npbs roiis /ne'XAoz/rar $am£fo-#ai (Mgr. 49, 223).
AUGUSTINE, De catechizandis rudibus (Ml. 40, 309) and his Sermones in
traditions symb., p. 212-214 (Ml. 39, 1058) and many others attributed to
Ambrose, Ctesarius Arel., Faustus Eej., etc. (cf. CASPARI, Quellen II., 1869).
FULGENTIUS FERRANDUS, De catechizando Aethiope (Ml. 67). J. GOAR.
Euchologium grcec. Par. 1648, p. 279 sq. and the liturgical collections (p.
21) and the literature mentioned pp. 254 and 256 and infra, ch. VI. No. 1.

FROM the time of Constantino's patronage of the Church greater
I masses begin to seek entrance into it. The baptisteries, in the
Greek East often of large size, saw great crowds come to baptism,
j especially at Easter. At the same time many still maintained a
I waiting attitude, even when they were not hostile or indifferent to
the new religion, but adopted the Christian conviction. Men were
shy of the obligation to live like Christians from love of the un-
trammelled life of the world, feared responsibility and the danger
of a fall, and therewith the loss of baptismal grace. Only at the
end, at an advanced age or on occasion of dangerous illness, bap-
I tism was to remove all stains and open the entry to heaven. Thus
Constantine himself only received baptism on his death-bed. Hence
there was a great number of persons who took part in Christian
j worship, so far as it was open to them (Missa catechumenorum), i.e.
in particular, heard the sermon, till some specially threatening event
or serious experience drove them to baptism. On announcement of
actual intention to join the Church, chiefly during the preparatory
stage of the catechumenate, the Church sought by its known sure-
ties, by preference from among the clergy, to obtain assurance of
the disposition of the candidates for baptism and to secure itself to
a certain extent against the entry of ambiguous elements. Persons
of certain kinds of callings were obliged to free themselves first of
all from objectionable conditions ; slaves had to be recommended by

472 CHURCH HISTORY,

their masters as sureties. Admission to the rank of catechumen
(the catechumenum or Christ ianum facere) took place by means of
certain, so to say sacramental, actions, especially signing with the
cross and laying on of hands, also by a kind of preparatory exor-
cism (exsufflatio, also insitfflatio), in the "West also by the administra-
tion of salt. The period of catechumenate (Can. Nic. 2) was not to
be of too brief duration; at Elvira (Can. Illib. 42) two years w.-re
fixed, elsewhere (Const. Ap. 8, 32) even three, but with remission
under certain circumstances. In reality, however, the practice was
very various, according to circumstances. If in missionary work
the time was so limited, that in certain circumstances baptism
itself followed after a few days of preparation (ieii(n<ire\ and in-
struction (Socr. H.E. 7, 30), Augustine, on the other hand, recog-
nised that in the case of the educated, when it was to be supposed
that they had already taken knowledge of Christian writings from
personal interest, no longer time was required (De catecJi. rud. 8, 12).
In the case of an alread}T admitted catechumen falling into grave
sin, the date of baptism was postponed, in certain circumstances
even to the end of his life. Even in families already Christian,
baptism of children is as yet by no means general. Basil, Gregory
of Nazianzen, Chrysostom, all sons of Christian families and of
especially pious mothers, only received baptism when, after passing
through a secular education, they applied themselves to the prob-
lems of the Church ; similarly with Jerome and Augustine, in
whose cases baptism distinctly coincides with the crisis of inner
conversion. Children of Christian families were regarded as admis-
sible after their seventh year (Augustine, De un'mxi 1, 12)1 But the
process which made the Church of the confessors more and more a
popular Church, promoted the growing naturalisation of the baptism
of children; and the magical conceptions of the effects of baptism,
and, especially in the West, the Augustinian doctrine of original sin.
from the guilt of which children had to be freed by baptism so as
to become participant in salvation, worked in the same direction.
The fourth Carthaginian Synod of 401 (Can. 7) lays clown, that
children, of whom it is not certain that they are baptized, are to be
baptized at once.

Previously, however, and just in the circumstances of the fourth
century, the mysterious treatment of the worship of the Supper

1 Augustine was already signed with the cross as a child and hnd salt
administered to him, and thereby to a certain extent had entered into tin' rate-
chumenate and in a threatening illness \vas nearly ln-ing Incorporated with the
Church, from which he subsequently held himx'lf BO far and BO l"ii- apart.

PREPARATION FOR BAPTISM. 473

and of the other parts which belonged to the so-called disciplina
arcani, gained its full weight and essentially contributed to lend it&
mysterious magic to Christianity in the eyes of the world. This
gave special importance to that treatment of the catechumens, by
which they were prepared for baptism. The proper terms for
baptism were Easter and Pentecost, to which the Eastern Church
added Epiphany, the Western the latter, Christmas, and the
days of the Apostles and Martyrs, especially the day of John
the Baptist. But Roman bishops, Siricius, Leo I., and Gregory I.,
repeatedly sought to adhere to the original times of baptism and to
allow exceptions only for the sick and (Siricius) for children. But
the compulsory baptismal term was again applied to the latter
(apart from dangerous illness), till later in the Middle Ages the ces-
sation of the catechumenate and the universality of infant baptism
made general the neglect of the times of baptism. On the approach
of the time of baptism, and so especially at the beginning of the
Easter Quadragesimal period, the catechumens were invited to
announce themselves for baptism by entering their names. By so
doing they entered into the class of the so-called competentes.
"While, hitherto, the influence of the Church, apart from the first
doctrinal communications on their entry into the catechumenate,
had been limited to the participation by the catechumens in the
preaching service at the place appointed for them and the special
prayer for them at the close — before they were dismissed — there
now began their instruction proper in the substance of the Christian
requirements and the Christian faith, along with a series of special
ecclesiastical customs. As regards the first, CYRIL'S Catecheses
begin with exhortations to repentance and pointings to the great
grace of baptism, next develop in a more popular style the indi-
vidual parts of the confession and gave an introduction to the
f I canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, to which the
1 catechumens were to hold. GREGORY of Nyssa, in his Oratio cate-
i \chetica magna^ gives more a dogmatic text-book, developing the
I j points to be referred to in the instruction of catechumens ; but in
I doing so he has in view the winning of educated Hellenes and here-
jtics, not popular instruction. With AUGUSTINE, however, the thought
jof the history of the preparation of salvation and of the kingdom of
God, comes more into the foreground, and the impression of the
ipreventing love of God is here meant to seize and warm the heart.
(Special capacity for instructing catechumens in Christianity, for
iwhich Gregory of Nyssa presupposes disputatory treatment, but in
iWhich, in far the most cases, as in that of Cyril, the form of the

474 CHURCH HISTORY.

lecture seems to have predominated, gave rise in large cities to the ,
habit of bringing catechumens by special preference to individual i
clergy, such as the deacon to whom Augustine addressed his treatise. ,
The instruction of the competentes begins in the Quadragesimal ;
period. In the Church at Jerusalem the full period of forty days is ',
assigned, but we frequently find the inclination to limit this period t;
to the last four or three weeks, and even to a shorter time. For i
the competentes the whole period is regarded as a time of serious !i
repentance, of self-examination and collection, which is signalized :
by fasts and eventually by other abstinences, e.g. during it Augus- i;
tine demands abstinence from the intercourse of matrimony on the ,;
part of candidates for baptism. The community is to demonstrate i
its lively participation by its spiritual demeanour and intercession. I
The instruction is accompanied by other ecclesiastical actions. I
Signing with the cross and the laying on of hands and a prepara-j:
tory conjuration (exsufflatio) had already taken place on entry into I
the catechumenate. The special acts of exorcism are now carried I
out over the competentes, under circumstances of special solemnity I
and with some ceremony, so that they may be admonished (Greg. I
Naz. Or. 40) to persevere in them patiently and decently, and to|
busy themselves quietly with reading and prayer during their per- 1
formance upon individuals. " Without exorcism the soul cannot bel
purified" (Cyr. of Jerus.). These conjurations were intended toj
break the influence of the evil spirits on the entrance of the!
catechumens into the Christian atmosphere, to purify souls, as iioblel
metal is purified from dross by fire. Patient submission to this; I
spiritual healing is at the same time to establish the sincerity ot
the desire for grace. The exorcisms are performed in church, in
presence of the community, and during the ceremony the candi-l
dates for baptism stand barefoot, clothed only in an under-garment,i
with bowed head and trembling, folded hands ; as it appears eacbfl
individual was taken separately, while the others had to wait:1
quietly together. The customs of various sorts relative hereto arejj
in any case the chief matter in the so-called scrutinies, which haven
nothing to do with the previous catechetical examinations on learn-fj
ing.1 The order of the individual usages is various. In the Greek i
Church of the fifth century, the procedure in the case of heretical
who had to be baptized by the Church, as in the case of heathen)
who were to be admitted, shows the general course in the so-called i
seventh canon of the second Synod of Constantinople (Hefele, 6YonJ

1 Leo I. Ep. 16 Ad episcopos Sicilife: Baptizandi elect/ si'mm/nni reijnlmn
apost. exorcixmis srriifimtli s>/nt. Vid. MAYER I.e. 110 sqq.

TRADITIO SYMBOL!. 475

ciliengesch. 2, 27) : " on the first day we make them Christians by
signing with the cross and laying on of hands, on the second they
are made catechumens, on the third there follows a three times
repeated breathing upon the face and ears, which is then followed
by instruction."

The distinctive feature in the instruction is the period of the so-
called traditio symbol!, i.e. the oral imparting of the confession
of faith. This takes place according to Cyril's catecheses, already
at the beginning of the instruction (Cat. 4), and is followed in the
succeeding catecheses by the doctrinal explanation of the individual
parts. In accordance with this, John of Jerusalem (Jerome, Ep. 61
ad PamacMuni) applies the phrase tradere sanctam trinitatem to the
whole forty days. In the Western Church we find Palm Sunday as
the day of the traditio syniboli (Gall. Church), in Milan (Ambrose) it is
the Sunday before Palm Sunday, in Africa it is " Judica " Sunday. On
occasion of the handing over (orally, not in writing) of the confession
to be learned by heart, a sermon is delivered in explanation of the
confession (sermo in tradendo syrnbolo). Examples may be found in
the relative sermons of Augustine and many others. Finally there
follows, before the assembled community, 1 the solemn declaration
of the confession by the candidates for baptism (redditio symboli].
In many places this takes place immediately before baptism, else-
where on the Thursday of Passion-week 2 or on Good Friday. The
imparting of the Lord's Prayer and its repetition by the competentes
has also its definite position.

The baptismal confession was hitherto the so-called Apostles'
Creed, alongside of the simplest form of which, the ancient Roman,
there now appear others supplemented by small additions, such as
(that of Aquileia (which has already the descensus ad inferos) and the
later Spanish and Gallican (addition of the sanctorum communionem).3
The Latin Church generally adheres to the Apostles' Creed as its
baptismal confession. On the other hand the Greek Church exhibits
I dogmatic expansions of it, under the influence of the doctrinal con-
troversies as to the conception of the divinity of Christ, which had
ibegun especially from the time of Paul of Samosata and afterwards
|of the Council of Nicsea ; such was the baptismal confession of
iEusebius of Csesarea (HAHN I.e. 187), which he laid before the Council
pf Nicsea and out of which the Nicene creed grew by accentuation of

i

1 So at least in Rome, Eufinus, Expos, in Symb. Ap. p. 1. August. Confess,
& 2. 5.

2 Cone. Laodic. 46. Cf. Can. 49 of Martin of Bracara (Cone. Brae. II.).

3 HAHN, Bibl. d. Symb. 2nd ed. p. 13 sqq.

476 CHURCH HISTORY.

dogmatic points, and that of the Church of Jerusalem (ibid. 62), as
also the baptismal confession of the Church of Cyprus in Epiphanius i
(ibid. 70). The Nicene Symbol, however, generally took the place '
of these particular creeds, as a baptismal confession, although it was '
little adapted to such a purpose with its adherence to the naked /cat
et'<? TO ayiov Trvev^a ; but it was itself again replaced in the Greek
Church from the beginning of the sixth century by the so-called .
Nicseno-Constantinopolitan Creed (iid. sup. p. 401) which did not|
share in this defect. Indeed, about the middle of the sixth century, ;
at a time in which Rome stood in great dependence on Byzantium, .
this creed was also accepted by the Roman and Spanish Churches as:
the baptismal confession, to which result the need of a dogmatically
marked symbol in face of German Arianism also contributed.1

The actual act of baptism is immediately preceded by the
renunciation of the devil (abrenuntiatio . which the candidate has to
utter in response to the question of the priest. In the porch of the
baptismal church, the candidate, facing the West and with raised!
hand, utters the formula, " I renounce thee, Satan, and all thy
works and thy pomp and service." The candidate then turns to-j
wards the East, the region of light, for Paradise is now to open to
him, and in answer to questions acknowledges his belief in the'
Father, Son and Spirit, and in one baptism of repentance (Cyril), or|
also professes himself expressly a follow A' of Christ. Both in the
exorcisms and the <ifiri'uinifi<itin the fundamental idea is that of
solemn emancipation from heathenism, as the kingdom of the deviL
and the demons, especially from all that is connected with the ser-j
vice of idols ; hence the pom pa diiilm/i easily suggest purely heathen
cii-ioins, especially the spectacles of the theatre and the circus;!
Cyril, however, still thinks also of the use of meat offered to idols, i
The candidate now enters the baptistery itself, is stripped, anointed!
with oil, over which prayers of exorcism are uttered, and is interro-l
gated as to the faith. The infrrrofjalio de fide is in three parts,'
either directed merely to the name of the Trinity, or to the further,!
substance of the symbol. Baptism is completed by submersion,):
three times repeated. In the Spanish Church alone the usage of onefl
submersion is adhered to, with the purpose of expressing the unity
of the divine nature as against West-Gothic Arianism, and Gregory;
the Great declared this difference unessential. In the Greek Church)
the following was the rixed baptismal formula : '' So and So (N.) ser-J
vant of God, is baptized in the name of the Father — Amen, and the
Son — Arneu, and of the Holy Ghost — Amen, now and for ever and*

1 Viil. A. HAKNACK in UK. 8, '-'12 sqq.

BAPTISM 477

to all eternity — Amen." In the Latin Church, in the Sacrament ary
of Gelasius we still find the form to be that the interrogatio fidei
coincides with the act of baptism, submersion following on each
answer of the candidate to each of the three questions : believest
thou (in the Father, etc.). Further symbolic acts are attached, such
as the already mentioned administering of milk and honey as to the
new-born child ; in the West the administering of salt also, but
j especially the anointing with the chrism, which is to be thoroughly
distinguished from the anointing with oil which precedes baptism.
It indicates the anointing of the Christian with the Holy Spirit,
whereby, like Christ Himself, he becomes an anointed one. This
anointing remained in the Latin Church a necessary part of the bap-
tismal act, which could be completed by every presbyter. But the
laying" on of hands has already been separated from the baptismal act
in the "West, and as the privilege of the bishop in conjunction with a
further anointing became the special sacrament of confirmation (Con-
firmatio, vid. sup. p. 258). The putting on of white garments and a
fillet immediately after baptism, in the Greek Church also the gird-
ing of the loins and crowning with a consecrated garland, and in the
West the burning taper put in the hand, heighten the solemnity.

The already known institution of baptismal sponsors, although owing its
j origin to infant-baptism and here of especial importance, nevertheless, from the
fourth century, also finds application in the case of the baptism of adults. It is
I connected on the one hand with the need of the guarantee (vid. sup. p. 471) for
the sincere intention of the candidate, on the other hand also, with the need of
j certain assistance at the act of baptism, or of representation in the case of those
who were very ill or speechless and at the moment unfit to express their own
; minds. The fact that deacons and deaconesses frequently appear as sponsors,
i seems to be connected both with the Church's need of safe guarantors, and with
I the fact that the deacons seemed the proper persons to render the assistance in
I the baptismal act in the case of men, and deaconesses in the case of women
I (Const. Ap. 3, 16). So likewise we frequently find widows and holy virgins in
I this function ; but the undertaking of sponsorship was subsequently prohibited
I to priests and monks. The fact that a Christian master must give testimony
I to the worthiness of his slave, does not however make him his sponsor, but as a
matter of fact the case often occurs, that slaves offer (offerre, vid. Aug. Ep. 98 ad
Bonif.) their masters as sponsors. Augustine maintains, that it is properly the
whole Church which in the persons of the sponsors brings forward the candi-
date. In the case of children the need of testimony to the fact of baptism (wit-
nesses to baptism) comes into consideration alongside of the need of liturgical
j representatives. With this is connected the obligation of imparting the
elements of the Christian faith to the child and of influencing it by example
and education. x Augustine further presupposes that in most cases, the parents,

1 The sermons 116 and 163 De Temp, (in Ml. 39 app. 267 and 268) in the works
' of Augustine, ascribed to Csesarius.

478 CHURCH HISTORY.

or in the case of orphans, the guardians, themselves bring forward and answer
for the children (Ep. 98). Other points of view, however, suppress this one, and
from the conception of baptism as the foundation of a new life there is formed
the notion of a spiritual father- or motherhood, out of which, since the fourth
century, there is developed the idea of spiritual relationship (cognatio
spiritualis), which is now regarded as a hindrance to marriage between the
persons concerned (Cod. Just, 5, tit. 4, De nupt. 1. 26).

2. The Good Works of the Church.

Literature: ZOCKLER, Gesch. der Askese, 1863. H. RICHTER, Gesch. des tcest-
riJm. Eeichs (p. 321). UHLHORK, Die LiebestMtigkeit der alien Kirche. p.
213 sqq. BESTMANN, Gesch. der christl. Sitte, II. 1885, p. 483 sqq. LUTIIARDT,
Gesch. der christl. Ethik, 1. 1888, p. 139 sqq.

The Church's estimate of the moral life is ruled by the same
points of view which make monasticism appear as Christian perfec-
tion, and the priesthood as in itself a holy order. Holiness of life
consists in the utmost possible emancipation of the soul from the
natural foundations of this life, and, in contrast, all civic and politi-
cal life, the province of worldly morality, is regarded as in itself
profane. Eusebius (Demonxtr. ev. 1, 8. p. 29) distinguishes two ways
of life in the Church of God. The one goes beyond our nature and
common life, desires neither goods nor children and takes no part
in the usual business of men, but is solely consecrated to the service
of God. Its love belongs entirely to heaven, inasmuch as by correct
doctrines of Divine salvation, by assembling of purified souls, and
by virtuous words and works it reconciles God, and both for itself
and those belonging to it administers the priestly office. The other
way of life is more human and less exacting, does not withdraw
itself from usual work and business, and instead devotes certain
da3rs to contemplative exercises. As here the priesthood appears as
representative of the higher religious morality, so elsewhere does
the monastic life. Gregory of Nyssa (De virginitate) and innumer-
able others, found the only thorough way of getting free from sin in
entire departure from the earthly human life, and regarded the virgin
life as the only perfect way. As according to Gregory of Nazian-
zen property arises out of sin, so also Ambrose (De off. 1, 28) declares
all earthly possession, earthly power, earthly goods in general, to be
evil, all private property to be really usurpation. If Augustine, in
apparent contradiction with this, asserts that by right believers alone
are the rightful possessors of this world's goods, and if Jerome can
ask, if Christians are obliged to pa}' taxes to the state, the points
of view which are here in play, are essentially related. The existing
order of civil affairs, as worldly, does not essentially affect Christians.
Yet Chrysostorn can set up universal community of goods before

GOOD WORKS. 479

Christians as the ideal, of course not in the sense of legal abolition
of private property and instigation of the poor against the rich, but
with the purpose of sharpening the feeling of obligation in the rich.
j The Church's prohibition of the taking of interest too, although de-
termined from other motives, is explicable from this point of view.
i Going to law, and especially going to war are unworthy of Chris-
tians, and properly, all self-defence is to be rejected. All refinement
of culture, all aesthetic decoration of life, apart from what immedi-
j ately serves the sanctuary, involves something sinful. Marriage is
I not regarded as a positive moral good, but as a necessary evil, which
for Christians involves an inevitable moral pollution, and besides,
I retains souls in subordinate worldly affairs. It is suited only for the
I great multitude which cannot soar to higher perfection. The duties
I of marriage are human, the tasks of virginity belong to the angelic
life. So much the more is the repetition of marriage regarded with
• hesitation. In the fourth century legally divorced spouses were
| still allowed to remarry, though, as in all cases of second marriage,
i they were advised against it. But in the fifth century in the Latin
|j Church the second marriage of the divorced, so long as the second
party lived, began to be forbidden. Even the one positively active
Christian virtue, the in every way inculcated benevolence, which
( actually yielded so much, is especially recommended from its merit
as a means of emancipation from the earthly.

In the midst of the swollen stream of asceticism, such as was especially pro-
j moted in the West by Jerome, two individuals arise with a most significant pro-
test against it. JOVINIAN, although himself a monk, combated those notions of a
j double morality in which the work-holiness of the Church culminated, in his
I well-known propositions which are only known through the counter treatise of
Jerome (Advers. Jov. libri II., written about 893 in Bethlehem). The life of
j celibacy, as also fastings and martyrdom affords the foundation of no higher
'•• merit and no higher reward in the kingdom of heaven, in the case of those
i whom Christ has purified, who by full faith are born again by baptism.
j There is only one distinction between righteous and unrighteous, between the
sheep and the goats. The conviction that the salvation of Christians in all
j cases rests solely on the grace of regeneration grasped in faith, leads him how-
lever to the extreme proposition, that he who has truly been born again cannot
be overthrown by the devil. He found some following, and JEROME'S ex-
cessively hateful and passionate opposition raised scruples even among his
i friends, and compelled him to write a vindication of himself (Ep. 48 Ad Pam-
'.machium, cf. Ep. 50 Ad Domnionem). But Snucius of Rome condemned
I Jovinian and his adherents, as also did Ambrose of Milan. Jovinian's funda-
jmental propositions were too much opposed to the victorious tendency of the
!age, to have enduring influence. — In the case of the presbyter AERIUS, the former
|friend and subsequent opponent of Bishop Eustathius of Sebaste (p. 359, 362), op-
Iposition to ecclesiastical fasts is connected, not with an anti-ascetic tendency (he
Jhimself denounced his bishops for not adhering to monastic poverty), but with

I

480 CHURCH HISTORY.

an ecstatic opposition to fixed ecclesiastical order (the bishop was nothing but
a presbyter) and with a polemic against the Church's celebration of the Pass-
over, which he regarded as Jewish. With his wandering bands, living roofless
in field and forest, he fasted on Sunday out of pure opposition, while on Wed-
nesday and Friday he disregarded the Ctmrch's commands to fast. He also
rejected the Church's prayer for the dead (Epiph. Hcer. 75).— On the other hand
HELVIDIUS, who was opposed with similar passion by Jerome, directed himself
against the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary, and this
polemic was, as a matter of fact, carried on to combat the one-sided ascetic tend-
ency of the age, the over-estimate of celibacy and of monastic abstinence, and
also against the cult of the martyrs (Jerome, Advers. Helv. deperpefua rt'rt'hu-
tate b. Marice). Also in the case of the opponent of the cult of the martyrs,
the Aquitanian VIGIL ANTIUS, this was combined with a sober rational estimate
of the worth of earthly goods, which are to be used and not rejected, and with
war against the celibacy of the clergy (Jerome, Contra Vigilantium ). If all shut
themselves up and go into solitude, who is then to provide military service,
who is to win souls for heaven, who to exhort sinners to virtue? Better to
support the poor at home, than to send money for the ascetics to the Holy Land ; ;
it is better to make use of one's own and support the poor with the fruits of one's I
industry, than to sell and give it away all at once.

The disposition to forsake the world which comes to light in this ,j
negative conception of morality, is of course strongly nourished by I
the social misery and convulsing storms of the time, which do nocl
allow of the survival of any joy in public circumstances, and the i
thought of their inward renewal by the spirit of Christianity. Thel^
public circumstances of the Empire, especially its social disorder and!
decomposition, the growing misery of the provinces, sucked dry byj
the bureaucracy of the despotic state, the increasing pressure of
taxation, the growing oppression by the barbarians, all work in this,j
direction (cf. Bishop EUCHERIUS' Ej>i«. jmrn'm'tica de contempt K inniidi, '
Ml. 50). The old distinction of a higher morality of ascetic abstinence
and a lower of permitted enjoyment of the world gains increasingl
importance ; and the more the social oppressions in the life of thel
world promote the spirit of selfishness and snatching at the neetingl
moment, so much the more does Christian perfection appear to bel
possible only within the domain of the Church and the renuuciationl
of the world which the Church requires. The consequence was the re-j
pression of the claims to be made on the moral conduct of the ordinaryl
Christian, who of course had to renounce the special reward of peM
feet Christians. His defects were to be supplemented in a twofoW
way. At one time the merit of the perfect seemed to be able toJ
stand also for that of the imperfect,1 especially when they interested!

1 Csesarius Arel. Homil. 18. Taliter vos exhibere debetis, fratres, tarn sancte
et tarn iuste, tarn pie, ut meritu vestra non solum vobis sufficere sed etiain
peccantibus aliis in hoc sseculo possint veniam impetrare.

THE LOWER AND HIGHER MORALITY. 481

themselves in the promotion of the monastic life by endowments.
But again the other point of view obtained the decisive predomi-
nance. Churchliness decided the moral worth of men; i.e. chiefly
adherence to the correct faith, formulated by the Church, which
appears as the foremost duty towards God. " Piety consists of pious
dogmas and good works ; neither is well pleasing to God without
the other" (Cyr. Catech. 4, 2). The extraordinary passion with
which, far beyond the circle of those properly capable of judgment,
sides were taken in the dogmatic controversies, is rooted on the one
hand in the Greek mobility of spirit, which turns to these dogmatic
refinements as to a higher kind of sport. Pagans, like Ammianus
Marcellinus, look with astonishment on the fanatical hatred of Chris-
tians against one another, the unscrupulosity of the means used in
this conflict, and the inability, in judging an opponent, to transfer
oneself to his point of view. But the peculiar force of these party
passions rests, above all, on the conviction of the merit of orthodoxy.
Then again the importance of churchliness for the moral worth of
man is shown in the fact, that the moral requirements made on men
assume above all the character of churchly service, obedience to
the commands and requirements of the Church. Under this point
of view fall already all the duties of worship (vid. infra) of Chris-
tians, and especially all those requirements of the Church, in which
by preference the worth of Christian moral actions is seen, namely,
prayer, fasting and alms. Augustine calls fasting and alms the
two wings of prayer, which must fly up to God. Leo the Great
sees in them the essence of all the virtues, because in prayer the
true faith finds its support, while innocence of life is nourished by
fasting and a gentle disposition by alms-giving. But also : the grace
of God is sought by prayer, by fasting the desire of the flesh is extin-
guished ; sins are redeemed by alms. In the conception of prayer very
spiritual notions proceed alongside of some that are very coarse, the
notion of the perpetual prayers of believers alongside of the me-
chanical effect of the practice of the Church in its prescriptions as
to the times of prayer (horce canonical) for the clergy and monks. In
regard to the power of blotting out sin, Augustine (Enchiridion ad
Laurent turn) places alms and prayer immediately together. For daily
short and light sins, without which this life cannot be lived, the daily
prayer of believers affords satisfaction, and also for grosser sins, in so
| far as the life of believers has freed itself from them by improvement.
As ordained by the Church and occurring at special seasons (vid.
\'lnf-}i fasting encompassed the life of all members of the Church and
j thereby in itself obtained the character of a legal performance.

31

482 CHURCH HISTORY.

But the Church made itself master in a quite special manner of
benevolence l as the chief Christian virtue, and although it was
corrupted in its motives by the asserted merit and sin-erasing power
of almsgiving, care for the poor and miserable of all kinds afforded
a morally sustaining force, permeated by the spirit of Christian
philanthropy, which was of immeasurable importance amid the ad-
vancing distress of the time. Accordingly, in the first place, the
Church itself, i.e. the bishops, come forward on a noble scale in the
exercise of benevolence, being indeed specially capacitated therefor,
and from the age of Constantine equipped with wealth and privi-
leges. In the ages of growing impoverishment the Church belongs
in the highest degree to the privileged classes ; it becomes a wealthy
landowner (vid. sup.), but is also now confronted with an increasing
flood of poverty of the masses. The bishops, as administrators of
the Church's property, recognise their vocation in a high degree.
The care of the poor does indeed lose its original character of CM re
of the Christian community. The masses of those who are assigned
to them for support become too great ; in great cities especially the
list of the poor which is kept shows thousand-^, who are to be sup-
ported by the alms of the Church. For this purpose the larger
cities are divided into districts, which were assigned to the individual
deacons, and in these districts special houses (Deaconries) arise for
the feeding of the poor. Distressed persons of all sorts, widows,
orphans, foundlings, the sick, cripples, infirm persons, are objects of
the Church's care. In the list at Antioch there stood in Chrysos-
tom's time alone .'>,(XX) widows and virgins, and in Constantinople
Chrysostom daily provided for over 7,<XH) necessitous persons. In
the time of Joannes Eleemosynarius, the list of Alexandria included
7,500 names, and at the time of Gregory the Great in Rome it
formed a whole host. To those who were regularly cared for there
were added the mass of tramps, beggars who thronged to the great
cities, who besieged the churches, and exhibited their wounds to
passengers in the lanes. If under these circumstances the care for
the individual poor of former times was no longer practicable, at
the same time the disadvantage was felt of the circumstance,
that, from the hierarchical point of view, the unity of the great
episcopal community was maintained, without carrying out proper
parochial divisions. Especially were the rural communities kept in
distinct dependence on the bishop in regard to rights of property.
It is only towards the end of the fifth centmy that, the first traces of
independent right to property begin to be traced in the individual

1 Vid. UIILHORN, I.e. p. •_'<;'; sq.

BENE VOLENCE. 483

churches, and only in Gaul and on German soil is the formation of
parishes attained under the altered circumstances from the begin-
ning of the sixth century. The benevolence of the Church was
also so far compelled to enter upon new paths, inasmuch as it had
to create establishments l for the care of the sick, of widows and
orphans. Julian already recognised a power of the Christian
religion in the Xenodochies, Nosokomies, etc. The first of these
admitted all who stood in need of sustenance : strangers, the poor,
widows, orphans, the sick. Gradually different institutions for
different classes of distressed persons appeared, but still mostly
without entire carrying out of separation. Of course this benevolent
care by ecclesiastical institutions involved the falling back of per-
sonal benevolence in the communities. But they were necessitated
by the greatness of the need in the churches of the masses. The
hospital of Basil in Csesarea (founded about 370) became the type of
numerous institutions of the kind. But they spread quickly in the
East and soon found imitators in the West also. Here the first
hospitals were founded by the friends of Jerome, Fabiola in Rome,
and Pammachius in the neighbouring Portus, in Nola by the well-
known Paulinus ; at the time of Gregory there seems to have been
a large number of such institutions, at least in Italy. The means to
support them flowed partly from the income of the Church, partly
from foundations by private persons, who equipped them with pro-
perty in land and other means. As a rule the state confined itself
to equipping with privileges those institutions standing entirely
under the administration of the Church.

Eminent bishops sought in every way to instigate believers to zeal
in benevolence. Under the earlier simple circumstances the chief
source had consisted in the offerings of the church. Now, however,
in presence of the other means of the church these come ever less

land less into consideration. The fact that the Christianity of the
masses as it had now become, soon showed itself sluggish in attend-
ance upon church and sacrament, contributed to this state of affairs ;

leven so celebrated an orator as Chrysostom has to bewail this fact.

I He on one occasion compares the Christians to the Jews, who only

jcame three times a year to the Temple ; he frequently also censures
the leaving of church after sermon, and therefore before the Lord's
Supper. It was only on the high festivals, the martyrs' days and the
commemorations of the dead that rich offerings were still brought.
From about 500 they generally lose their special destination for the

ipoor and become the emoluments of the bishop and the priest who

1 Vld. UHLHORN, I.e. p. 316 sq.

CHURCH HISTORY.

reads mass. On the other hand wealthy sources now flow from presents,
foundations, and bequests to the Church. In this, private persons
emulate the emperors. Apart from the other ecclesiastical sources of
money (fid. sup.), the right, bestowed upon the Church by Constantiner
of receiving testamentary endowments, becomes of the very highest
importance for the Church. Here it is just the point of view of the
religious merit of alms, on which the most decisive weight is laid.
Noble bishops, such as Chrysostom and Augustine, now protest
indeed against the misunderstanding, as though the gift without
the disposition obtained the reward : Augustine also protested against
such assignation of inheritance to the Church, as robbed necessitous
relations. But on the whole, readiness to bequeath property to the
Church is incited and nourished in every way. The clergy, virgins,
monks and nuns are expected to present their means, or at least to
bequeath them to the Church. All the great bishops of the age
show the example and afford besides the worthy spec tat- If of men,
who, while they deal with the great wealth of the Church for the
good of the poor, themselves live quite plainly, simply and without
needs, even though Ainmianus Marcellinus has become acquainted
with others who coped with the richest in pomp and luxury. Bat
the exhortation is now addressed to all, to consider the Church and
the poor in their wills. and the motive of spiritual venality is here
shamelessly applied, most strongly perhaps by Salvian (p. 401).
He who has clone few good works, says he, has all the more need, at
least in the hour of death, to make up for his neglect. I'm- the sake
of the heavenly reward ; he who has already done good works, is to •
do this also, for of good deeds ' here are never enough ; bat even he '
who to the end has done evil, is at lev the end to seek his

salvation by giving away all his property. !!>• will not admit regard
to children and relations; one must first love oneself, by caring lor
the salvation of one's soul. What good has a rich man of the fact
that he makes his son rich, if he himself tails into hell ? He blames
t he case of a rich man adopting children to leave them his property.
It is better that the children should be po >r in this life, than their
parents in the other. The frequently practised bequests to the Church
and. the poor had besides a. certain pivi lent in the ancient I'omau
custom of remembering friends or persons of merit, and especially
the emperor, in wills, l>ut it now obtained quite a different colour.

But also apart from bequests, almsgiving of all sorts is ceaselessly
and forcibly inculcated by all the eminent teachers of the Church,
and, if also under certain cautions, is without hesitation sel down
as a means of obtaining forgiveness of sins and merit with < lod. It

POWER OF ALMS TO BLOT OUT SIN. 485

is indeed inculcated (Augustine), that alms do not avail without a
better life, but the manner of this repeated and forcible inculcation
of the duty of almsgiving could not pass without strengthening the
fleshly trust of many 011 these performances. Ambrose calls alms-
giving to a certain extent a second bath of the soul (alongside of
baptism). In the case of gross, so-called deadly sins, which separate
from, the Church, alms of course do not avail, but only ecclesiastical
penance. But in the satisfactions which were requisite for the latter,
alms again played a great part. According to Gregory the Great,
God does indeed remit the guilt of the penitent, but nob the punish-
ment ; this the man must suffer and to this end he must impose
the satisfaction 011 himself as punishment. He who has done what
is not allowed must, in order to give satisfaction, abstain from the
allowable, whether by fasting or giving of alms. The conception
that the power of alms to blot out sins extends beyond death, now
becomes of special power in recommending benevolence. And here
the exercise of benevolence links itself on to the custom of making
offerings for the dead. Augustine already says : " It is not to be
doubted, that the dead are assisted by the prayers of the Church, by
the saving sacrifice and by alms, which are offered for their souls,
and that the Lord deals more mercifully with them than their sins
have deserved " (Enchir. ad Laur. 26, 110). This does not, indeed,
help all ; many do not require it — here it is a sacrifice of thanks-
giving ; others were not entirely evil — here it is an atoning sacrifice;
others still were entirely evil — here it is at least a consolation for
the survivors, and perhaps even a mitigation of their condemnation.
Here, therefore, the exercise of beneficence is interconnected with
the Church's performances for the dead, and receives its special
accentuation through the rising doctrine of Purgatory, as especially
developed by Gregory the Great after previous beginnings. Wood,
hay, stubble (1 Cor. iii. 12 sq.) aie, according to him, the smaller, light
sins, which must be destroyed by fire ; they burden souls and bring
them into the fire of purification, presupposing namely that the
man has merited this purification by good works. But it is also
works of mercy, which, as noted above, blot out the daily small sins,
for which the man would otherwise have to do penance in purgatory.
But the man can never know whether he has fulfilled the required
measure of good works, and therefore can never be sure of salvation.
I He ought therefore to give as much alms as possible. In all this
j there is carried out the strong trait of work-righteousness, which
| has already become powerful in the Church, and at the same time
the estimate of works of mercy less according to the standard of the

486 CHURCH HISTORY.

inner impulse of the life, than according to the exhibition of renun-
ciation of the good things of this world. Hence as regards pos-
sessions, renunciation of them is preferentially regarded as moral
duty, and here again we have a glimpse of the thought that, properly
speaking, all private property is an evil.

3. Ecclesiastical Discipline.

Sources : Gregory of Xyssa. l-'./>/st. ad Letojum (Opp. 2, 114). Basil of Csesarea,
Epist. 53, 54, 55, 160 and others, and the Epistolce Canonical ascribed to
Basil (Opp. 3, 268). Chrysost. De pcenitcntia horn. IX. (Mgr. 49, 313).
Augustine, Sermons 351, 352 (Ml. 39, 1535). Leo I. Epixt. ,/</ < />isc.
Campan. 168 (Ml. 54, p. 1199). Socr. H.E. 5, 19. Soz. 7, Hi. The Book of
Penitence ascribed to Joannes Jejuuator and his Sermo de confessione et
pa'iiiti'ntid (Mirr. 88, p. 1S89). — Litcrohire : rid. p. 258 and KOI;I-:R, Der
Kirchcnbann. \^'->l. O. F. CAMMEU, />/.•<•*. <!<• <lir!n<t institntione confes-
sion/* sarnim. Louvain issj. LOI;NI\<;. I.e. I.. 2C.2 ^\>{.

The discipline of the Church was originally intended to expel all
public scandals, but afterwards to reconcile the causers of such
scandal by means of the satisfaction to be offered by them to it
(p. 258 sqq.). So now also the disciplinary power exercised by the
bishop is directed, in the decree of the ban excommunicatid),
against notorious sins. The ban is exclusion from the society of the
Church, and by it all religious fellowship with the sinner is to be
broken off. The clergy, especially of higher rank, may hold no-
intercourse with the excommunicated person; in the contrary case
they themselves tell under the Km Cone. Ant. of 341. Can. 2).
Later it was attempted to extend the prohibition of all intercourse
in civil life to laymen aUo. On aeeouiit of slighter ecclesiastical
offences, exclusion from Holy Communion and the general church
prayer (the so-ealleil smaller ban, a^optcr/no? in distinction from
cutting off, the «7ro*:o7r>;) began to be applied, and indeed essentially
according to the will of the bishop. K . »r reconciliation with the
Church the excommunicated person now required the acceptance
of the exercises of penance, for which the stages of penance
(p. 265) come into use. In the ancient Church the. notoriety of those
sins, which involved excommunication as a consequence, had in
many cases made ecclesiastical procedure against them easy, al-
though it is certain that, even then, many .-ins. which according
to the principles of the Church abolished communion, actually
remained hidden and unnoticed (cf. Tertull. De paenit. 10). In the
new world-church, with its confines more and more including the
whole population, the carrying out of this ordinance encountered
considerable difficulties. The ban is indeed frequently applied in
ecclesiastical controversies, in cases of violence of all kinds, and

DISCIPLINE. 487

in case of public offences or scandals. Otherwise, the Church,
except in the case of voluntary confession of sin, had no other
means of support in its judicial procedure, than either the occur-
rence of a condemnation by a secular court on account of crime and
gross sins, or complaint by witnesses before the spiritual court of
the bishop. Augustine (sermon 351) exhorts Christians, who were
conscious of a transgression which involved excommunication (or
exclusion from the Lord's Supper), to seek the saving, though pain-
ful penance, and not to allow themselves to be restrained from it by
observing that many who were guilty of such sins yet went to the
sacrament of the altar : " many improved like Peter, many were
suffered like Judas, many remained unknown till the Lord should
come." The majority would not accuse others, because they wished
to excuse themselves by their example. Many good Christians are
silent and bear the sins of others, of which they are well aware,
because they have no means of proof and could not establish what
they know before the ecclesiastical judge.

It is now indeed regarded as the duty of believers, to bring to
notice such a sin requiring ecclesiastical censure, in order that steps
against it may be taken ; but Augustine and others show how
seldom that might happen. On the other hand many also who were
conscious of secret sins sought the advice of the clergy, with a view
to submitting themselves to the ecclesiastical exercises of penance
according to their advice. Under these circumstances the original
point of view, preservation of the community against public scandal,
is ever increasingly pushed into the background by the psecla-
gogical point of view of the improvement of members of the Church
by the punishment of the transgression of the Church's commands.
Ecclesiastical penance becomes a healing medicinal act. But, for
this very reason, the necessity emerges of fixing a graduated
standard of ecclesiastical penalties for various individual cases,
namely, exclusion from the Holy Supper and transposition for a
longer or shorter time into one of the different classes of penitents,
and finally complete exclusion from communion with the Church
for a definite series of years, or even until the occurrence of a mortal
illness. In estimating offences, the sins which directly offend God
stand first : denial of Christ, apostasy from the faith and Christian-
ity, sins of magic and the like, and violent heresy ; but further,
adultery and whoredom, murder, mortal violence and theft. With
the dominant conception of psedagogical influence there also grows
the need of increased casuistical definitions, partly with regard to
the various degrees of relative culpability, partly with respect to

4S* CHURCH HISTORY.

the inclusion of offences for which the earlier Church had re-
quired no satisfaction.1 Naturally the decision in many cases
remained in the hands of the individual bishops. On the one hand
many individuals continuously withdrew themselves from the ob-
servation of the Church, not desiring to see themselves exposed by
ecclesiastical punishment ; on the other hand, the proper ecclesi-
astical penalty (especially temporary exclusion from the Lord's
Supper) was quietly accepted as a formality, which was submitted
to, but not allowed to give further vexation, and the abolition of
the sin by the acceptance of penance was avoided. " We indeed
promise penance with words, but the fact exhibits no effort, we live
entirely as we did before the commission of the sin, just as gaily,
carelessly and luxuriously. We allow ourselves to be shut out from
the mysteries, without troubling ourselves about re-obtaining
entrance, as though that were a trifle v (Gregory of Nyssa). This
way of regarding the matter on the part of worldly Christians, was
promoted by much in the legislation of the Church, as when a
seeond marriage or a third — civilly a perfectly legal relationship-
according to the laws of the Church involved a penance of a year,
in the case of trigamix a penance of from two to five years. There
was also an inclination, though it was hardly carried out, to exclude
soldiers for three whole years from the Holy Supper, because their
hands were possibly stained \vith blood.

In the procedure mentioned there was nlwn ys a question of offences
either notorious in themselves, or which had become known 10 the
Church either by accusation or by self-accusation, and of public
procedure against them on the part of the Church. But as the
original point of view begins to be replaced by that of ecclesiastical
pedagogy, important changes begin to exhibit themselves. I) The
ancient fundamental principle, t hat only one repentance was allowed,
i.e. that after a lapse into gross sin. reconciliation on the basis of
public penance might only take place once, cannot be logically
maintained under the new relationships ; attempts had even been
!eto break through this principle during the severe controversial
since the beginning of the third century. The ancient principle of
the Church was indeed maintained by Ambrose and Augustine, but
the ever increasing number of chief sins, for which reconciliation

1 Thus e.g. Gregory of Nyssa finds it lamentable that there is a want of
ecclesiastical penal ordinances against- covet<>u-m •». :ui'l would like to know of
procedure against usury, i.e. against the taking <>f interest- in general, and
against every acquisition by any sort of violence1, \vhirh might cover itself
under the appearance of a bargain: but he restrains himself, as ho has not.
enough authority to establish such laws.

DISCIPLINE 489

is requisite, and likewise the gradation of the ecclesiastical penalties
according to the different degree of transgression, gradually enforced
the admission of repeated application of church-discipline even to
the same individual.1 This change, which the nature of the case
rendered obvious, seems to have permeated the Greek Church as
early as the fourth century, and is quite frankly presupposed by
Sozornen (7, 16) in the middle of the fifth. The reproach made
against Chrysostom,2 that he had promoted wantonness by the
. words : " If thou sin again, do penance again, and as often as thou
sinnest, come to me and I will heal thee," seems also to allude to
this change. 2) Connected therewith was the fact that the publicity
of the penitential procedure, necessarily founded on the original
nature of the penitential discipline, appeared under the altered
circumstances and views as a grievous hardship, which was fitted to
frighten people away from repentance. We learn, on occasion of a
particular incident at Constantinople, of the existence of a special
priest of repentance (Trpea-jBvrepos eirl /^eraiWa?), an institution,
which Socrates (5, 19) regards as universal and as having existed in
the Greek Church for a long time, and which he derives from the
conflict of the Church with the Novatians, i.e. from the recognition
by the Church, in opposition to the Novatians, of the justification of
reconciliation of the lapsed ; but Sozomen derives it from the occur-
rence of repeated falls into sin, to which forgiveness was to be
extended. The institution of a special priest of repentance seems,
as a matter of fact, to have occurred pretty early in the fourth
century ; it was intended not only to disburden the bishops in large
communities, but also, the state being now Christian, so that the
making known of gross sins might in certain circumstances result
in civil injury, it was meant to open to those who were conscious of
guilt the possibility of making confession, in a non-public manner,
to the discreet priest appointed for the purpose, of submitting in
secret to the satisfaction imposed by him, and of being by him
reconciled to the Church. There was here no question of a
universal obligation of believers to private confession of their sins
in general before the priest of repentance, but of the treatment of
such sins, as according to the ecclesiastical canons destroyed com-
munion with the Church and required reconciliation).3 In Con-

1 Vid. STEITZ I.e. p. 109 note.

3 Synodus ad Querc., vid. Phot. Bibl. Cod. 59 ed. Bekk. p. 19 a.

3 The thirty-fourth canon of Basil, according to which the confession of an
adulteress made to the priest is to be kept secret, and for that purpose during
the whole period of her penance she is to be admitted to the class of the con-
fistentes, points to a similar need.

49o CHURCH HISTORY.

stautinople a woman of rank had confessed her sin to the presbyter
and in doing so had also revealed that she had been seduced by a
deacon of the church. In consequence the deacon was deposed, and
the case excited great notice and scandal. A certain presbyter,
Eudemon, then advised Bishop Nectarius (p. 401), to abolish the post
of the priest of repentance altogether, and to leave participation in
the mysteries to the conscience of every individual, that the Church
might be spared evil reports. This took place, and Socrates, who
himself heard the case from that presbyter Eudemou, expressed to
him his hesitation as to its evil consequences, namely the promotion
of wantonness and the decrease of seriousness in the Church. As a
matter of fact this regulation of Nectarius seems to have been
widely imitated and to have led to gradual loosening of the disci-
pline of repentance.

Naturally, believers were not thereby prevented from applying to the hishop
as to repentance incases of evil conscience, and the bishop did not thereby
renounce the rightof excluding notorious transgressors from the communion of
the Church, till they agreed to public repentance. But for laym.>n the n.v.^sity
of confessing and doing public penance for secret sins fell away; it was now
a matter for their own private conscience whether th.-y wou.d Mil.mit them-
selves to it. From these movements li.^ht also falls on tin-, utterances of
Chrysostom. He indeed (Z>e sacmZofc'o 2, 6) magnified in the strong.-st rheto-
rical manner the power of the priesthood to transmit to men the saving gifts
of God, because the .s;i,-ramen's <,f t h • ( 'him-h are in his hands, and in this he
included the power of the priest to remit sins, hut not at all in the sense that
every forgiveness of sin was attached to confession before the priest. While
he (i-nl. Si KIT/., p. ss expresslj emphasises the savin- nature of self-condemna-
tion of the sinner by repentain •.• and by confession before Cod, he also glories in
the fact, that God not only Eorgivea as our sins, but also that 11. • does not bring
them to li-ht and make them pul.lir. or compel us to come forward on the
stage and gather many witnesses round about us; hut. He commands us to
reveal our sins to Him alone, in order that He may h« -,\\ our sore and free us
from pain.

In the West, SIRICIUS of Rome ' shows a trace of the weakening
of the old principle of allowing «>nly one repentance, when, in the
case of relapse, he permits the oti'.Mnler at least to be present during
the celebration of the holy sacrifice of the Eucharist, and grants
him participation in the sacrament itself at Least in the Imur of
death. As regards the second point how.-v.-i-. tin- publicity <>f the
penitential procedure, the North African Chun-h gives the iirsi ex-
amples of private repentance and reconciliation.' and A.UGUSTINBJ
acts were likewise in favour of it. Also, the appointment l.y P»i>»
Simplicius (468-483) of baptismal and penitential priests acting

1 Kp. 1. a> I Hiiiifi-hrm, ch. .">. Const, p. CJs.

» Syn. Hipp, of :;:•« can. :50 = Carthag. IV. of i'.'.'T. can. 32.

DISCIPLINE. 491

weekly in different Roman churches, may be connected with the
rise of private repentance and reconciliation. (Lib. Pontif. ed. Duch.
p. 249.)

Augustine, in his instructions to catechumens,1 apart from the forgiveness
of the sins of the past life in baptism, distinguishes the daily repentance of
believers, which obtains the forgiveness of the lighter sins, without which we
cannot be, by prayer (fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer), and the public
repentance for those graver sins which involve separation from the body of
Christ. Bjr them, are meant the actual sins of the Decalogue (sins against
God, apostasy, idolatry, heresy, magic, and actual sins against our neighbour) ;
in relation to them a stricter and a more lenient conception are noticeable, but
there is always in view a much narrower circle of actual sins than in the later
Catholic conception of mortal sins. Hatred and enmity are only treated of in
so far as they issue in open discord and vexations (Cone. Arel. II. 452. Can. 50).
According to Augustine repentance before baptism corresponds with the
position of catechumens, the daily repentance of prayer to that of believers,
the more serious repentance to that of the fallen. Only in the case of the
latter and in that of the catechumens is public confession involved, to which
invitation is given ; in the case of the second it is only a question of what
passes between the believing soul and its God. Augustine e.g. now exhorts to
the undertaking of ecclesiastical repentance, those who are conscious of anti-
nuptial intercourse with their wives ; in this case no one should rest satisfied
with a secret confession before God ; but he also laments that the vice has
become so openly in vogue, that the Church does not dare on its account either
to excommunicate the laity or to degrade the clergy.2 In the state of affairs
kept in view by Augustine there are seen the beginnings of the distinction of
a private procedure from the essentially public procedure of ecclesiastical
repentance. The degree of publicity of the ecclesiastical repentance is to be
determined according to the degree of publicity of the offence and the degree
of scandal caused by it. The fundamental principle: Corripienda secretius,
quce pec.catitur secretius (Augustine) naturally suggested itself to the bishops.
Censure and remonstrance were to be administered secretly, so that persons
who were subjected to public censure, should not be revealed by it. Thereby
e.g. an enemy might take occasion to pursue a man at law. Augustine spoke
e.g. of men who had in secret become guilty of adultery, and on account of it
had been pointed to the clergy by their wives (either from jealousy, or from
care for their souls, Augustine, Sermon 82, 7, 11). Augustine exhorts the man
who in secret has committed gross sin to put himself in the hands of the pre-
siding priest for the determination of the measure of satisfaction, but if his
sin has been the cause of great scandal to others, he is not to hesitate to make
public confession and repentance on demand of the bishop, to the pious of the
Church, before many or even before the assembled community. In the time of
Lee, bishops of Southern Italy desired upon occasion of the public exercise of
repentance, to compel the fallen to read publicly a complete confession of their

1 De symbolo ad Catech. Sermon I. 15 sq.

2 In this connection the original view of ecclesiastical repentance, i.e. ex-
piation of the scandal, emerges in the circumstance that the clergy are not
permitted pcenitentiam agere, because a second reconciliation is not to be
allowed ; for this reason the degradation of the clergy corresponds to the
excommunication of the laity. Vid. Siric. Epist. I. 14.

492 CHURCH HISTORY.

individual sins, which hitherto had never been the general practice ; it was
only in the investigation which preceded excommunication that the details
were mentioned. Leo declared against it, because it was sufficient that the
transgressions should be secretly revealed to the bishop in confession, in order
that many might not thereby be restrained from desiring the saving means
of repentance, whether from a feeling of shame or from fear of judicial' pro-
secution. It was sufficient that the confession should be made first to God,
and then to the bishop, who was to mediate as intercessor for the sins of the
penitent. In this decision of Leo there is not involved the demand of the later
Roman aural confession, but only a direction how to proceed in cases of
voluntary confession to the bishop. But. of course, the thought that divine
forgiveness for grave sins can only be attained through the intercession of the
bishop, already emerges here in pretty strong emphasis.

Finally, connected with these changes is the gradual recession
of the outward treatment of penitents at public worship. The dis-
missal of penitents at the beginning of the mixxa fidelhuu is still
mentioned at the Synod of Epaon (517) in Burgundy, Can. 29, but
subsequently it is no longer thought of.

4. Influence of the Church on the Morality and Customs of Roman

Society.

Lifi'/-<ifiire: A. l$EA.m>F,K, Denkwurdigkeiten <IHK </»•/• (;,s,-/i. d<-s <•///•/.•.//. i.,h<ux.
3rd ed. 1.139; II. 1-116. STAUDI.IN. Gesch. der ,sY//,-,//,./</v Jesu, vol. 3.
GIKM.U.I:. K.G.I. 2,303 sqq. UIIUIOKN, Die <•///•/.%//. A/./^.s///,///,//.-,// d. U.K.,
p. 21:; s,|.|. \V. E. HAKTI-OLE Lr< KV. ///>•/. of I-:, /,•<,/>•;, i. Morals from
Ai/ifiixftis to ('/Kii'li-iiiiii/in;^ vol-.. :>rd ed. 1877. BKSTM.YNN. rid. p. •>:<.

\Vi:h its transcendental faith the Christian Church gave comfort
.md hope to a decaying world ; with its ascetic tendency, in an nge
ol social decomposition, selfishness, and moral dissi.hu.ion. it was
able to produce individual heroic personalities moved by in-
exhaustible ardour of love, who mitigated the sufferings of the time;
but it was never able to regenerate ancient society. Impulses to
an energetic conservative activity in tin- praciieul affairs of the
world could not proceed from her with IPT world-alien ideal, indeed
she withdrew forces from public life. But she did rescue and
transmit ideal forces from the decaying world to one which was
now germinating. - - The clergy, having attained power and
authority, show, alongside of lofty forms full of generous dis-
position and enduring self-sacril icing benevolence, many tradesman-
like representatives, who enjoy their privileges, snatch at show and
wealth, or. under the appearance of ascetic sanctity give free play
to the lowest passions and ordinary sentiments ; many examples of
want of sentiment on the one hand and of passionate hatred on tin-
other.

In accordance with the outstanding aspect* of ancient Christian

THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY. 493

ethical conceptions, the humane point of view gains prevalence in
the general moral consciousness of the time and accordingly in
legislation also, in provision for the poor, wretched and necessitous,
care for widows and orphans, the mitigation of the lot of slaves
and prisoners ; finally the sanctity of life is upheld in conflict with
gladiatorial fights, which Constantino had already forbidden, but
which were not abolished at Rome until Honorius ; further, the
condemnation of sexual offences became keener, and accordinglv
legal measures were taken against fornication and rape; proceed-
ings against immoral spectacles and the like.

In its estimate of marriage, the Church, which did not allow
itself to be led astray by its exaggerated regard for virginity, so as
to ignore the fundamental moral importance of the former, could
support itself in essentials on the view of Roman legislation and
its high estimate of married life. But it went beyond the Roman
point of view, inasmuch as it made the same demand of chastitj-
on the man as on the woman, and thereby gave expression to the
equality of woman which accords with Christianity. It further
emphasised the indissolubility of matrimony (unless in cases of
adultery) and began to go even further and forbid even the re-
marriage of a divorced spouse, and not merely of the guilty party.
On this point the Church came into decided opposition with
legislation, which during the time of the Empire had greatly
facilitated divorce, but was only able to advance its views by means
ecclesiastical discipline, for even now the freedom of divorce was
limited by the state legislation in a much less degree than cor-
responded with the requirements of the Church.1 With regard to.
obstacles to marriage the influence of the Mosaic law was felt and
led to increasing limitations ; e.g. to the prohibition of marriage
with the sister of the first wife, and further, of the marriage of
cousins and the like, which Augustine had still allowed, but
Gregory the Great already rejects. On this point, civil legislation
also follows in the train of the Church, especially from the time of
Justinian. The Church further widens this domain in a remark-
able manner by the adoption of the so-called cognatio spirituals as
an obstacle to marriage. Further, the Church turns against so-
called mixed marriages, inasmuch as with growing decision it
forbids Christians to enter into wedlock with heathens and Jews,
and even with heretics, and here also state legislation follows with
reference to marriage between Christians and Jews. At the same
time the Church is inclined to make an exception when there is a

1 GIESELER, I. 2, 333.

494 CHURCH HISTORY.

prospect, that by the conclusion of marriage the non-Christian or
heterodox party may be won for the Church.

The custom of priestly benediction on the conclusion of a marriage
does not alter the civil character of the contract of marriage itself
(consent of both parties before witnesses), but is regarded as a
requirement of the Church, and develops into a special celebration
of worship. A proper officium benedictionis is found in the Sacra-
mentary of Gelasius, but not in that of Gregory the G-reat, and may,
like the Greek offices (in Goar), belong to a later time. — To a very
large extent the Roman world, become Christian, retained the tradi-
tional marriage customs, symbolical customs such as the marriage
feast and epithalcuiiia, though also amid continual protests on the
part of serious Christians against worldly luxury and indecent songs.

As in regard to this matter, so also in regard to burial customs,
the Church of the world from the time of Constantino attached
itself to the traditional with much less hesitation than the ancient
Church of the martyrs had done. At the same time it protested
against the passionate attestations of grief with their mourning
women and the like, and broke with the notion thai contact with
the corpse brought pollution and that the sight of the funeral pro-
cession brought ill luck.1 Hence also burial by night had been
replaced by ceremonious burial by day, and the funeral celebrations
and commemorative ceremonies for the dead ha<l lieen drawn in a
special measure into the sphere of the celebration of divine worship.

1 Julian Imp.: quod oculos hominum iiifuiisffs iniv^t:it .•t.l>p,-,-t ilm-,. Cod.
Theod. IX. 17, 5.

CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 495

CHAPTER SIXTH.
The Christian Cultus.

1. Art in the service of the Sanctuary.

Literature: The numerous works on the history of art by C. SCHNAASE, F.
KUGLER, W. LUBKE, B. GrARucci (Storici della arte crist. net primi otto
secoli, 6 vols.). Especially "W. LUBKE, Vorschule zum Studium der kirch-
lichen Kunst, 1873. G. DEHIO and G-. v. BEZOLD, Die kirchliche Baukunst
des Abendlandes in. Bilderatlas, L, Stuttgart 1885. H. OTTE, Hdb. d. kircM.
Ktmstarchaol., 5th ed. by E. WERNICKE, 2 vols. 1883.

THE persecution under Diocletian had begun with the destruction of
the church at Nicomedia. Under Constantino imperial munificence
applies itself to church-building. He encouraged it, and supplied
copious means for restoration, extension and new buildings (Euseb. Vita
Constantini, 2, 46), especially at the Holy Places, where the Church
of the Resurrection, solemnly dedicated at Constantino's Tricennalia,
and the Martyrium Salvatoris (Church of the Holy Sepulchre) were
raised. So likewise Helena built the church at Bethlehem, and a
basilica was also raised at Mamre. Splendid buildings arose in
Constantinople (Church of the Apostles), in Nicomedia and in
Antioch.

But just as the intellectual edifice of the Church was carried out
under the influence of the Roman spirit, as the development of
ecclesiastical dogma was the result of a blending of Christian ideas
with Hellenic philosophy, and as the Christian cultus itself was
formed under the influence of the ideas of the antique mysteries, so
also Christian church architecture exhibits itself as an application
and expansion of existing forms of art, conditioned by the aims of
Christian worship and determined by the spirit of Christianity, in
dependence also on existing local peculiarities (Eastern and West-
ern) ; and indeed the utilization of existing heathen edifices, on the
foundations and according to the plans of which Christian edifices
arose, was not disdained. At the beginning of the Constantinian
period stands the Christian basilica built by Bishop Paulinus of
Tyre (Euseb. H.E. 10, 4), with great colonnades, surrounded by
which was the fountain under the open heaven, the symbol of holy

496 CHURCH HISTORY.

purification, and from which access was had to the sanctuary through
several porches. Inside, opposite the entrance, arose the throne and
subsellia for the bishop and clergy, and the altar and rails shut this
sacred space off from the nave.

The basilica, the most usual name for Christian churches, according
to the prevailing type is an oblong, which, on the narrow side op-
posite the entrance, has a semicircular annex (apse). The longi-
tudinal space is divided by parallel rows of pillars into three (or
also into five) naves, of which the middle nave, about equals the
breadth of the side naves taken together. The pillars are connected
with each other partly by horizontal beams, but mostly by round
arches, which carry the side walls of the middle nave, which aro
provided with round-arched windows, the roof being a flat frame-
work, except indeed where the roof remains quite open. The lower
side naves (aisles] are without windows, when-, as in Rome, the
church is shut in among houses, but otherwise, as in Ravenna, are
lighted by windows of their own. The entrance, opposite the apse,
is through a small fore-hall diai'thex*, which is either placed inside
the church or outside at the side of entrance. In front of it lies an
outer court with a well. The ground plan was enriched by the
transept, which soon appears, immediately in front of the arch of
the apse, and likewise separated from the nave by an arch. Another
enrichment of Graeco-oriental origin, but also occuring in the West,
was formed by the emporia, which arose from the side naves being
made two-storeyed 'galleries). The pillars were frequently taken
from destroyed heathen temples; they arc however sometimes replaced
l>y piers, or piers and pillars alternate (6V?// <'lrnn'nt,'\. As a rule the
apse forms a special annex, but elsewhere it is merely inserted just
at the end of the nave so as to form a rectangular close to the body
of the building ; in Rome it is usually windowless ; in the Arian
churches of North Italy and in the By/ant ino churches it has mostly
windows.

The imposing Church of S. Peter, which arose in Rome in the
fourth century, was a large five-naved basilica with a transcpi and
a fore-court surrounded by colonnades ; so likewise the Church of S.
Paolo fuori le mura, which arose under Valentinian TT., one of the
greatest of covered spaces (destroyed by fire in 1823 and rebuilt .
S. Clemente is indeed a building <>r' tln> eleventh century 'after the
destruction of the ancient church by Robert Guiscard. in 1i)S'1 : only
the ancient crypt, which wns filled with rubbish ;ni-l has again been
cleared out, is preserved : but it sheds light on the arrant of

the ancient type from the fact that many movable objects we-

CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 497

transferred from the old building to the new. In. it, as frequently
elsewhere also, the rails (cancelli}, intended to shut off the sanctuary
from the people, jut out from the altar-house into the nave; they form
seats for the singers, the lower clergy, in the middle nave, and are
connected with the Ambones (reading desks).

Basilica was the name for all larger spaces surrounded by colon-
nades, such as the public halls of justice, which were intended to
serve at the same time as market places and were called basilicce
forenses ; but in private houses also there were such basilicas. The
arrangement of the forensic basilicas, affording many points of com-
parison with the ecclesiastical basilica, was long regarded as having
supplied the pattern on which the latter was formed. In recent
times there is more inclination to seek the pattern in the basilica
domestica, or in general to derive it from the arrangement of the
ancient house in various manners. In any case ZESTERMANN'S con-
troversion of the former derivation from the forensic basilica follows
one-sided points of view, when it seeks to derive the forms of the
Christian basilica entirely from the internal necessities of the
Christian cult us, without paying regard to natural attachment to
existing forms of building.1

Alongside of the form of the basilica, however, are the forms of
building1 round a centre (circular or polygonal buildings). These
are found not only for baptisteries and martyr-churches (cemetery
churches, Memorice, Gr. iJLaprvpi,ov\ but in the Greek Church they
are also sought to be retained for congregational churches. For
them the pattern is set by the round buildings and chief- halls of
the Roman thermae and the circular building of the ancient
sepulchral monument. The mausoleum of CONSTANTIA (sister or
daughter of Constantine), probably originally a baptism chapel,
outside Rome on the Via Nomentana, is a circular building of this
kind. Inside the surrounding wall stand in concentric circles
twenty-four pillars coupled in pairs and united by round arches,
upon which the cylindrical wall of the central building is raised,
pierced by twelve round-arched windows and roofed by a globe-
shaped cupola, and which is surrounded by a barrel- vaulted passage.
But also the Church of S. Stefano Rotondo in Rome, built under
Pope Simplicms, exhibits the round form and cupola structure ; so
S. Lorenzo in Milan (fourth-fifth century), if this is really a Christian

1 Numerous monographs on the ancient basilica by QUAST, ZESTERMANN,
WEINGARTEN, HUBSCH, MOTHES, MESSMER, J. P. RICHTER vid. in A. BROCKHAUS,
in RE.2 II. 135 sqq. and in addition, G. DEIIIO I.e., also K. LANGE Haus und
Halle, Leipsic 1885.

o2

498 CHURCH HISTORY.

church and not an ancient Roman work. The church of Antioch,
celebrated by Eusebius (Vita Const., 3, 50), surrounded by wide-
spreading colonnades, had the ground form of an octagon, with
numerous chapels built on. Constantino caused the erection of a
cupola supported by twelve pillars over the Holy Sepulchre, which
was connected with a basilica.

When Athanasius lived in exile at Treves, the believers there assembled in
temples, in which building was still going on (Apol. Opp. I. 682). In Cologne
the quondam Chapel of S. Michael (burnt down in 1389, and after the restora-
tion, pulled down) is said to have been transformed out of a temple of Mars
Gradivus. S. Gereon (Ad aureos martyres. Gregory of Tours) and S. S;>vorin
(formerly SS. Cornelius and Cyprian) point back to Roman times for their
origin. The cathedral at Mayeiice is said to have afforded refuge to thousands
of people on occasion of the Vandal invasions (406). In Rati.sbon, Lorch and
Passau Christian churches arose. The storms of the barbarian invasions
destroyed these churches. But the oldest portion of the cathedral at Treves
proceeds from the time of the Romans, and the present Evangelical church is
conjectured to be the Constantinian court of justice celebrated by the rhetori-
cian Eumenius.

While the development of the Roman style of architecture
followed the form of the basilica of the Roman West, the Byzantine
style proceeded from the building round a centre, which is n<>w
crossed by two naves of equal length. The reign of Justinian I.
formed its most brilliant epoch, its most famous example the Church
of S. Sophia in Constantinople.1 In this church, the original state
of which is concealed by its subsequent transformation into a
mosque, the mighty cupola, 179 feet in height, reposes on four strong
piers, half-cupolas being attached east and west, by means of which
the central space is notably extended.

The beginnings of this church reach back to Constantine. After being burnt
in ">:>2 it was built again by Anthemius of Trallcs and Isidore of Miletus, and
when in 558 an earthquake destroyed the cupola. Justinian caused it to be
restored in a specially light brick. Each of these bricks was stamped with the
inscription : " God is in her and she shall not be shaken ; God will protect her
from one morning to the other." After every twelfth layer public prayers
were offered for its solidity (whilst the mortar dried) and relics were enclosed
in one stone of every twelfth layer.

A certain inconsequence arose from the fact that the cupola
seemed the main point of the edifice from the artistic point of view,
but the ecclesiastical requirements transferred the main interest of
the cultus to the apse, which was added on to the west side, and the

1 Vid. PROCOPIUS C.Ks.YlUFA'SIS, De «v////r//.s- .lustiili, ini lihri VI., ami

PAI-LUS SILENTIARIUS, Dewrfjifio S. Sophias, rec. Imm. BKKKKK. is',7. (With
commentaries by DUCANGE and BANDUUINI). Germ, by Knuri M,

SCULPTURE AND PAINTING. 499

entrance opposite it on the east side, and hence tended to form the
nave after the style of the basilica.

Alongside of Rome and Byzantium, a peculiarly prominent position is
occupied by Ravenna. As the residence of the Emperor Honorius and his
sister Galla Piacidia (till 450), again as the seat of Theodoric the Ostro-Goth
(from 493), Ravenna was adorned with a palace and numerous ecclesiastical
buildings. Here Roman and Byzantine elements come into close contact.
Here arose the basilicas of S. Apollinare Nuovo (time of Theodoric) and S.
Appollinare in Classe (the port of Ravenna). The latter was built by Julius
Argentarius (534-549) and the Catholic clergy, without the assistance of the
Ostro-Goths. The outer wall surface is here enlivened with flat arches and
brick cornices, the altar space raised several steps above the nave. The church
of S. Yitale by the same Argentarius exhibits an eight-sided middle cupola
resting on eight piers connected by semi-circular arches, and surrounded by
seven half-cupolas, while on the eighth side the tribune projects, which goes
out into a low apse.

Along with architecture, the other formative arts, sculpture and
especially painting", now enter openly into the service of the Church.
They, so to speak, emerged from the catacombs and private houses
and entered into the church. Plastic art in general only now, from
the time of Constantine, obtained more frequent employment, and
more especially in the form of carving in relief on sarcophagi, but
also in church furniture and ornamental objects in ivory, silver and
gold. The sarcophagi were still partly placed in the subterranean
cemeteries, for the catacombs were still used as burial places till
towards the middle of the fifth century, but partly also in burial
places on the surface and in the churches themselves. There was
here developed a relatively rich plastic technique. The reliefs were-
carved on the side walls of the sarcophagi, often in two rows, one-
above the other, and often placed in such a way that the individual'
groups of figures were separated from one another by pillars or trees,.
They exhibit Biblical scenes, Christ and the Apostles, very often th&
raising of Lazarus, Moses striking water out of the rock, Daniel in
the den of lions, and more of the like. Among the oldest Christian,
sarcophagi known is that of the Prefect Junius Bassus (f 359) in the-
Vatican grottoes under S. Peter's. Such sarcophagi are found ini
Southern Gaul as well as in Italy, especially beautiful specimens in
Aries, others in Treves (fifth century), such as the one with the relief
of Noah's Ark. In this respect Ravenna seems also to represent a
tendency of its own, in which the Biblical circle of figures, especially
groups with numerous figures, comparatively disappear, and the-
figures e.g. of Christ and the Apostles appear in more isolated,
fashion, for which purpose decorative ornament assumes the pre-
dominance : the vine, the monogram of Christ, the cross, birds.

5°° CHURCH HISTORY.

(doves and peacocks) and the cantharus. From the middle of the
fifth century the plastic technique of course becomes visibly
degraded and coarser, but good schools survive in Ravenna and
especially in Southern Gaul on into the sixth century. To judge
by the small remains, Christian plastic art did not throw itself
much into the form of statues. The well-known statue of Hippo-
lytus (p. 201), a few statues of the Shepherd with the lamb on his
shoulder, among them especially the marble statue in the Lateran.
Museum (vid. SCHULTZE, p. 183) and the well-known bronze statue
of Peter in S. Peter's (represented seated), are the scanty known
remains. And besides, the Christian origin both of the shepherd
statue and of the Peter, which some think to be a heathen statue of
Jupiter, is drawn into doubt. On the other hand painting begins to
obtain far greater importance. The Christian basilicas were now
entered, along with all the rest of the ornamentation in the service of
the cultus, the sacred vessels, robes, golden crosses and lamps, also
many-coloured carpets, by the rich ornamentation of mosaic-work
in particular.

AVhile the floor and, iii part, the walls were covered with patterns composed of
little tablets of marble (GI>US tesselatum), the upper walls, arches and niches
were covered with pictures (both ornaments and figures), which were composed
of coloured cubes of stone and bits of gla.ss. which .--tuck in the mortar; the
gold background, on which the figures are raised, is mostly created by placing
small plates of metal between two sheets of glass and then melting them
together. This mosaic painting, the limitations of which consist in the
hindrance to free drawing of the lines, the difficulty of Blighter change- of colour
and lively expression of feeling, has not only a great advantage in its din-a-
bility, but also was adapted for representations which were le>- calculated for
the expression of lively individual fee-lings than for a great general impression,
majestic exaltation and religious transcendentalism. A famous example is the
mosaic picture on the triumphal arch of the Basilica S. Paolo fuori le mura;
the bust of Christ, over Him tin.- >\ mbolic representation of the1 Kvaifje!i>ts.
beneath, on both sides angels and the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse.
beneath, in the two angles the princes of the Ap° '-ties, give an impo-in-- im-
pression, such as this style of painting is fitted to give. Antique forms of
ornamentation, .garments and types of head are here taken into the service of
the Christian sanctuary, but the new content is no Longer able to permeate the,
ageing and disjointed world with new artistic power. Memories of anti<iuity
are still living in the ancient Christian mosaics of Home in the fourth century
(S,nif,i I'tiili-itf/a), as also in the rich mosaic pi'-tuiTs of Ravenna of tin aur«-
of Honorius and Galla Placidia Hap: i story of S. Giovanni in fonte and burial
chapel of Galla Placidia). But the ancient traditions show themselves str
and unserviceable for the new contentof Christian feelings and charact : i-t Lea.
At the price of the loss of antique beauty of form. < 'hn o i m feeling, in these
times of growing impoverishment and barbarism in the "West and ineiva.-ing
ceremonial stillness in the East, seeks to give its forms a definite stamp. A
decrepit art is replaced by one which is not yet fully m.i-ier of it-elf.

USE OF IMAGES. 501

2. The Significance of Images for the Cultus.

Literature: J. MOL AN us, Hist, imagg. Antwerp 1617. J. DALLAEUS, Liber de
imaginibus, Leyden 1642. F. SPANHEJIIUS, Hist. imag. restit. Leyden
1686.

In contradiction with the spirit which had found expression in
the 36th canon of the Council of Elvira against pictures in churches,1
they had obtained entrance there since the time of Constantino,
while plastic representations of a religious significance are so far
known only in the catacombs. Here they had, in part, not gone
beyond the symbolical, in part like the figure of the Good Shepherd,
they had not aimed at portraiture, in part they were only meant to
represent Biblical narratives ; in all these cases the thought of re-
ligious worship directed to the image was remote. The Council of
Elvira ventured only to give expression to a local sentiment, hostile
to images, perhaps in conscious opposition to an already beginning
intrusion of art from the cemeteries into the churches. In spite of
the beginning of artistic decoration of churches in the fourth cen-
tury, the inclination is still exhibited in it, to treat the prohibition
of images in the Old Testament as applying to Christians.

Eusebius (H.E. 7, 18) tells of a statue in Paneas which is said to
have represented Jesus and the woman with an issue of blood (ac-
cording to later tradition, Veronica). He believes that heathens,,
to whom the Saviour had rendered kindnesses, had made the image.
He seems also to have seen painted images of the Apostles and the
Lord Himself, but regards this as an indiscreet, if well-meant, under-
taking. The ancients had in this way, without foresight (dirapa-
^uXa/cro?), wished to honour them in heathen fashion as bringers of
blessings. When Constantia begged him for an image of Christ, h&
referred her to the Biblical prohibition, and asked whether she had
ever seen such a thing in church, or heard of it at all. Images of
two men, alleged to be Paul and the Saviour Himself, he even took
into his own possession, so as to avoid objection, in order that " we
may not come into report as carrying our God about in an image
like the idolaters." 2 Epiphanius of Sal amis also, in the church
of a village in Palestine, tore up a curtain bearing the picture of
Christ or some other sacred person, having in mind the scriptural pro-

1 Ne quod colitur et adoratur in parietibus depingatur. That by this canon
pictures in churches were really forbidden, ought not to be denied, as De Eossi
and Kraus, and Hefele also (Hist, of the Councils, I. 170) attempt to do.

2 The Epistle of Eusebius in Cone. Me. II. Act. VI. (more complete in the
notes of Joannes Boavinus to Nicephor. Gregor. Hist. Byz. ed. Bon. II. 1301,
and in Pitra, Spicil. Solesm. I. 363-386) is declared to be spurious by Petavius,
De tJieologicis dogmatibus, but certainly in error.

502 CHURCH HISTORY.

hibition (Epiph. Opp. II. 317, arid Epixt. ad Theodosium imper. in
Cone. Nic. II. Act VI).

But opinions like these were in conflict with a powerful tendency
of the age, which became victorious in the Church. Representations
of the histories of martyrs in the churches erected in their honour,
and Biblical representations with allegorical reference to the Chris-
tian mystery, such as the sacrifice of Isaac,1 occurred early.

Paulinus of Xola (p. 367) in his descriptions of his own church-building is
here a classical witness, both for the fact that we have here to do with a rela-
tively new beginning, and for tha fact that the aim was to teach and edify the
rude populace through the eyes. Men were to be retained for Christ through
the senses, \>y looking upon the works of Christ's saints, so that, streaming to-
gether to the dedication of a church, they might be longer enchained by the
painted histories provided with explanatory inscriptions, might hasten less to
feastings, and on the contrary might grasp deeper in their hearts the holy exam-
ples of a chaste life. Besides the histories of the martyrs, Biblical stories of the
Old and New Testament are taken up as a brer is li/'sfaria. Severus, a friend of
Paulinus, was not afraid however, in the baptistery of the church at Bourges,
to depict the quite modern, perhaps still living. Saint Martin of T.mrs. as an
example of a champion of the faith, and Paulinus himself, giving away his
monej' for the sake of the salvation of his soul. Images of miraculous persons
uhvady began to be objects of superstition. In Rome little statuettes of the still
living Simeon Stylites were ol:'-rr<l for sale, and were in request as means of
protection (Theodoret, ///>/. /•••/. 26 .

At tin- same time, there is still a fear of sen in;.: up an image of
Christ Himself in the church. Nilus (Epp. 4, 61) advised the use of
the cross only for the adornment of a martyr-chun-h easl of the
altar, but from thence on either side pictures painted, of stories from
the Old and New Testaments as a layman's Bible. His contemporary
Severianus (about 400) sees in the cross the proper image of the im-
mortal King. In the churches of Paulinus of Xola also, Christ only
appears under the symbol of the Lamb at the foot of the cross. In
the oldest mosaic picture in S. Maria Maggiore, Christ is, it is true.
depicted as a child in the historic,! 1 presentation of the history of the
infancy on the neighbouring panels, but in the centre stands a t hrone
with a book-roll, and behind it. across. Accordingly the bust of the
Saviour on the triumphal arch of S. Paolo fuori le mura (complete!
about 440) is the oldest image of Christ demonstrably consecrated
to adoration at divine service.

In distinction from earlier conceptions (p. 283 sq. \ an<>i ln-r type of
Christ had already been established. Christ appears as a beanl^l
man; He who sojourns among men has become the heavenly King,
full of majesty, not without realistic severity in the presentation^

1 Tip.- passages in Giesi-lcr I. •_'. 283.

ADORATION OF IMAGES. 503

Contemporaneously began the use of tlie nimbus, which originated
in antiquity and was used in the case of images of the Emperors, to
indicate the shimmer of light by which the divine forms were con-
ceived as surrounded. At first it is found in the case of representa-
tions of Christ, afterwards in those of the saints.

The decisive turning point for the victorious progress of the
adoration of images seems, as regards the East, to have been the
time of Bishop CYRIL of Alexandria, whom the Nestorians, who were
hostile to images, abhorred as the originator of iconolatry ; and ac-
cordingly it is so also for the multiplication of images of Christ
and the saints in churches, houses, books and diptychs. So-called
authentic pictures occur, such as the picture of the mother of our
Lord ascribed to Luke, which Eudocia sent from Jerusalem to the
Empress Pulcheria (Theodorus Lector I., p. 551). Under the Patri-
arch Gennadius of Constantinople (458 ff.) a painter is said to have
attempted to depict Christ under the form of Zeus, whereupon his
hand withered up, but again became whole on the prayer of Gen-
nadius. Theodorus Lector remarks that the second type of Christ-
portraits with thick (curly) hair is the more genuine. Attached to
the legend of Abgarus is the tradition of a picture not made by
human hands, which Christ had sent to Abgarus, and which gave
miraculous assistance to the Edessenes during the seige by Chosroes
of Persia (Evagrius, 4, 20).

The sensuous tendency of devotion, especially in the Greek Church,
already goes far beyond the point of view of making the sacred his-
tory present to the senses, to that of adoration,1 while in the West
a more sober estimate prevailed. A bishop of Massilia (Serenus)
scattered the images in the church on account of adoration he had
observed paid to them, and Gregory the Great recognised his zeal,
although he blamed his method of procedure, being desirous of re-
taining the images as means of edification ; he held it praiseworthy
to enkindle devotion by looking upon the image of Christ, a judg-
ment, which practically could only result in the sense of the adora-
tion of images.2

1 Defence of Trpoa-Kvvrja-is (prostration before an image) by Leontius of Neapolis
in Cyprus (ob. 620) vid. in the Acts of Cone. Nic. II., Act 4, Mansi XIII. 43.
« Gieseler, I. 2, 431.

504 CHURCH HISTORY.

3. Adoration of Saints and Relics.

Literature: Jac. a LADERCHIO, SS. Patriarch, et Proph. Confessor, etc. cult us
perp. in Cath. eccl., Rome 1730. S. G. KEUFFEL, De mcmnria Sanct. inter
Christianas, Helrust. 1745. — F. A. v. LEHXER, Die Marivnvet'ehruny in d.
ersten Jahrh., 2nd ed. 1886. BENRATH in StKr. 1886.

The fact that alongside of Christ as God become flesh and the
exalted heavenly King a whole pantheon of saints is now opened, is
of special importance for the introduction of a new heathenism into
the world-church. The roots of the adoration of saints lay in the
high reverence paid to the martyrs (p. 288). What the heroes, the
animce sanctiores, those who had sacrified themselves for the father-
land and were now honoured as tutelary deities, the founders of
cities at whose graves sacrifices were offered and games celebrated,
were to heathenism, the martyrs became for Christendom, and
Eusebius l draws this very parallel. And so quickly does this way
of regarding the question advance that a century later Theodoret '-'
calls to the heathen : " The Lord has introduced His dead into the
temples instead of your gods. They are in truth the leaders, cham-
pions and helpers against the demons." The custom of assembling
for purposes of divine worship at the graves of martyrs, was
followed by the erection of martyr-chapels or churches over them.
Constantine erected magnificent examples of these in Const an-
tinople; in Rome the basilicas of 8. Paul and S. Peter arose over
t heir graves. The bodies or relics of martyrs are now transferred
with ceremony to the places where churches are to be built, I'.ij.
those of Andre\v. Luke and Timothy3 by Constantine, and indeed
to them is assigned the place under the altar, so that the sacrifice
may be offered over their ashes. Ambrose, who assigns to Christ,
who died for all, the position upon the altar, but to the bones of the
saints who were redeemed by His sufferings, the position under it,
had really destined this position for himself, in order that the priest
might rest in the place where he was accustomed to offer, but he
resigned the right side to the martyrs.* This was in accordance
with the usage hitherto maintained of praying for dead saints,
which is also represented by Epiphanius (//«'/•. 7.~>. 7;, also by Cyril
of Jerusalem, but already with the peculiar change that prayer is
made t<>r the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, in order
that through their prayers and intercessions God may receive our

1 ]'/-<r/i. evang. i:'». 11.

8 l)i <-ii riuiilix C r<v<;,rii)ii njj'rcf tints, Opp. IV. !'_'_'. '.'11.

8 Jerome, Cmit ru IV///7. "> ; !)<• /•//•. /'//. 7.

4 Ep. •_'_' (:il. s.") or .~>l, Ail M, i/;-, //,!,,/ s»r»n /,/. 13.

ADORATION OF SAINTS AND RELICS. 505

I

; prayers ; next, however, for the holy fathers, bishops and believers,
i in the conviction that it tends to the greatest assistance to their souls.
I This intercession for the saints, and for the purpose of securing the
[ forgiveness of their failings with God, is most decidedly retained in
the liturgies of the Nestorians. AUGUSTINE, however (Sermon 17),
already designated it an insult to pray for the martyrs, since we
I have much need of their intercessions. Various attempts were made
to explain how they were accessible to the prayers of believers,
| which attempts advanced from rhetorical realization of their persons
| and merits to the conception of an invisible spiritual communion
I with them, and even further to that of a kind of omnipresence of the
| saints, which latter was based on their immediate union with the
I Lord, or on their looking down from heaven on earthly things, and
1 a conceded participation in the divine guidance of them. Thus,
jthe three CAPPADOCIANS already celebrate the saints in lively
i rhetoric, as heavenly powers, who protect the human race from
:l above and hear the prayers of believers ; not less AMBROSE and
j JEROME ; and even if Augustine is more hesitating on the question,
ihe never casts doubt on the fact that they afford assistance to be-
lievers. Sacred rhetoric is emulated by Christian poetry, in cele-
brating the saints as the patrons of the world, who are not called
upon in vain.1

In particular there is a belief in a miraculous power which
\ attaches to the graves of martyrs and the relics of saints, concern-
ing the miraculous works of which numerous stories are told. In
(this way real and alleged remains of martyrs became a desired
article. Wandering monks sell them 2 and a law of Theodosius
j'(Cod. Theod. X. 17, 7) had to forbid them to be dug up and removed,
but sanctioned the erection of martyries at the places of burial.

The idea of relics is moreover farther extended to all objects (clothes, uten-
Isils, instruments of torture, etc.) which -were connected with the martyrs. To
them belonged above all the Cross on which Christ had hung. According to
Ithe Edessene legend of Abgarus, the Avife of the Roman Claudius, who was con-
Averted by Peter, had already discovered Christ's cross. But from the close of
Ithe fourth century the legend transferred this honour to HELENA, the mother
lof Constantino, of which Eusebius, who describes the discovery of the sepulchre
i|and Constantino's buildings, and likewise the visit of Helena to Palestine and
'her building of churches there at Bethlehem and on the Mount of Olives, still

| ! Pruclentius, Peristephanon in many passages, Paulinus Nol. in the 10
\wtalesS.Felicis; in the Syrian East S. Ephraem. Cf. also the intercessory
ihymii of Cyrillonas on the feast of the saints ap. BICKELL, Ausyvw. Gedichte
per syr. K.-V., Kempten 1872.
2 August. De op. monach. 28.

506 CHURCH HISiORY.

knows nothing ; as little does the itinerary of the Gaul who visited the Holy
Places in 330. Christian fancy busied itself much with the circumstances of
the discovery of the cross by Helena and the distinction of Christ's cross from
those of the malefactors, which was followed by miracles.1

Cyril of Jerusalem, apart from his alleged letter to Constantius (Mgr. 3;
1168), of which Sozomen is the first to betray knowledge, does not yet refe
to the discovery by Helena, but is a witness to the fact, that fragments of th
wood of the cross go over the whole world,2 and leads us to the conclusion, tha
in Jerusalem the possession of tha cross had long been believed in ; so also th
story that Constantino used nails of the holy cross in his crown and for th
bit of his horse, may be independent of the legend of Helena. The Acts o
Cyriac also (Acta sanct., Alai I.) show traces that the legend had origin
ally a much earlier time in view (ZAUN, Forschungcn, I. 371 sqq.). In th
time of Paulinus particles of the cross could only be had from the B;sho
of Jerusalem ; they were scattered in such large numbers, that he declared it
miracle that the cross could still exist in Jerusalem. There was soont-ta!
lished a regular feast of the discovery of the cross, which was celebrated i
the West from the time- of Gregory the Great on the olst of May as
inventionis s. crucis.

Moreover the adoration of the martyrs ox paneled into the adora
tion of the saints in general, by the addition of persons who ha<
deserved well of the Church, whose names were inscribed on th
Diptychs and for whom oblations were offered, particularly th
therein mentioned pious of the old covenant, the patriarchs ant
prophets, and further, meritorious bishops and especially m<>uk>
The bones of anchorites slain by the Sunn-. -us in the
of Southern Syria and Arabia gave rise to quarrels among the in
habitants which went the length of bloodshed (Cassian, ('<>/!. VI. lj
Pious fancy was everywhere ready to discover the bones of mart vrs
and not only the people, but men like Ambrose, took the lead in it
the place where the bodies of Protasius and Gervasius lav wa
revealed to him in a dream, and the articles found vindicated thei
character at once by the healing of a blind man (Aug., De c/V. De
22,8). On the other hand, it is true, St. Martin compelled an allogec
martyr, over whose grave an altar had been erected, to denounce
himself as a buried robber (Sulpic. Sev., Vita >'. Martini 11).

The feasts of martyrs Xnt/i/if/a now became very tavourit*
popular feast days, especially where they took place at the grave o
the martyr himself. Hither the people streamed from the who!
surrounding neighbourhood to real popular festivals, on occasion c

1 Ambrose, De obitu Theodosii ; Chrysostom. //«?/>. 85 (al. 84): Paulinu- No
Epist. 31 ; Eufinus. ///.s/. i;-,-l,'S. X. 7, 8; Socrates 1. 17 ; Sozomen II. 1 ; Sulj'i.-ii
Severus, Chron. II. .">!.

• At the close of the century an adoration of the cro.-s \\u^ held at Jeru>alei
on Good Friday, z'.e. of the fragments of the cro» pivMTved iu a golden ca?
(Peru-r. Silvise : vid. the list of literature at p. 512).

FEASTS OF THE MARTYRS. 507

which banquets were established besides the religious celebration.1
But elsewhere also martyrs' days find willing celebration.3 The
Eucharistic sacrifice with communion forms the central point, but
Acts and Legends of the martyrs are also read in public (Africa,
Gaul, Spain) and declamations on them held. The Decretum Gelasii
(De libris recipiendis) only repels untrustworthy " apocryphal "
histories of martyrs. Greek rhetoric is willingly ready to orate
upon the emergence of new saints or martyrs, often upon only very
indefinite knowledge, as is shown by Gregory of Nazianzen in his
oration upon the fabulous Cyprian (Th. ZAHN, Cyprian von Antiochien,
p. 86). At many martyr-feasts the celebration begins with solemn
worship by night (vigil). The need of bringing all the numerous
saints together in adoration, led in the next place, to a feast of All
Saints, which in the Greek Church was celebrated on the octave
of AVhitsunday.3 To it was attached in the West, in the beginning
of the following period, the dedication of the Pantheon as the
basilica of S. Mar ice ad marty)'es(l3 May, 607), whence arose the later

[Western feast of All Saints, which was transferred by Gregory III.

|(731) to the 1st Nov.

The adoration of the Virgin Mary had a special point of attach-
ment in the predominant ascetic view of the preferability of the
virgin life. Her relationship to our Lord caused religious fancy

I to begin to surround her image with special splendour. Basil still

II held the logical conclusion from Matthew i. 25, that Mary, after the
•birth of Christ, had born other children in legitimate wedlock, as
s was also taught by the Arians Eudoxius and Eunomius (Philost.
•VI. 21) to be in itself dogmatically indubitable, but already objection-
[.Jable to Christian feeling. But Epiphaiiius combated the repre-
• sentatives of this view in Arabia, whom he named the Antidiko-

;marianites, as heretics led astray by the old serpent, and the
•otherwise unknown Helvidius (p. 480) was very scornfully repulsed
pjby Jerome on its account. Bishop BONOSUS of Sardica was deposed

1 Basil (Or. de S. Gordio), Chrysostom (Horn, de martyr. 65, and In Drosidem
•87), Paulinus of Nola (vid. supra) and other glimpses.

2 The lists of martyrs of the individual episcopal churches (calendaria),
which note the names of martyrs in their days of celebration, begin to be
interchanged. Hence arise comprehensive martyrologies. One of the oldest
is the Syriac (Arian), still of the fourth century, in WRIGHT, Ancient Syriac
Martyrolog. in the Journal of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record, Oct. 1865,

|an English transl. ibid., Jan. 1866. German in EGLI, Altchristliche Studien,
HZurich 1887, p. 5 sqq. Cf. the article Acta Sanctorum, EE.2 1, 121 sqq.

3 Chrysostom, Hotnil. 74 De martyr, totiua orbis. The intercessory hymn
ijof CYRILLONAS in Bickell, I.e.

i

5o8 CHURCH HISTORY.

for similar views by the niyrian bishops <; after 391). The religiou
conception however advanced higher still, to the point of th
notion of the miracle of the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary
i.e. of the virginal integrity which was not even destroyed by th
act of the birth of Christ, the idea of the closed door (Ezekiel iii.).

At the same time the adoration of Mary does not appear to an
great extent in the fourth century ; the adoration of saints wa
at first predominantly the adoration of martyrs. There was as ye
no fear either of speaking of Mary's faults, with all acknowledg
rneiit of her moral advantages. Of course with Ephraem, Gregor
of Nazianzen and Ambrose, Mary begins to be regarded as with on
stain and entirely purified by the Holy Spirit, and Augustine toe
out of the conviction that no one else of the saints could ascrib
sinlessness to himself, will have no knowledge of the applicatio
of it to the Virgin, in whose case, from reverence for our Lord, thes
questions in general ought not to be discussed. If in the Churc
at large Mary is regarded as the highest ideal of virgin purity, th
conjecture is also obvious, that it is just upon the adoration of th
Virgin that favourite heathen mythological ideas gained influence
To this, and not to mere intensification and exaggeration of Christia
adoration of saints, would the phenomena of the so-called Collyridia
women have to be referred. Under this name, coined by himsell
Epiphanius 1 depicts a sect of Arab women, who celebrated Mary a
a certain season of the year by offering cakes and holding a sort c
sacrificial meal. One thinks of the cakes offered by women to th
queen of heaven (Astarte, Jerem. xliv. 19) and other mythologies
analogies.2

Against this actual or supposed deification of the Virgin Marj
Epiphanius decidedly emphasises the durtrine, that th«' Holy Virgr
is to be honoured but not to be worshipped, sacrifices especially wer
not to be offered to her; and the latter is, as a matter of fact, th

1 11. IT. 7s. 23. 7: i. Anaceph. 7W.

2 Cf. llo'sch, Axfurfr IIIK! M<iri<i in StKr. l.s.^s. •_',;:, Sq<|. — We mi^ht think tha
in Epiphanius there is only a misunderstanding of a Christmas cu-tom, \\hic
h;ul worked Eastward at this time of its origin in the "\Vest. The custom seem
to have come first out of Thrace and Upper Scyrliia to Arabia. Xow, Chrj
sostom, where he comes forward for the Christmas tVa<t as something
novel in the Greek East, designates it as l.ni^ since naturalized in the Wes
from Thrace to (Jadara (Horn. 31 De it<it<tl ! < 'In-ixli *. Thrace is heiv niontione
as tying next the Greek countries. Should this therefore he the custom (
presenting streiioe (which included cakes), belonging to the heathen li-c.-m
celebrations, and to which a reference to the childbed of the Holy Virgin \va
notoriously early Lciven. in honour of whom pre-ents were exchange. 1 (Com
(Juinisextum Can. 7'J '?

ADORATION OP THE VIRGIN. 509

I

point of view generally maintained by the ancient Church in regard
[30 the adoration of martyrs and saints.1 Even in the highest en-
hancement of the adoration of saints, the holy sacrifice is regarded
iis offered to God alone. This does not exclude an invocation of the

Holy Virgin in the general sense of the invocation of the saints,
mcli as is found in Gregory of Nazianzen in the legend of SS.
Dvprian and Justina. The right to be invoked for help is shown
J:o have been solemnly assigned to her by Christ Himself in the
apocryphal book De transitu Maries (ei'<? TT)V /co^crty TT}? v-rrepayias
Beo-TroiV?;? KT\.) which goes under the name of John. "While Epi-
blianius postpones the question whether the Virgin died a natural
Heath and was buried, or suffered some sort of martyrdom (to which
Luke ii. 35 might allude), or finally " remained," i.e. was snatched
[iway from death, since for God nothing is impossible, we already
Ind in this apocryphal book the legend of Mary's resurrection and
matching up into heaven.2

A decided enhancement of the adoration of Mary now came in
[with the mystical view of the incarnation as the deification of the
Human, which was victoriously maintained in the Nestoriaii con-
troversy. Even from the time of Athaiiasius Mary had been
lesignated the mother of God (0eoro'/co?). In the Nestorian contro-
p-ersy this was the really popular 3 name for her. The rhetorical
parallel of Eve, who brought death upon the human race, and
Mary by whom salvation had come to it, had already been a
favourite one for a long time. In the hymns of the Syrian Church
m Mary since Ephraem, one and another wonderful interfusion of
he human and the divine in the life of the Virgin had played a
£reat part. Hence was naturally developed the notion of a sort
)f saving importance of Mary herself, to whom e.g. by Ambrose,
lien. iii. 5 is referred (the treading on the serpent). Finally the
iteration of Mary also leads to the dedication of churches to her
is to the other saints, although in this case the burial place did not
give the first occasion as it did in the case of martyrs. The first
Lown example is the great church at Ephesus, which bore her
Lame and in which the synod againt Nestorius was held.

It was also the adoration of martyrs which led to the giving
if a position as saints in the Christian Church to the Maccabsean
fa-others (Greg. Naz. Orat. 22). Their feast was maintained in the
Church at least till the twelfth or thirteenth century.

1 GIESELER, I. 2, 274.

2 Cf. also Dionys. Areop. De divin. homin. 3.

3 Vid. the 'EyKto/xioi/ els TT^V ay'iav Bforonov of Proclus of Constantinople (Mgr.
5).

5io CHURCH HISTORY.

This whole turn of Christianity towards the adoration of human beings con-
trasts most remarkably with the protest which ancient Christianity had raised
against idolatry, just as conceived as the deification of men (Euhemerism).
Heathens, Julian at their head, did not fail to hold out to Christians the re-
proach : " Ye have added many more to the one dead man (Christ), ye have
filled everything with graves.'' To the grammarian Maximus of Mad aura it
seemed intolerable that the martyrs, who in conscience of their guilt had found
a deserved end under the appearance of a glorious death, should be set up
against the gods of the Roman world, who in the last resort appeared only as
the potencies of the one highest God; it was a new battle of Actium, in which
the Egyptian monsters sought to launch their arrows against the Roman g.nl
But the attempt to set themselves in opposition to this powerful tendency of the
time did not fail entirely even among Christians. Not only the Manichean
Faust us combated the Christianity of the Church in this respect, but the later
Novatians also seem to have rejected the adoration of martyrs and relics/' if
the utterances of the Patriarch Eulogius of Alexandria (about 580) do not merely
refer to the rejection of the non-Novatian martyrs of the great church. The
neglect of divine worship in the martyr-churches on the part of the EustathiailS
(Cone. Gangr. Can. 20) is probably connected only with sectarian withdrawal
from the churches of the married and their priests (Can. 5, 6). The radical
opposition of AERIUS and his followers (p. ITli) was directed, not so much against
the adoration of martyrs, as against sacrifice and intercession for the dead,
which if they were effective, would make some exertions of piety superfluous.
On the other hand Vigilantius of Calagurrae (Cazeres) in Aquitaine declared
himself consciously against the adoration of martyrs and relics. With
recommendations from Paulinos of Xola, lie had come about Hi 1-4 to Jerome in
Palestine, and had after\\ar>ls a.-ru~ed Jerome in Rome of Origen ism, which
violently displeased the latter. Subsequently lie became priest in Barcelona,
and afterwards worked, as it seems, in Gaul. He called the adorers of martyrs,
invokers of ashes and idolaters, and found almost heathen customs to have
penetrated under the name of the worship of God; prayer -uus everywhere
offered to the dust which was carried in golden vessels, wrapped up in linen:
"Great honour forsooth did such people show to the blessed martyrs, whom they
honour with the gleam of their little candles, while the Lamb that sits upon
the throne lights them with the whole glory of His majesty." The souls of
the Apostles and martyrs were either in Abraham's bosom or in the place
of refreshment, or else under the altar of God (Rev. vi. 9), and could not be
present at their graves. During life one might pray for another, but when
we are dead, no prayer by one for another would be granted. Combined with
this, of course, as mentioned above, was censure of exaggerated estimation of
monasticism and ascetic holiness.

As against such attacks the representatives of ecclesiastical piety did indeed
always protest, against the deification of the martyrs with which they were re-
proached, against any invocation of them; Jerome also in his angry treatise
against Vigilantius, and likewise Augustine, who appeals to the fact that altars
were erected to none of the martyrs; no priest sacrificed witli the wonls:
offeriiinis fibi, Petre or I'unle or the like, but always only to the God who
crowned the martyrs. He distinguishes the cult of love and communion, which
is devoted to the martyrs (somewhat as it is to pious men, whom we see ready
to suffer for the truth), and the cult of invocation proper (Xarpda), which is <luo

1 PHOTIUS, cod. 280, p. 543b and c. 182, p. 127b.

ADORATION OF ANGELS. 511

alone (Dfi vera religi.one, 55). Nor are involuntary utterances wanting
as to the right and duty of Christians, of applying directly to God with their
prayers,1 nor is accentuation of the ethical moment, that the main question is
that of emulation of the virtues of the martyrs. But all this does not limit the
powerful tendency of the piety of the age, which turns to the martyrs as the
intercessores nostrce, infirmitatis (Ambrose) and beseeches and adjures them to
intercede for our sins. '; Those can intercede for our sins, who have washed
out their own sins, if they had any, in their blood." It is not otherwise with
the invocation of the help of the Virgin already mentioned above, which
received specially strong expression in the Syrian Church (Babulas in BICKELL,
Ausgew. Schr. d. syr. KV. 1874, p. 258 sqq.).

Finally, with the adoration of the saints there is associated a

*j i

certain adoration of angels, if at first in a rather timid manner. In
spite of the ancient conception of the guardian angels of whole
peoples, as well as of the protecting spirits of individuals, there
was long exhibited a certain timidity in this matter, not only on
the ground of passages of Scripture, such as Col. ii. 8 ; Rev. xix.
20 ; xxii. 8, 9, but also because the angels more immediately stood
on the same level with the supra-mundane cosmic powers (gods
and demons), and in that way heathen deification of creatures

I was more obvious to the conscience, while the adoration of saints
arose, not on this cosmic ground, but 011 that of religious merit,

| which always presupposed the divine saving institutions.

The Synod of Laodicea still declared in the fourth century against invocation
of angels, such as occurred in Phrygia and Pisidia (Can. 35 and Theodoret, Ad
Coloss. 2. 18). To this refers most probably, what Epiphanius (Hcer. 60) seems

ito have heard of a sect of Angelici. Eusebius also (Prcep. evangel. 7, 15)

I emphasises, exactly in opposition to all Hellenic polytheism and adoration of
demons, that the divine and ministering powers of the All-King are to be duly

I honoured, but God alone is to be confessed and invoked. AMBROSE is not afraid
to name, among those who should entreat the heavenly Physician for sick men,
the angels who are given us for our protection, and whom we ought to invoke

I for assistance (De viduis, 9). AUGUSTINE, on the other hand, is much more
cautious (Confess. 10, 43) in taking the help of the angels on the way to God,
since then one would fall into danger of deception by all sorts of visions.

I According to GREGORY THE GREAT (In canticum c'anticorum, 8) the angels

I indeed received adoration in the times of the old covenant, but not from the

i believers of the new.

Nevertheless the angels also, like the martyrs and saints, are,

as a matter of fact, gradually included in the necessities of worship.

•A church near Constantinople, said to have been built by Con-

jstantine, subsequently bore the name of Mi%a>j\iov (Sozomen, 2, 3),

because the archangel Michael was said to have appeared and

fworked miracles at the spot. Justinian alone caused six churches

{of S. Michael to be built.

GrIESELER, It 2, 372.

512 CHURCH HISTORY.

The religious custom of pilgrimages stands in the closest con-i
nection with the adoration of martyrs and relics. In this respect'
the Holy Land of course stands chiefly prominent, in connection!
with its relation to the Saviour and sacred history. The custom;
which was already in use received great encouragement from thej
visit of Helena to the Holy Places.

We have already mentioned the visit of a certain Gaul in the year 333 (Vet era
Rom. itineraria, ed. Wesseling, p. 593.) It was regarded as an object worthy |
of effort to gain baptism in Jordan, such as Constantine had aimed at. Later,*
the wood of the cross was publicly exhibited at Easter, and to individuals at'
other times by special favour, if they had made the pilgrimage to the Holyi
Land with this sole object. The footsteps which the ascending Saviour had leftj
on the Mount of Olives were devoutly regarded. The fact that their impression!
still remained, however much of the sanctified earth pilgrims appropriated.
\\ as regarded as a miracle by Sulpicius Severus, as was the inexhaustibility of
the cross by S. Paulinus. In this connection faith was always readjr to seel
miracles. Augustine ascribed the healing of a paralytic (Dc ririttite Dei. •_'_. S)
to the earth from the Holy Land on which a house of prayer was built. It was
just those who concerned themselves with ascetic perfection, who regarded,
it as a part of divine blessedness to see the Holy Places. It was to them thatj,
GREGORY OP NYSSA pointed out, in his famous letter (De eitnfibus Jlifrnsnl.).
that this act did not belong to the Lord's commands of perfection, and therefore!
ought to be omitted, even if it were harmless, tint that it was also positively!
harmful and ill-suited to the chosen monastic calling on account of the ne

sary contact with all sorts of ] pie. l!e-i<le>. the sins which were prevalent il

the Holy Land 'uii'-hastity and murder), showed that th-' grar(» of God was not
in arer there than elsewhere. Jerome also on one occasion exclaims that heave
is as near in Britain as in Jerusalem. But it was just he, with his pioi
Roman ladies, who greatly promotf! the eu^toiii, while he designates prayer at
the places where the Lord's feet had stood as an exercise of faith i 1'in-s i/iff
J-:/iisf. IT lit/ 1>, xnl< riiuii . Ah.ng-ide of the Holy Places of Palestine the
come also other places made sacred by Biblical memories, such as Mount Sina
ami the alleged place of Job's sunVrinu-s in Arabia. But not le-s ul><> the grave
of mart \ r> and >aints. such as tlm-e of the Apostles Paul and Peter in Home
(Limina njx.sfn/nr/mn. the grave of the martyr Felix at Nola, that of S. \.
at Tours, and many others.

4. The Celebration of the Feasts of the Church.

Literature: p. 2'JS. and UI,I,MANN, comparative collection in F. CuEt'zi
Si/mbolik u. Mi/tlml. ,/,•/• n/ft-,/ I "/;//.•/•/•, Part IV.. 2nd ed. Leip^ie :mr
Darmstadt 1821, pp. 577-614. — H. I">i;\i:i;. ll''-/i;//nns</i-s<-liichf/i<-h,' Cut,
suchui/t/cn. I. The Christnms J-',;ist (Chap. l-'Vi. Bonn 1HS!».— A valuabl
new source: S. Silvice A</>/if,n/fi' J'tTfi/rii/nfin ,i,f fn,-,i s,nn-fti. published
(JAMIKKIXI in the Bihlintn-n ,1,11' Ai-ti,/fini,i sfnrii-n-,/inrit/i<-it. 1th vol.
Rome 18s7. Sep. A. as 2nd ed., novis curis emend. R., ls.->s i \\itlmut the
Proll.). Cf. A. de WAAL in the Ifthn. <i>i,irtnlsrhrifi fur ,-hristl. Alter-
isle. u. f. h'ir<-/ifii!/,sch. L. Rome 1887, pp. '2!»7 815.

An important counterpoise to this polytheistic tendency of ecclesi-
astical piety is afforded by the forms of divine worship proper, wlnVh

SUNDAY. 513

were becoming firmly fixed, and by the regular encompassing of life
with its returning festivals, which are based on the history of re-
demption. The saint's days however are at least given their places
in the system, while their celebration takes place on the same basis
of the ordinance of divine worship.

With the recognition of the Christian Church by Constantine,
Sunday acquires a broad basis in social and civic life. The law of
Constantine mentioned above (p. 297), which caused administrative,
judicial, and, to a certain extent, civil business to rest, forms the
beginning of a state Sunday-legislation, which was subsequently
expanded, and which soon forbade public spectacles, military exer-
cises and the like, on Sunday. Strict extension of the Sunday rest
to field labour is as yet, however, only found under the essentially
altered circumstances of the Germans (Second Synod of Macon in
the year 585). There is no idea of basing the Sunday rest on the
Old Testament law of the Sabbath ; beginnings of it show them-
selves in the fact that the seventh day of the old covenant is re-
garded as a type of the true Christian day of rest (Augustine, Ep.
119, 13 ; Serm. 154 De Temp, and the Council mentioned). On the
contrary, the East in many places (though scarcely universally,
Epiphanius, Expos, fidei, 24), held fast to the last day of the week,
alongside of the first, as a day of assembly for worship, which was
not to be held as a fast. The Apostolic Constitutions (7, 33) re-
quired, as for Sunday, so also for Saturday, that slaves should be
allowed leisure to attend the assemblies for worship ; the Synod
of Laodicea (can. 16, 49) also presupposes a religious celebration of
the Sabbath, while it censures (can. 29) the cessation of work on
Saturday as Judaism. In the West the custom was not uniform at
first. Augustine mentions gatherings for worship on Saturday for
such as hunger after the word of God. But the custom of making
Saturday a fast-day seems to have originated in intentional opposi-
tion to the Jewish celebration of the Sabbath (Victorinus in RUUTH,
Eel. Sac.2 III. 457). Rome steadily maintained this custom, while it
had not yet been naturalised in Milan in the time of Ambrose.1

While the Greek East even now still maintains fasting on the
dies statiomim, in the Latin West fasting on Wednesday was
dropped, while on the other hand fasting on Saturday now made
its appearance.

For the Paschal Feast, the proper starting point of the year's
cycle of feasts, the Council of Aries (314) required unanimous cele-
bration on the same day, which, in accordance with existing tradi-
1 As to weekday services in general, v id. Infra, No. 5.

5i4 CHURCH HISTORY.

tion in the West, was to be announced to the different churches by
the Bishop of Rome. The Synod of Nicsea went the length of
general rejection of the Quartodeciman celebration, which had long
been combated in Borne, Alexandria, and elsewhere (p. 275), and
with decided accentuation of opposition to the Jews.1

The date of the Paschal Feast, i.e. now predominantly of Easter Day, is
determined by the 14th Nisan, i.e. the first full moon after the vernal equinox, in
such a way, that, at least according to Greek custom, even if the spring full-
moon should fall on a Saturday, the Sunday immediately following is regarded
as Easter. The calendar reckoning (p. 278) for this purpose, however, was to
proceed from Alexandria, regarded as the authority on this matter, and accord-
ingly the day of Passover was to be made known by the Bishop of Alexandria,
and for the Western Church intermediately through the Bishop of Rome. The
Alexandrian bishops were accustomed to attach theological addresses to these
Easter letters. Existing variations were however by no means abolished by
the Synod of Nicaea. They depended partly on various determinations of the
equinox (Alexandria, March 21 ; Rome, March 18), partly on the cycles of the
moon which underlay the computation of Easter, that of Anatolius of nineteen
years in Alexandria, in Rome one of eighty-four years (by which not only the
day of the month, but also the day of the week should recur in this period).
Also, according to the Roman acceptation, when the spring full-moon fell on
the Saturday, Easter was to be held only on Sunday week. The differences
between Greek and Roman custom, which again arose soon after the Synod of
Nicaea, caused the Synod of Sardica (348) to hit upon an agreement for the next
fifty years, which however was not maintained either. In the year 387 Easter
was celebrated in Rome on the 21st March, the spring equinox being already
fixed there at the 18th March ; in Alexandria it was fully five weeks later. At
that time Ambrose decided for the Alexandrian reckoning. Subsequently Leo
the Great likewise frequently conformed to the Alexandrian method, and about
the same time the Easter canon of Victorius sought an adjustment, by founding
on the Alexandrian cycle of nineteen years ; but this was only completed by
the reckoning of Dionysius Exiguus (about "i :;."». which starting from Rome
found increasingly general recognition in the West.

Custom still varied also as to the extension of the Quadragesimal
period (p. 277) as a time of fasting (Socr. 6, 22. Sozom. 7, 19). A
forty days' fast is already pre-supposed in EUSEBIUS (Depaschate, 5),
John Cassian (Coll. 21, 25; already alludes to its fixation to six
weeks. As the Sundays were exempt from fasting, there remained
only thirty-six days of fast; accordingly, Cassian designates them
the tithe of the days of the year due to God. To make the forty
complete, the custom was subsequently begun in the West (but
probably only after Gregory the Great) of beginning to fast on the
previous Wednesday (Ash Wednesday, Dies cinerum ; name and

1 SOCRATES, 1, 9. EUSEBIUS, Vita Const. 3, 17. TIIEODORET, H.E. 1, 10.-
The Quartodeciman celebration was regarded as heretical from this time on-
wards (Cone. Antioch. 1), the name TffftraptffKaidfKar'iTai becomes a heretical name
(Cone. Laodic. 7, Epiph. Hcer. 50).

LENT. PALM SUNDAY. 515

custom unknown in the Greek Church, in the Latin only demon-
strable in the Middle Ages). On the other hand, in the Church of
Jerusalem,1 as early as the close of the fourth century a fast of
eight weeks was held, in order, seeing that not only Sundays but
also Saturdays, with exception of the one Sabbath before Easter,
were freed from fasting, to gain the full forty days. This usage
gradually pervaded the Greek Church.

All amusements were to be discontinued during the Quadra-
gesimal period (Lent), but all criminal investigations were also to
be postponed ; feasts of martyrs were not to be attended, but the
commemoration of the martyrs only to be brought into prominence
on the Saturdays and Sundays. Marriages also, and the celebra-
tion of birthdays, were to be discontinued (Can. Laodic. can. 52).
The state opposed such requirements of a tempus clausum (Leo and
Antonius in the year 469). The previous time of amusement, which
developed in contrast to the seriousness of the period of fasting
(Carnival, probably hardly to be derived from carno vale), received
its specific colouring under heathen influences (lupercalia), probably
at first in Italy.

In the ecclesiastical celebration Palm Sunday (foprfj TO>I> /3<uco»/, so already in
the Greek Church of the fourth century) indicates the beginning of the great
or Passion- (torture-) week, of quiet (e/38. arrpa/crov). It is distinguished by divine
service, morning and evening daily, and exercises in works of mercy. In it and
Easter week, as a rule, executions were not to take place and judicial procedure
was to cease, but the emancipation of slaves might legally take place (Cod.
Theod. IX. 35. 5. Cod. Justin. III. 12. 8). Prominent in the great week are 1)
the Thursday (^ ayia Trffnrrds, feria quintet paschce, also dies Jovis sancta ;
the name of Green Thursday, dies viridium, of very uncertain meaning, only
appears in the late Middle Ages) ; it is the day of the foundation of the Lord's
Supper, and although the performance of the Eucharist on this day seemed con-
trary to the original character of the feast of Easter on account of the fasting
involved in the latter, it nevertheless now became a day of solemn celebration
of communion, as is attested by Chrysostom for the Greek, and Augustine for
the North African Church. Here, communion was held morning and evening
on this day, the latter for those who extended their fast till evening, the former
for those who were incapable of this ; the Supper was only to be received fast-
ing (Augustine, Epist. ad Januar. 118). As Passion- week was in general the
the time preferred for the reconciliation of penitents, so especially was Green
Thursday (dies absolutionis sive indulgentice). 2) The Saturday was the favour-
ite day for baptism, with a view to which the recital of the confession which
had been learned (redditio symboli] frequently took place on the Thursday (dies
competentium), after the previous communication of the creed (traditio symboli),
p. 475 sq.). The foot-washing according to John xiii. likewise took place in
many places on Green Thursday (dies pedilavii), and in the Greek Church a
strong inclination prevailed to ascribe a sacramental character to this rite.

1 Vid. the Peregrinatio S. Silvice, p. 60.

5i6 CHURCH HISTORY.

Elsewhere the foot-washing was performed on the catechumens, just as they
were baptized, and by the bishop or the priests, e.g. in Milan (Ambrose, De sa-
cram. 3, i) and Gaul (Hefele. Konz. Gesch. I. 177), which formerly the Council
of Elvira (can. 48) had forbidden and Augustine disapproved later, lest it should
seem that this rite belonged to the sacrament. 3) The Friday (•n-apaa-Kerj], dies
crucis, domittcepassionis, also o-wr^pt'a, only in the Middle Ages, Care-Friday,
i.e. dies lamentatiomim). It was celebrated as a strict fast without any solem-
nities or any Eucharist, in Syria, however with evening communion in the
martyr churches or in the cemeteries outside the cities, in commemoration of
the descensus Christ? to the dead. In the night after the great Sabbath,1 follows
the solemn Easter vigil, with which the Passover Feast closed, a festal divine
service of a joyfully exalted character, which lasted till cock-crow of resurrec-
tion morning, which was immediately followed by the festal communion of
Easter morning. The thought of the victory of the Saviour in the kingdom of
death, and the expectation that on this day the Lord would once more come
again (Lactantius, Instit. 7, 19. and Jerome on Matt. xxv. 5) still gave their
special disposition to men's minds. Outward signs of joy, especially torches
and lamps were not wanting. Constantino passed the night awake and pray-
ing with the congregation. Naturally, extravagances, wantonness, and worse
(Jerome, Adv. Vigil. !J).were not absent from these nocturnal celebrations. The
whole week after Easter formed an unbroken series of feast-days, during which
the newly baptized wore their baptismal garments till the octave of Easter
(dominion in albis, sc. de deposit is or;'"-s'' nllm*. White Sunday). During the
lifteen days from Palm Sunday to the octave of Easter, business, judicial affairs
and the theatres were closed ; even slaves enjoyed rest. The heathen might
institute no processions, the Jews, according to the regulations of Gallic synods,
might not show themselves in the streets from Green Thursday till the second
day of East IT.

With the feast of Easter the Quinquagesimal period (vcynpKCMrrq, cf, )>. -7s i was
entered upon. Traces are not wanting in the ancient Church of an inclination
to limit this festal season attached to Easter, to the forty days' season of the
intercourse of the risen Lord with His disciples (Acts i. 3), and accordingly to
close it with the feast of the Ascension, of which a failing reminiscence is
found in the seventh century (('one. Tolet. X. can. 1). But the celebration of
the fiftieth dajr as that of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was already em-
phasised by the Council of Elvira (Can. 4)'>), ami from the time of Eusebins and
Constantino was reckoned one of the high feasts, which like Ascension Day
was introduced by a solemn vigil and ceased on the octave of the feast (tin-oXi <ny).
The latter was dedicated in the Greek Church to the memory of all holy mart yrs.
The feast of the Trinity is only celebrated in the Latin Church from the four-
teenth century.

Besides this great feast-time before and after Easter, there already
existed (p. 278) the Feast of Epiphany (ra 'ETrt^mwa) on the (>th of
January, which originally celebrated the appearance and revelation
of divine salvation in the world in the baptism of Christ. But the
development of the belief in the divinity of Christ into the doc-
trine of the Incarnation of the Logos had begun to push the birth

1 The Aquitanian pilgrim makes it begin already on the afternoon of the
Saturday.

EPIPHANY. CHRISTAfAS. 517

of Jesus itself and its revelation by the star of the Magi into the
light of this feast, corresponding to the solemn expression for the
Incarnation 77 eVcrap/co? TOU O-WTT/PO? r^wv 'ETricfrdveia.1

With the fathers of the fourth century the feast not only becomes
at once that of the baptism and the birth of Christ, but the reference
to the latter gains the predominance.3 Also the three Cappadocians
and Chrysostom at first refer the Epiphany to the <yever\ta of Christ,
and Basil would rather that the feast had been called Qeotydvia on
that account.3

Another tendency, however, proceeded from the Latin West, from
Rome.

In the West the feast of Epiphany had gained acceptance, perhaps
at first in the beginning of the fourth century. Julian celebrated
it in Vienne with the Christians (Amm. Marc. 21, 2). The Roman
bishop, Liberius (from 352), quite in the beginning of his pontificate
performed the dedication of a Christian virgin, the sister of Ambrose,
"on the birthday of Jesus," with express reference to the ecclesias-
tical significance of this day.4 This is regarded as the oldest date for
the feast of Christmas on the 25th December ; but is, however, pro-
bably to be understood as referring to the celebration of Epiphany
as the feast of the birth of Christ, as is also confirmed by the refer-
ence made to the miracle at Caua and the miraculous feeding, and
the fact, that Epiphany further appears also as the regular time for
the consecration of nuns (vid. Usener, p. 268 sqq.).

The establishment of the 25th December (VIII. Cal. Jan.) as the
birthday of Christ likewise takes place during this period in the
chronicler of 354,5 and accordingly the introduction of the eccle-
siastical celebration of the feast of Christmas without doubt by the
same Liberius. It is to be regarded as the severing1 of a part of the
ecclesiastical celebration of the feast of Epiphany and its indepen-
dent establishment on the shortly preceding1 dies invicti solisf and
spread pretty quickly in the Church. Under the influence of the
bishops of Rome this celebration became naturalized in Thrace

1 Eusebius, H.E. I. 5. Dem. Ev. 8, p. 227 and frequently.

2 Epiph. Hcer. 51, 22, according to the Codex Venetus, and Exp.fid. 21; so
also Ephraem and others.

3 Homily on the birth of Christ. Opp. 2, 595. Mgr. 31, 1-157.

4 Ambrose, De v try in. 3, 1.

5 TH. MOMMSEN in the Abh. d. sachsischen Gesch. Works I. 631.

6 Ephraem already finds it significant that the feast of the birth of Christ
should fall thirteen days after the solstice («/ro rtjs apxrjsrTjs TQV (fxaros at>£;}o-«os),
and regards the thirteen as an allusion to Christ and His twelve apostles. Vid.
the passage in USENER, 194 sqq.

CHURCH HISTORY.

before the separation of Eastern Illyria (379, vid. p. 338) from the
West. With the victory of the orthodoxy of Athanasius and Rome,
Gregory of Nazianzen, its representative, introduced Christmas (as
the Theophany— feast of the birth, distinguished from Epiphany as
the feast of lights) into Constantinople in 379 (Greg. Naz. Or. 38).

Soon thereafter (302) it was celebrated by Gregory of Nyssa
(Homil. 1, De Stephana, Mgr. 40, 701), and in 388 by Chrysostom as
a feast not yet ten years known in the East. In Egypt it is first
demonstrable under Bishop CYRIL, in Palestine it was accepted
under Bishop Juvenal at th« time of the Council of Chalcedon. The
Armenian Church alone maintained the double significance and ex-
clusive celebration of Epiphany. With Epiphany was associated,
along with the reference to the baptism of Christ, that to the Magi
and their star, the primitiae gentium, as well as to the first revela-
tion of Christ's glory by the miracle at Cana, to which again was
added that to the miraculous feeding. The different references are
gathered together by Maximus Taurin. (Ham. 23).

The need of a special feast of the birth of Christ dereloped out of the
whole disposition of the Constantinian age, the desire after a solemnization
of worship approximating to traditional heathen views and seeking points of
attachment to the life of nature. A historical remembrance of the day of the
birth of Christ is nowhere demonstrable, a motive in J«>\\ ish festal celebration
can only be artificially invented (P. CASSEL, HV/////, /<•/>/<•//, 1SC1) and is ex-
cluded by the late Roman origin of the festival. On the contrary, in Rome the
heathen festal season of the December feasts, viz. the Saturnalia, occurring at
the same time, with their remembrances of the Golden Age and their amuse-
ments which abolished in festal joy all distinctions between master and
servant, rich and poor, involuntarily -u-^.stnl thcmsrlvrs. Tlio close of those
Saturnalia (17th to 24th December) formal rim frast of the Sigillaria, on which
children were presented with .«>•/,////,//•/,/. little images or dolls of clay, wax,
paste and the like. Added to these were the Brumalia, the day of the uncon-
quered sun (25th December, regarded as the winter solstice according to the
Julian Calendar; thirdly and finally there was the Roman New Year's Feast,
the CalendfK JaintaricR, on which congratulations and the so-called sfrcncc
were exchanged (confectionery, fruits, but also presents of other kinds). A rich
symbolism was thus afforded on the basis of the natural phenomenon : the
victory of the ascending light of the new life, the introduction at the same
time of anew golden age by Christ, the Sun of L'ight.-ousness. The loftier
Christian content involuntarily infused itself into the deeply rooted popular
conception, and so it appeared probable on internal grounds, that Christ would
be born about this time. This origin explains on the one hand the interpreta-
tion and Christian utilization of the traditional festival (Prudentius. ( 'nf/ii'im-r.
1, Paulinus Nol. and many Christian preachers), but on the other hand also the
tenacious and powerful continuance of heathen views and customs, even under
the new Christian etiquette. In order that the Christian kernel of belief might
not be forgotten, the Church was subsequently obliged to forbid expressly the
celebration of the Brumalia and the calends of January. For the subsequent

ADVENT. 5,9

period, however, it was of special importance, that the same religious signifi-
cance of the natural year prepared the soil for the Christian festival of Christ-
mas among the German peoples, and promoted the intimate blending of popular
with ecclesiastical customs.

Corresponding to the Quadragesimal season, a similar time of
preparation preceded the feast of Christmas ; in the Greek Church
a period of forty days (beginning on the 14th November), although
a less strict time of fasting ; in the West after at first likewise
extending to greater length it became a period of four weeks, the
season of Advent, which here also, as at least partially a time of
fasting, bore the character of repentant preparation, hence was also
free from amusement and was intended to be a tempus clausum.

In the Church of Jerusalem towards the end of the fourth century
the Quadragesima de epiphania, i.e. forty days after Epiphany (14th
Feb.), which was regarded as the birthday of Jesus, was celebrated
with great ceremony as the Feast of the presentation of Jesus in
the Temple and the meeting with Simeon and Anna. After the
victory of the feast of Christmas there corresponded to it the emer-
gence of the 2nd February as the festum purificationis Mar ice
(Candlemas), fest. candelarum, luminum), the introduction of which
into Rome is ascribed to Bishop Gelasius. It is, however, highly
probable that it first attached itself in Rome to the Christian sub-
stitute for the February lustrations, especially the Amburvalia, the
city expiatory progress with its procession of candles, and, in
connection therewith, the consecration of tapers pointed to its
evangelical purport. The introduction of the feast (as viravrrf or
vTrairavnjj viz. meeting with Simeon and Anna) into Constantinople
by Justinian in 542, and indeed on occasion of a plague, is a taking
over of the Roman feast with unmistakable strains of the expiatory
significance attaching to it.

As in this feast and that of Christmas, the appropriation and Christian
colouring of originally heathen celebrations are evident in the Christian
litanies, in the rogations (for ascent to heaven), a transformation of the
Amburvalia, which was set forth by Claudius Mamertus of Vienne about 470,
and introduced at the first Synod of Orleans (511), and the so-called Litania
Major on S. Mark's Day (25th April), a transformation of the ancient
robigalia, the procession for the standing crops to protect them from fire,
which was not first introduced by Gregory the Great, but regulated in its
ritual. Vid. USENER, Religionsgesch. Untersuchungen, I. 293 sqq.

520 CHURCH HISTORY.

5. The Order of Divine Worship and its essential elements.

Sources and Literature : p. 21, No. 4 and p. 268. The numerous passages from
Chrysostom vid. BIXGHAM, Orig. XIII. 6 (V. 133 sqq.) and especially C. E.
HAMMOND, The Ancient Liturgy of Antioch, etc., Oxford 1879. In addition,
PROCLUS Const. De traditione dicince missce in Gallandi, IX. 680 (Mgr.
65). DIOXYS. AREOP., De eccles. hierarchia, Mgr. 3, 369 sqq. PSEUDO-
AMBROSIUS, De sacramentis Ubb 6, Ml. 16, 409. INXOCENTII I. Ep. 25 Ad
Decentrum, Constant, p. 855 (Ml. 20, 551). F. G. MOXE, Latein. u. yriech
Messen aus dem 2. bis 6. Jahrh., Frankfort 1850. L. A. MUKATOUI,
Lituryia Roman a vetus, 1747 (Naples 1776, 2 vols.), in which the Sacra-
mentarium Leonianum (also Ml. 55, 2, col. 21 sqq.), the Sacr. Gelasianum
(Ml. 74, 2, col. 104'J sqq.), the S. Gregoriannm with Antiiilionurium et
liber ri'xjwnsalis (Ml. 78). Ismours Hisp., D<- «Jji<-iix cr(7<W</x//<-/.s- Ubb. 2,
Ml. 83, 449 sqq.

The essential foundations of Catholic worship, the \ftrovpyia, were already
laid, and had received their distinctive form from the dominant idea of sacri-
fice and tlae disciplina arcanl and the distinction of the missa f.atechumenorum
from the tikissiajidiiinm. when the changes of the time of Constautine brought
new and richer resources to the cultus also, and forced it to stronger and more
powerful developments. On the one hand there was exhibited along with
splendour of endowment the growing inclination to greater fulness of litur-
gical equipment, on the other hand the im-linafion to the introduction of great
agreement between the dinVrent province- of the Church as auuin-t a still ob-
viously great amount of indetiniteness ;md IV loin. The Council of Laodirea

((Jan. 19) is still obliged to emphasize the -eneral procedure in divine service, the
-' i.aration of the prayers for catechumen- and penitents following the homily
of the bishop, from the three prayers of believers isilent prayer, general chnrch-
prayer, and the collect of the bishop, cf. Const. Apost. VIII. 11) to which were
attached the kiss of peaceand the sacrificial act. The synods he^in to giveregula-
tionsas to individual points of divine ser\ iVe : liturgical mate rials of prayers and
the like are collected, but their use is not to be left to the subjective preference
of individuals. The great ecdesiasl Leal cent res such as Alexandria. Jerusalem,
1 • 'iistantinople and Rome gain importance as leaders. The liturgical usages
which here take form, hitherto us a rule not propagated in writing.' later on
are lixed in writing and in t hi > written form asrrihed to celebrated authorities :
thus the liturgy of Alexandria, the type of which is again to be reeo^nised in
the liturgy of the Monophysite Copts and Ethiopians, is ascribed to ST. MAKK,
that of Palestine, with which Cyril of Jerusalem shows many points of con-
tact, to S. JAM I-:-;. In the provinc,o of Syria the so-called Litunj/ii A/xixtoltiriiui
(Lit. of Adaios and Maris) and that of Theodore (of Mop-ue-tia and of Nesto-
rius, grew up, and came into use among the Nostorians. On (ireeU >oil, how-
ever, the liturgy of ( 'onstaiitinople. supported by the authority of < 'IIUYSOSTUM
and further back by that of HASH., gained the predominance. Th>' exju-ession,
ascribed to Puon.rs of Constantinople (the follower of Nestoriu- al»mt I IHI, as
to the liturgies of Clement and James and their relation to that of I'.a-il and
Chrysostom,2 is spurious ; the latter was not completed in its extant form be-

1 Cf. BASIL, Di- s/t/r.stiiirto^c.21. The non-official composition of the Apo>t<>-
lic Constitutions is to be di>regarded in thi- refer- nre (>•/'. *HJ>. ].. 100).

! When the author indicates the work of l>;i>il and Chr\ sostom. on whose

LITURGIES

521

fore the seventh or eighth century. In the domain of the Latin Church various
provincial forms are noticeable, for the North African Church in expressions
of Augustine and others, for Gaul in ancient masses, published by MONE but
attributed by him to a much too eariy time, further in the so-called Missale
Gothicitm, the Missa Gallicana vetus (both in MURATORI) and in the Sacra-
mentarium Gallicanum (in MABILLON, Museum italicum I., 1724), for Spain in
ISIDORE'S narratives and in the so-called Mozarabic Liturgy, for Upper Italy in
the Milanese, so-called Ainbrosian, Liturgy. But here as in other spheres the
Church of Rome finally gained the mastery, though not until a later time.

While liturgical acts according to their proper nature were in-
tended to be the expression and presentation of the religious
devotion of believers to God and the means for the renewed fulfil-
ment of their faith with the gifts of divine grace, they more and
more, under the essential influence of pre-Christian stages of religion,
assumed the character of an ecclesiastical performance, a sacred
service, the worth of which consists in its ritual completion as such,
and which became a sacred hierurgy, which was itself to create
the saving blessing in the sacrifice completed by the priest. At
the same time of course, in the Greek Church the conception wavers
between that of a hienirgic process proper and that of one mediated
by a mystico-intellectual act. The sacred service becomes a sym-
bolico-allegorical, so to speak, dramatic presentation of the divine
work of salvation by the priests, as the mystagogues whose vocation
it is so to do. On the other hand the bald conception of the Latin
Church, disposed to the practical and real, is more inclined to regard
the cult of the mass as a real act addressed to God.

The course of the entire divine service in the fourth century is
evident from the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions, the
delineation of the missa fidelium in Cyril of Jerusalem (Catec'h. niy»t.
V.), the 10th canon, of the Council of Laodicea and numerous utter-
ances of the Fathers, especially of Chrysostom. The order of divine
worship is determined by the distinction of the catechumens' mass
and the believers' mass and survives even after this distinction
gradually los.es its practical significance from the fifth century
onwards. The substance of the catechumens' mass receives the
character of the introductory or first part of divine service. It
consists in readings from Scripture accompanied and interrupted by
singing of psalms, of the sermon attached to these lessons and the
prayers with and for those who were to be dismissed, namely the
catechumens, eiiergumens and penitents. Invitation to these
prayers is given by the deacons, and the community appropriates

title of honour of golden mouth play is here already made, as one of abbrevia-
tion, it becomes hard to understand how this can correspond to the facts.

522 CHURCH HISTORY.

them by its Kyrie eleison, and the bishop each time collects the
intercessions in a solemn prayer of blessing. After the dismissal of
these uninitiated persons or those temporarily excluded from the
mysteries, the general prayer of the believers forms the first part
or introduction of the missa fidelium. After silent prayer the
deacon names the various objects of prayer, which the community
appropriates by its repeated Kyrie eleison, and on which the bishop
offers a collective prayer (collect). The second part is formed by the
act of offering', consisting in the offering of gifts by the members of
the congregation and their collection by the deacon, whereupon the
kiss of peace is exchanged by the presbyters and the bishop, by the
men with each other and so likewise by the women with each other
(according to another custom e.g. in the Latin Church, the kiss of
peace is not given till after the consecration, immediately before
communion). The third part is formed by the Eucharistic act
proper, introduced by the ancient solemn preface : tinrxnm corda
and the Vere dignum ext et iustum, etc. In unison with the whole
creation and all the heavenly powers, the congregation, by the
mouth of the priests offers solemn thanksgiving, adopts the song of
the seraphim (Isaiah vi.), the Sanctits, .srr>?c£w.v, sanctus ; the grace of
the incarnation and redemption is then extolled and " remembering
it " transition is immediately made to the words of institution, and
grounding on it prayer is made for gracious acceptance of the gifts
offered, and in the Epiklesis prayer is made for the Holy Spirit from
God, that by it He may transform the gifts into the body and blood
of Christ. Thereby the offering of the community is supported by
the power of Christ's atoning offering. On this ground prayer is
now made for the common peace of the Church, for the salvation of
the world, for all ranks of men and all who suffer need, in like
manner also for all departed believers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles,
innrtyrs, fathers, bishops, etc., and for all who have fallen asleep in
Christ, closing with the Lord's Prayer.

The fourth part consists of the dispensation or cominunio. After
the exclamation of the bishop: ^tn/ctn xanctis, the congregation re-
sponds : One is holy, etc., on which follow the Doxology i Glory be
to God, etc.) and the Hosannah. The bishop then passes the bread
to those who come forward, in the regular succession of their rank
(with precedence to the different degrees of the clergy i, with the
words : the body of Christ ; the deacon the cup with the words : the
blood of Christ, the cup of life ; both times the recipients respond :
Amen. Psalms are sung during the dispensation I'Ps. xxxiv.). The
fifth part consists of the closing1 ceremony (Pont-comniunio). The

DIVINE WORSHIP. 523;

deacon invites to thanksgiving and prayer for a blessing on partici-
pation, and the blessing of the bishop forms the close, whereupon,
the deacon dismisses the congregation with the words : Gro in peace.

As to the individual parts of this celebration of divine worship the follow-
ing remarks are to be made :

1. The Scripture Lessons. Only canonical books of the Old and New Testa-
) ments are to be read in church (Can. Laod. 59). According to the Apostolic
I Constitutions a threefold reading takes place, so likewise in the Spanish and

Gallican Churches, here indeed there are four readings during the Quadra-
gesimal season, as also occurs in the Syrian Church. In the later Greek
Church the Old Testament Lesson is assigned to morning service (Matins).
In general the reading extends to all services, Sunday and week-day. The
Roman Church has only two lessons at Sunday service, namely, the first from
the Apostle or the Prophets, the second from the Gospels. Till the end of the
fourth century the ancient Church knows only the lectio continua or course
of reading, by which the pensum of one Sunday attaches to that of the pre-
ceding. In this connection it is to be observed that in the Greek Church the
Sunday reading, the Saturday reading and those for the other days of the
week taken together proceed independently alongside one another. But in
the Latin Church, regard to the individual feasts of the ecclesiastical year
now began to result in breaking through such readings by courses with
selected passages for reading, reading of pericopes. Thus we find im
Augustine an essential assumption of such courses of reading, but interrupted
by definite selected lessons for feast days and for others also according to
special requirement. The Gallican Church exhibits a vigorous activity in>
I regard to lessons, as it does in regard to things liturgical in general. The
Massiliensian MUS^EUS (Geunadius. De vir illiistr, cap. 76), among other
liturgical works, provided a selection of suitable passages for reading for all
the feast-days of the year, and similarly the whole province of Gaul exhibits
a method of reading by pericopes. under which reading by course is not yet
entirely excluded, but only interrupted. A similar condition of things is
presented in the Milanese or Ambrosian Liturgy. Also in the Eoman lection
of the epistolary and prophetical pericopes, the choice of which is in great
part quite free, it may however be perceived that the preference for certain
books of the Bible for certain seasons of the year has had its effect, and
therefore that the original method of reading by course has still had its
influence. This is connected with the fact, that for the Roman liturgy in
general, regard to the ecclesiastical festivals produces a powerful change of
other portions of the liturgy. Vid. E. RANKE, Das kirchliche Per ikopensy stem,
Biel 1847, and in RE.2 11, 460 sqq. Caspari in ZWL. 1838.

2. The general prayer for the Church has still the position above indicated
at the beginning of the missa fitlelium, in Augustine and even in Csesarius
of Aries. But this is gradually altered, in so far as in the earlier Greek

j liturgy, the liturgical acts corresponding to this prayer extend throughout all
parts of divine service (even through the preparatory service). Besides, the-
active participation of the congregation in it is more and more suppressed
and replaced by the singing choir of clergy. But in the Roman Church this
general church prayer more and more disappears and is drawn into the

I priestly sacrificial act of the mass.

3. In the oblatio also, there is now a question of the actual offering of

524 CHURCH HISTORY.

gifts by the congregation, from which bread and wine are then selected for
the celebration of the Supper. It is emphasized, that gifts are not to be
.accepted from unworthy persons, criminals and such as have forfeited com-
munion with the Church. In distinction from earlier usage, there is now a
recognised desire, that only actual bread and wine (or rather grapes and corn),
and not other natural products should be received for these eucharistic gifts
(Can. Apost. 3-5, Cone. Carth. III. can. 24). As even Cyprian in his time, so
also Augustine (Horn. 215, De tempore) censures the omission of these gifts
by many, and exhorts to them : erubescere debet homo iilviteus t>i dc aln-ita
oblatione communicavcrit. In the time of Gregory the Great there were still
gifts of the congregation, or rather of individual believers, from which che
elements of the Supper were taken. During the presentation of the gifts
psalms were sung, and after the oli'ering the priest pronounced the oratio
super oblata (the subsequently so-called Nrr/v/a), a prayer which throughout
miiiutaius the point of view, that these gifts of believers or of the Church,
in which devotion and resignation tiiid expression, would procure the divine
blessing for the offerers and those for whom they were oi'leml, or rather would
serve to procure the blessing of a Christian feast or the intercession of a
.saint, in honour of whom they were otiered. Cf. Isid. liisp. Dv oj)'. err/. I.
15, 3. Tertia antt n< <'tj'mi<l/l u r (oratio) pro offerentibus, sive />/•" <l<y'un<-tis
nt JUT idi-iii sacrijicin in rcii/ain coiix<-</itaiit/<r. Vid. Innocent 1. 1
Od Decent, ep. 1, C.2. I'riitx ITIJU obl<iti<m<s xunt folium inlandw, tic t inn
u, mi/mi, i/iftrinii snnf n/i/iif tones, ctlici-inliv. nt iiiti-r sacra Mi/xtiTia
In the later Roman liturgy also, which lie- licyond our period,
the iullueiice of this original concept inn may still be recognised in the so-
called i ((!'<• i-t<, i-in ni and even in the canon of the mass.

1. Isin. llisi-., DC ecd. ';//'. I. 18, 4 : lla-<- <int<nt ditin xiutt ristbt'ffn, sdniii-
/ifnta fdiin'i/ jicr sj>i r/'t// /a sanctum in sac raiinnl n m divini corjioria transeum
>till exhibits the dominance even in tin- \\Vst of the original conception
ip. -Jiisi. that the act of consecration and dedication proper culminates iii
the Epikiesis of the Holy Spirit, by which the ut'in-.vi elements mystically
become the lxnly and blood of Christ. But alongside of it. on the l!<unun side
there is a beginning of the di-p<»hi(-m to ve-anl Christ's own words of
institution as what " constitutes the sacrament." The transition to this con-
ception is already found in the- Pseudo- Ambrose D>- x<n •/•<ii/n utis. 1\". 1. in the
allusion to tin- fact, that as soon as it comes to the actual consecration, ttfl
].rie>t O86E not his own words as in the ].ra\cr>, but the words of Christ,
Many reminiscence- nf the original plac • aid signilicaiice of the Kjtil:l<-sis
Were, however, maintained (e.£T. in the Amlirn>iaii and .M"/aral'ic Liturgies);
it sounds througli the Roman liturgy. Inn liii'U its place in tin- case In 'fore
the consecration, in the qff&rtorium : i'i-iti (x<titrf<j .s-/<//-////.s, sanctijicatot
uiiiiii l>iitciis, (ffi'nic DC/IS <'t hi-ncilic /i»<- sa'-fijic/ii 111 fun siiiK-l,, iiuniiiii j>r<c-

paratum.

."). The co>iiin<-i"iriift<i i>r<> iiim-liiis mentioned by the Ap"-.tolic. ( 'on-
-titutiun-. i< aUo contirmeil by ( 'hry>o>toni in regard to the saint- and
martyrs mentioned, /or whom prayer is made. Even in the S.icramentary
of Gre-orv the prayer for all believers without limit i- found rid. I'.IM.IIAM
(irt'i/tiirK, 1. X\'. < 'ap. 3, torn. VI. p. '•'<.'••'< sq.). M> 'an \vliile the >igni! leant alt . ra-
tion by which the inter' •'•--i"ii for the saints was turned into prayer to «;ocl
that their merit should b • ])ilt to the credit of the person pray ing. has been already
mentioned above at p. 504. Connected with the commemoratio l«>r the li\mg
.and the dead is connected the reading aloud or also the mere laying open

DIVINE WORSHIP. 525;

of the so-called Diptychs at the celebration of the sacrament. These were
double tables overlaid with wax, which contained the names of the bishops
and other eminent persons with whom the Church was in communion, and
also the names of the dead. The reading took place after the kiss of peace
according to Dion. Areopag. (De eccles. hier. 3, 2 ; cf. Concil. Const. 536, Act V.,
Mansi, VIII. 1065 sqq., where the Nicene Creed still comes between), accord-
ing to others not till the cornmcmoratio after the consecration.

6. It was not till comparatively late that the Creed found a place in the
mass. Peter the Fuller, Bishop of Antioch (about 471) is said to have intro-
duced the practice of reading the Tsicseno-Constantinopolitan creed at every"
divine service (Theodorus Lector, p. 566). It is said to have been ordered by
Bishop Timothy of Constantinople about 509 (ibid. p. 563), while previously
the symbol was only used once, during the fasts, at the instruction of
catechumens. At the third council at Toledo (conversion of Reccared to the
Catholic confession, about 589) it was ordained for the Spanish and Gallican
Churches, that the Nicseno-Constantinopolitan symbol should be read before
the Lord's Prayer, for the purpose of testifying to the faith and in order that
the people should go forward in faith and with purified hearts to the reception
of the body and blood of Christ. So also according to Isid. Hisp. DK off. eccl.
I. 16, confession was made by the people at the time of the offering (Symbolum,
quod tempore sacrificii a populo prcKdicatur. — In iiniversis ecclesiis pari
confess ione a populo proclamatur). It was only much later that the con-
fession received an altogether different position in the Eoman Liturgy, at
the beginning of the missafideliitm.

1. Even now the use of ordinary leavened bread was maintained at the
Supper, even among the Roman party ; only the Syrians (Azymites) made an
exception. Equally universally the wine was mixed with water and a sym-
bolical reference to the Iranian and divine nature of Christ, and the like,
attributed to the custom. The communicants receive the bread in their hands
(Cyril of Jerusalem). A Western synod only lays down, that women are not
to receive the bread with uncovered hands (Cone. Antissiodor. Can. 36). An
elevation of the consecrated elements for adoration is unknown to the ancient
Church, but in the Greek Church it is to be assumed that they were lifted up
before the consecration as an exhibition of the gifts about to be dedicated
(di/a8ei£if, Basil, De, spir. s. cap. 27 ; cf. also VTT' '6-^nv oyet in Dion. Areop. Eccl.
hier. 3, 2). The custom of communicating in both kinds is also universal ;
abstinence from the cup is even forbidden as heretical, in opposition to
Manicheism. On the other hand only the consecrated bread is used as
" Eulogia," outside of church. The later Greek Church strews particles of the
bread in the wine and passes them to the communicants with the help of a
spoon, and the first traces of a custom of the kind are not found till a Spanish
synod in the seventh century (Cone. III. Bracarense of the year 675, Can. 1).
In distinction from the later Roman procedure, the words of consecration
were still uttered in a plain and audible voice; at the same time Justinian;
(Nov. 237, 6) was obliged to emphasise this point expressly.

The ancient Church still maintains strictly the justification of infant
communion, which Augustine grounds upon John vi. 53. Nor does this
merely mean participation in the Supper immediately after baptism. With
regard to the latter it is strictly maintained that the Supper is only to be
received fasting ; infants are not even to be suckled before they receive the
communion. The Apostolic Constitutions (VIII. 13) give the children their
place in the series of communicants immediately after the clergy and before-

•526 CHURCH HISTORY.

the rest of the people. The children are specially supervised by the deacons
to prevent disturbances, and the smaller ones are to be held by the hand by '
their mothers. With this was connected the custom, when many pieces of
•consecrated bread remained over, of bringing in school boys, who were fed i
with the wine-sprinkled bread on the dies stationum of the week (Evagrius,
IV. 36, Cone. Matisconense, II. 6). What superstitious notions attached them-
selves to this, is shown by the miraculous story in Evagrius, according to
which a Jewish boy partook along with the rest, and being then thrown by
ihis enraged father into an oven was miraculous preserved in it.

8. Although the celebration of Sunda}^ gives to the Sunday service a
distinguished and dominant position, this does not involve the surrender by
the dominant Church of daily celebration of divine service, which is rooted
in the Apostolic memories of the Church (Acts ii. 42 ; v. 4»>), although it is only
approximately realized. The idea of constant prayer was at the foundation
•of the hourly prayers (the hours, cf. p. 3<)9), which wei-e specially incumbent
on monks and clergy, and for which the Psalter supplied the chief material,
to which, however, Bible Lessons, reading of homilies, prayers, hymns and
.antiphones, etc., were added. Hence arose the Greek Horologium and the Roman
Breviarium, in the ordering of which Leo I., Gelasius and Gregory the Great
co-operated. The ecclesiastical celebration of Saturday (p. 513) in the Greek
Church, partly by a service of reading or rather preaching, parti y also by
attendance on the Eucharist, and that of the so-called dies stationum
( Wednesday and Friday. ri<l. sup.), form with Sunday the four days on
which, according to F>;isil, I\j>isf. 289, the celebration of the Supper was open.
Similarly Chrysostom reckons three or four days on which the New Testament
Passover is celebrated weekly (Horn. 52, in cos IJH/ jntsc/idh iriunant, he adds
however: at other times also as often as we wish). Eusebius had already
spoken of daily commemorative celebrations of the sacrifice of Jesus (De-
iiiniisfr. i-raiiy. I. 10. p. 37). Further on Augustine admits (Epfst. 118 ad
,Jitini<u-i inn cap. 2) that there were ditlerent methods in different places : alibi
nit/lux tlit'x iiiti-nniftifiir quo u«ii t>j}'<T(ifur. alihi snhhufliti t<tiifii»i <•/ iltmiiiin-u,
alibi ttnitinii ilmninico. The Quadragesimal season is universally distinguished
.by daily service with prayer, so indeed, that according to the Council of
Laodicea, Can. 49, the offering and consecration of the elements of the Supper
should only take place on Saturday and Sunday in that season, i.e. that on
other days of the week, in this period of repentance and mourning, only
the lititryia prcesanctificatorum should take place, i.e. communion with the
•elements consecrated beforehand. On the other hand in the season of Quin-
quagesima there is full daily ecclesiastical celebration, of course including the
Eucharist.

But, besides these, the early and evening celehrations (Matins and Vespers)
provided daily devotions (Epiphanius, frlxpus. fid. 23. Const. A|">-t. ,s. ;;.", sijq.).
The former were frequently held before day-break (as Vigils). The morning
psalm was the 63rd, the evening the 141st (on account of verse 2), besides
prayers, for catechumens and penitents as well as for believers, and a special
morning and evening prayer by the bishop. Besides these, copious use was
made of psalm-singing, and at vespers the famous evening hymn of the Greek
Church: <j>ios l\apw ayias bt'ifrs. In the Spanish and Gallican Churches the
Lord's Prayer was inculcated as a daily prayer post intifnfiiiam et vesperas.
These morning and evening prayers, especially the latter, have very various
forms in the monkish communities. But in particular the early morning
service on Saturday and Sunday, and the Sunday vespers received special ob-

THE EUCHARIST. 527

servance.1 For the great feasts and martyrs' days the Feast-vigils served to
give the celebration special glory. Vigils were also solemnized at other times
under special distress. The ecclesiastical writers frequently extol the glowing
devotion of these night services. It is true that Chrysostom must also recall :
" Ye have made the night into day by vigils, make not now the day into night
by swilling, drunkenness and wanton songs " (Bingham, VI. 294).

9. The idea of the Christian cultus originally involved daily participation
in the Eucharist, but at least there was required as a rule participation by
every member of the community on Sunday (apart from other opportunities,
such as feasts of martyrs and the like). But the Church as it became great,
remained as a matter of fact far behind this ideal. The Council of Antioch
(can. 2; cf. can. Ap. 9 sq.) already threatened to excommunicate till they
should repent those who came to church and listened to the Holy Scriptures,
but did not pray along with the believers and receive the Supper in common
with them. Chrysostom repeatedly complains that the Supper is partaken of
so very seldom by many, and especially laments that everyone only throngs to
the Easter-communion, so that the daily sacrifice is neglected and prepared in
vain. So likewise the Pseudo-Ambrose mentions this (De sacramentis, IV. 4
and 6) as an Oriental evil custom, and exhorts: accipie quotidie, quod quotidie
tibi prosit. As to the legality of daily communion, Augustine, Jerome
{Bingham, VI. 579), and Gennadius (De eccles. dogmat. Cap. 53) in the West
give their judgment with some hesitation. The last however emphasises the
Sunday communion so much the more. But obviously it also greatly fails in
realization, and the multitude accustoms itself as a rule to being spectators
of the Eucharist, with rare actual communion. Thus the first Council of Toledo,
Can. 13, in reference to the negligent Priscillianists, takes disciplinary measures
only against those, in whose case it is proved that they attend the churches,
without at any time communicating. Csesarius of Aries (Homily 12) blames
those who leave church immediately after the reading (or rather, preaching)
without waiting for the mass proper. They might read lessons or hear them
at home, but they could only hear and see the consecration of the body and
blood of Christ in church. Thus the way is prepared here for the later usage
of the Roman Church ; but proof is still wanting for the theory that in the
ancient Church the mass could ever be performed by the priest alone without
any other communicants, much less that it was generally performed without
the presence of laymen and entirely by the administering clergy.

10. At the beginning of this period, the community still participated
actively, not only in matins and vigils, but also in the Sunday service ; and
not only by their frequent Kyrie eleison, by which the congregation appropri-
ated the prayers, and in the numerous responsoria, but also in the sanctus,
spoken together by priest.and congregation ; further after the bishop had said:
Holy things for holy persons, in the answer of the congregation : One is holy,
One is the Lord, Jesus Christ. Indeed, according to Gregory the Great, the
Lord's Prayer was still said by the whole people, while in the Roman Church
it was said by the priest alone. But besides, the congregation had further a
great share in the psalm-singing, especially indeed at vigils and vespers and
festal processions, which played a great part, e.g. in Jerusalem during the
great week (Peregrinatio Silvice). According to Can. 15 of the Council of

1 In the later formation of the Greek liturgy Saturday vespers, Sunday
matins and the main service appear as members of one organically related
whole.

528 CHURCH HISTORY.

Laodicea, no others in the church were to sing besides the clerical singers
appointed for the purpose, who ascended the ambo and sang from the book.
This was not meant to prevent the congregation from taking part in the singing,
but only that laymen were not to act as leaders. The participation of the con-
gregation in the singing, apart from the chanting of the responses, consisted as
regards psalm-singing, partly in the fact, that, after the leader had sung the
psalm, i.e. had recited it as a chant, the congregation responded, singing reci-
tatively the so-called acroteleutia or Acrostichia (i.e. not exactly the close of
the same psalm, but as a rule other suitable verses from the psalms) : ^d\\tiv
and TO. dxpooTt^ui vTro-v^aXXeic. But alongside of this there had also been de-
veloped symphonic psalm-singing, and also antiphonic, i.e. alternate, singing
by the divided choir of the congregation, which is said to have made its first
appearance in the Church of Antioch in the fourth century (riil. RE.2 4, 569).
With the effort to lend splendour and pomp to the cultus in general and to
increase its attraction for the multitude, is connected the admission of Hymns
sung by the congregation, alongside of the singing of psalms and the liturgical
responses proper, to which Basil, Chrysostom and others testify in the Greek
Church, and Ambrose in the Latin. Lively singing of psalms and hymns finds
willing acceptance not only in processions and other festival occasions, but also
in divine service, especially at vigils and vespers. "When the Arians. excluded
from the churches, held their vigils with singing of hymns in public places,
Chrysostom met them with great effect with orthodox psalms and hymns, and
so likewise it was slanderously reported of Ambrose himself. that by the intro-
duction of hymns sung by the whole congregation, he had counteracted with
special effect the exertions of the Arian court of the Empress .Justina and had
bewitched the people, and Ambrose did not deny it.1 Augustine depicted the
impression made by this new contrivance (Confess. IX. G sqq.) ; and here it was
at night vigils also, that the alternate sin-ing after the Oriental pattern was
employed. For, it was not so much the Eucharist ic. service proper, as the other
religious assemblies, mutin>. vespers and especially vigils, which were the
proper places for this ecclesiastical congregational singing (rid. Paulini Vila
Ambrosii, Cap. B). In the divine service proper of the Greek Church, however,
the responses as well as psalm and hymn-singing are now exclusively trans-
ferred to the ecclesiastical choir of singers, which takes the place of the con-
gregation, and which now procures a placu also for freely composed songs in
the Greek Liturgy which is always becoming more ample. Here emerge (he
so-called T/JOTRH or Tpmrupia, single verses or measured strophes, which are in-
serted between the psalms, but afterwards, longer poems in exaltation of the
history of the feast or of martyr^ and saints ; later also come the very \\ id^ly
spread Canones, consisting of a number (!») of Odes of several strophes each.
Hence in the Greek as in the Latin domain the rhythmic law begins to be
altered. The hymns to Christ, etc., appear to have availed themselves of
antique metres to some extent, after the example of Clement of Alexandria.
At the same time it is made a reproach in the fifth century to the Apol-
linarians (Sozomen, VI. 25) that alongside of the legal sacred odes they had
also sung little metrical songs, i.e. in lyric forms which seemed too worldly
for a sacred object. The church-song proper in subsequent times, the luxu-
riant development of which of course falls beyond our period, shows quite
the same phenomena as the development of the Latin hymns (p. 110. -I'M).
The poetical composition is no longer metrical (i.e. according to quatii ity. and

Grande carmen (magic influence) isimf <*f, quo nihil p<>1< ,,t<ns.

SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENT. 529

so that the accent of the word gives place to the accent of the verse), but
rhythmical, i.e. such, that the syllables are counted and the accent of the verse
coincides every time, or in the chief places at least, with the accent of a word.
— The Greek church-singing of the choir was purely vocal without accom-
paniment of instruments, and in unison not harmony. The influence of
antique music must have been continued in the lively hymn-singing of the
people, such as Ambrose transplanted into the Latin Church. The hymns
must have been attractive by their popular emotionality and richness of modu-
lation, but must also have been exposed to the danger of secularisation and the
theatrical. The Roman Church early devoted itself to the training of church
singers, for which Bishop Sylvester I. is already said to have worked. Gregory
the Great had in this direction also a certain definitive and at the same time
initiative importance. In the West also church-singing essentially became
the singing of the priests, the singing of the trained choir. In liturgical use,
alongside of the Accentus (modus choraliter legendi) for the collects and
lessons, the " musically graded recitation," the change of tone in which is
guided entirely by the structure of the sentence without any proper form of
melodj-, stands the Concentus for the liturgical passages which were sung in
the narrower sense : antiphones, hymns, the Gloria, Hallelujah. Sanctus, etc.
Gregory collected these church songs and gave them ecclesiastical style and
brought back the singing of the Church (Ambrosian) to greater simplicity and
severity. Vid. W. CHRIST et M. PARANIKAS, Anthologia grceca carminum
Christ. Lips. 1871. J. B. PITRA, Analecta Sacra Spirit. Solesm. parata I.
Paris 1871. BUHL, Der K.-Ges. in d. gr. K. in ZhTh. 1848. J. L. JACOBI, Zur
Gesch. d. gr. Kirchenlieds, ZKG. 5, 177 sqq. A. DANIEL, Thesaurus hymnal.
2nd ed. 5 vols. 1863. HONE, Lot. Hymnen des MA. 3 vols. 1853 sqq. J. KAYSER,
Beitrcige z. G. u. Erkl. d. d. Kirchenhymnen, 2nd ed. 1881. M. GERBERT, De
cantu et musica a prima eccl. cet. 2 vols. 1774. The more modern works on
the history of music by FORKEL, AMBROS, BRENDEL ; J. KOSTLIN, Gesch. d.
Musik, 1884.

6. Sacrifice and Sacrament.

Literature : Vid. the histories of Dogma, and STEITZ, Die Abendmahlslehre der
griechischen Kirche in ihrer geschichtlichen Entivicklung, JdTh. 1864-
1868.

In the holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist the Church sees not only the
fulfilment of the Old Testament typical sacrifice, but also the true
spiritual sacrifice as against all heathen sacrifices. The combination
of the offerings (oblations), in which is set forth the sacrifice of
prayer, thankfulness and pious feeling, with the sacrificial death
of Christ, as suggested by the words of institution and regarded as
completed by the invocation of the Holy Spirit (p. 522), remained
the foundation. Even when the regular oblations of the members of
the congregation more and more began to lose importance, the idea
of the oblation remained dominant. Prayer is offered, that God by
the Holy Spirit will make the bread and wine into the body and
blood of Christ, and so in the Greek Liturgy it is said : " "We offer
unto Thee this reasonable bloodless service and call upon Thee that

31

530 CHURCH HISTORY.

Thou mayest send down the Holy Spirit. Bless, 0 Lord, the holy
bread and make it the dear body of Thy Christ ; bless the cup, and
make this, which is in the cup, the dear blood of Thy Christ, and
transform it by Thy Holy Spirit." This transformation Oera/SoX?;,
fAeraTroiela-Oai, tmnsformatio) is here in the first place a strong litur-
gical expression intended to present the idea dramatically to the
senses, not in the sense of the later Roman doctrine of transforma-
tion, for the elements (bread and wine) remain types of the body and
blood of Christ, but also not merely in the sense of a conscious sym-
bolification, but in the sense of a mystical transmutation.1 Just
where, in the interest of the Antiochene theology and for the sake
of keeping apart the human and divine natures of Christ, Theo-
doret emphasises the fact that the sacred symbols do not lose their
former natural nature, it is expressly recognised that they are ac-
knowledged, believed and worshipped as that which they have
become by consecration (Epiklesisi. Dogmatically the utterances
are very various. Here we have an apparently purely symbolical
conception, of remembrance and realization to the senses of the
body and blood of Christ, there a dynamical conception, according
to which the reception of them mediates the action of Christ, elseJ
where a really metabolic conception, according to which the divine
Word to a certain extent continues His incarnation in the elements.
But universally the real liturgical meaning goes beyond the mere
commemorative act to a mystical enjoyment of Christ. In the West
also the expressions fluctuate between a symbolical realization and
a mystical transformation. To Augustine also the Supper is a
sdi-i-i/icitnn corporis Christi, a nr/W//^//// sacri/iciinn, although with
him the purely symbolical conception shines strongly through ;
hence he designates the offering of the body of Christ, the memoria
peracti sacrificii Christi, and elsewhere thinks on the offered body
as the spiritual body of the Lord, the community of believers inj
Him. But the realistic conception comes out more decidedly e.g.
in Leo the Great. His fellow communicants are not at all to doubt
the truth of the body and blood of Christ, " hoc enim ore xi</n
tur, quod fide credit in:'1 And this realistic conception gains ever
more decided champions, and in connection with the sacrifice of
the Supper. The expression: conficere corptts et sanguinem Chi'/xti,
becomes universal. This development finds its culmination in

1 Cf. Pseudo-Ambrose, De sacram. 5, 4 : ut shit </uce crant. < f hi </////</ <•/<>»-
inittciif/ir. Isid. Hisp. De eccl. off. 1, 15, 3. Conform, iff, > sm-nininit; : ,,!,/, itio,
quce Deo offertur, sanctificata per soh-itum sanctum Christ f corjiori ft
sangiiini conformation

SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENT. 531

Gregory the Great in the notion of the sacrifice of Christ ever
repeating itself in the Supper (Quotidianum immolationis sacrificiuiri).

" As often as we offer to Him the sacrifice of His suffering, we renew
His passion for our absolution. Although Christ, being risen, dies no
more, yet for us He is again sacrificed in this sacred mystery of the
offering." Even in Gregory, indeed, the thought of a mere repre-
sentation of the sacrifi.ee of Christ, of an imitation of the sacrifice of
the Passion, may always be perceived, and at the same time he is
always striving after a spiritualisation of the notion of sacrifice,
when he says : tune (Christus) pro nobis Jiostia erit Deo, cum nos ipsos
hosfiam fecerimus.

The holy sacrifice is regarded as effecting the forgiveness of
venial sins after baptism, but at the same time as mystico-physically
implanting divine life. But the whole character of the sacrificial
act involves the notion of seeking in the mass a means of salvation
and protection in all the necessities of daily life. But of especially
wide-spreading influence, finally, is the conception that the offering
of the sacred sacrifice, like intercessions in general, will be of
benefit to the souls of departed believers. This is already expressed
by Cyril of Jerusalem (Catech. myst. 5), then by Augustine (Enchir.
Cap. 30), who names the holy sacrifice, as also intercessions in
general and alms, as the means of relieving the souls of the dead.
While the Greek Church remains at this indefinite stage of thought,
in the sense of Cyril,1 it develops in the Latin Church into the more
definite doctrine of Purgatory or the condition of purification,
which assumes more definite form in Csesarius of Aries, and in
Gregory the Great becomes the universal property of the Latin
Church. Believers who take unrepented venial sins beyond the
grave with them, fall into the purifying fire, and they are helped by
the holy sacrifice.

7. Preaching.

Collections of Sources : PELT ET RHEINWALD, Homiliarium patristicum, I.
1829-33, German 1829 sqq. AUGUSTI, Predigten auf alle Sonn- und Festtage,
aus den Schriften der K.-V. ausgew. 1826 sqq. Ejsdm. Casualreden, 1840.
Literature: BINGHAM, Origines, ed. Grischovius XIV. c. 4, vol. VI. 105 sqq.
NICKEL u. KEHREIN, Die Beredsamkeit der Kichenvdter, 4 vols. 1844 sqq»
The History of Preaching, by R. ROTHE, published by Truinpelmann, 1881,
and especially Von ZEZSCHWITZ in Zockler's Handbuch d. theol. Wins., vol.
IV. CHRISTLIEB in RE.2 18, 466 sqq.

Although the main feature of the cultus consists in the mystical
sacrifice of the Eucharist, so that, in theory, the service of preaching

1 Cf. EUSTRATIUS presb. Const, (at the close of this period) De vita functorum
statu (Leo Allat., De orientalium et occidentalium perpetua in dogmate Pur-

532 CHURCH HISTORY.

only appears preparatory to it, the latter, nevertheless, at first
actually acquires an extraordinarily great importance for the Church
which has now come into the light of publicity, an importance
which practically puts the celebration of the Eucharist into the
shade (p. 527), especially in large towns, where important men of
rhetorical talent attract the great-city populace. Teaching and
preaching are regarded as properly the function of the bishop, and
men like Chrysostom, Ambrose and Augustine are well aware of
the greatness of their task and responsibility. The Apostolic Con-
stitutions, 2, 57, already lay down, that after the Lesson the pres-
byter (one or more in succession) and finally the bishop, shall exhort
the people, and so likewise Chrysostom, in his Antiochene sermons,
alludes to the fact that after him, the presbyter, the bishop will
come forward as speaker.1

A layman, even a learned layman, is not to preach in church.
In many places, not even the presbyters dared preach in the presence
of the bishop, which however Jerome censures. But the dut^y of the
bishops to preach before the people was also inculcated by secular
legislation (Cod. Theodos. XVI. 2, 25). Eminent bishops were not
satisfied with preaching on Sundays, but frequently, especial!}' in
the Quadragesimal season, preached daily, as did Chiysostom as
presbyter in Antioch and in Constantinople as bishop. So likewise
the sermons of Augustine frequently make reference to sermons on
preceding days. So also eminent bishops preached twice on one
day, especially on Sunday, morning and evening, as did Chrysostom,
Basil and Augustine. The case also occurs of a sermon being
delivered to the catechumens, and afterwards, after their dismissal,
another for believers alone. The most important Western preach* -r
of the sixth century, Csesarius of Aries, often preached his homilies
at matins and vespers : /if unUnx fx.sW, qui xe <lr /(/nonnifin r.ri-nxttret
(Cyprianus Tolos. Vita Caesarii, Cap. 4). Sozomen (7, 19) narrates
most remarkably, that in Rome neither the bishop nor any one else -
taught in church ; a statement which for the time before the ,-ipp • tr-
ance of Leo the Great cannot be entirely ground less, though perhaps
exaggerated. LEO himself indeed delivered sermons to the people
at divine service ; but he gives such motives for his sermons, that
one can perceive, that he did not regard his preaching as obviously
to be expected iBixoHAM, Orig. torn. VI. 118). Great bishops, such
as those of Rome, had far too many avocations in ecclesiastical allhirs,

gatorii COJ/N. •//.sV^/ie, Rome 1056,319sqq.),Lat. in Max. I'.iM. I'atr. Lud-. XXVII.
1362 sqq. Phot. Bibl. c. 171.

1 The same thing is confirmed for Jerusalem by the IVivurinatio S. Silvia.

PREACHING. 533

to be able to fulfil the duty of preaching. On the other hand, in-
deed, as a rule, the episcopal churches in the towns were the only
ones in which ecclesiastical eloquence was to be heard. Chrysostom
already alludes to the fact, that the people in the country had seldom
the opportunity of hearing sermons, unless when a local martyr fes-
tival afforded an occasion, on which Chrysostom himself was invited
into the country and preached. Rural presbyters were indeed
allowed to preach, but many of them must have lacked ability to do
so. In the GS-allican Church, the Council of Vaison (529) declared
that not only in the towns, but in all parishes also, the presbyters
had authority to preach ; in case of their being prevented the deacons
were to read aloud homilies of the Fathers.

From the fourth century Greek rhetorical art takes possession of the Christian
pulpit and introduces a short period of splendour in Greek preaching. The
artistic form of preaching which corresponds to the spirit of Greek rhetoric is
especially developed by the three Cappadocians. On the one hand the older
homily, of the nature of a theological exposition of the word of Scripture, is
further continued : Cf. e.g. the Homilies of Basil on the so-called Six-Days'
Work and on various Psalms, so also similar homilies by Gregory of Nyssa on
books of the Bible arid on the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer. Alongside of
these, however, there now appear spiritual orations proper (Logos), often with-
out any actual Biblical text, or only in reference to the Biblical Lessons. Such
are most of the famous orations of Gregory of Nazianzen ; orations also, in
memory of ecclesiastical persons and on martyrs and saints, give occasion for
the delivery of artistic and brilliant pieces. On the other hand the substance of
such orations is supplied by the doctrinal principles of the Church, especially
such as were the subjects of controversy at the time. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM with-
out doubt indicates the culmination of Greek pulpit oratory. The strong and
weak points of artistic rhetoric are here combined with exposition of Scripture
to meet practical needs and with the great power over men's minds, which was
at the command of this admirable pastor of souls. The dogmatico-poleniical
spirit of the age finds expression in the sermons of CYRIL of Alexandria, while
the Antiochene THEODORET in his homilies on Providence rather enters on the
general domain of religious-philosophical reflexion. More apart stand the
monastic orators, who, like the monk ISAIAH (contemporary of Athanasius) in
his twenty-nine sermons (Mgr. 49), simply impart moral and ascetic truths, or
like the elder Macarius, develop practical mystical ideas. Here also belongs
the hermit MARCUS (contemporary of Chrysostom, vid. p. 409, Mgr. 65).

But after the brilliant Greek orators mentioned, there occurs a strikingly
speedy downfall of spiritual eloquence in the Greek Church. PROCLUS of Con-
stantinople (middle of the fifth century) already exhibits greatly lowered taste ;
dogmatic watchwords are introduced with rhetorical decoration, and hence the
practical-religious application becomes stiffened. Added to this is the rhetorical
exaggeration of the demands of asceticism and the superabundance of more and
more insipid legends of the saints. From the close of the fifth century preach-
ing loses increasingly in importance, and the whole interest turns towards the
liturgy with its dramatic realization of the history of redemption and its
increasing estimate of the ritual.

In the West preaching took an essentially different course. Before Augustine

534

CHURCH HISTORY.

the influence of the Greeks was still predominant, such as was that of Origen
on HILARY. But even Ambrose, although quite dependent on Greek theology,
and especially on the Homilies of Basil, shows a much more decided tendency
towards the practically edifying and awakening. But the sermons of AUGUS-
TINE in particular are of a perfectly different original power, which is essen-
tially rooted in Augustine's peculiar standpoint. Entirely new problems, based
on the experience of sin and grace, are opened up to the inner religious life.
Not dazzling rhetoric, but practical and actual teaching, in comparatively brief
and precise expression, sharp!}' dialectical, but seizing the conscience. He is
much less brilliant than Chrysostorn, but goes far more into the depths of
religion, the greatest Latin pulpit orator of the ancient Church, the pattern of
many who came later. PETER, Bishop of Ravenna, called Ckrysologus, is more
attached to Greek rhetoric, and is esteemed for his polished diction. More im-
portant in substance is MAXIMUS of Turin, in the second half of the fifth century.
Next to Augustine is the most important preacher LEO the Great of Rome, sur-
passing Augustine in elegance, pointed style and fluent speech, but lagging
behind him in religious depth. Among the later preachers, FuLGEXTirs of
Ruspe (in North Africa) and C.KsARirs of Aries stand pre-eminent. These
men, but especially the last, show how much more fruitfully, but also more
simply and in accordance with the popular intelligence, preaching here serves
for the instruction of the young Western peoples.

CHAPTEE SEVENTH.

Missions and Christianity on the Eastern Frontiers of the

Empire.1

Christianity in the Persian Empire.

Literature : MALCOLM, Gesch. v. Persian, ilbers. v. Becker, Leipsic 1830. EAW-
LINSON, The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, London 1876. Th.NSLDEKE,
Aufsdtze zur persischen Geschichte, Leipsic 1887, p. 86 sqq. ASSEMANI
Acta Marty-rum Oriental, et Occident., Rome 1748. UHLEMANN, Die Verf.
in Persien, in ZhTh. 1861. G-. HOFFMANN, Auszilge aus den syr. Akten
Pers. Martyrer : Abh.f. d. Kunde des MorgenL, vol. 7, 1880.

CHRISTIANS had already spread in Persia under the rule of the
Parthian Arsacidse (p. 186). They stood in manifold relationship
with the Christians of Syria and Mesopotamia, also with those under
Roman dominion. Yet Aphraates (p. 398) has vividly realized for us
the peculiar position of this Oriental Christianity. The double city
of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (Modain) below the present Bagdad, on both
sides of the Tigris, appears as the Christian metropolis. Under the
Parthian rule, which assumed a lukewarm attitude towards the
ancient Zoroastrian religion of Persia, the Christians appear to have
been little troubled. This was changed under the rule of the Sas-
sanids in the neo-Persian Empire, who zealously revived the ancient
fire-worship, decidedly suppressed the Greek cults which had pene-
trated into the country, and all sensuous cults in general, and also
reacted against the foreign Babylonio-Medic Magism. At first Chris-
tianity seemed to be but little affected by the religious movements
and parties connected with this action. Similarly the energetic
persecution of the Manichees did not harm the Christian communi-
ties, who had distinctly rejected Mani as a heretic. Military contact
with the Roman Empire, so long as the Christians in it were a per-
secuted sect, seems rather to have been favourable to them. It was
only after the raising of Christianity to the position of the religion
of the Empire, that the Persian Christians, who still maintained
their attachment to Rome, came under the suspicion of the Sassanid
rulers, and the circumstance, that on occasion of the conclusion of

1 The beginnings of the Christianising of the Gci-man peoples follow ill the
second volume.

535

536 CHURCH HISTORY.

peace in 333 Constantino recommended the Christians to the young
King Schapnr II. (309-381), only served to strengthen the suspicion,
especially on the renewed outbreak of hostilities with the Roman Em-
pire. As a matter of fact the sympathy of the Christians who lived
under Persian rule was on the side of Home.1 The Church, victorious
in the Roman Empire, in the Persian Empire now passed into a
period of severe persecution. The attempt to convert the Christians
to Parseeism began with the imposition of a heavy poll-tax, to be
levied by their metropolitan. When he, the aged Simeon of Seleu-
cia, stubbornly refused to do so, he was executed, and with him one
hundred other clergy ; the churches were destroyed. The p"rsecu-
tion was then extended to a multitude of other Christians also.
Even the peace which seemed so dishonourable to the Roman
Empire, and which, immediately after the death of Julian in 363,
Jovian concluded with the Persians, and by which the districts of
Mesopotamia with the fortress of Nisibis were given into their hands,
brought no real help, although the Christians were permitted to
emigrate. The persecution lasted till towards the close of the life
of Schapur II. (f 381). His next successor left the Christians in
peace, as at first also did Jezdegerd I. (-Ion 121), whom a bishop,
Maruthas of Tagrit, served as negotiator with the Court of Constanti-
nople, and under whom the Persian Church ventured to reorganize
itself at the Synod of Seleucia (416). But the destruction of a fire-
temple by the Christian fanaticism of Bishop Abdas of Susa again
led to sharp measures against the Christians, and under his successor
Bahrain (Varanes) V. (from 4*21), matters again rose to the pitch of
S3Tstematic persecution of the Christians. The escape of Christians
to Roman soil, the surrender of whom Theodosius II. refused, kind led
anew the war with the Roman Empire. Thr-odosius however, in
the peace of 422, obtained toleration for the Persian Christians, by
conceding the like for the religion of Zoroaster under Roman rule.
The action of Bishop Acacius of Amida, who redeemed 7,' H )! i lVr-i;m
prisoners from the hands of the Romans by the surrender of all his
church- vessels, also had a conciliatory effect.

The Persian Christians were assigned to connection with the
Syrian Church (Antioch), and, in the Christological conflicts of the
fifth century, attached themselves to the Antiochcue dogmatic
theology and the Nestorianisui which sprang from it. In favour of it
wrought BARSUMAS(P. 418) after his expulsion from Edessa !.">.'> . MS
Bishop of Nisilns. The dogmatic separation from tin- (.'huivh of the
Empire which was thereby promoted, confirmed l>y the synod at I>eth

1 Vid. Aphraates, //"///. 5, in BKKT. j>. <l!i s<|>|.. also //</>//. lit.

PERSIA. ARMENIA. 537

Lapat in 483 and 484, was of assistance to the Persian Christians
with Peroz (Pheroces, 461-488) who favoured this separation from
the Empire, and only persecuted those who were of Catholic senti-
ments. This Nestorian. attitude was confirmed by the theological
school at Nisibis, which arose out of the school at Edessa, destroyed
on account of its Antiochene tendency (489). Chosrau (Chosroes) II.
however, who was at first very favourable to the Christians, showed
inclination towards the Monophysites.1 The hostile attitude of the
Persian power towards the Empire continued, and the hostile inva-
sions, especially under Chosrau (Chosroes) II., who for a long time
actually desolated Palestine, brought severe sufferings on the Chris-
tians of the Eastern provinces of the empire, until the Sassanid
dominion suffered a decided defeat under the Emperor Heraclius
(621-628), but finally succumbed to the power of the Arab Caliphs
(651).

Nestorian Christianity in this period already spread from Persia
deep into Asia, under the influence of the persecutions in the Persian
kingdom, but also of vigorous trade relations. Thus Cosmos Indico-
pleustes (535) found Persian Christians at Taprobane (Ceylon), Male
(Malabar) and Kalliane (Calicut), and indeed Christianity seems to
have reached China at that time.

2. Christianity in Armenia.

Sources : FAUSTUS of Byzantium, Armenian History. Of the Greek original
only an Armenian translation is extant (Venice 1822. In French in V.
LANGLOIS, Collection des historians anc. et 'mod. de VArmenie, I. Paris 1869).
AGATHANGELOS, History of King Terdat and the conversion of Armenia
by Gregorius Ilium, in the Armenian edition of the Mechitarists. Venice
1835 (and 1862, French transl. Venice 1843) ; the Greek revision in the
Acta SS. Boll. Sept. VIII. The author's giving himself out to be a con-
temporary (secretary) of Terdat is a literary fiction. The compilation from
sources of very various value first originated in the fifth century, but was
used by Moses of Khoren. Vid. the article by Gutschmid, Agathangelos in
ZDMG. XXXI. MOSES KHORENENSIS, Histor. Armen. ed.W. and G. Whiston,
London 1736, and in the collected editions of his Works. Venice 1842 and
1864, with French translation by LeVaillantde Florival, Venice 1841. Vid.
article by GUTSCHMID, Ueber die Glaubwilrdigkit der armen. Gesch. des
Moses v. Choren. in the Berichten ii. d. Verh. der Kgl. Sachs. G. W. XXVIII.
(Leipsic 1876). ELIS^EUS, Gesch. des Glaubenlcampfs gegen die Perser im
5. Jahrh., Venice 1838 and frequently. In English: The History of Vartan
transl. by C. F. Neumann, London 1830.— Literature : J. SAINT-MARTIN,
Memoires hist. et. geogr. de rArmenie, 2 vols. Paris 1819 sq. M. SAMUEL-
JAN, Die Bekehrung Armeniens, Vienna 1844 and ThQ. 1846 (very uncriti-
cal). Cf. further NEUMANN, Gesch. der armen. Literatur,~Leipsic 1836, and
PETERMANN in BE.2 1, 663.

1 Vid. NOLDEKE, p. 124 sq.

538 CHURCH HISTORY.

At the close of the first period (p. 186) the firm foundation of the
Church in Greater Armenia had already been accomplished by
GREGORY the ILLUMINATOR ($&)TKTT>;<?), who, himself alleged to have
sprung from the Parthian royal race of the Arsacidae, escaped as the
child of his foster-mother, from the bath of blood which overtook his
family, to Csesarea in Cappadocia, and in any case there received a
Christian education. Eeturning to Armenia about 286, he won over
to Christianity, after initial opposition, the Arsacid Terdat (Tiri-
dates) III., who had again gained rule by the help of the Romans.
Christianity was now preached to his countrymen by Gregory in
the Armenian language, and introduced by ordinance of the king,
and founded ecclesiastically by the endowment of the churches with
property in land. In many cases the property of the heathen
temples in land and people was immediately transferred into the
hands of the Church. The sons of the heathen priests were educated
in their own schools for the Christian ministry. In this way,
although Syrian and Greek clergy also came in, the Church received
a distinctly national stamp. The Emperor Max hum made war on
the already Christian Armenia (312) with the purpose of inducing it
to fall away from Christianity (Euseb. H.E. 9, 6). The Armenian
Church remained, under metropolitans of the race of Gregory, in
ecclesiastical subordination to Caesarea, till the time of Narses. From
that time onwards this relationship was broken off in accordance
with the decision of the synod at Valarschapad in 306; the patri-
archs or Catholic! were independently elected, among them again a
descendant of Gregory, SAHAK (Isaac the Great, 390-4 \'l . Mean-
while the conflicts of the parties of the Armenian nobility had
undermined the independence of Armenia and made it an object of
war between the Persians and Romans; in 390 one part fell to tin-
share of the Greek Empire, the far larger part to Persia, but under
kings of its own ; in 430 Persian Armenia definitely lost its inde-
pendence. Under Jezdegerd II. severe persecutions broke over the
Church, led by Sahak, afterwards by MKSROB and JOSEPH (who died
a martyr in 454), which was able to assert itself against them.
Towards the end of the century the rebellious Armenians extorted
from King Balasch (484-488.1 the exclusion of the Persian state
religion from Armenia. But Armenia was only freed from the
pressure of the Persian rule by the fall of the Sassanids, only how-
ever to exchange it for Mohammedan rule, in 60 1.

The Christian literature of Armenia owes its origin to the above-
mentioned MESROB (ob. 441 1, who after the ell'orts of many veal's
was the inventor of an Armenian alphabet, and by the help of Sahak

ARMENIA. IBERIA. 539

translated the Bible into Armenian. Until then the lessons in
church had been read in Syriac, while at court Persian was domi-
nant ; Armenian scholars also wrote Armenian works with Syriac or
Greek letters in a very imperfect manner. Mesrob now became the
founder of a very noteworthy Armenian literature, which sought to
replace the inthronging spirit of Parseeism by the help of Greek
Christian culture. Greek and Syriac works were translated in great
numbers by pupils of Sahak and Mesrob, the so-called interpre-
ters. But works in national history and theology also appear ;
MOSES CHORENENSIS (of Khoren in the province of Taron), the nephew
of Mesrob, wrote the history of his people, and ELIS^US the history
of the wars between Armenia and Persia in the fifth century,
Bishop ESNIK the polemical work the "Destruction of THE HERETICS "
and others. (As to Agathangelos vid. sup. the sources.)

The Catholicos SAHAK had adhered to the decision of the Council
of Ephesus against Nestorius. The opposition to Nestorius and
mistrust of the Council of Chalcedon was further strengthened by
the national opposition to the Syrian Nestorianism which was
favoured in the Persian domain. Finally adherence to Zeno's
Henotikon (Synod of Varalschapad in 491) provided the transition
to the Monophysitism which definitively rejected the Synod of
Chalcedon.

In the beginning of the fourth century, Christianity likewise
came to Iberia, between Armenia and the Caucasus (the present
Georgia and Grusia), according to the story, by means of a Christian
prisoner, by whose prayer sick persons were cured. The king ob-
tained by request a bishop from Constantino, but the influence of
Armenia was probably predominant, with which the Iberian Church
and that of the neighbouring Albania, appear in alliance later on.
Its spiritual head, elected by the Georgians, received his consecra-
tion from the Armenian patriarch, the so-called Catholicos. In the
end of the sixth century the Georgian Patriarch Cyrion submitted
himself to the recognition of the Council of Chalcedon, of which the
Nestorians, who interpreted it in their own favour, took advantage.
Cyrion indeed repudiated the Nestorians, but adhered to the recog-
nition of the Council, which led to a break with the Armenian
Church ; but the exertions of the Emperor Mauritius (about 600) did
not make it permanent, although the latter was able to force a
recognition of Greek orthodoxy from the portion of the Armenian
Church which was left in the Greek Empire.

From the Iberians Christianity also forced its way farther towards
the Caucasus ; a king of the Lazi had himself baptized at Constan-

540 CHURCH HISTORY.

tinople in 520, when the Emperor Justin took the part of god-
father. Justinian I. sent clergy to the Abasgi.

3. The Ethiopian Church.

Sources : Eufinus, H.E. 10, 9. Socrates, 1, 19. Sozomen, 2, 24. Theodore t, 1,22.
Literature: H. LUDOLPH, Hist. jEthiopica 7/66*4. Frankfort 1681. E.jdm.
Commentarius ad hist. sEth. 1691 and Appendix 1694. DILLMAXX in
ZDMG. VII. (1852) and Ueber die Anfcinge des axumitischen Reichs in Abh.
Brl. Ak. 1878 and 1880.

In Ethiopia, the countries south of Egypt, the kernel of which is
formed by Habesch (Abyssinia), Christianity now penetrates into
the Axumite kingdom (chief city Axum, or Axumana in the Abys-
sinian district of Tigre). This kingdom, which is historically per-
ceptible from the first century after Christ, temporarily extended
in the north as far as the Egyptian frontier, in the south as far as
the Arabian Gulf (Somalilandi, and also exercised suzerainty over
Southern Arabia. The travels of discovery of the philosopher
Metrodorus, after his return to Tyre, gave opportunity to the mer-
chant Meropius for a commercial undertaking. His expedition
suffered shipwreck on the coast, he himself met with his death, the
youths FRUMENTIUS and ^iEDESirs, who accompanied him, came as
slaves to the court at Axum. Set free by the king before his death,
they gained influence with the queen and her son Aczianes. They
attracted Christian traders and wrought for the Christian religion.
While .(JEdesius returned to Tyre, Frumentius had himself ordained
bishop in Alexandria by Athanasius. The king and his brothers
adopted Christianity; after the expulsion of Athanasius the Avian
patriarch tried to influence Frumentius, but to no purpose. Th-
Emperor Constantius also exerted himself in vain to supplant him
by Theophilus of Diu. After these first beginnings the monks of
Upper Egypt subsequently (from about the close? of the rent im-
probably did most for the Christianising of the country. The
Patriarch or Abuna remained under Al<-xan<lria. In connect ion
with the patriarchate of Alexandria and the dominant disposition
of the Eg}rptiaii Christians the Abyssinian Church also fell into
Moiiophysitism. Under Justinian, a presbyter devoted to this way
of thinking, JUSTIN, went, sent by Theodora, on mission to the
Nobates (Nubians) in the neighbourhood of the Thebaid, and subse-
quently, after Theodora's death, LOXGIXUS went thither and to the
more southern Alvadians.1

1 John of Ephesus, History of the Church. 4. <>, cf. I >i I.I.MANX I.e. l'r<>m thar
time onwards the Abyssinian Church iii;iint;uii> .1 \\»-li. Inn in great t<n-|>idity
and ossification.

THE CHURCH IN ARABIA. 541

"We find the Church of Southern Arabia in some contact with that
of Abyssinia. Constantius sent an embassy in 350 to the Him-
jarites, with Theophilus of Din (born on the island of Diu = Socotra
at the outlet of the Red Sea). Educated as a Christian in Constan-
tinople and consecrated Bishop of the Indies, he was to gain free
worship among the Homerites for the Christians who traded there,
and won over Abdul Calal the ruler. Churches arose in Taphar, the
capital, in Portus Eomanus = Aden and the Persian trading city of
Hormuz. Even then the Christians suffered violent attacks on the
part of the very numerous Jews, later, in the beginning of the sixth
century violent persecution on the part of the ruler DHUNOVAS, him-
self a Jew, till the Abyssinian king Elesbaan again restored the
Christian dominion. Chosroes II. of Persia overthrew the rule of
the Abyssinians and brought Yemen under Persian authority, until
it succumbed to the inrush of Islam.

INDEX,

Abdas of Susa, 536.

Abcrar Uchomo, 104; bar Mann,

^104.

Abrenuntiatio, 257, 476.
Abuna, 540.
Abyssinia, 510.
Acacians, 390.

Acacius of Csesarea, 390, 425.
Acacius of Amida, 536.
Aceclin, 370.
Acolytes, 240, 321.
Acta Andrese, 155.
Acta Pilati, 117.
Acts of the Apostles, Apocr.,

155.
.\ i Kadmon, 131.

, 104.
Adiaphorites, 431.

ition of images. 603.
ins, 540.
i ;ies, 510.
^Elia Capitolina, 95.

.EM'ils of ' IL7.U, 412.

9, !7ii, 510.
Aetius, :j-s.
A -rapes, 2K8 sq.
A'japetus 1., 352, 427.
Au'ii'i.-tai, 430.
Agrcecius, 187.
Aicrtppa Castor, 184.
Agrippuraa of Carthage, 106,

iMi.

Akiba, 95.

Akoimetes, 301.

Aktistetes, 4:30.

Alcibiades of Apamea, 101.

Alexander of Alexandria, 330;
of Jerusalem, 193; Severus,
l!U, 195.

Alexandria, 103.

Alms, L'8s, l-a.

AloRi, 158, 223, 233.

Alypius, -155.

Ambo, 497, 523.

Ambrose, 399, 401, 433 sqq., 111.

Ambrosiast, 450.

Ammianus Marcellinus, 312.

Ammonias, 358; Saccas, 188,
207.

Amphilochius of Iconium, 362.

, I., 343; II., 351, 425;
Bibliotbecarius, 8; Presby-
ter, 417; Sinaita, 432.

Anatolius of Constantinople,
347.

Anchorites, 355 sqq.

Andrew, Apostle, 82.

Angelici, 511.

Angels, adoration of, 511.

Amcetus, 276.

Anomoeans, 388.

Anthimus of Trapezus, l'J7.

Anthropomorphism, 405.

Antidikomariomites, 607.

Antiochenes, 406 sqq., 416.

Antoninus, Pius, 163.

Antony, S., 355.

Apelles, Gnostic. 149.

Aphraates, 356, 398.

Aptbartodocetics, 430.

Apiarius, 343.

Apion, 42.

Apostolic Constitutions, 235.

Apostolic Decree, 57, 71.

Apostolici, 361.

Apuleius of Madaura, 168.

Arabia, 105, 186, 511.

Arator, 468.

Arcadius, 308.

Archeluus, 33.

Archdeacon, 321.

Arch presbyter, 323.

Architecture, Roman, 403; By-
zantine, 498.

Ardesianes, Gnostic, 147.

Arianism, -->_> sqq., 4U.

Aristeus, 43.

Aristides, 173.

Aristobulus, 33.

Arius, M--'

Arm ' ."37.

Arnobius, !

Arnobius Junior, 465.

Artemon, 2-1.

A , Christian, 283, 499.

Asretirs, 2-1 ;.

Asia Minor, 83, 91.

ABB, Worship "f the, 160.

Asterins, 3SO, 385.

ira, Riffht of, 318.
U4.

Alba- . 384 sqq., 403.

Athenagoras, 165, 170.

Atticus," 406.

Audians, 361.

Audius, 361.

An Busline, 293, 325, 435 sqq.,
173,681

Aurelian, 196.

Au-oiiius, Matrn. Aurel., 312.

Auto(V]iha!y, 340.

Auxentiu-.

Avitus of Vienne, 350, 466.

Axi' iincns, Gnostic, 1 17.

Axumite Kingdom, 640.

Babylas of Antioch, 192.
Ban, v. Excommunication.
Baptisteries, 476, 497.
l!aiiiism,52, 70,121, l'.">fi, 471 sqq.
Baptism, terms of, 473.
Baptismal Creed, 121, 257, 475.
Baptismal Formula, »7r..
Bastismal Sponsors, 177.
Barcochba, 95.
Barrtesanes, 151
Barnabas, Ep^tle of, 112.
Barsamas, 536.
Bartholomew, Apostle, 82.
Basil tiie Great, 322, 325, 359 Bqq.,

394 sqq.

Basilicas, 279, '197.
Basilides, 1 11 sqq.
Bussianus (Heliopabalus), 1C1.
Benedict I., 354 ; of Nursia, 373.
Beryllus of Bostra, 228.
Bishops, i'. eirioxoiroi.
Blastus, 276.
Boetius, 470.

Boniface I., 344, 455; II., 362.
Bonosus, 607.
Boo-icoi, 361.
Breviarium, 626.
Britain, 186.

642

Bryennio?, 89.
Burial, :'79, 494.

Csecilian, 332.

Caesarius of Aries, 373, 466, 469,

531.

Cainites, 139.

Callistus, 201, 226, 24-1, 261.
Canon, Apostolic, 231.
Caracalla, 191.
Care - Friday (Good Friday),

61«.

Carpocrates, 135.
(_'ai ]i,nT:itians, 135.
Cappadociaus, 39t.
Cassianus u. Johannes.
Oassi -. :i75, 170

Catechuincnate, 2."> 1. 171
Celestino 1.. :Hl, 310, 417
Celesiius, 452.
Celibacy of the clergy, 286.

32 1.
Cclsus, 169.

-. 280.

Cordon, 147 sqq.
Cerinthus, 134.
i lha i 9m 9, i;i.

Xpicrrtai/oc, •"> I.
Christmas, 517 sqq.
1 i 'in, v. John.

line, 486.
Church History, Division of,

4 sqq. ; Literature and

Sources of, 10 sqq.
Church-prayer, 271, 526.
('hnrrh-.sint,'ini:, 529.
Claudius I., 7«; II., 196; Apol-

bnaris, 157, 173, 270; Clau-

clninus, 312.

Claudianus Mamertus, 461.
Clement of Rome, 87 ; II. Epis-

tle of, 109, 123; of Alexan-

dria, 207.
Collatio cum Donatistis, 447}

cum Severin ins, 427.
Commodian, 205, 439.
Commociu^, Hit;.
Council, (Krnnii 'ni fall. (Nica;a),

3:u, sqq.; II. (Constantin.),

401 eq. ; III. (Kphesus). 417;

IV. (Chalcetlon), 421; V.

(Oonstantin.), 4i9.
Concupiscentia, 450.
Confessors, 262.
Conflrmatio, 268.
Constans, 301.
ConRUuitine I. the Great, 296;

II. 301.
Cloisters, in the East, t>. Mon-

asteries, 357.
Constantinople (foundation of),

299.
Constantius, 301 ; Chlorus, 198,

301.

Constitutum, 429.
Copiatae, 320.
Coracion. 2:<3.
Cornelius, 263.
Corporate property, 244.
Crescens, 169.

INDEX.

543

Cross of Christ, 605, 512; Feast of

discovery of, 506.
Cyprian, 191, 205 sqq., 237, 262,

.266.

Cynegius, 307.
Cyrenaica, 105.
Cyril of Alexandria, 346, 409,

417, 503 ; of Jerusalem, 397,

473.

Cyrillonas, 412.
Cyrion, 539.

Damasus, 342, 399.

Damianus, 431.

Daniel, Bk. of, 35.

Danube, Lands on, 186.

Deacons, 67, 90, 125, 239, 321.

Deaconesses, 241.

Deems, 193.

Decretals, 313.

Delphidius, 441.

Demetrias, 451.

Diaspora of the Jews, 39 sqq.,

62 sq.
Didache of the Twelve Apostles,

107, 111 sqq., 235.
Didymus, 397, 403.
Diocesan Bishops, 338.
Diocletian, 197.
Diodorus of Tarsus, 397, 416.
Diognetus, 176.
Dioiiysius, Bishop of Rome, 231 ;

the Great of Alexandria,

186, 193, 214, 228, 231, 233;

Areopagita, 411 ; Exiguus,

351: of Milan, 387.
Dhunovas, oil.
Dioscurus, 347, 419.
Diptych?, 506.
Discipline, ecclesiastical, 127,

317.

Disciplina arcani, 270.
Domitian, 86.
Domitilla, 87 sq.
Donatists, 332, 445.
Donatus of Casse Nigrse, 332;

Magnus, 332.
Dorotheas, 216.
Dositheus, 131.
Dove, the, as symbol, 282.
Dracontius, 467.

Easter Canon, 277, 514.

Ebionseans, v. Ebionites.

Ebionites, 99.

Edessa, 82, 104.

Egypt, 105.

Elesbaan, 541.

Eleutheros, 158.

Elevation, 525.

Elias of Jerusalem, 425.

Elisseus, 539.

Elkesaites, 100.

Elpidius, D. Helpidius.

Elxai, 101.

Encratites, 175, 235.

Endelechius, 440.

Ennius, 29.

Enuodius, 350, 467.

Enoch, Bk. of, 117.

Enthusiasts, 362.

Epigonus, 226.

Ephesus, 105.

Ephraem, 398.

Ephraim of Antioch, 428.

Epiklesis, 274

Epiphanes, 135.

Epiphany. Feast of, 278, 516.

Epiphan'ius, 8, 324, 403.

Episcopate, development of, 235.

'ETUO-KOTTOI, 63, 90, 125, 235, 323.

Essaeans, v. Essenes.

Essenes, 36 sq., 100.

Ethiopia, 5 10.

Eucharist, 70, 122, 268 sqq., 522.

Eucherius, 401.

Euchites, 362.

Eudocia, 412, 423.

Eudoxius, 339, 399.

Eugenius, 308.

Euhemeros, 29.

Eulogius of Csesarea, 453 ; of
Alexandria, 510.

Eunapius, 312.

Eunomius, 402.

Eusebius, Bishop of Rome, 261;
of DorylaRum, 420; of
Emisa, 380, 397 ; of Nico-
media, 304, 330, 382; of
Csesarea, 6, 7, 81, 190, 379 ;
of Vercelli, 325.

Eustathians, 324, 362.

Eustathius of Antioch, 336, 380,
384; of Sebaste, 382, 400.

Eutyches, 42o.

Eutychian controversy, 420
sqq.

Euzoius, 391.

Evagrius Ponticus, 7, 409.

Exarchs, 340.

Excommunication, 258, 486.

Exomologesis, 260.

Exorcism, 474.

Exorcists, 240.

Exukontians, 388.

Fabius, 263.

Facuudus of Herm., 429, 469.

Fasts, 277, 431.

Fathers, the Apostolic, 108 sqq.

Faustus of Mileve ; of Reji, 461,

464.

Felicissimus, 262, 263.
Felicitas, 158, ISO.
Felix II ,312; III. ,349, 424; IV.

351.
Felix the Maniehee, 293; of

Aptunga, 332.
Firmicus Maternus, 313.
Firmilian, 229, 267.
Fish, the, as symbol, 282.
Flavian of Antioch, 362, 42i ; of

Constantinople, 420.
Fortunatus, 263.
Foot-washing, 515.
Fossores, 320.
Fronto, 169.
Frumentius, 540.
Fulgentius of Ruspe, 465, 469.

Gajanus, 427.

Gaius, Presbyter, 201.

Galerius, 197.

Gallierms, 195.

Gaul, 109, 18G.

Gelasiusl., 349.

Gemara, 96.

Genesis, The Little, 117.

Gennadius Massil., 465 ; of Con-
stant., 503.

Gnosticism^ general, 129 ; fun-
damental principles, 152 ;
signif. for the Ch., 153;
systems of, 131.

Gospels, apocryphal, 117.

Gospels, gnostic, 155.

Gospel of Nicodemus, 117.

Gregory I. the Great, 351, 473;
the Illuminator, 538 ; of
Naziauzen, 395 sq. ; of
Nyssa, 396 sq., 403, 473;
the Thaumaturge, 186, 214.

Greece, 105.

Green Thursday, 515.

Goods, community of, 51.

Hadrian, 95, 162.

Hands, laying- on of, 257, 477.

Hebrews, Epistle to the, 89 ;

Gospel of the, 151.
Hegesippus, 100, 116.
Helena, 296, 495, 605.
Heliodore of Trikka, 324.

Heliogabalus, v. Bassianus.

Hellenists, 44.

Helpidius, 441.

Helvidius, 480.

Hemerobaptists, 134.

Henotikon, 424.

Heracles, 210, 214.

Heracleon, Gnostic, 147.

Heraclius. 264.

Hermas, 108, 128.

Herod the Great, 33.

Herod Agrippa I., 33, 42, 55.

Herod Antipas, 33.

Heros of Aries, 453.

Hesychius, 210.

Hieracas, 237.

Hieracites, 355.

Hierocles, 189.

Hieronymus (Jerome), 325, 365

sqq., 404, 434,453.
Hilariou, 356.
Hilarius of Arelate, 344, 372,

462 ; Bp. of Rome, 349, 420 ;

of Poitiers, 387, 393, 439.
Hippolytus, 201 sq.
Honorins, 309.

Homily, 272 ; the first, 123. •
Homoians, 390.
Homoiousians, 339.
Homousios, 383.
Honoratus, 372.
Hormisdas, 465.
Horologium, 526.
Hosius, 332, 387.
Hyacinthus, 167.
Hyginus of Corduba, 411.
Hymns, 271, 439. 468, 528.
Hypatia, 308, 313.

lamblichus, 303.

Ibas, 418.

Iberia, 539.

Idacius, 411.

Ignatius of Antioch, 112 sqq.,

K!2 ; Epistles of, 112 sqq.,

126.

India, 82, 105, 186.
Infant communion, 525.
Innocent I., 309, 343.
Instantius, 443.
Intercession, 317.
Irensus, 106, 158, 199 sqg
Isaac of Antioch, 412.
Isaiah, monk, 533.
Isidore of Pelusium, 408.
Ithacius, 442.

Jacobus Baradseus, 431 ; of
Nisibis, 323, 398 ; of Sarug,
412.

James, 55, 74.

Jason, 182.

Jerome, v. Hieronymus.

Jerusalem, Destr. of, 80.

Jews, Insurrection under Nero,
79 ; under Hadrian, 95 ;
under Trajan, 94; expul-
sion of, under Claudius, 76.

Jewish Christians, 97.

John I., 351; II., 352, 427 ; III.,
354; of Antioch, 418; the
Apostle, 82, 91 ; Ascunaghes,
431 ; Cassian. 368 sqq., 462,
•1(11; Chrysostom, 405 sqq.,
533 ; of Ephesus, 7, 309, 431,
of Gischala, 80.

Joannes Maxentius, 426, 465.

Joannes Philoponus, 413, 431.

John Talaja, 421.

John, Acts of, 155.

Jovian, 307.

Joviuian, 451 479.

Jubilees, Bk. of, 117.

Judicatum, 429.

Julia Domna, 191 ; Mammnea,
192.

544

INDEX.

Julian the Apostate, 302 sqq. ;

of Eclanum, 455 ; of Halicar-

nassus, 426, 430.
Julianists, 430.
Julius I., 342, 335; Africanus,

214; Severus, 95.
Junilius, 469.

Jurisdiction, ecclesiastical, 317.
Justina, 402.
Justin I., 425; H., 432; Martyr,

164, 173 sq.
Justinian I., 426.
Justus, Gnostic, 140.
Juvenal of Jerusalem, 339, 423.
Juvencus, Aquilinus, 438.

Kripvy/jLd Herpov, 118.
Keys, power of the, 260.
Kollyridian Women, 508.
Ktistolaters, 430.

Lactantins, 206.

Lapsi, 262.

Laurentius, Deacon, 195; Anti-
pope, 350.

Lazarus of Aix, 453.

Lazi, 539.

Leo I., the Gt.,311 sqq., 421, 460.

Leonidas, 190.

Leontins of Byzant., 413.

Leucius, 155.

Libellatici, 194.

Libelii Pacis,262.

Libanius, 304, 311.

Liberius, 342, 387 so., 400.

Licinius, 198, 296, 2!ix.

Litterae formatae, 2b5.

Liturgies, 521.

Longinus, 540.

Locos, Doct. of, 93, 179, 222.

Luke, 85 sq.

Lucian, 171 ; Presbyter and
Miirtyr, 216, 231.

Lucidus, K; 1.

Lucifer of Cacliari, 397, 391.

Lucius of Alexandria, 399.

Macarius, the Elder, 358, 409;

Mapnes, 189, 313.
Maccabaeans, 33.
Macedonians, 392.
Macedonius, 392.
Macrina, :v.'i.

Mucrobius, Tbeodosiua, 312.
Majorinus, :ct2.
Malchion, 2:ti>.
Mnmphnino, 107.
Manao?ans, 293.
Mani, 290.
Manicheism, 289.
MaiTplhis, Bishop of Rome, 248,

L'li I ; of Ancyra, 385.
Mitrcia, 167.
Mnrciun, 121.
Marcion, 1-18 sqq. ,155.
Murcosians, 147.
Mnn-us, theGnost., 117.
Mar Jakub, 398.
Marins Mercator, 456, 459;

Victor, 439.

Martin of Tours, 309, 3<H, 366.
Martyrs, Feasts of, 278, 507;

Adoration of, 2«8, 504.
Mrvrtyrologifs, 507.
Manilas of Tagrit,536.
Mary, Worship of, 508.
Maaia perditionis, 467.
Maternus, 187.
Matthew, 82,8.5.
Maiui.inc, f'-'ii.
Mauritius, Kmperor, 432.
Maxentius, v. Joannes M.
Maximian, 198.
Maximilla, 156.
Maximinus Daza, 199 sq., 296 ;

Tlirax, 191.

Maximus of Madaura, 510; of

Turin, 460; Tyrius, 163.
Melania, 365.
Melchiades, v. Miltiades.
Melchisedecians, 224.
Meletius of Antioch, 391, 401;

of Lycopolis, 265.
Melito of Sardis, 165, 172, 276.
Memnon of Ephesus, 417.
Menander, 132.
Mennas, 427.

Mensurius of Carthage, 332.
Meropius, alii.
Mevuzanes, 186.
Mesrob, 538.
Messalians, 362.
Methodius, 215.
Metropolitan constitution, 249

sq., 328 sqq.

Miltiades, Bishop of Rome, 333.
Miltiades, Rhetor, 157, 173, 182.
Minucius Felix, 177.
Mischna,96.
Missa fidelium, 270, 521 ; cate-

chumenorum, 270.
Monadistic Gnosticism, l:i5.
Monarchians, dynamistic, 223 ;

modalistic, 225.
Monasticism, 355 sqq. ; in the

West, 304.
Monastic vow, 37 1.
Monophysite controversy, 422

sqq.

Monotheism, 30.
Montanism. 156.
Montanu?. 156.
Mosaics, 500.
Monte Cassino, 374.
Mysteries, celebration of, 269.

Naassenes, 139.

Nectarius, l"l.

Nemesms, Ho.

Neo-Alexandriana, 408,416.

Neo-Platoi

Neophytt-s, 327.

Nepos, L'.'t.i.

Nestorianf, 316,417 sqq.

Nrstnnii--, 117.

Nilus, lln.

Nimbus, £03.

Noachic commandments, 41,58.

.Virtus of Smyrna, 2:.~).

Nonniis, til.

Nuns, el. i-!'TS of, 377.

Noricum. 187.

North Alnra. |m;.

Novatiun, 205. 2'iM.

Novat ianists, 2' :i.

Numenius, 169.

Oblations. 2 IX
Oplnir.-, i:',i; gqq.
Orienuu^. I 10.

, 193. 209 sqq.. 1'1".

Orosius, 7, 314, 410, 453, 459.

Pachomiup, 358.
Palm Siiml iy, S15.
Pamphilus, I'.HI, :)7'J.
Pannonia, 1-^7.
P:int:i'ini.,, L06, 207.
Paphnutiu-, :<L'l.
Papias, 115.
Papiscus, 182.
Parabolani, :t2".
Parmenianus, 416.
Parochial division, 32.'.
Particularity of will in Grace,

m

Paschal featt, r.H
Paschal controversies, 275 sqq.
Passio Quatuor Coronatorum,
187

Patriarchate, 337.

Patripassians, 225.

Patroclus of Arelate, 344.

Patron, 64.

Paulinus of Antioch, 391; of
Milan, 459; of Nola. 367,
440 ; of Perigueux, 46S ; of
Treves, 387.

Paul, St., 57 sqq., 75 sq., 76 ; of
Antioch, 432 ; of Samosata,
228 sq.

Pelagian controversy, 448 sqq.

Pelacrius, 451 sq.; 1., 353; II.,
354, 428.

Pella, 81.

Pentecost. 278, 516.

Perata?, 139.

Peregrinns, 441.

Periodentai, 322.

Perpetua, 158, 190.

Persecutions under Nero, 77;
Domitian, 87 ; Trajan and
Hadrian, 161 ; the Anto-
nines, 164; Septim. Spv.,
190; Docius,193; Diocletian,
196.

Persia, 186, 535.

Peter, 54,82; of Alexandria, 866,
399 ; Chrysolojjus, 534; the
Fuller, 423 ; of Jerusalem,
US ; Mullens, 421.

Phantasiasts, 430.

Pharisees, 35 sqq.

Philip, 82 ; the Arabian, 192.

Philo of Alexandria, 45.

Philoponus, v. Joannes Ph.

Philostratuc, 188.

Phocylulos, 44.

Photinus of Sirmiuir, 387.

Phrygia, 82.

Phthartolatry, 430.

I'llL'rimtxges, 512.

Pliny the younger, 118, 161.

PlotiniiH, 188.

Plutarch of Cha;ronea, 168.

Piiruniatomaehi, :VM.

Polycarp, 111 sq., !''•! S'l-, 278;
Martyrium. 118.

Polycrates of K\>\\> sus, 277.

Pontianus, 192, 201, 2ti-'.

Pontus, 186.

Porphyry, !>*«.

Possessor, 'Ui5.

I'ntiiMiiaMiii, 190.

Pciihinus, -'"ii.

itlnatlo, prsBHCientla, 468.

Prayer, bom* of, '•«'•*. •'•-';-
'uiiL', 272, .Vtl.

l'rciii',1 inationista, n>i
Presbyter, 56, 1:2, !•". 12:.. 2:13,
381.

I'ric-i1 , a of, 270.
Primasms. |i I,

aoj . Hinmiii, :MO.
I'riM-a Pi i-.-illn), 156.
i'i .-n lianiem, 1 11'.

I'liM-ilhan, II '

Privili -L-i > ' t tin- Church and

ll.r cliTL'v, :i2-*.
Prooluf", 312; tlio Montanist,

\£>*.
Proli 105.

l'|-..]ihi t«. 121.

I'r. ispcr A'i'iiliiiius, -WO.

Proiasius, :,IM;.

Proteriii!', 12H.

Protevangclium Jacobi Minoris,

117.

Protopaochites, L'77
I'rotnprexbytiT, T-':f
1'r.u incuil .syniicls, 24!», 331.

Prudciitius i lemens, nn.
Psalm-singing, 271. .'.27
I'tolrii ^tir, 1 !•;.

INDEX.

545

Puleheria, 421.
Purgatory, 485, 531.

Quadragesimal season (Lent),
277,^514.

Quadratus, 172.

Quartodecimans, 275.

Quinquagesimal season (Pente-
cost), 278, 516.

Eabulas, 418.

Ravenna, buildings, 499.

Regula fidei, 217.

Relics, adoration of, 594, aqq.

Remoboth, 361.

Reparatus, 429.

Repentance, discipline of, 260
sqq., 489; public and secret,
490 sqq. ; second, 260; priest
of, 489 ; stages of, 265.

Reprobi, 458.

Revelation of John, 82.

RhaHia. 187.

Rhine Provinces 187.

Rhodo, 182.

Robber synod, 420.

Rome, 83, 105, 248.

Rufinus, 7, 8, 365, 401, 433.

Rutilius Namatianus, 312.

Sibellius, 227.

Sadducees, 36 sq.

Sahak, 539.

Salvianus, 314, 461.

Samaritans, 47.

Sarabaites, 361.

Sarcophagi, 499.

Saturday, 513.

Saturninus of Antioch, 135.

Saturus, 191.

Schism in the year 484, 424.

Schools of theology; at Alex-
andria, 325 ; at Antioch, 328 ;
at Edessa, 326 ; at Caesarea,
326 ; at Nisibis, 326, 537.

Scillitan Martyrs, 167.

Scrutinies, 474.

Secundus of Tigisis, 332.

Sedulius, Coelius, 440.

Semiarians, 389.

Semipelagians, 460.

Semipelagian controversy, 462
sqq.

Seneca, 30, 41.

Septi mius Severus, 188.

Serapeum, 308.

Serapion of Thmuis, 392.

Rerenus of Mass., 603.

Servatius, 187.

Sethites, 140.

Severians, 430.

Severinus, 372.

Severus, Augustus, of Antioch,
412, 425.

Sidonius Apollinaris, 461.

Silverius, 352.

Simeon, 97, 162.

Simon Magus, 131 sq.

Simeon of Seleucia, 536;
(Stylites), 363.

Simplicius, 349, 490.

Siricius, 324, 343, 479, 490.

SixtusIL, 195; III., 346.

Smyrna, 105.

Sophia, St., Church of, 498.

Soter, 158.

Spain, 106.

Station-days, 275, 526.

Stephen, 54; Bishop of Rome,
266 ; Niobes, 430.

Styhtes, 263.

Subdeacons, 239, 321.

Sunday, Observance of, 69, 268,
298, 513.

Sylvester I., 342.

Symbolism, Christian, 282.

Symbplum Nicsenum, 383 ;
Nicseno Constantin., 401.

Symmachus, Bishop of Rome,
350 ; Aurelius, 311.

Symphosius (Symposius), 442.

Synagogue. 34.

Synesius of Cyrene, 324, 410.

Synods, 157, 250.

Synods of Alexandria, 210, 382,
390, 405 ; of Ancyra, 334,
389; of Antioch, 229, 386,
393, 401 ; of Aquileia, 401 ;
of Ariminum, 389 ; of Aries,
267, 333,465 ; of Beth Lapat,
537; of Carthage, 263,267, 332,
447, 452, 453, 457 ; of Cilicia,
456 ; of Constantinople, 381,
390, 401 sq., 406, 421, 427, 428,
429 ; of Diospolis, 453 ; of
Elvira, 264, 501 ; of Ephesus,
417, 420; of Gangra, 324,
362 ; of Jerusalem, 384, 453 ;
of Iconium, 266 ; of Lamp-
sacus, 400 ; of Laodicea, 520 ;
of Lyons, 465 ; of Milan,
387 bis.; of Neocsesarea, 255 ;
of Nicasa, 334 ; of Orange,
468; of Philippopolis, 386;
of Rimini, v. Ariminum ;
of Rome, 263, 350 sqq., 385,
399, 417; of Sardica, 342,
386 ; of Saragossa, 442 ; of
Seleucia, 389 ; of Seleucia-
Ctesiphon, 535 ; of Sirminm,
387, 389 ; of Synnada, 266 ;
of Toledo, 525 f of Tyre, 384 ;
of Valarschapad, 538, 539;
of Valence, 467.

Synodus Palmaris, 350.

Syria, 82.

Tatian, 150, 175.
Teachers, 65, 124.
Telesphorus, 163.
Tempus clausum, 515.
Terebinthus, 290.

Tertullian, 106, 158, 202 sqq., 225,

261.

Testament of the Twelve Patri-
archs, 117.
Thaddeus, 82, 104.
Themistius, 303, 311, 430.
Theodoric, 350.
Theodoret, 6, 7, 313, 347, 403.
Theodoras Askidas, 428; of

Heraclea, 380 ; Lector, 6, 503 ;

of Mopsuestia, 407, 416.
Theodosius I., 307; II., 303; of

Alexandria, 427: the monk,

422.

Theodotians, 223,
Theodotus, the money-changer,

224; the Gnostic, 147;

a-Kurev's, 223.

Theopaschitism, 413, 426.
Theophilus of Alexandria, 308,

404 ; of Antioch, 176 ; of

Diu, 540.

Thomas, 82 ; Acts of, 155.
Tithe, the, 244.
Tradux peccati, 454.
Tradition, 218.
Traditio Symboli, 475.
Trajan, 94, 161 sq.
Trinity, Doctrine of the, 402.
Trophimus, 263.
Two Natures, doctrine of, 414.
Tychonius, 447

Ulpiaa, 190.
Urban I., 285.
Ursinus, 342.

Valens, 399.

Valentinus, Gnostic, 145 sq.

Valentinian I., 307 ; II., 307.

Valerian, 191.

Vennntius Fortunatus, 468.

Vespers, 52ti.

Victor I., 167, 225, 277.

Victorinus of Petabium. 206;

Victorinus Rhetor, 305.
Vigilantius, 325, 480, 510.
Vigilius, 352, 427, 429.
Vincentius Lerimensis, 460.
Vindelicia, 187.
Visitatorep, 322.
Vitalian, 425.
Vulgate, 434.

Whitsunday, 516.
Works, good, 238. 478.
Worship, societies for, CO.

Xenajas, 412.
Xerophagies, 277.

Zacharias Scholasticus, 412.
Zeno, 423.
Zenobia, 222.

Zephyrinus, 201, 226 sq., 211.
Zosimus, 312, 343, 454.

ADDITIONS AND COEEECTIONS.

Page 7, line 15 from foot, for Theoderic read Theodoric.

Page 111, line 8 from foot, for discipline read Canon.

Page 177, line 21 from top, insert : According to A. HARNACK the Roman Bishop Victor (180 sqq.), as
the author of the pseudo-Cyprian's tractate De Aleatoribus (Texte unil Unters. by Gebliardt and
A. Harnack V. 1. 1888), would be regarded as the first Latin Christian author. Of. Bonwetsch
inThLB. 1889,1. Fid., however, on the contrary, E. Wolfllinin the A.rcliio.f. lat. Lexikogr. V. 4S7 •
and especially Hausleiter in ThLB. 1889, 5 and 6.

Page 234, line 9 from foot, for Church Ordinances read Cannn.