Part 143

"The designation of the Universal Christian Church as Catholic dates from the time of Irenaeus. … At the beginning of this age, the heretical as well as the non-heretical Ebionism may be regarded as virtually suppressed, although some scanty remnants of it might yet be found. The most brilliant period of Gnosticism, too, … was already passed. But in Manichæism there appeared, during the second half of the third century, a new peril of a no less threatening kind inspired by Parseeism and Buddhism. … With Marcus Aurelius, Paganism outside of Christianity as embodied in the Roman State, begins the war of extermination against the Church that was ever more and more extending her boundaries. Such manifestation of hostility, however, was not able to subdue the Church. … During the same time the episcopal and synodal-hierarchical organization of the church was more fully developed by the introduction of an order of Metropolitans, and then in the following period it reached its climax in the oligarchical Pentarchy of Patriarchs, and in the institution of œcumenical Synods."

_J. H. Kurtz, Church History, volume l, pages 72-73;_

to which the reader is also referred for all periods of church history.

See, also, _P. Schaff, History of the Christian Church;_

For biography, _W. Smith and H. Wace, A Dictionary of Christian Biography._

"Missionary effort in this period was mainly directed to the conversion of the heathen. On the ruins of Jerusalem, Hadrian's colony of Ælia Capitolina was planted; so that even there the Church, in its character and modes of worship, was a Gentile community. Christianity was early carried to Edessa, the capital of the small state of Osrhene, in Mesopotamia. After the middle of the second century, the Church at Edessa was sufficiently flourishing to count among its members the king, Abgar Bar Manu. At about this time the gospel was preached in Persia, Media, Parthia, and Bactria. We have notices of churches in Arabia in the early part of the third century. They were visited several times by Origen, the celebrated Alexandrian Church teacher (185-254). In the middle of the fourth century a missionary, Theophilus, of Diu, found churches in India. In Egypt, Christianity made great progress, especially at Alexandria, whence it spread to Cyrene and other neighboring places. In upper Egypt, where the Coptic language and the superstition of the people were obstacles in its path, Christianity had, nevertheless, gained a foothold as early as towards the close of the second century. At this time the gospel had been planted in proconsular Africa, being conveyed thither from Rome, and there was a flourishing church at Carthage. In Gaul, where the Druidical system, with its priesthood and sacrificial worship, was the religion of the Celtic population, several churches were founded from Asia Minor. At Lyons and Vienne there were strong churches in the last quarter of the second century. At this time Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, speaks of the establishment of Christianity in Germany, west of the Rhine, and Tertullian, the North African presbyter, speaks of Christianity in Britain. The fathers in the second century describe in glowing terms, and not without rhetorical exaggeration, the rapid conquests of the Gospel. The number of converts in the reign of Hadrian must have been very large. Otherwise we cannot account for the enthusiastic language of Justin Martyr respecting the multitude of professing Christians. Tertullian writes in a similar strain. Irenæus refers to Barbarians who have believed without having a knowledge of letters, through oral teaching merely."

_G. P. Fisher, History of the Christian Church, pages 45-46._

CHRISTIANITY: Alexandria.

"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 New Testament (third century). In the second century, Gnosticism [see GNOSTICS], 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 importance of this centre of religious movement and Christian education."

_W. Moeller, History of the Christian Church, page 105._

"Never perhaps has the free statement of the Christian idea had less prejudice to encounter than at Alexandria at the close of the second century. Never has it more successfully vindicated by argument its right to be the great interpreter of the human spirit. The institutions of the great metropolis were highly favourable to this result. The Museum, built by the Ptolemies, was intended to be, and speedily became, the centre of an intense intellectual life. The Serapeum, at the other end of the town, rivalled it in beauty of architecture and wealth of rare MSS. The Sebastion, reared in honour of Augustus, was no unworthy companion to these two noble establishments. In all three, splendid endowments and a rich professoriate attracted the talent of the world. If the ambition of a secured reputation drew many eminent men away to Rome, the means of securing such eminence were mainly procured at Alexandria. … The Christian Church in this city rose to the height of its grand opportunity. It entered the lists without fear and without favour, and boldly proclaimed its competence to satisfy the intellectual cravings of man. Numbers of restless and inquiring spirits came from all parts of the world, hoping to find a solution of the doubts that perplexed them. And the Church, which had already brought peace to the souls of the woman and the slave, now girded herself to the harder task of convincing the trained intelligence of the man of letters and the philosopher."

_C. T. Cruttwell, A Literary History of Early Christianity, book 4, chapter 1 (volume 2)._

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"The question … came up for decision towards the close of the sub-apostolic age, as to what shape the Church was finally to take. Two types were set before her to choose from—one the Hebrew-Latin type, as we may call it, into which … she finally settled down; the other the Hellenist type of a Demos, or commonwealth of free citizens, all equal, all alike kings and priests unto God, and whose moral and spiritual growth was left very much to the initiative of each member of the community. In Alexandria, as the meeting-point of all nationalities, and where Judaism itself had tried to set up a new type of thought, eclectic between Hebraism and Hellenism, and comprehending what was best in both, naturally enough there grew up a Christian type of eclecticism corresponding to that of Philo. … Into this seething of rival sects and races the Alexandrian school of catechists threw themselves, and made a noble attempt to rescue the Church, the synagogue, and the Stoics alike from the one bane common to all—the dangerous delusion that the truth was for them, not they for the truth. Setting out on the assumption that God's purpose was the education of the whole human family, they saw in the Logos doctrine of St. John the key to harmonise all truth, whether of Christian sect, Hebrew synagogue, or Stoic philosophy. … To educate all men up to this standard seemed to them the true ideal of the Church. True Gnosis was their keynote; and the Gnostic, as Clemens loves to describe himself, was to them the pattern philosopher and Christian in one. They regarded, moreover, a discipline of at least three years as imperative; it was the preliminary condition of entrance into the Christian Church."

_J. B. Heard, Alexandrian and Carthaginian Theology Contrasted, pages 37-38._

The two great Christian writers of Alexandria were Clement and Origen. "The universal influence of Origen made itself felt in the third century over the whole field of Greek theology. In him, as it were, 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. … And while this involves that Christianity is placed on friendly relations with the previous philosophical 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. … In the great religious ferment of the time there was further contained the tendency to seek similar religious ideas amid the different mythological 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 Gnosticism 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; 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-philosophical speculations, which are always intelligible only to a few, at the same time propagated themselves and branched out scholastically."

_W. Moeller, History of the Christian Church, pages 215, 213, 130-131._

"At Alexandria, Basilides (A. D. 125) and Valentine exerted in turn an extraordinary influence; the latter endeavored to establish his school at Rome about the year 140. The Gnostics of Syria professed a more open dualism than those of Egypt. The Church of Antioch had to resist Saturnin, that of Edessa to oppose Bordesanes and Tatian."

_E. De Pressensé, The Early Years of Christianity; The Martyrs and Apologists, page 135._

"There was something very imposing in those mighty systems, which embraced heaven and earth. How plain and meagre in comparison seemed simple Christianity! There was something remarkably attractive in the breadth and liberality of Gnosticism. It seemed completely to have reconciled Christianity with culture. How narrow the Christian Church appeared! Even noble souls might be captivated by the hope of winning the world over to Christianity in this way. … Over against the mighty systems of the Gnostics, the Church stood, in sober earnestness and childlike faith, on the simple Christian doctrine of the Apostles. This was to be sought in the churches founded by the apostles themselves, where they had defined the faith in their preaching."

_G. Uhlhorn, The Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism, book 2, chapter 3._

"Greek philosophy had joined hands with Jewish theosophy, and the Church knew not where to look for help. So serious did the danger seem, when it was assailed at once and from opposite sides by Jewish and Greek types of Gnosticism, the one from the monotheistic point of view impugning the Godhead, the other for the Docetic side explaining away [us a spiritual illusion] the manhood of Christ, that the Church, in despair of beating error by mere apology, fell back on the method of authority. The Church was the only safe keeper of the deposit of sacred tradition; whoever impugned that tradition, let him be put out of the communion of saints."

_Reverend J. B. Heard, Alexandrian and Carthaginian Theology Contrasted, page 41._

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"The interest, the meaning, of Gnosticism rest entirely upon its ethical motive. It was an attempt, a serious attempt, to fathom the dread mystery of sorrow and pain, to answer that spectral doubt, which is mostly crushed down by force—Can the world as we know it have been made by God? 'Cease,' says Basilides, 'from idle and curious variety, and let us rather discuss the opinions, which even barbarians have held, on the subject of good and evil.' 'I will say anything rather than admit that Providence is wicked.' Valentinus describes in the strain of an ancient prophet the woes that afflict mankind. 'I durst not affirm,' he concludes, 'that God is the author of all this.' So Tertullian says of Marcion, 'like many men of our time, and especially the heretics, he is bewildered by the question of evil.' They approach the problem from a non-Christian point of view, and arrive therefore at a non-Christian solution. … Many of them, especially the later sectaries, accepted the whole Christian Creed, but always with reserve. The teaching of the Church thus became in their eyes a popular exoteric confession, beneath their own Gnosis, or Knowledge, which was a Mystery, jealously guarded from all but the chosen few."

_C. Bigg; The Christian Platonists of Alexandria, pages 28-29._

CHRISTIANITY: Cæsarea.

"The chief points of interest in the history of the Church of Cæsarea during this period are the residence of Origen there (first between A. D. 215 and 219 and again after his final departure from Alexandria in 231), the education of Eusebius, the foundation of the great library by Pamphilus, and the martyrdoms during the Diocletian persecution. Most of these will come before us again in other connexions, but they require mention here. It would be difficult to over-estimate the effect of what they imply on the Church at large. Had the work of Origen, Pamphilus, and Eusebius at Cæsarea remained unrecorded, there would be a huge blank in ecclesiastical history, rendering much that is otherwise known scarcely intelligible. Had that work never been done, the course of ecclesiastical history would have been very different. In the whole of the second and third centuries it would be difficult to name two more influential Christians than Origen and Eusebius; and Pamphilus laboured earnestly to preserve and circulate the writings of the one and to facilitate those of the other. It was from the libraries of Pamphilus at Cæsarea and of Alexander at Jerusalem that Eusebius obtained most of his material" for his "Ecclesiastical History," which has preserved titles and quotations from many lost books of exceeding value.

_A. Plummer, The Church of the Early Fathers, chapter 3._

CHRISTIANITY: Edessa.

"Edessa (the modern Urfa) was from the beginning of the third century one of the chief centres of Syrian Christian life and theological study. For many years, amid the vicissitudes of theological persecution, a series of flourishing theological schools were maintained there, one of which (the 'Persian school') is of great importance as the nursery of Nestorianism in the extreme East. It was as bishop of Edessa, also, that Jacob Baradæus organized the monophysite churches into that Jacobite church of which he is the hero. From the scholars of Edessa came many of the translations which carried Greek thought to the East, and in the periods of exciting controversy Edessa was within the range of the theological movements that stirred Alexandria and Constantinople. The 'Chronicle of Edessa,' as it is called because the greater number of its notices relate to Edessene affairs, is a brief document in Syriac contained in a manuscript of six leaves in the Vatican library. It is one of the most important fundamental sources for the history of Edessa, contains a long official narrative of the flood of A. D. 201, which is perhaps the only existing monument of heathen Syriac literature, and includes an excellent and very carefully dated list of the bishops of Edessa from A. D. 313 to 543."

_Andover Review, volume 19, page 374._

The Syriac Versions (of the Gospel) form a group of which mention should undoubtedly be made. The Syriac versions of the Bible (Old Testament) are among the most ancient remains of the language, the Syriac and the Chaldee being the two dialects of the Aramaean spoken in the North. Of versions of the New Testament, "the 'Peshito' or the 'Simple,' though not the oldest text, has been the longest known. … The 'Curetonian' … was discovered after its existence had been for a long time suspected by sagacious scholars [but is not much more than a series of fragments]. … Cureton, Tregelles, Alford, Ewald, Bleek, and others, believe this text to be older than the Peshito [which speaks for the Greek text of the second century, though its own date is doubtful]. … Other valuable Syriac versions are 'Philoxenian' … and the 'Jerusalem Syriac Lectionary' … a service-book with lessons from the Gospels for Sundays and feast days throughout the year … written at Antioch in 1030 in a dialect similar to that in use in Jerusalem and from a Greek text of great antiquity." A recent discovery renders these facts and statements of peculiar interests.

_G. E. Merrill, The Story of the Manuscripts, chapter 10._

CHRISTIANITY: Rural Palestine.

"If Ebionism [see EBIONISM] was not primitive Christianity, neither was it a creation of the second century. As an organization, a distinct sect, it first made itself known, we may suppose, in the reign of Trajan: but as a sentiment, it had been harboured within the Church from the very earliest days. Moderated by the personal influence of the Apostles, soothed by the general practice of their church, not yet forced into declaring themselves by the turn of events, though scarcely tolerant of others, these Judaizers were tolerated for a time themselves. The beginning of the second century was a winnowing season in the Church of the Circumcision. … It is a probable conjecture, that after the destruction of Jerusalem the fugitive Christians, living in their retirement in the neighbourhood of the Essene settlements, received large accessions to their numbers from this sect, which thus inoculated the Church with its peculiar views. It is at least worthy of notice, that in a religious work emanating from this school of Ebionites the 'true Gospel' is reported to have been first propagated 'after the destruction of the holy place.'"

_J. B. Lightfoot, Dissertation on the Apostolic Age, pages 78-80._

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CHRISTIANITY: Carthage.

"If the world is indebted to Rome for the organisation of the Church, Rome is indebted to Carthage for the theory on which that organisation is built. The career of Carthage as a Christian centre exemplifies the strange vicissitudes of history. The city which Rome in her jealousy had crushed, which, not content with crushing, she had obliterated from the face of the earth, had at the bidding of Rome's greatest son risen from her ashes, and by her career almost verified the poet's taunt that the greatness of Carthage was reared on the ruin of Italy. For in truth the African capital was in all but political power no unworthy rival of Rome. It had steadily grown in commercial prosperity. Its site was so advantageous as to invite, almost to compel, the influx of trade, which ever spontaneously moves along the line of least resistance. And the people were well able to turn this natural advantage to account. A mixed nationality, in which the original Italian immigration lent a steadying force to the native Punic and kindred African elements that formed its basis, with its intelligence enriched by large accessions of Greek settlers from Cyrene and Alexandria—Carthage had developed in the second century of our era into a community at once wealthy, enterprising and ambitious. … It was no longer in the sphere of profane literature, but in her contributions to the cause of Christianity and the spiritual armoury of the Church, that the proud Queen of Africa was to win her second crown of fame. … The names of Tertullian, Cyprian and Augustine, at once suggest the source from which Papal Rome drew the principles of Church controversy, Church organisation, and Church doctrine, which have consolidated her authority, and to some extent justified her pretensions to rule the conscience of Christendom."

_C. T. Cruttwell, A Literary History of Early Christianity, book 5, chapter 2 (volume 2)._

"At the end of the second century the African Tertullian first began to wrestle with the difficulties of the Latin language in the endeavour to make it a vehicle for the expression of Christian ideas. In reading his dogmatic writings the struggle is so apparent that it seems as though we beheld a rider endeavouring to discipline an unbroken steed. Tertullian's doctrine is, however, still wholly Greek in substance, and this continued to be the case in the church of the Latin tongue until the end of the fourth century. Hilary, Ambrose, even Jerome, are essentially interpreters of Greek philosophy and theology to the Latin West. With Augustine learning begins to assume a Latin form, partly original and independent—partly, I say, for even later compositions are abundantly interwoven with Greek elements and materials. Very gradually from the writings of the African fathers of the church does the specific Latin element come to occupy that dominant position in Western Christendom, which soon, partly from self-sufficient indifference, partly from ignorance, so completely severed itself from Greek influences that the old unity and harmony could never be restored. Still the Biblical study of the Latins is, as a whole, a mere echo and copy of Greek predecessors."

_J. I. von Döllinger, Studies in European History, pages 170-171._

From Carthage which was afterward the residence of "the primate of all Africa … the Christian faith soon disseminated throughout Numidia, Mauritania and Getulia, which is proved by the great number of bishops at two councils held at Carthage in 256 and 308. At the latter there were 270 bishops, whose names are not given, but at the former were bishops from (87) … cities."

_J. E. T. Wiltsch, Handbook of the Geography and Statistics of the Church._

CHRISTIANITY: Rome.