THE GREAT APOSTASY Chapt. 5 - EXTERNAL CAUSES, CONTINUED

1. As already pointed out, it is convenient to study the causes leading to the great apostasy as belonging to two classes, external and internal, or (1) causes due to conditions operating against the Church from without; and (2) causes arising from dissension and heresy within the Church itself. We have summarized external causes under the general term persecution; and we have drawn a distinction between Judaistic and pagan persecution waged against the Church. Having dealt with the opposition suffered by the early Christians at the hands of the Jews or through Jewish instigation, we have now to consider the persecution brought upon the believers in Christ by pagan nations.

2. To persons or peoples who did not believe in the existence of the living God, and whose worship was essentially idolatrous. The motives impelling non-believing Jews to oppose the establishment and spread of Christianity may readily be understood, in view of the fact that the religion taught by Christ appeared as a rival to Judaism, and that the growth and spread of the one meant the decline if not the extinction of the other. The immediate motive leading to bitter and widespread persecution of the Christians by heathen peoples is not so easy to perceive, since there was no uniform system of idolatrous worship in any single nation, but a vast diversity of deities and cults of idolatry, to no one of which was Christianity opposed more than to all. Yet we find the worshipers of idols forgetting their own differences and uniting in opposition to the gospel of peace-in persecution waged with incredible ferocity and indescribable cruelty.*

3. Unfortunately, historians differ widely in their records of persecution of Christians, according to the point of view from which each writer wrote. Thus, in a general way, Christian authors have given extreme accounts of the sufferings to which the Church and its adherents individually were subjected; while non-Christian historians have sought to lessen and minimize the extent and severity of the cruelties practiced against the Christians. There are facts, however, which neither party denies, and to which both give place in their separate records. To make a fair interpretation of these facts, drawing just and true inferences therefrom, should be our purpose.

4. Among pagan persecutors of the Church, the Roman empire is the principal aggressor. This may appear strange in view of the general tolerance exercised by Rome toward her tributary peoples; indeed, the real cause of Roman opposition to Christianity has given rise to many conjectures. It is probable that intolerant zeal on the part of the Christians themselves had much to do with their unpopularity among heathen nations. This subject is conservatively summed up by Mosheim as follows:

5. "A very natural curiosity calls us to inquire, how it happened that the Romans, who were troublesome to no nation on account of their religion, and who suffered even the Jews to live under their own laws, and follow their own methods of worship, treated the Christians alone with such severity. This important question seems still more difficult to be solved, when we consider, that the excellent nature of the Christian religion, and its admirable tendency to promote both the public welfare of the state, and the private felicity of the individual, entitled it, in a singular manner, to the favor and protection of the reigning powers. One of the principal reasons of the severity with which the Romans persecuted the Christians, notwithstanding these considerations, seems to have been the abhorrence and contempt with which the latter regarded the religion of the empire, which was so intimately connected with the form, and indeed, with the very essence of its political constitution. For, though the Romans gave an unlimited toleration to all religions which had nothing in their tenets dangerous to the commonwealth, yet they would not permit that of their ancestors, which was established by the laws of the state, to be turned into derision, nor the people to be drawn away from their attachment to it. These, however, were the two things which the Christians were charged with, and that justly, though to their honor. They dared to ridicule the absurdties of the pagan superstition, and they were ardent and assiduous in gaining proselytes to the truth. Nor did they only attack the religion of Rome, but also all the different shapes and forms under which superstition appeared in the various countries where they exercised their ministry. From this the Romans concluded, that the Christian sect was not only insupportably daring and arrogant, but, moreover, an enemy to the public tranquility, and every way proper to excite civil wars and commotions in the empire. It is, probably on this account that Tacitus reproaches them with the odious character of haters of mankind, and styles the religion of Jesus as destructive superstition; and that Suetonious speaks of the Christians, and their doctrine in terms of the same kind.

6. Another circumstance that irritated the Romans against the Christians, was the simplicity of their worship, which resembled in nothing the sacred rites of any other people. The Christians had neither sacrifices, nor temples, nor images, nor oracles, nor sacerdotal orders; and this was sufficient to bring upon them the reproaches of an ignorant multitude, who imagined that there could be no religion without these."*

7. Persecution of the Church by Roman authority may be said to have begun in the reign of Nero (AD 64) and to have continued to the close of Diocletian's reign (AD 305). Within this range of time there were many periods of diminished severity, if not of comparative tranquillity; nevertheless, the Church was the object of heathen oppression for about two and a half centuries. Attempts have been made by Christian writers to segregate the persecutions into ten distinct and separate onslaughts; and some profess to find a mystic relation between the ten persecutions thus classified, and the ten plagues of Egypt, as also an analogy with the ten horns mentioned by John the Revelator.* As a matter of fact attested by history, the number of persecutions of unusual severity was less than ten; while the total of all, including local and restricted assaults, would be much greater.**

8. Persecution under Nero. The first extended and notable persecution of Christians under the official edict of a Roman emperor was that instigated by Nero, AD 64. As students of history know, this monarch is remembered mostly for his crimes. During the latter part of his infamous reign, a large section of the city of Rome was destroyed by fire. He was suspected by some of being responsible for the disaster; and, fearing the resentment of the infuriated people, he sought to implicate the unpopular and much-maligned Christians as the incendiaries, and by torture tried to force a confession from them. As to what followed the foul accusation, let us consider the words of a non-Christian writer, Tacitus, whose integrity as a historian is held in esteem.

9. "With this view, he [Nero] inflicted the most exquisite tortures on those men who, under the vulgar appellation of Christians, were already branded with deserved infamy. They derived their name and origin from Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberius had suffered death by the sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate. For a while this dire superstition was checked; but it again burst forth; and not only spread itself over Judea, the first seat of this mischievous sect, but was even introduced into Rome, the common asylum which receives and protects whatever is impure, whatever is atrocious. The confessions of those that were seized discovered a great multitude of their accomplices, and they were all convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the city, as for their hatred of human kind. They died in torments, and their torments were embittered by insults and derision. Some were nailed on crosses; others sewn up in the skins of wild beasts and exposed to the fury of dogs; others, again, smeared over with combustible materials, were used as torches to illuminate the darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was accompanied with a horse- race, and honored with the presence of the emperor, who mingled with the populace in the dress and attitude of a charioteer. The guilt of the Christians deserved indeed the most exemplary punishments, but the public abhorrence was changed into commiseration, from the opinion that those unhappy wretches were sacrificed, not so much to the public welfare as to the cruelty of a jealous tyrant.*

10. There is some disagreement among historians as to whether the Neronian persecution is to be regarded as a local infliction, practically confined to the city of Rome, or as general throughout the provinces.* The consensus of opinion, favors the belief that the provinces followed the example of the metropolis, and that the persecution was common throughout the Church.

11. This, the first persecution by Roman edict, practically ended with the death of the tyrant Nero AD 68. According to tradition handed down from the early Christian writers, the Apostles Paul and Peter suffered martyrdom at Rome, the former by beheading, the latter by crucifixion during this persecution; and it is further stated that Peter's wife was put to death shortly before her husband; but the tradition is neither confirmed nor disproved by authentic record.

12. Persecution under Domitian. The second officially appointed persecution under Roman authority began 93 or 94 AD in the reign of Domitian. Both Christians and Jews came under this prince's displeasure, because they refused to reverence the statues he had erected as objects of adoration. A further cause for his special animosity against the Christians, as affirmed by early writers, is as follows. The emperor was persuaded that he was in danger of losing his throne, in view of a reputed prediction that from the family to which Jesus belonged there would arise one who would weaken if not overthrow the power of Rome. With this as his ostensible excuse, this wicked ruler waged terrible destruction on an innocent people. Happily, the persecution thus started was of but few years duration. Mosheim and others aver that the end of the persecution was caused by the emperor's untimely death; though Eusebius, who wrote in the fourth century, quotes an earlier writer as declaring that Domitian had the living descendants of the Savior's family brought before him, and that after questioning them he became convinced that he was in no danger from them; and thereupon dismissed them with contempt and ordered the persecution to cease. It is believed that while the edict of Domitian was in force the Apostle John suffered banishment to the isle of Patmos.

13. Persecution under Trajan. What is known in ecclesiastical history as the third persecution of the Christian Church took place in the reign of Trajan, who occupied the imperial throne from 98 to 117 AD. He was and is regarded as one of the best of the Roman emperors, yet he sanctioned violent persecution of the Christians owing to their "inflexible obstinacy" in refusing to sacrifice to Roman gods. History has preserved to us a very important letter asking instructions from the emperor, by the younger Pliny, who was governor of Pontus, and the emperor's reply thereto. This correspondence is instructive as showing the extent to which Christianity had spread at that time, and the way in which believers were treated by the officers of the state.

14. Pliny inquired of the emperor as to the policy to be pursued in dealing with the Christians within his jurisdiction. Were young and old, tender and robust, to be treated alike, or should punishment be graded? Should opportunity be given the accused to recant, or was the fact that they had once professed Christianity to be considered an unpardonable offense? Were those convicted as Christians to be punished for their religion alone, or only for specific offenses resulting from their membership in the Christian Church? After propounding such queries the governor proceeded to report to the emperor what he had done in the absence of definite instructions. In reply the emperor directed that the Christians were not to be hunted nor sought after vindictively, but if accused and brought before the judgment seat, and if then they refused to renounce their faith, they were to be put to death.*

15. Persecution under Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Aurelius reigned from 161 to 180 AD. He was noted as one who sought the greatest good of his people; yet under his government the Christians suffered added cruelties. Persecution was most severe in Gaul (now France.) Among those who met the martyr's fate at that time, were Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and Justin Martyr, known in history as the philosopher. With reference to the seeming anomaly that even the best of rulers permitted and even prosecuted vigorous opposition to Christian devotees, as exemplified by the acts of this emperor, a modern writer has said: "It should be noted that the persecution of the Christians under the pagan emperors sprung from political rather than religious motives, and that is why we find the names of the best emperors, as well as those of the worst, in the list of persecutors. It was believed that the welfare of the state was bound up with the careful performance of the rites of the national worship; and hence, while the Roman rulers were usually very tolerant, allowing all forms of worship among their subjects, still they required that men of every faith should at least recognize the Roman gods, and burn incense before their statues. This the Christians steadily refused to do. Their neglect of the service of the temple, it was believed, angered the gods, and endangered the safety of the state, bringing upon it drought, pestilence, and every disaster. This was the main reason of their persecution by the pagan emperors."*

16. Later persecutions. With occasional periods of partial cessation, the Christian believers continued to suffer at the hands of heathen opponents throughout the second and third centuries. A violent persecution marked the reign of Severus (193-211 AD) in the first decade of the third century; another characterized the reign of Maximin (235-238 AD). A period of unusual severity in persecution and suffering befell the Christians during the short reign of Decius known also as Decius Trajan (249-251 AD). The persecution under Decius is designated in ecclesiastical history as the seventh persecution of the Christian Church. Others followed in rapid succession. Some of these periods of specific oppression we pass over and come to the consideration of the

17. Diocletian persecution, which is spoken of as the tenth, and happily the last. Diocletian reigned from 284 to 305 AD. At first he was very tolerant toward Christian belief and practice; indeed it is of record that his wife and daughter were Christians, though "in some sense, secretly." Later, however, he turned against the Church and undertook to bring about a total suppression of the Christian religion. To this end he ordered a general destruction of Christian books, and decreed the penalty of death against all who kept such works in their possession.

18. Fire broke out twice in the royal palace at Nicomedia, and on each occasion the incendiary act was charged against the Christians with terrible results. Four separate edicts, each surpassing in vehemence the earlier decrees, were issued against the believers; and for a period of ten years they were the victims of unrestrained rapine, spoliation, and torture. At the end of the decade of terror the Church was in a scattered and seemingly in a hopeless condition. Sacred records had been burnt; places of worship had been razed to the ground; thousands of Christians had been put to death; and every possible effort had been made to destroy the Church and abolish Christianity from the earth. Descriptions of the horrible extremes to which brutality was carried are sickening to the soul. A single example must suffice. Eusebius, referring to the persecutions in Egypt, says: "And such too was the severity of the struggle which was endured by the Egyptians, who wrestled gloriously for the faith at Tyre. Thousands, both men, and women and children, despising the present life for the sake of our Savior's doctrine, submitted to death in various shapes. Some, after being tortured with scrappings and the rack, and the most dreadful scourgings, and other innumerable agonies which one might shudder to hear, were finally committed to the flames; and some plunged and drowned in the sea, others voluntarily offering their own heads to their executioners, others dying in the midst of their torments, some wasted away by famine, and others again fixed to the cross. Some, indeed, were executed as malefactors usually were; others, more cruelly, were nailed with the head downwards, and kept alive until they were destroyed by starving on the cross itself."*

19. A modern writer, whose tendency ever was to minimize the extent of Christian persecution, is Edward Gibbon. His account of the conditions prevailing during this period of Diocletian outrage is as follows: "The magistrates were commanded to employ every method of severity which might reclaim them from their odious superstition, and oblige them to return to the established worship of the gods. This rigorous order was extended, by a subsequent edict, to the whole body of Christians, who were exposed to a violent and general persecution. Instead of those salutary restraints which had required the direct and solemn testimony of an accuser, it became the duty as well as the interest of the imperial officers to discover, to pursue, and to torment the most obnoxious among the faithful. Heavy penalties were denounced against all who should presume to save a proscribed sectary from the just indignation of the gods and of the emperors."*

20. So general was the Diocletian persecution, and so destructive its effect, that at its cessation the Christian Church was thought to be forever extinct. Monuments were raised to commemorate the emperor's zeal as a persecutor, notably two pillars erected in Spain. On one of them is an inscription extolling the mighty Diocletian "For having extinguished the name of Christians who brought the Republic to ruin." A second pillar commemorates the reign of Diocletian, and honors the imperator "for having everywhere abolished the superstition of Christ; for having extended the worship of the gods." A medal struck in honor of Diocletian bears the inscription "The name of Christian being extinguished."* To the fallacy of these assumptions subsequent events testify.

21. The Diocletian oppression was the last of the great persecutions brought by pagan Rome against Christianity as a whole. A stupendous change, amounting to a revolution, now appears in the affairs of the Church. Constantine, known in history as Constantine the Great, became emperor of Rome AD 306, and reigned 31 years. Early in his reign he espoused the hitherto unpopular cause of the Christians, and took the Church under official protection. A legend gained currency that the emperor's conversion was due to a supernatural manifestation, whereby he saw a luminous cross appear in the heavens with the inscription, "By this sign, conquer." The genuineness of this alleged manifestation is doubtful, and the evidence of history is against it. The incident is here mentioned to show the means devised to make Christianity popular at the time.

22. It is held by many judicious historians that Constantine's so-called conversion was rather a matter of policy than a sincere acceptance of the truth of Christianity. The emperor himself remained a catechumen, that is, an unbaptized believer, until shortly before his death, when he became a member by baptism. But, whatever his motives may have been, he made Christianity the religion of state, issuing an official decree to this effect in 313. "He made the cross the royal standard; and the Roman legions now for the first time marched beneath the emblem of Christianity" (Myers).

23. Immediately following the change there was great competition for church preferment. The office of a bishop came to be more highly esteemed than the rank of a general. The emperor himself was the real head of the Church. It became unpopular and decidedly disadvantageous in a material sense to be known as a non-Christian. Pagan temples were transformed into churches, and heathen idols were demolished. We read that twelve thousand men and a proportionate number of women and children were baptized into the Church at Rome alone within a single year. Constantine removed the capital of the empire from Rome to Byzantium, which city he re-named after himself, Constantinople. This, the present capital of Turkey, became headquarters of the state Church.

24. How empty and vain appears the Diocletian boast that Christianity was forever extinguished! Yet how different was the Church under the patronage of Constantine from the Church as established by Christ and as built up by His apostles! The Church had already become apostate as judged by the standard of its original constitution.

1. CAUSE OF PAGAN OPPOSITION TO CHRISTIANITY. "The whole body of Christians unanimously refused to hold any communion with the gods of Rome, of the empire, and of mankind. It was in vain that the oppressed believer asserted the inalienable rights of conscience and private judgment. Though his situation might excite the pity, his arguments could never reach the understanding, either of the philosophic or of the believing part of the pagan world. To their apprehensions, it was no less a matter of surprise that any individuals should entertain scruples against complying with the established mode of worship, than if they had conceived a sudden abhorrence to the manners, the dress, or the language of their native country. The surprise of the pagans was soon succeeded by resentment; and the most pious of men were exposed to the unjust but dangerous imputation of impiety. Malice and prejudice concurred in representing the Christians as a society of atheists, who, by the most daring attack on the religious constitution of the empire, had merited the severest animadversion of the civil magistrate. They had separated themselves (they gloried in the confession) from every mode of superstition which was received in any part of the globe by the various temper of polytheism; but it was not altogether so evident what deity or what form of worship they had substituted to the gods and temples of antiquity. The pure and sublime idea which they entertained of the Supreme Being escaped the gross conception of the pagan multitude, who were at a loss to discover a spiritual and solitary God, that was neither represented under any corporeal figure or visible symbol, nor was adored with the accustomed pomp of libations and festivals, of altars and sacrifices." (Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," chap. 16.)

2. AS TO THE NUMBER OF PERSECUTIONS BY THE ROMANS. "The Romans are said to have pursued the Christians with the utmost violence in ten persecutions, but this number is not verified by the ancient history of the church. For if, by these persecutions, such only are meant as were singularly severe and universal throughout the empire, then it is certain that these amount not to the number above mentioned. And, if we take the provincial and less remarkable persecutions into the account, they far exceed it. In the fifth century, certain Christians [were] led by some passages of the holy scriptures and by one especially in the Revelations (Rev. 17: 14), to imagine that the church was to suffer ten calamities of a most grievous nature. To this notion, therefore, they endeavored, though not all in the same way, to accommodate the language of history, even against the testimony of those ancient records, from whence alone history can speak with authority." (Mosheim, "Ecclesiastical History, " Cent. 1, Part 1: ch. 5:4.)

Speaking on the same subject, Gibbon says: "As often as any occasional severities were exercised in the different parts of the empire, the primitive Christians lamented and perhaps magnified their own sufferings; but the celebrated number of ten persecutions has been determined by the ecclesiastical writers of the fifth century, who possessed a more distinct view of the prosperous or adverse fortunes of the church from the age of Nero to that of Diocletian. The ingenious parallels of the ten plagues of Egypt and of the ten horns of the Apocalypse first suggested this calculation to their minds; and in their application of the faith of prophecy to the truth of history they were careful to select those reigns which were indeed the most hostile to the Christian cause." (Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," ch. 16.)

3. EXTENT OF THE NERONIAN PERSECUTION. "Learned men are not entirely agreed concerning the extent of this persecution under Nero. Some confine it to the city of Rome, while others represent it as having raged throughout the whole empire. The latter opinion, which is also the most ancient, is undoubtedly to be preferred; as it is certain that the laws enacted against the Christians were enacted against the whole body, and not against particular churches, and were consequently in force in the remotest provinces." (Mosheim, "Ecclesiastical History," Cent. 1, Part 1, 5:14.)

4. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PLINY AND TRAJAN. The inquiry of the younger Pliny, governor of Pontus, addressed to Trajan, emperor of Rome, and the imperial reply thereto, are of such interest as to be worthy of reproduction in full. The version here given is that of Mlilner as appears in his "History of the Church of Christ," edition of 1810, Cent. 2, ch. 1.

"Health. -- It is my usual custom, Sir, to refer all things, of which I harbor any doubts, to you. For who can better direct my judgment in its hesitation, or instruct my understanding in its ignorance? I never had the fortune to be present at any examination of Christians, before I came into this province. I am therefore at a loss to determine what is the usual object either of inquiry or of punishment, and to what length either of them is to be carried. It has also been with me a question very problematical, -- whether any distinction should be made between the young and the old, the tender and the robust -- whether any room should be given for repentance, or the guilt of Christianity once incurred is not to be expiated by the most unequivocal retractation; -- whether the name itself, abstracted from any flagitiousness of conduct, or the crimes connected with the name, be the object of punishment. In the meantime, this has been my method, with respect to those who were brought before me as Christians. I asked them whether they were Christians: if they pleaded guilty, I interrogated them twice afresh with a menace of capital punishment. In case of obstinate perseverance I ordered them to be executed. For of this I had no doubt, whatever was the nature of their religion, that a sudden and obstinate inflexibility called for the vengeance of the magistrate. Some were infected with the same madness, whom, on account of their privilege of citizenship, I reserved to be sent to Rome, to be referred to your tribunal. In the course of this business, informations pouring in, as is usual when they are encouraged, more cases occurred. An anonymous libel was exhibited, with a catalogue of names of persons, who yet declared that they were not Christians then, nor ever had been; and they repeated after me an invocation of the gods and of your image, which, for this purpose, I had ordered to be brought with the images of the deities. They performed sacred rites with wine and frankincense, and execrated Christ, -- none of which things I am told a real Christian can ever be compelled to do. On this account I dismissed them. Others named by an informer, first affirmed, and then denied the charge of Christianity; declaring that they had been Christians, but had ceased to be so some three years ago, others even longer, some even twenty years ago. All of them worshiped your image, and the statues of the gods, and also execrated Christ. And this was the account which they gave of the nature of the religion they had once professed, whether it deserves the name of crime or error, -- namely -- that they were accustomed on a stated day to meet before daylight, and to repeat among themselves a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by an oath, with an obligation of not committing any wickedness; -- but on the contrary, of abstaining from thefts, robberies, and adulteries -- also of not violating their promise or denying a pledge; -- after which it was their custom to separate, and to meet again at a promiscuous harmless meal, from which last practice they however desisted, after the publication of my edict, in which, agreeably to your orders, I forbade any societies of that sort. On which account I judged it the more necessary to inquire, by torture, from two females, who were said to be deaconesses, what is the real truth. But nothing could I collect except a depraved and excessive superstition. Deferring, therefore any farther investigation, I determined to consult you. For the number of culprits is so great as to call for serious consultation. Many persons are informed against of every age and of both sexes; and more still will be in the same situation. The contagion of the superstition hath spread not only through cities, but even villages and the country. Not that I think it impossible to check and correct it. The success of my endeavors hitherto forbids such desponding thoughts; for the temples, once almost desolate, begin to be frequented, and the sacred solemnities, which had long been intermitted, are now attended afresh; and the sacrificial victims are now sold everywhere, which once could scarcely find a purchaser. Whence I conclude that many might be reclaimed were the hope of impunity, on repentance, absolutely confirmed."

"You have done perfectly right, my dear Pliny, in the inquiry which you have made concerning Christians. For truly no one general rule can be laid down, which will apply itself to all cases. These people must not be sought after. If they are brought before you and convicted, let them be capitally punished, yet with this restriction, that if any one renounce Christianity, and evidence his sincerity by supplicating our gods, however suspected he may be for the past, he shall obtain pardon for the future, on his repentance. But anonymous libels in no case ought to be attended to; for the precedent would be of the worst sort, and perfectly incongruous to the maxims of my government."

1 posted on 05/07/2008 7:20:20 PM PDT by Grig

Chapter 4 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2012282/posts

Chapter 3 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011762/posts

Chapter 2 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011222/posts

Chapter 1 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011218/posts

2 posted on 05/07/2008 7:20:42 PM PDT by Grig (I love animals... as long as they are not overcooked.)

oy. here we go again.

3 posted on 05/07/2008 7:21:00 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (I'm over it.)

Find it on web and post it first! Full text available.

4 posted on 05/07/2008 8:02:39 PM PDT by count-your-change (you don't have to be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)

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