Many misunderstandings grew about
Christianity. Eucharistic teaching about
being nourished by the body and blood of the Lord was sometimes misinterpreted
and references to communion as ‘agapé’ (a love feast) gave rise to rumours of
incest. The Roman historian Tacitus
writing around 115 AD describes Christians as ‘a class of men loathed for their
vices.’ He says that after the fire of Rome
in 64 AD they were ‘convicted not so much for the crime of arson as for hatred
of mankind.’
At the time Tacitus was writing, the governor of
Bithynia in Asia Minor, Pliny the Younger, was asking the Emperor Trajan by
letter for advice on dealing with the growing number of Christians who refused
to worship an image of the emperor. M he had many complaints against them
because the temples were ‘almost deserted’.
He told Trajan: ‘This is the course I have taken with those who were
accused before me as Christians. I asked
them if they were Christians and, if they confessed, I asked them a second or
third time with threats of punishment.
If they kept to it I ordered their execution. As for Roman citizens, I noted those down to
be sent to Rome.’ The Emperor approved
of Pliny’s policy but urged that the Christians should not be hunted but
punished only when denounced by informers.
Other Emperors were more extreme.
Nero, Domitian and Marcus Aurelius all persecuted the Christians in
Rome. But no emperor regarded Christians
as enough of a threat to wage a systematic empire-wide campaign against them
until 249 AD and the Emperor Decius.
In 177 AD, forty-eight Christians were killed in
Lyons in Gaul after rumours of immorality.
In 200 AD, twelve were martyred in Scilli, North Africa. Polycarp was Bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor
for fifty years until his death in 156 AD.
The account of his death records that the mob shouted against him: ‘This
is the father of the Christians, the destroyer of our gods, who teaches many
not to sacrifice or worship.’ The
magistrate urged him: ‘Have respect for your age. Revile Christ and I will release you.’ Polycarp replied: ‘For eighty-six years I
have been his servant and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved
me.’ He was burned at the stake.
Polycarp was taught by John the Evangelist as a youth.
Many of those who denounced Christians to the
authorities had a vested interest in pagan religion. The pagan priesthood was the preserve of the
upper classes and was a lucrative business.
Those who made a living from animal sacrifices or who made idols would
not give in easily to a new religion that was opposed to such things. But for a period of twenty-seven years,
during the reigns of Alexander Severus and Philip of Arabia, both of whom were
sympathetic to the Christians, there was a respite from persecution.
In the face of attack and hostility and false
accusations, the Church needed to provide a stout defence of its practice and
beliefs. The writers who provided this
defence are referred to as the Apologists.
The word then meant those who explained and defended their beliefs –
rather than apologise as we understand the word. The most famous is Justin the Martyrs. He taught Christian philosophy in Rome in the
140’s and 150’s AD and wrote two Apologies – books defending various beliefs
and practices of the Christians. The
first was addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius and the second to the Roman
Senate. Among other things he gives a
very detailed account of how the Eucharist was celebrated not much more than a
century after Christ’s Resurrection – very much as we celebrate it today. He was finally executed under the Emperor
Marcus Aurelius together with several companions. Another gifted apologist was Tertullian who
was born in Carthage – modern Tunis – in 160 AD and was a lawyer and a noted
theologian, one of the first to write in Latin.
He wrote: ‘We are but of yesterday but we have filled all you have – cities,
islands, forts, towns, assembly halls...the palace, senate and forum. We have left you nothing but the
temples. But if the Tiber rises too high
or the Nile is too low, if the sky remains closed or the earth moves, if plague
or famine come the cry is ‘The Christians to the lions.’’
(I
am indebted to Philip Hughes – A History of the Church)
