nature and history of Montanism, as sketched in the following account,
does not correspond with that traditionally current. To establish it in
detail would lead us too far. It may be noted that the mistakes in
estimating the original character of this movement arise from a
superficial examination of the oracles preserved to us and from the
unjustifiable practice of interpreting them in accordance with their
later application in the circles of Western Montanists. A completely new
organisation of Christendom, beginning with the Church in Asia, to be
brought about by its being detached from the bonds of the communities
and collected into one region, was the main effort of Montanus. In this
way he expected to restore to the Church a spiritual character and
fulfil the promises contained in John. That is clear from Euseb., V. 16
ff. as well as from the later history of Montanism in its native land
(see Jerome, ep. 41; Epiphan., H. 49. 2 etc.). In itself, however, apart
from its particular explanation in the case of Montanus, the endeavour
to detach Christians from the local Church unions has so little that is
striking about it, that one rather wonders at being unable to point to
any parallel in the earliest history of the Church. Wherever religious
enthusiasm has been strong, it has at all times felt that nothing
hinders its effect more than family ties and home connections. But it is
just from the absence of similar undertakings in the earliest
Christianity that we are justified in concluding that the strength of
enthusiastic exaltation is no standard for the strength of _Christian_
faith. (Since these words were written, we have read in Hippolytus'
Commentary on Daniel [see Georgiades in the journal [Greek: Ekkl.
alêtheia] 1885, p. 52 sq.] very interesting accounts of such
undertakings in the time of Septimius Severus. A Syrian bishop persuaded
many brethren with wives and children to go to meet Christ in the
wilderness; and another in Pontus induced his people to sell all their
possessions, to cease tilling their lands, to conclude no more marriages
etc., because the coming of the Lord was nigh at hand.)]
[Footnote 195: Oracle of Prisca in Epiph. H. 49. 1.]
[Footnote 196: Even in its original home Montanism must have
accommodated itself to circumstances at a comparatively early
date--which is not in the least extraordinary. No doubt the Montanist
Churches in Asia and Phrygia, to which the bishop of Rome had already
issued _literæ pacis_, were now very different from the original
followers of the prophets (Tertull., adv. Prax. 1). When Tertullian
further reports that Praxeas at the last moment prevented them from
being recognised by the bishop of Rome, "falsa de ipsis prophetis et
ecclesiis eorum adseverando," the "falsehood about the Churches" may
simply have consisted in an account of the original tendencies of the
Montanist sect. The whole unique history which, in spite of this,
Montanism undoubtedly passed through in its original home is, however
explained by the circumstance that there were districts there, where all
Christians belonged to that sect (Epiph., H. 51. 33; cf. also the later
history of Novatianism). In their peculiar Church organisation
(patriarchs, stewards, bishops), these sects preserved a record of their
origin.]
[Footnote 197: Special weight must be laid on this. The fact that whole
communities became followers of the new prophets, who nevertheless
adhered to no old regulation, must above all be taken into account.]
[Footnote 198: See Oracles 1, 3, 4, 5, 10, 12, 17, 18, 21 in Bonwetsch,
l.c., p. 197 f. It can hardly have been customary for Christian prophets
to speak like Montanus (Nos. 3-5): [Greek: egô kyrios ho theos ho
pantokratôr kataginomenos en anthropô], or [Greek: egô kyrios ho theos
patêr êlthon,] or [Greek: egô eimi ho patêr kai ho uios kai ho
paraklêtos], though Old Testament prophecy takes an analogous form.
Maximilla says on one occasion (No. 11); [Greek: apesteile me kyrios
toutou tou ponou kai tês epangelias airetistên]; and a second time (No.
12): [Greek: diôkomai hôs lycos ek probatôn ouk eimi lycos; rhêma eimi
kai pneuma kai dynamis.] The two utterances do not exclude, but include,
one another (cf. also No. 10: [Greek: emou mê akousête alla Christou
akousate]). From James IV. V. and Hermas, and from the Didache, on the
other hand, we can see how the prophets of Christian communities may
have usually spoken.]
[Footnote 199: L.c., no. 9: [Greek: Christos hen idea gynaikos
eschêmatismenos.] How variable must the misbirths of the Christian
imagination have been in this respect also! Unfortunately almost
everything of that kind has been lost to us because it has been
suppressed. The fragments of the once highly esteemed Apocalypse of
Peter are instructive, for they still attest that the existing remains
of early Christian literature are not able to give a correct picture of
the strength of religious imagination in the first and second centuries.
The passages where Christophanies are spoken of in the earliest
literature would require to be collected. It would be shown what naive
enthusiasm existed. Jesus appears to believers as a child, as a boy, as
a youth, as Paul etc. Conversely, glorified men appear in visions with
the features of Christ.]
[Footnote 200: See Euseb., H. E. V. 16. 9. In Oracle No. 2 an
evangelical promise is repeated in a heightened form; but see Papias in
Iren., V. 33. 3 f.]
[Footnote 201: We may unhesitatingly act on the principle that the
Montanist elements, as they appear in Tertullian, are, in all cases,
found not in a strengthened, but a weakened, form. So, when even
Tertullian still asserts that the Paraclete in the new prophets could
overturn or change, and actually did change, regulations of the
Apostles, there is no doubt that the new prophets themselves did not
adhere to apostolic dicta and had no hesitation in deviating from them.
Cf., moreover, the direct declarations on this point in Hippolytus
(Syntagma and Philos. VIII. 19) and in Didymus (de trin. III. 41. 2).]
[Footnote 202: The precepts for a Christian life, if we may so speak,
given by the new prophets, cannot be determined from the compromises on
which the discipline of the later Montanist societies of the Empire were
based. Here they sought for a narrow line between the Marcionite and
Encratite mode of life and the common church practice, and had no longer
the courage and the candour to proclaim the "e sæculo excedere." Sexual
purity and the renunciation of the enjoyments of life were the demands
of the new prophets. But it is hardly likely that they prescribed
precise "laws," for the primary matter was not asceticism, but the
realising of a promise. In later days it was therefore possible to
conceive the most extreme demands as regulations referring to none but
the prophets themselves, and to tone down the oracles in their
application to believers. It is said of Montanus himself (Euseb., H. E.
V. 18. 2): [Greek: ho didaxas lyseis gamôn, ho nêsteias nomothetêsas];
Prisca was a [Greek: parthenos] (l.c. § 3); Proculus, the chief of the
Roman Montanists, "virginis senectæ" (Tert., adv. Val. 5). The oracle of
Prisca (No. 8) declares that sexual purity is the preliminary condition
for the oracles and visions of God; it is presupposed in the case of
every "sanctus minister." Finally, Origen tells us (in Titum, Opp. IV.
696) that the (older) Cataphrygians said: "ne accedas ad me, quoniam
mundus sum; non enim accepi uxorem, nec est sepulcrum patens guttur
menin, sed sum Nazarenus dei non bibens vinum sicut illi." But an
express legal direction to abolish marriage cannot have existed in the
collection of oracles possessed by Tertullian. But who can guarantee
that they were not already corrected? Such an assumption, however, is
not necessary.]
[Footnote 203: Euseb., V. 16. 9: V. 18. 5.]
[Footnote 204: It will not do simply to place Montanus and his two
female associates in the same category as the prophets of primitive
Christian Churches. The claim that the Spirit had descended upon them in
unique fashion must have been put forth by themselves with unmistakable
clearness. If we apply the principle laid down on p. 98, note 3, we will
find that--apart from the prophets' own utterances--this is still
clearly manifest from the works of Tertullian. A consideration of the
following facts will remove all doubt as to the claim of the new
prophets to the possession of an unique mission, (1) From the beginning
both opponents and followers constantly applied the title "New Prophecy"
to the phenomenon in question (Euseb., V. 16. 4: V. 19. 2; Clem., Strom.
IV. 13. 93; Tertull., monog. 14, ieiun. I, resurr. 63, Marc. III. 24.:
IV. 22, Prax. 30; Firmil. ep. 75. 7; alii). (2) Similarly, the divine
afflatus was, from the first, constantly designated as the "Paraclete"
(Orac. no. 5; Tertull. passim; Hippol. passim; Didymus etc.). (3) Even
in the third century the Montanist congregations of the Empire must
still have doubted whether the Apostles had possessed this Paraclete or
not, or at least whether this had been the case in the full sense.
Tertullian identifies the Spirit and the Paraclete and declares that the
Apostles possessed the latter in full measure--in fact as a Catholic he
could not do otherwise. Nevertheless he calls Montanus etc. "prophetæ
proprii" of the Spirit (pudic. 12; see Acta Perpet. 21). On the contrary
we find in Philos. VIII. 19: [Greek: huper de apostolous kai pan
charisma tauta ta gunaia doxazouin, hôs tolman pleion ti Christou en
toutois legein tinas autôn gegoneai]. Pseudo-Tertullian says: "in
apostolis quidem dicunt spiritum sanctum fuisse, paracletum non fuisse,
et paracletum plura in Montano dixisse quam Christum in evangelio
protulisse." In Didymus, l.c., we read: [Greek: tou apostolou grapsantos
k.t.l., ekeinoi legousin ton Montanon elêluthenai kai eschêkenai to
teleion to tou paraklêton, tout' estin to tou agion pneumatos]. (4)
Lastly, the Montanists asserted that the prediction contained in John
XIV. ff. had been fulfilled in the new prophecy, and that from the
beginning, as is denoted by the very expression "Paraclete."
What sort of mission they ascribed to themselves is seen from the last
quoted passage, for the promises contained in it must be regarded as the
enthusiastic carrying out of Montanus' programme. If we read attentively
John XIV. 16-21, 23, 26: XV. 20-26: XVI. 7-15, 25 as well as XVII. and
X.; if we compare the oracles of the prophets still preserved to us; if
we consider the attempt of Montanus to gather the scattered Christians
and really form them into a flock, and also his claim to be the bearer
of the greatest and last revelations that lead to all truth; and,
finally, if we call to mind that in those Johannine discourses Christ
designated the coming of the Paraclete as his own coming in the
Paraclete and spoke of an immanence and unity of Father, Son, and
Paraclete, which one finds re-echoed in Montanus' Oracle No. V., we
cannot avoid concluding that the latter's undertaking is based on the
impression made on excited and impatient prophets by the promises
contained in the Gospel of John, understood in an apocalyptic and
realistic sense, and also by Matt. XXIII. 34 (see Euseb., V. 16. 12
sq.). The correctness of this interpretation is proved by the fact that
the first decided opponents of the Montanists in Asia--the so-called
"Alogi" (Epiph., H. 51)--rejected both the Gospel and Revelation of
John, that is, regarded them as written by some one else. Montanism
therefore shows us the first and--up till about 180--really the only
impression made by the Gospel of John on non-Gnostic Gentile Christians;
and what a remarkable one it was! It has a parallel in Marcion's
conception of Paulinism. Here we obtain glimpses of a state of matters
which probably explains why these writings were made innocuous in the
canon. To the view advanced here it cannot be objected that the later
adherents of the new prophets founded their claims on the recognised
gift of prophecy in the Church, or on a prophetic succession (Euseb, H.
E. V. 17. 4; Proculus in the same author, II. 25. 7: III. 31. 4), nor
that Tertullian, when it suits him, simply regards the new prophecy as a
_restitutio_ (e.g., in Monog. 4); for these assumptions merely represent
the unsuccessful attempt to legitimise this phenomenon within the
Catholic Church. In proof of the fact that Montanus appealed to the
Gospel of John see Jerome, Ep. 41 (Migne I. p. 474), which begins with
the words: "Testimonia de Johannis evangelio congregata, quæ tibi quidam
Montani sectator ingessit, in quibus salvator noster se ad patrem iturum
missurumque paracletum pollicetur etc." In opposition to this Jerome
argues that the promises about the Paraclete are fulfilled in Acts II.,
as Peter said in his speech, and then continues as follows: "Quodsi
voluerint respondere et Philippi deinceps quattuor filias prophetasse et
prophetam Agabum reperiri et in divisionibus spiritus inter apostolos et
doctores et prophetas quoque apostolo scribente formatos. etc."]
[Footnote 205: We are assured of this not only by Tertullian, but also
by the Roman Montanist Proculus, who, like the former, argued against
heretics, and by the testimony of the Church Fathers (see, e.g., Philos.
VIII. 19). It was chiefly on the ground of their orthodoxy that
Tertullian urged the claim of the new prophets to a hearing; and it was,
above all, as a Montanist that he felt himself capable of combating the
Gnostics, since the Paraclete not only confirmed the _regula_, but also
by unequivocal utterances cleared up ambiguous and obscure passages in
the Holy Scriptures, and (as was asserted) completely rejected doctrines
like the Monarchian (see fuga 1, 14; corona 4; virg. vel. 1: Prax. 2,
13, 30; resurr. 63; pud. 1; monog. 2; ieiun. 10, II). Besides, we see
from Tertullian's writings that the secession of the Montanist
conventicles from the Church was forced upon them.]
[Footnote 206: The question as to whether the new prophecy had or had
not to be recognised as such became the decisive one (fuga 1, 14; coron.
1; virg. vel. 1; Prax. 1: pudic. 11; monog. 1). This prophecy was
recorded in writing (Euseb., V. 18. 1; Epiph., H. 48. 10; Euseb., VI.
20). The putting of this question, however, denoted a fundamental
weakening of conviction, which was accompanied by a corresponding
falling off in the application of the prophetic utterances.]
[Footnote 207: The situation that preceded the acceptance of the new
prophecy in a portion of Christendom may be studied in Tertullian's
writings "de idolol." and "de spectac." Christianity had already been
conceived as a _nova lex_ throughout the whole Church, and this _lex_
had, moreover, been clearly defined in its bearing on the faith. But, as
regards outward conduct, there was no definite _lex_, and arguments in
favour both of strictness and of laxity were brought forward from the
Holy Scriptures. No divine ordinances about morality could be adduced
against the progressive secularising of Christianity; but there was need
of statutory commandments by which all the limits were clearly defined.
In this state of perplexity the oracles of the new prophets were gladly
welcomed; they were utilised in order to justify and invest with divine
authority a reaction of a moderate kind. More than that--as may be
inferred from Tertullian's unwilling confession--could not be attained;
but it is well known that even this result was not reached. Thus the
Phrygian movement was employed in support of undertakings, that had no
real connection with it. But this was the form in which Montanism first
became a factor in the history of the Church. To what extent it had been
so before, particularly as regards the creation of a New Testament canon
(in Asia Minor and Rome), cannot be made out with certainty.]
[Footnote 208: See Bonwetsch, l.c., p. 82-108.]
[Footnote 209: This is the point about which Tertullian's difficulties
are greatest. Tatian is expressly repudiated in de ieiun. 15.]
[Footnote 210: Tertullian (de monog.) is not deterred by such a
limitation: "qui potest capere capiat, inquit, id est qui non potest
discedat."]
[Footnote 211: It is very instructive, but at the same time very
painful, to trace Tertullian's endeavours to reconcile the
irreconcilable, in other words, to show that the prophecy is new and yet
not so; that it does not impair the full authority of the New Testament
and yet supersedes it. He is forced to maintain the theory that the
Paraclete stands in the same relation to the Apostles as Christ does to
Moses, and that he abrogates the concessions made by the Apostles and
even by Christ himself; whilst he is at the same time obliged to
reassert the sufficiency of both Testaments. In connection with this he
hit upon the peculiar theory of stages in revelation--a theory which,
were it not a mere expedient in his case, one might regard as the first
faint trace of a historical view of the question. Still, this is another
case of a dilemma, furnishing theology with a conception that she has
cautiously employed in succeeding times, when brought face to face with
certain difficulties; see virg. vel. I; exhort. 6; monog. 2, 3, 14;
resurr. 63. For the rest, Tertullian is at bottom a Christian of the old
stamp; the theory of any sort of finality in revelation is of no use to
him except in its bearing on heresy; for the Spirit continually guides
to all truth and works wherever he will. Similarly, his only reason for
not being an Encratite is that this mode of life had already been
adopted by heretics, and become associated with dualism. But the
conviction that all religion must have the character of a fixed _law_
and presupposes definite regulations--a belief not emanating from
primitive Christianity, but from Rome--bound him to the Catholic Church.
Besides, the contradictions with which he struggled were by no means
peculiar to him; in so far as the Montanist societies accepted the
Catholic regulations, they weighed on them all, and in all probability
crushed them out of existence. In Asia Minor, where the breach took
place earlier, the sect held its ground longer. In North Africa the
residuum was a remarkable propensity to visions, holy dreams, and the
like. The feature which forms the peculiar characteristic of the Acts of
Perpetua and Felicitas is still found in a similar shape in Cyprian
himself, who makes powerful use of visions and dreams; and in the
genuine African Acts of the Martyrs, dating from Valerian's time, which
are unfortunately little studied. See, above all, the Acta Jacobi,
Mariani etc., and the Acta Montani, Lucii etc. (Ruinart, Acta Mart. edit
Ratisb. 1859, p. 268 sq., p. 275 sq.)]
[Footnote 212: Nothing is known of attempts at a formal incorporation of
the Oracles with the New Testament. Besides, the Montanists could
dispense with this because they distinguished the commandments of the
Paraclete as "novissima lex" from the "novum testamentum." The preface
to the Montanist Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas (was Tertullian the
author?) showed indeed the high value attached to the visions of
martyrs. In so far as these were to be read in the Churches they were
meant to be reckoned as an "instrumentum ecclesiæ" in the wider sense.]
[Footnote 213: Here the bishops themselves occupy the foreground (there
are complaints about their cowardice and serving of two masters in the
treatise _de fugo_). But it would be very unjust simply to find fault
with them as Tertullian does. Two interests combined to influence their
conduct; for if they drew the reins tight they gave over their flock to
heresy or heathenism. This situation is already evident in Hermas and
dominates the resolutions of the Church leaders in succeeding
generations (see below).]
[Footnote 214: The distinction of "Spiritales" and "Psychici" on the
part of the Montanists is not confined to the West (see Clem., Strom.
IV. 13. 93); we find it very frequently in Tertullian. In itself it did
not yet lead to the formal breach with the Catholic Church.]
[Footnote 215: A contrast to the bishops and the regular congregational
offices existed in primitive Montanism. This was transmitted in a
weakened form to the later adherents of the new prophecy (cf. the Gallic
confessors' strange letter of recommendation on behalf of Irenæus in
Euseb., H. E. V. 4), and finally broke forth with renewed vigour in
opposition to the measures of the lax bishops (de pudic. 21; de exhort.
7; Hippolytus against Calixtus). The _ecclesia_, represented as _numerus
episcoporum_, no longer preserved its prestige in the eyes of
Tertullian.]
[Footnote 216: See here particularly, de pudicitia 1, where Tertullian
sees the virginity of the Church not in pure doctrine, but in strict
precepts for a holy life. As will have been seen in this account, the
oft debated question as to whether Montanism was an innovation or merely
a reaction does not admit of a simple answer. In its original shape it
was undoubtedly an innovation; but it existed at the end of a period
when one cannot very well speak of innovations, because no bounds had
yet been set to subjective religiosity. Montanus decidedly went further
than any Christian prophets known to us; Hermas, too, no doubt gave
injunctions, as a prophet, which gave rise to innovations in
Christendom; but these fell short of Montanus' proceedings. In its later
shape, however, Montanism was to all intents and purposes a reaction,
which aimed at maintaining or reviving an older state of things. So far,
however, as this was to be done by legislation, by a _novissima lex_, we
have an evident innovation analogous to the Catholic development.
Whereas in former times exalted enthusiasm had of itself, as it were,
given rise to strict principles of conduct among its other results,
these principles, formulated with exactness and detail, were now meant
to preserve or produce that original mode of life. Moreover, as soon as
the New Testament was recognised, the conception of a subsequent
revelation through the Paraclete was a highly questionable and strange
innovation. But for those who acknowledged the new prophecy all this was
ultimately nothing but a means. Its practical tendency, based as it was
on the conviction that the Church abandons her character if she does not
resist gross secularisation at least, was no innovation, but a defence
of the most elementary requirements of primitive Christianity in
opposition to a Church that was always more and more becoming a new
thing.]
[Footnote 217: There were of course a great many intermediate stages
between the extremes of laxity and rigour, and the new prophecy was by
no means recognised by all those who had strict views as to the
principles of Christian polity; see the letters of Dionysius of Corinth
in Euseb., H. E. IV. 23. Melito, the prophet, eunuch, and bishop, must
also be reckoned as one of the stricter party, but not as a Montanist.
We must judge similarly of Irenæus.]
[Footnote 218: Euseb., H. E. V. 16. 17. The life of the prophets
themselves was subsequently subjected to sharp criticism.]
[Footnote 219: This was first done by the so-called Alogi who, however,
had to be repudiated.]
[Footnote 220: De ieiun. 12, 16.]
[Footnote 221: Tertullian protested against this in the most energetic
manner.]
[Footnote 222: It is well known that in the 3rd century the Revelation
of John itself was viewed with suspicion and removed from the canon in
wide circles in the East.]
[Footnote 223: In the West the Chiliastic hopes were little or not at
all affected by the Montanist struggle. Chiliasm prevailed there in
unimpaired strength as late as the 4th century. In the East, on the
contrary, the apocalyptic expectations were immediately weakened by the
Montanist crisis. But it was philosophical theology that first proved
their mortal enemy. In the rural Churches of Egypt Chiliasm was still
widely prevalent after the middle of the 3rd century; see the
instructive 24th chapter of Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, Book VII.
"Some of their teachers," says Dionysius, "look on the Law and the
Prophets as nothing, neglect to obey the Gospel, esteem the Epistles of
the Apostles as little worth, but, on the contrary, declare the doctrine
contained in the Revelation of John to be a great and a hidden mystery."
There were even temporary disruptions in the Egyptian Church on account
of Chiliasm (see Chap. 24. 6).]
[Footnote 224: "Lex et prophetæ usque ad Johannem" now became the motto.
Churchmen spoke of a "completus numerus prophetarum" (Muratorian
Fragment), and formulated the proposition that the prophets corresponded
to the pre-Christian stage of revelation, but the Apostles to the
Christian; and that in addition to this the apostolic age was also
particularly distinguished by gifts of the Spirit. "Prophets and
Apostles" now replaced "Apostles, prophets, and teachers," as the court
of appeal. Under such circumstances prophecy might still indeed exist;
but it could no longer be of a kind capable of ranking, in the remotest
degree, with the authority of the Apostles in point of importance. Hence
it was driven into a corner, became extinct, or at most served only to
support the measures of the bishops. In order to estimate the great
revolution in the spirit of the times let us compare the utterances of
Irenæus and Origen about gifts of the Spirit and prophecy. Irenæus still
expressed himself exactly like Justin (Dial. 39, 81, 82, 88); he says
(II. 32. 4: V. 6. 1): [Greek: kathôs kai pollôn akouomen adelphôn hen tê
ekklêsia prophêtika charismata echontôn k.t.l.] Origen on the contrary
(see numerous passages, especially in the treatise c. Cels.), looks back
to a period after which the Spirit's gifts in the Church ceased. It is
also a very characteristic circumstance that along with the
naturalisation of Christianity in the world, the disappearance of
charisms, and the struggle against Gnosticism, a strictly ascetic mode
of life came to be viewed with suspicion. Euseb., H. E. V. 3 is
especially instructive on this point. Here it is revealed to the
confessor Attalus that the confessor Alcibiades, who even in captivity
continued his ascetic practice of living on nothing but bread and water,
was wrong in refraining from that which God had created and thus become
a "[Greek: typos skandalou]" to others. Alcibiades changed his mode of
life. In Africa, however, (see above, p. 103) dreams and visions still
retained their authority in the Church as important means of solving
perplexities.]
[Footnote 225: Tertullian, adv. Marc. IV. 9, enumerates "septem maculas
capitalium delictorum," namely, "idololatria," "blasphemia,"
"homicidium," "adulterium," "stuprum," "falsum testimonium," "fraus."
The stricter treatment probably applied to all these seven offences. So
far as I know, the lapse into heresy was not placed in the same category
in the first centuries; see Iren. III. 4. 2: Tertull., de præscr. 30
and, above all, de pudic. 19 init.; the anonymous writer in Euseb., H.
E. V. 28. 12, from which passages it is evident that repentant heretics
were readmitted.]
[Footnote 226: Hermas based the admissibility of a second atonement on a
definite divine revelation to this effect, and did not expressly discuss
the admission of gross sinners into the Church generally, but treated of
their reception into that of the last days, which he believed had
already arrived. See particulars on this point in my article "Lapsi," in
Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie, 2 ed. Cf. Preuschen, Tertullian's Schriften
de pænit. et de pudic. mit Rücksicht auf die Bussdisciplin, 1890;
Rolffs, Indulgenz-Edict des Kallistus, 1893.]
[Footnote 227: In the work de pænit. (7 ff.) Tertullian treats this as a
fixed Church regulation. K. Müller, Kirchengeschichte I. 1892, p. 114,
rightly remarks: "He who desired this expiation continued in the wider
circle of the Church, in her 'antechamber' indeed, but as her member in
the wider sense. This, however, did not exclude the possibility of his
being received again, even in this world, into the ranks of those
possessing full Christian privileges,--after the performance of penance
or _exhomologesis_. But there was no kind of certainty as to that taking
place. Meanwhile this _exhomologesis_ itself underwent a transformation
which in Tertullian includes a whole series of basal religious ideas. It
is no longer a mere expression of inward feeling, confession to God and
the brethren, but is essentially performance. It is the actual
attestation of heartfelt sorrow, the undertaking to satisfy God by works
of self-humiliation and abnegation, which he can accept as a voluntarily
endured punishment and therefore as a substitute for the penalty that
naturally awaits the sinner. It is thus the means of pacifying God,
appeasing his anger, and gaining his favour again--with the consequent
possibility of readmission into the Church. I say the _possibility_, for
readmission does not always follow. Participation in the future kingdom
may be hoped for even by him who in this world is shut out from full
citizenship and merely remains in the ranks of the penitent. In all
probability then it still continued the rule for a person to remain till
death in a state of penance or _exhomologesis_. For readmission
continued to involve the assumption that the Church had in some way or
other become _certain_ that God had forgiven the sinner, or in other
words that she had power to grant this forgiveness in virtue of the
Spirit dwelling in her, and that this readmission therefore involved no
violation of her holiness." In such instances it is first prophets and
then martyrs that appear as organs of the Spirit, till at last it is no
longer the inspired Christian, but the professional medium of the
Spirit, viz., the priest, who decides everything.]
[Footnote 228: In the 2nd century even endeavours at a formal repetition
of baptism were not wholly lacking. In Marcionite congregations
repetition of baptism is said to have taken place (on the Elkesaites see
Vol. I. p. 308). One can only wonder that there is not more frequent
mention of such attempts. The assertion of Hippolytus (Philos. IX. 12
fin.) is enigmatical: [Greek: Epi Kallistou protô tetolmêtai deuteron
autois baptisma].]
[Footnote 229: See Tertull., de pudic. 12: "hinc est quod neque
idololatriæ neque sanguini pax ab ecclesiis redditur." Orig., de orat.
28 fin; c. Cels. III. 50.]
[Footnote 230: It is only of whoremongers and idolaters that Tertullian
expressly speaks in de pudic. c. I. We must interpret in accordance with
this the following statement by Hippolytus in Philos. IX. 12: [Greek:
Kallistos prôtos ta pros tas hêdonas tois anthrôpois synchôrein
epenoêse, legôn pasin hup' autou aphiesthai hamartias]. The aim of this
measure is still clear from the account of it given by Hippolytus,
though this indeed is written in a hostile spirit. Roman Christians were
then split into at least five different sects, and Calixtus left nothing
undone to break up the unfriendly parties and enlarge his own. In all
probability, too, the energetic bishop met with a certain measure of
success. From Euseb., H. E. IV. 23. 6, one might be inclined to conclude
that, even in Marcus Aurelius' time, Dionysius of Corinth had issued lax
injunctions similar to those of Calixtus. But it must not be forgotten
that we have nothing but Eusebius' report; and it is just in questions
of this kind that his accounts are not reliable.]
[Footnote 231: No doubt persecutions were practically unknown in the
period between 220 and 260.]
[Footnote 232: See Cypr., de lapsis.]
[Footnote 233: What scruples were caused by this innovation is shown by
the first 40 letters in Cyprian's collection. He himself had to struggle
with painful doubts.]
[Footnote 234: Apart from some epistles of Cyprian, Socrates, H. E. V.
22, is our chief source of information on this point. See also Conc.
Illib. can. 1, 2, 6-8, 12, 17, 18-47, 70-73, 75.]
[Footnote 235: See my article "Novatian" in Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie,
2nd ed. One might be tempted to assume that the introduction of the
practice of unlimited forgiveness of sins was an "evangelical reaction"
against the merciless legalism which, in the case of the Gentile Church
indeed, had established itself from the beginning. As a matter of fact
the bishops and the laxer party appealed to the New Testament in
justification of their practice. This had already been done by the
followers of Calixtus and by himself. See Philos. IX. 12: [Greek:
phaskontes Christon aphienai tois eudokousi]; Rom. XIV. 4 and Matt.
XIII. 29 were also quoted. Before this Tertullian's opponents who
favoured laxity had appealed exactly in the same way to numerous Bible
texts, e.g., Matt. X. 23: XI. 19 etc., see de monog, de pudic., de
ieiun. Cyprian is also able to quote many passages from the Gospels.
However, as the bishops and their party did not modify their conception
of baptism, but rather maintained in principle, as before, that baptism
imposes only obligations for the future, the "evangelical reaction" must
not be estimated very highly; (see below, p. 117, and my essay in the
Zeitschrift fur Theologie und Kirche, Vol. I., "Die ehre von der
Seligkeit allein durch den Glauben in der alten Kirche.")]
[Footnote 236: The distinction of sins committed against God himself, as
we find it in Tertullian, Cyprian, and other Fathers, remains involved
in an obscurity that I cannot clear up.]
[Footnote 237: Cyprian never expelled any one from the Church, unless he
had attacked the authority of the bishops, and thus in the opinion of
this Father placed himself outside her pale by his own act.]
[Footnote 238: Hippol., Philos. IX. 12: [Greek: Kai parabolên tôn
zizaniôn pros touto ephê ho Kallistos legesthai. Aphete ta zizania
sunauxein tô sitô, toutestin en tê ekklêsia tous hamartanontas. Alla kai
tên kibôton tou Nôe eis homoiôma ekklêsias ephê gegonenai, en hê kai
kunes kai lykoi kai korakes kai panta ta kathara kai akatharta; houtô
phaskôn dein einai en ekklêsia homoiôs, kai hosa pros touto dynatos ên
synagein houtôs hêrmêneusen.] From Tertull., de idolol. 24, one cannot
help assuming that even before the year 200 the laxer sort in Carthage
had already appealed to the Ark. ("Viderimus si secundum arcæ typum et
corvus et milvus et lupus et canis et serpens in ecclesia erit. Certe
idololatres in arcæ typo non habetur. Quod in arca non fuit, in ecclesia
non sit"). But we do not know what form this took and what inferences
they drew. Moreover, we have here a very instructive example of the
multitudinous difficulties in which the Fathers were involved by
typology: the Ark is the Church, hence the dogs and snakes are men. To
solve these problems it required an abnormal degree of acuteness and
wit, especially as each solution always started fresh questions. Orig.
(Hom. II. in Genes. III.) also viewed the Ark as the type of the Church
(the working out of the image in Hom. I. in Ezech., Lomm. XIV. p. 24
sq., is instructive); but apparently in the wild animals he rather sees
the simple Christians who are not yet sufficiently trained--at any rate
he does not refer to the whoremongers and adulterers who must be
tolerated in the Church. The Roman bishop Stephen again, positively
insisted on Calixtus' conception of the Church, whereas Cornelius
followed Cyprian (see Euseb., H. E. VI. 43. 10), who never declared
sinners to be a necessary part of the Church in the same fashion as
Calixtus did. (See the following note and Cyp., epp. 67. 6; 68. 5).]
[Footnote 239: Philos., l.c.: [Greek: Kallistos edogmatisen hopôs ei
episkopos hamartoi ti, ei kai pros thanaton, mê dein katatithesthai].
That Hippolytus is not exaggerating here is evident from Cyp., epp. 67,
68; for these passages make it very probable that Stephen also assumed
the irremovability of a bishop on account of gross sins or other
failings.]
[Footnote 240: See Cypr., epp. 65, 66, 68; also 55. 11.]
[Footnote 241: This is asserted by Cyprian in epp. 65. 4 and 67. 3; but
he even goes on to declare that everyone is polluted that has fellowship
with an impure priest, and takes part in the offering celebrated by
him.]
[Footnote 242: On this point the greatest uncertainty prevails in
Cyprian. Sometimes he says that God himself installs the bishops, and it
is therefore a deadly sin against God to criticise them (e.g., in ep.
66. 1); on other occasions he remembers that the bishops have been
ordained by bishops; and again, as in ep. 67. 3, 4, he appears to
acknowledge the community's right to choose and control them. Cf. the
sections referring to Cyprian in Reuter's "Augustinische Studien"
(Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, Vol. VII., p. 199 ff.).]
[Footnote 243: The Donatists were quite justified in appealing to
Cyprian, that is, in one of his two aspects.]
[Footnote 244: Origen not only distinguishes between different groups
within the Church as judged by their spiritual understanding and moral
development (Comm. in Matt. Tom. XI. at Chap. XV. 29; Hom. II. in Genes.
Chap. 3; Hom. in Cantic. Tom. I. at Chap. I. 4: "ecclesia una quidem
est, cum perfecta est; multæ vero sunt adolescentulæ, cum adhuc
instruuntur et proficiunt"; Hom. III. in Levit. Chap. iii.), but also
between spiritual and carnal members (Hom. XXVI. in Num. Chap. vii.)
i.e., between true Christians and those who only bear that name without
heartfelt faith--who outwardly take part in everything, but bring forth
fruits neither in belief nor conduct. Such Christians he as little views
as belonging to the Church as does Clement of Alexandria (see Strom.
VII. 14. 87, 88). To him they are like the Jebusites who were left in
Jerusalem: they have no part in the promises of Christ, but are lost
(Comm. in Matt. T. XII. c. xii.). It is the Church's task to remove such
members, whence we see that Origen was far from sharing Calixtus' view
of the Church as a _corpus permixtum_; but to carry out this process so
perfectly that only the holy and the saved remain is a work beyond the
powers of human sagacity. One must therefore content oneself with
expelling notorious sinners; see Hom. XXI. in Jos., c. i.: "sunt qui
ignobilem et degenerem vitam ducunt, qui et fide et actibus et omni
conversatione sua perversi sunt. Neque enim possibile est, ad liquidum
purgari ecclesiam, dum in terris est, ita ut neque impius in ea
quisquam, neque peccator residere videatur, sed sint in ea omnes sancti
et beati, et in quibus nulla prorsus peccati macula deprehendatur. Sed
sicut dicitur de zizaniis: Ne forte eradicantes zizania simul eradicetis
et triticum, ita etiam super iis dici potest, in quibus vel dubia vel
occulta peccata sunt.... Eos saltem eiiciamus quos possumus, quorum
peccata manifesta sunt. Ubi enim peccatum non est evidens, eiicere de
ecclesia neminem possumus." In this way indeed very many wicked people
remain in the Church (Comm. in Matt. T. X. at c. xiii. 47 f.: [Greek: mê
xenizometha, ean horômen hêmôn ta athroismata peplêrômena kai ponêrôn]);
_but in his work against Celsus Origen already propounded that empiric
and relative theory of the Christian Churches which views them as simply
"better" than the societies and civic communities existing alongside of
them_. The 29th and 30th chapters of the 3rd book against Celsus, in
which he compares the Christians with the other population of Athens,
Corinth, and Alexandria, and the heads of congregations with the
councillors and mayors of these cities, are exceedingly instructive and
attest the revolution of the times. In conclusion, however, we must
point out that Origen expressly asserts that a person unjustly
excommunicated remains a member of the Church in God's eyes; see Hom.
XIV. in Levit. c. iii.: "ita fit, ut interdum ille qui foras mittitur
intussit, et ille foris, qui intus videtur retineri." Döllinger
(Hippolytus and Calixtus, page 254 ff.) has correctly concluded that
Origen followed the disputes between Hippolytus and Calixtus in Rome,
and took the side of the former. Origen's trenchant remarks about the
pride and arrogance of the bishops of large towns (in Matth. XI. 9. 15;
XII. 9-14; XVI. 8. 22 and elsewhere, e.g., de orat. 28, Hom. VI. in Isai
c. i., in Joh. X. 16), and his denunciation of such of them as, in order
to glorify God, assume a mere distinction of names between Father and
Son, are also correctly regarded by Langen as specially referring to the
Roman ecclesiastics (Geschichte der römischen Kirche I. p. 242). Thus
Calixtus was opposed by the three greatest theologians of the
age--Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Origen.]
[Footnote 245: If, in assuming the irremovability of a bishop even in
case of mortal sin, the Roman bishops went beyond Cyprian, Cyprian drew
from his conception of the Church a conclusion which the former
rejected, viz., the invalidity of baptism administered by non-Catholics.
Here, in all likelihood, the Roman bishops were only determined by their
interest in smoothing the way to a return or admission to the Church in
the case of non-Catholics. In this instance they were again induced to
adhere to their old practice from a consideration of the catholicity of
the Church. It redounds to Cyprian's credit that he drew and firmly
maintained the undeniable inferences from his own theory in spite of
tradition. The matter never led to a great _dogmatic_ controversy.]
[Footnote 246: As to the events during the vacancy in the Roman see
immediately before Novatian's schism, and the part then played by the
latter, who was still a member of the Church, see my essay: "Die Briefe
des römischen Klerus aus der Zeit. der Sedisvacanz im Jahre 250"
(Abhandl. f. Weizsäcker, 1892).]
[Footnote 247: So far as we are able to judge, Novatian himself did not
extend the severer treatment to all gross sinners (see ep. 55. 26, 27);
but only decreed it in the case of the lapsed. It is, however, very
probable that in the later Novatian Churches no mortal sinner was
absolved (see, e.g., Socrates, H. E. I. 10). The statement of Ambrosius
(de pænit. III. 3) that Novatian made no difference between gross and
lesser sins and equally refused forgiveness to transgressors of every
kind distorts the truth as much as did the old reproach laid to his
charge, viz., that he as "a Stoic" made no distinction between sins.
Moreover, in excluding gross sinners, Novatian's followers did not mean
to abandon them, but to leave them under the discipline and intercession
of the Church.]
[Footnote 248: The title of the evangelical life (evangelical
perfection, imitation of Christ) in contrast to that of ordinary
Catholic Christians, a designation which we first find among the
Encratites (see Vol. I. p. 237, note 3) and Marcionites (see Tertull.,
adv. Marc. IV. 14: "Venio nunc ad ordinarias sententias Marcionis, per
quas proprietatem doctrinæ suæ inducit ad edictum, ut ita dixerim,
Christi, Beati mendici etc."), and then in Tertullian (in his
pre-Montanist period, see ad mart., de patient., de pænit., de idolol.;
in his later career, see de coron. 8, 9, 13, 14; de fuga 8, 13; de
ieiun. 6, 8, 15; de monog. 3, 5, 11; see Aubé, Les Chrétiens dans
l'empire Romain de la fin des Antonins, 1881, p. 237 ff.: "Chrétiens
intransigeants et Chrétiens opportunistes") was expressly claimed by
Novatian (Cypr., ep. 44. 3: "si Novatiani se adsertores evangelii et
Christi esse confitentur"; 46. 2: "nec putetis, sic vos evangelium
Christi adserere"). Cornelius in Eusebius, H. E. VI. 43. II calls
Novatian: [Greek: ho ekdikêtês tou euangeliou]. This is exceedingly
instructive, and all the more so when we note that, even as far back as
the end of the second century, it was not the "evangelical," but the
lax, who declared the claims of the Gospel to be satisfied if they kept
God in their hearts, but otherwise lived in entire conformity with the
world. See Tertullian, de spec. 1; de pænit. 5: "Sed aiunt quidam, satis
deum habere, si corde et animo suspiciatur, licet actu minus fiat;
itaque se salvo metu et fide peccare, hoc est salva castitate matrimonia
violare etc.": de ieiun. 2: "Et scimus, quales sint carnalium commodorum
suasoriæ, quam facile dicatur: Opus est de totis præcordiis credam,
diligam deum et proximum tanquam me. In his enim duobus præceptis tota
lex pendet et prophetæ, non in pulmonum et intestinorum meorum
inanitate." The Valentinian Heracleon was similarly understood, see
above Vol. I. p. 262.]
[Footnote 249: Tertullian (de pud. 22) had already protested vigorously
against such injustice.]
[Footnote 250: From Socrates' Ecclesiastical History we can form a good
idea of the state of the Novatian communities in Constantinople and Asia
Minor. On the later history of the Catharist Church see my article
"Novatian," l.c., 667 ff. The most remarkable feature of this history is
the amalgamation of Novatian's adherents in Asia Minor with the
Montanists and the absence of distinction between their manner of life
and that of the Catholics. In the 4th century of course the Novatians
were nevertheless very bitterly attacked.]
[Footnote 251: This indeed was disputed by Hippolytus and Origen.]
[Footnote 252: This last conclusion was come to after painful scruples,
particularly in the East--as we may learn from the 6th and 7th books of
Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History. For a time the majority of the
Oriental bishops adopted an attitude favourable to Novatian and
unfavourable to Cornelius and Cyprian. Then they espoused the cause of
the latter, though without adopting the milder discipline in all cases
(see the canons of Ancyra and Neocæsarea IV. sæc. init.). Throughout the
East the whole question became involved in confusion, and was not
decided in accordance with clear principles. In giving up the last
remnant of her exclusiveness (the canons of Elvira are still very strict
while those of Arles are lax), the Church became "Catholic" in quite a
special sense, in other words, she became a community where everyone
could find his place, provided he submitted to certain regulations and
rules. Then, and not till then, was the Church's pre-eminent importance
for society and the state assured. It was no longer variance, and no
longer the sword (Matt. X. 34, 35), but peace and safety that she
brought; she was now capable of becoming an educative or, since there
was little more to educate in the older society, a conservative power.
At an earlier date the Apologists (Justin, Melito, Tertullian himself)
had already extolled her as such, but it was not till now that she
really possessed this capacity. Among Christians, first the Encratites
and Marcionites, next the adherents of the new prophecy, and lastly the
Novatians had by turns opposed the naturalisation of their religion in
the world and the transformation of the Church into a political
commonwealth. Their demands had progressively become less exacting,
whence also their internal vigour had grown ever weaker. But, in view of
the continuous secularising of Christendom, the Montanist demands at the
beginning of the 3rd century already denoted no less than those of the
Encratites about the middle of the second, and no more than those of the
Novatians about the middle of the third. The Church resolutely declared
war on all these attempts to elevate evangelical perfection to an
inflexible law for all, and overthrew her opponents. She pressed on in
her world-wide mission and appeased her conscience by allowing a twofold
morality within her bounds. Thus she created the conditions which
enabled the ideal of evangelical perfection to be realised in her own
midst, in the form of monasticism, without threatening her existence.
"What is monasticism but an ecclesiastical institution that makes it
possible to separate oneself from the world and to remain in the Church,
to separate oneself from the outward Church without renouncing her, to
set oneself apart for purposes of sanctification and yet to claim the
highest rank among her members, to form a brotherhood and yet to further
the interests of the Church?" In succeeding times great Church
movements, such as the Montanist and Novatian, only succeeded in
attaining local or provincial importance. See the movement at Rome at
the beginning of the 4th century, of which we unfortunately know so
little (Lipsius, Chronologie der römischen Bischofe, pp. 250-255), the
Donatist Revolution, and the Audiani in the East.]
[Footnote 253: It is a characteristic circumstance that Tertullian's de
ieiun. does _not_ assume that the great mass of Christians possess an
actual knowledge of the Bible.]
[Footnote 254: The condition of the constitution of the Church about the
middle of the 3rd century (in accordance with Cyprian's epistles) is
described by Otto Ritschl, l.c., pp. 142-237. Parallels to the
provincial and communal constitution of secular society are to be found
throughout.]
[Footnote 255: To how great an extent the Church in Decius' time was
already a state within the state is shown by a piece of information
given in Cyprian's 55th epistle (c. 9.): "Cornelius sedit intrepidus
Romæ in sacerdotali cathedra eo tempore: cum tyrannus infestus
sacerdotibus dei fanda adque infanda comminaretur, cum multo patientius
et tolerabilius audiret levari adversus se æmulum principem quam
constitui Romæ dei sacerdotem." On the other hand the legislation with
regard to Christian flamens adopted by the Council of Elvira, which, as
Duchesne (Mélanges Renier: Le Concile d'Elvire et les flamines
chrétiens, 1886) has demonstrated, most probably dates from before the
Diocletian persecution of 300, shows how closely the discipline of the
Church had already been adapted to the heathen regulations in the
Empire. In addition to this there was no lack of syncretist systems
within Christianity as early as the 3rd century (see the [Greek: Kestoi]
of Julius Africanus, and other examples). Much information on this point
is to be derived from Origen's works and also, in many respects, from
the attitude of this author himself. We may also refer to relic- and
hero-worship, the foundation of which was already laid in the 3rd
century, though the "religion of the second order" did not become a
recognised power in the Church or force itself into the official
religion till the 4th.]
[Footnote 256: See Tertullian's frightful accusations in de pudic. (10)
and de ieiun. (fin) against the "Psychici", i.e., the Catholic
Christians. He says that with them the saying had really come to signify
"peccando promeremur," by which, however, he does not mean the
Augustinian: "o felix culpa."]
[Footnote 257: The relation of this Church to theology, what theology
she required and what she rejected, and, moreover, to what extent she
rejected the kind that she accepted may be seen by reference to chap. 5
ff. We may here also direct attention to the peculiar position of Origen
in the Church as well as to that of Lucian the Martyr, concerning whom
Alexander of Alexandria (Theoderet, H. E. I. 3) remarks that he was a
[Greek: aposunagôgos] in Antioch for a long time, namely, during the
rule of three successive bishops.]
[Footnote 258: We have already referred to the passage above. On account
of its importance we may quote it here:
"According to Celsus Apollo required the Metapontines to regard Aristeas
as a god; but in their eyes the latter was but a man and perhaps not a
virtuous one ... They would therefore not obey Apollo, and thus it
happened that no one believed in the divinity of Aristeas. But with
regard to Jesus we may say that it proved a blessing to the human race
to acknowledge him as the Son of God, as God who appeared on earth
united with body and soul." Origen then says that the demons
counterworked this belief, and continues: "But God who had sent Jesus on
earth brought to nought all the snares and plots of the demons and aided
in the victory of the Gospel of Jesus throughout the whole earth in
order to promote the conversion and amelioration of men; and everywhere
brought about the establishment of Churches which are ruled by other
laws than those that regulate the Churches of the superstitious, the
dissolute and the unbelieving. For of such people the civil population
([Greek: politeuomena en tais ekklêsiais tôn poleôn plêthê]) of the
towns almost everywhere consists." [Greek: Hai de tou Theou Christô
mathêteuthesai ekklêsiai, sunezetazomenai tais ôn paroikousi dêmôn
ekklêsiais, hôs phôtêres eisin en kosmô. tis gar ouk an homologêsai, kai
tous cheirous tôn apo tês ekklêsias kai sugkrisei beltionôn elattous
pollô kreittous tugxhanein tôn en tois demois ekklêsiôn; ekklêsia men
gar tou theou, pher' eipein, hê Athênaesi praeia tis kai eustathês, hate
Theô areskein tô epi pasi boulomenê; hê d' Athênaiôn ekklêsia stasiôdês
kai oudamôs paraballomenê tê ekei ekklêsia tou Theou; to d' auto ereis,
peri ekklêsias tou Theou tês en Korinthô kai tês ekklêsias tou dêmon
Korinthiôn; kai, pher' eipein, peri ekklêsias tou Theou tês en
Alexandreia, kai ekklêsias tou Alexandreôn dêmou, kai ean eugnômôn hê ho
toutou akouôn kai philalêthôs exetazê ta pragmata, thaumasetai ton kai
bouleusamenon kai anousai dunêthenta pantachou sustêsasthai ekklêsias
tou Theou, paroikousas ekklêsias tôn kath' 'ekastên polin dêmôn houtô de
kai boulên ekklêsias Theou boulê tê kath' hekastên polin sunexetazôn
heurois an hoti tines men tês ekklêsias bouleutai exioi eisi]--[Greek:
ei tis estin en tô panti polis tou Theou]--[Greek: en ekeinê
politeuesthai hoi de pantachou bouleutai ouden exion tês ek katataxeôs
huperochês, hên huperechein dokousi tôn politôn, pherousin en tois
heautôn êthesin; houtô de kai archonta ekklêsias hekastês poleôs
archonti tôn en tê polei sugkroteon; hina katanoêsus, hoti kai epi tôn
sphodra apotugchanomenoô bouletôn kai archontôn ekklêsias Theou, kai
rhathumoteron para tous eutonôterôs biountas ouden êtton estin heurein
hôs epipan huperochên tên en tê epi tas aretas prokopê para ta êthê tôn
en tais polesi bouleutôn kai archontôn.]]
[Footnote 259: Ritschl, Entstehung der altkatholischen Kirche pp. 362,
368, 394, 461, 555, 560, 576. Otto Ritschl, l.c., pp. 208, 218, 231.
Hatch "Organisation of the early Christian Church," Lectures 5 and 6;
id., Art. "Ordination," "Priest," in the Dictionary of Christian
Antiquities. Hauck, Art. "Priester" in Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie, 2nd
ed. Voigt, l.c., p. 175 ff. Sohm, Kirchenrecht I. p. 205 ff. Louw, Het
ontstaan van het Priesterschap in de christ. Kerk, Utrecht, 1892.]
[Footnote 260: Clement of Rome was the first to compare the conductors
of public worship in Christian Churches with the priests and Levites,
and the author of the [Greek: Didachê] was the first to liken the
Christian prophets to the high priests. It cannot, however, be shown
that there were any Christian circles where the leaders were directly
styled "priests" before the last quarter of the 2nd century. We can by
no means fall back on Ignatius, Philad. 9, nor on Iren., IV. 8. 3, which
passage is rather to be compared with [Greek: Did.] 13. 3. It is again
different in Gnostic circles, which in this case, too, anticipated the
secularising process: read for example the description of Marcus in
Iren., I. 13. Here, _mutatis mutandis_, we have the later Catholic
bishop, who alone is able to perform a mysterious sacrifice to whose
person powers of grace are attached--the formula of bestowal was:
[Greek: metadounai soi thelô tês emês charitos ... lambane ap' emou kai
di' emou charin], and through whose instrumentality union with God can
alone be attained: the [Greek: apolutrôsis] (I. 21.) is only conferred
through the mystagogue. Much of a similar nature is to be found, and we
can expressly say that the distinction between priestly mystagogues and
laymen was of fundamental importance in many Gnostic societies (see also
the writings of the Coptic Gnostics); it was different in the Marcionite
Church. Tertullian (de bapt. 17) was the first to call the bishop
"summus sacerdos," and the older opinion that he merely "played" with
the idea is untenable, and refuted by Pseudo-Cyprian, de aleat. 2
("sacerdotalis dignitas"). In his Antimontanist writings the former has
repeatedly repudiated any distinction in principle of a particular
priestly class among Christians, as well as the application of certain
injunctions to this order (de exhort. 7: "nonne et laici sacerdotes
sumus? ... adeo ubi ecclesiastici ordinis non est consessus, et offeis
et tinguis et sacerdos es tibi solus, sed ubi tres, ecclesia est, licet
laici."; de monog. 7). We may perhaps infer from his works that before
about the year 200, the name "priest" was not yet universally applied to
bishop and presbyters in Carthage (but see after this de præscr. 29, 41:
sacerdotalia munera; de pud. 1, 21; de monog. 12: disciplina sacerd.; de
exhort. 7: sacerdotalis ordo, ibid. 11 "et offeres pro duabus uxoribus,
et commendabis illas duas per sacerdotem de monogamia ordinatum;" de
virg. vel. 9: sacerdotale officium; Scorp. 7: sacerdos). The latest
writings of Tertullian show us indeed that the name and the conception
which it represents were already prevalent. Hippolytus (Philos. præf.:
[Greek: hôn hêmeis diadochoi tugchanontes tês te autês charitos
metechontes archierateias kai didaskalias], see also the Arabian canons)
expressly claimed high priesthood for the bishops, and Origen thought he
was justified in giving the name of "Priests and Levites" to those who
conducted public worship among Christians. This he indeed did with
reserve (see many passages, e.g., Hom. II. in Num., Vol. II. p. 278;
Hom. VI. in Lev., Vol. II. p. 211; Comment, in Joh., Vol. I. 3), but yet
to a far greater extent than Clement (see Bigg, l.c., p. 214 f.). In
Cyprian and the literature of the Greek Church in the immediately
following period we find the designation "priest" as the regular and
most customary name for the bishop and presbyters. Novatian (Jerome, de
vir. inl. 70) wrote a treatise _de sacerdote_ and another _de
ordinatione_. The notable and momentous change of conception expressed
in the idea can be traced by us through its preparatory stages almost as
little as the theory of the apostolic succession of the bishops. Irenæus
(IV. 8. 3, 17. 5, 18. 1) and Tertullian, when compared with Cyprian,
appear here as representatives of primitive Christianity. They firmly
assert the priesthood of the whole congregation. That the laity had as
great a share as the leaders of the Churches in the transformation of
the latter into Priests is moreover shown by the bitter saying of
Tertullian (de monog. 12): "Sed cum extollimur et inflamur adversus
clerum, tunc unum omnes sumus, tunc omnes sacerdotes, quia 'sacerdotes
nos deo et patri fecit'. Cum ad peræquationem disciplinæ sacerdotalis
provocamur, deponimus infulas."]
[Footnote 261: See Sohm, I. p. 207.]
[Footnote 262: The "deservire altari et sacrificia divina celebrare"
(Cypr. ep. 67. 1) is the distinctive function of the _sacerdos dei_. It
may further be said, however, that _all_ ceremonies of public worship
properly belong to him, and Cyprian has moreover contrived to show that
this function of the bishop as leader of the Church follows from his
priestly attributes; for as priest the bishop is _antistes Christi_
(dei); see epp. 59. 18: 61. 2: 63. 14: 66. 5, and this is the basis of
his right and duty to preserve the _lex evangelica_ and the _traditio
dominica_ in every respect. As _antistes dei_ however, an attribute
bestowed on the bishop by the apostolic succession and the laying on of
hands, he has also received the power of the keys, which confers the
right to judge in Christ's stead and to grant or refuse the divine
grace. In Cyprian's conception of the episcopal office the _successio
apostolica_ and the position of vicegerent of Christ (of God)
counterbalance each other; he also tried to amalgamate both elements
(ep. 55. 8: "cathedra sacerdotalis"). It is evident that as far as the
inner life of each church was concerned, the latter and newer
necessarily proved the more important feature. In the East, where the
thought of the apostolical succession of the bishops never received such
pronounced expression as in Rome it was just this latter element that
was almost exclusively emphasised from the end of the 3rd century.
Ignatius led the way when he compared the bishop, in his position
towards the individual community, with God and Christ. He, however, is
dealing in images, but at a later period the question is about realities
based on a mysterious transference.]
[Footnote 263: Soon after the creation of a professional priesthood,
there also arose a class of inferior clergy. This was first the case in
Rome. This development was not uninfluenced by the heathen priesthood,
and the temple service (see my article in Texte und Untersuchungen II.
5). Yet Sohm, l.c., p. 128 ff., has disputed this, and proposed
modifications, worth considering, in my view of the origin of the
_ordines minores_.]
[Footnote 264: Along with the sacerdotal laws, strictly so called, which
Cyprian already understood to apply in a frightful manner (see his
appeal to Deut. XVII. 12; 1 Sam. VIII. 7; Luke X. 16; John XVIII. 22 f.;
Acts XXIII. 4-5 in epp. 3. 43, 59. 66), other Old Testament commandments
could not fail to be introduced. Thus the commandment of tithes, which
Irenæus had still asserted to be abolished, was now for the first time
established (see Origen; Constit. Apost. and _my_ remarks on [Greek:
Did]. c. 13); and hence Mosaic regulations as to ceremonial cleanness
were adopted (see Hippol. Canones arab. 17; Dionys. Alex., ep. canon.).
Constantine was the first to base the observance of Sunday on the
commandment as to the Sabbath. Besides, the West was always more
hesitating in this respect than the East. In Cyprian's time, however,
the classification and dignity of the clergy were everywhere upheld by
an appeal to Old Testament commandments, though reservations still
continued to be made here and there.]
[Footnote 265: Tertullian (de pud. I) sneeringly named the bishop of
Rome "pontifex maximus," thereby proving that he clearly recognised the
heathen colouring given to the episcopal office. With the picture of the
bishop drawn by the Apostolic constitutions may be compared the
ill-natured descriptions of Paul of Samosata in Euseb., VII. 30.]
[Footnote 266: Yet this influence, in a direct form at least, can only
be made out at a comparatively late period. But nevertheless, from the
middle of the 3rd century the priests alone are possessed of knowledge.
As [Greek: mathêsis] and [Greek: mystagôgia] are inseparably connected
in the mysteries and Gnostic societies, and the mystagogue was at once
knowing one and priest, so also in the Catholic Church the priest is
accounted the knowing one. Doctrine itself became a mystery to an
increasing extent.]
[Footnote 267: Examples are found in epp. 1, 3, 4, 33, 43, 54, 57, 59,
65, 66. But see Iren., IV. 26. 2, who is little behind Cyprian here,
especially when he threatens offenders with the fate of Dathan and
Abiram. One of the immediate results of the formation of a priestly and
spiritual class was that the independent "teachers" now shared the fate
of the old "prophets" and became extinct (see my edition of the [Greek:
Didachê], prolegg. pp. 131-137). It is an instructive fact that
Theoktistus of Cæsarea and Alexander of Jerusalem in order to prove in
opposition to Demetrius that independent teachers were still tolerated,
i.e., allowed to speak in public meetings of the Church, could only
appeal to the practice of Phrygia and Lycaonia, that is, to the habit of
outlying provinces where, besides, Montanism had its original seat.
Euelpis in Laranda, Paulinus in Iconium, and Theodorus in Synnada, who
flourished about 216, are in addition to Origen the last independent
teachers (i.e., outside the ranks of the clergy) known to us in
Christendom (Euseb., H. E. VI. 19 fin.).]
[Footnote 268: See Döllinger, Die Lehre von der Eucharistie in den
ersten drei Jahrhunderten, 1826. Höfling, Die Lehre der ältesten Kirche
vom Opfer, p. 71 ff. Th. Harnack, Der christliche Gemeindegottesdienst
im apostolischen und altkatholischen Zeitalter, p. 342 ff. Steitz, Art.
"Messe" in Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie, 2nd ed. It is idle to enquire
whether the conception of the "sacerdotium" or that of the "sacrificium"
was first altered, because they are correlative ideas.]
[Footnote 269: See the proof passages in Höfling, l.c., who has also
treated in detail Clement and Origen's idea of sacrifice, and cf. the
beautiful saying of Irenæus IV. 18. 3: "Non sacrificia sanctificant
hominem; non enim indiget sacrificio deus; sed conscientia eius qui
offert sanctificat sacrificium, pura exsistens, et præstat acceptare
deum quasi ab amico" (on the offering in the Lord's Supper see Iren. IV.
17. 5, 18. 1); Tertull., Apolog. 30; de orat. 28; adv. Marc. III. 22;
IV. 1, 35: adv. Jud. 5; de virg. vel. 13.]
[Footnote 270: Cf. specially the Montanist writings; the treatise _de
ieiunio_ is the most important among them in this case; see cc. 7, 16;
de resurr. 8. On the use of the word "satisfacere" and the new ideas on
the point which arose in the West (cf. also the word "meritum") see
below chap. 5. 2 and the 2nd chap. of the 5th Vol. Note that the 2nd Ep.
of Clement already contains the sayings: [Greek: kalon eleêmounê hôs
metanoia hamartias kreissôn nêsteia proseuchês, eleêmosunê de amphoterôn
... eleêmosunê gar kouphisma hamartias ginetai] (16. 4; similar
expressions occur in the "Shepherd"). But they only show how far back we
find the origin of these injunctions borrowed from Jewish proverbial
wisdom. One cannot say that they had no effect at all on Christian life
in the 2nd century; but we do not yet find the idea that ascetic
performances are a sacrifice offered to a wrathful God. Martyrdom seems
to have been earliest viewed as a performance which expiated sins. In
Tertullian's time the theory, that it was on a level with baptism (see
Melito, 12. Fragment in Otto, Corp. Apol. IX. p. 418: [Greek: duo
sunestê ta aphesin amartêmata parechomena, pathos dia Christon kai
baptisma]), had long been universally diffused and was also exegetically
grounded. In fact, men went a step further and asserted that the merits
of martyrs could also benefit others. This view had likewise become
established long before Tertullian's day, but was opposed by him (de
pudic 22), when martyrs abused the powers universally conceded to them.
Origen went furthest here; see exhort. ad mart. 50: [Greek: hôsper timiô
haimati tou Iêsou êgorasthêmen ... houtôs tô timiô haimati tôn marturôn
agorasthêsontai tines]; Hom. X. in Num. c. II.: "ne forte, ex quo
martyres non fiunt et hostiæ sanctorum non offeruntur pro peccatis
nostris, peccatorum nostrorum remissionem non mereamur." The origin of
this thought is, on the one hand, to be sought for in the wide-spread
notion that the sufferings of an innocent man benefit others, and, on
the other, in the belief that Christ himself suffered in the martyrs
(see, e.g., ep. Lugd. in Euseb., H. E. V. 1. 23, 41).]
[Footnote 271: In the East it was Origen who introduced into
Christianity the rich treasure of ancient ideas that had become
associated with sacrifices. See Bigg's beautiful account in "The
Christian Platonists of Alexandria," Lect. IV.-VI.]
[Footnote 272: Moreover, Tertullian (Scorp. 6) had already said:
"Quomodo multæ mansiones apud patrem, si non pro varietate meritorum."]
[Footnote 273: See c. 1: "Nam cum dominus adveniens sanasset illa, quæ
Adam portaverit vulnera et venena serpentis antiqua curasset, legem
dedit sano et præcepit, ne ultra iam peccaret, ne quid peccanti gravius
eveniret: coartati eramus et in augustum innocentiæ præscriptione
conclusi, nec haberet quid fragilitatis humanæ infirmitas adque
imbecillitas faceret, nisi iterum pietas divina subveniens iustitiæ et
misericordiæ operibus ostensis viam quandam tuendæ salutis aperiret, ut
sordes postmodum quascumque contrahimus eleemosynis abluamus." c. 2:
"sicut lavacro aquæ salutaris gehennæ ignis extinguitur, ita eleemosynis
adque operationibus iustus delictorum flamma sopitur, et quia semel in
baptismo remissa peccatorum datur, adsidua et iugis operatic baptismi
instar imitata dei rursus indulgentiam largiatur." 5, 6, 9. In c. 18
Cyprian already established an arithmetical relation between the number
of alms-offerings and the blotting out of sins, and in c. 21, in
accordance with an ancient idea which Tertullian and Minucius Felix,
however, only applied to martyrdom, he describes the giving of alms as a
spectacle for God and Christ. In Cyprian's epistles "satisfacere deo" is
exceedingly frequent. It is almost still more important to note the
frequent use of the expression "promereri deum (iudicem)" in Cyprian.
See de unitate 15: "iustitia opus est, ut promereri quis possit deum
iudicem: præceptis eius et monitis obtemperandum est, ut accipiant
merita nostra mercedem." 18; de lapsis 31; de orat. 8, 32, 36; de
mortal. 10; de op. 11, 14, 15, 26; de bono pat. 18; ep. 62. 2: 73. 10.
Here it is everywhere assumed that Christians acquire God's favour by
their works.]
[Footnote 274: Baptism with blood is not referred to here.]
[Footnote 275: With modifications, this has still continued to be the
case beyond Augustine's time down to the Catholicism of the present day.
Cyprian is the father of the Romish doctrine of good works and
sacrifice. Yet is it remarkable that he was not yet familiar with the
theory according to which man _must_ acquire _merita_. In his mind
"merits" and "blessedness" are not yet rigidly correlated ideas; but the
rudiments of this view are also found in him; cf. de unit. 15 (see p.
134, note 3).]
[Footnote 276: "Sacrificare," "sacrificium celebrare," in all passages
where they are unaccompanied by any qualifying words, mean to celebrate
the Lord's Supper. Cyprian has never called prayer a "sacrifice" without
qualifying terms; on the contrary he collocates "preces" and
"sacrificium," and sometimes also "oblatio" and "sacrificium." The
former is then the offering of the laity and the latter of the priests.]
[Footnote 277: Cf. the whole 63rd epistle and above all c. 7: "Et quia
passionis eius mentionem in sacrificiis omnibus facimus, passio est enim
domini sacrificium quod offerrimus, nihil aliud quam quod ille fecit
facere debemus;" c. 9.: "unde apparet sanguinem Christi non offerri, si
desit vinum calici." 13; de unit. 17: "dominicæ hostiæ veritatem per
falsa sacrificia profanare;" ep. 63. 4: "sacramentum sacrificii
dominici." The transference of the sacrificial idea to the consecrated
elements, which, in all probability, Cyprian already found in existence,
is ultimately based on the effort to include the element of mystery and
magic in the specifically sacerdotal ceremony of sacrifice, and to make
the Christian offering assume, though not visibly, the form of a bloody
sacrifice, such as secularised Christianity desired. This transference,
however, was the result of two causes. The first has been already
rightly stated by Ernesti (Antimur. p. 94) in the words: "quia
eucharistia habet [Greek: anamnêsin] Christi mortui et sacrificii eius
in cruce peracti, propter ea paullatim coepta est tota eucharistia
sacrificium dici." In Cyprian's 63rd epistle it is still observable how
the "calicem in commemorationem domini et passionis eius offerre" passes
over into the "sanguinem Christi offerre," see also Euseb. demonstr. I.
13: [Greek: mnêmên tês thysias Christou prospherein] and [Greek: tên
ensarkon tou Christou parousian kai to katartisthen autou sôma
prospherein]. The other cause has been specially pointed out by Theodore
Harnack (l.c., p. 409 f.). In ep. 63. 2 and in many other passages
Cyprian expresses the thought "that in the Lord's Supper nothing else is
done _by_ us but what the Lord has first done _for_ us." But he says
that at the institution of the Supper the Lord first offered himself as
a sacrifice to God the Father. Consequently the priest officiating in
Christ's stead only presents a true and perfect offering when he
imitates what Christ has done (c. 14: "si Christus Jesus dominus et deus
noster ipse est summus sacerdos dei patris et sacrificiam patri se ipsum
obtulit et hoc fieri in sui commemorationem præcepit, utique ille
sacerdos vice Christi vere fungitur, qui id quod Christus fecit imitatur
et sacrificium verum et plenum tunc offert in ecclesia deo patri, si sic
incipiat offerre secundum quod ipsum Christum videat obtulisse"). This
brings us to the conception of the repetition of Christ's sacrifice by
the priest. But in Cyprian's case it was still, so to speak, only a
notion verging on that idea, that is, he only leads up to it, abstains
from formulating it with precision, or drawing any further conclusions
from it, and even threatens the idea itself inasmuch as he still appears
to conceive the "calicem in commemorationem domini et passionis eius
offerre" as identical with it. As far as the East is concerned we find
in Origen no trace of the assumption of a repeated sacrifice of Christ.
But in the original of the first 6 books of the Apostolic Constitutions
this conception is also wanting, although the Supper ceremonial has
assumed an exclusively sacerdotal character (see II. 25: [Greek: hai
tote] (in the old covenant) [Greek: thusiai, nun euchai kai deêseis kai
eucharistiai]. II. 53). The passage VI. 23: [Greek: anti thusias tês di'
haimatôn tên logikên kai anaimakton kai tên mustikên, hêtis eis ton
thanaton tou kuriou symbolôn charin epiteleitai tou sômatos autou kai
tou haimatos] does not belong to the original document, but to the
interpolator. With the exception therefore of one passage in the
Apostolic Church order (printed in my edition of the Didache prolegg. p.
236) viz.: [Greek: hê prosphora tou sômatos kai tou haimatos], we
possess no proofs that there was any mention in the East before
Eusebius' time of a sacrifice of Christ's body in the Lord's Supper.
From this, however, we must by no means conclude that the mystic feature
in the celebration of the sacrifice had been less emphasised there.]
[Footnote 278: In ep. 63. 13 Cyprian has illustrated the incorporation
of the community with Christ by the mixture of wine and water in the
Supper, because the special aim of the epistle required this: "Videmus
in aqua populum intellegi, in vino vero ostendi sanguinem Christi;
quando autem in calice vino aqua miscetur, Christo populus adunatur et
credentium plebs ei in quem credidit copulatur et iungitur etc." The
special mention of the offerers (see already Tertullian's works: de
corona 3, de exhort. cast. II, and de monog. 10) therefore means that
the latter commend themselves to Christ as his own people, or are
recommended to him as such. On the Praxis see Cyprian ep. I. 2 "... si
quis hoc fecisset. non offerretur pro eo nee sacrificium pro dormitione
eius celebraretur;" 62. 5: "ut fratres nostros in mente habeatis
orationibus vestris et eis vicem boni operis in sacrificiis et precibus
repræsentetis, subdidi nomina singulorum."]
[Footnote 279: Much as the use of the word "sacramentum" in the Western
Church from Tertullian to Augustine (Hahn, Die Lehre von den
Sacramenten, 1864, p. 5 ff.) differs from that in the classic Romish use
it is of small interest in the history of dogma to trace its various
details. In the old Latin Bible [Greek: mystêrion] was translated
"sacramentum" and thus the new signification "mysterious, holy ordinance
or thing" was added to the meaning "oath," "sacred obligation."
Accordingly Tertullian already used the word to denote sacred facts,
mysterious and salutary signs and vehicles, and also holy acts.
Everything in any way connected with the Deity and his revelation, and
therefore, for example, the content of revelation as doctrine, is
designated "sacrament;" and the word is also applied to the symbolical
which is always something mysterious and holy. Alongside of this the old
meaning "sacred obligation" still remains in force. If, because of this
comprehensive use, further discussion of the word is unnecessary, the
fact that revelation itself as well as everything connected with it was
expressly designated as a "mystery" is nevertheless of importance in the
history of dogma. This usage of the word is indeed not removed from the
original one so long as it was merely meant to denote the supernatural
origin and supernatural nature of the objects in question; but more than
this was now intended; "sacramentum" ([Greek: mystêrion]) was rather
intended to represent the holy thing that was revealed as something
relatively concealed. This conception, however, is opposed to the
Judæo-Christian idea of revelation, and is thus to be regarded as an
introduction of the Greek notion. Probst (Sacramente und Sacramentalia,
1872) thinks differently. That which is mysterious and dark appears to
be such an essential attribute of the divine, that even the obscurities
of the New Testament Scriptures were now justified because these
writings were regarded as altogether "spiritual." See Iren. II. 28. 1-3.
Tert. de bapt. 2: "deus in stultitia et impossibilitate materias
operationis suæ instituit."]
[Footnote 280: We have explained above that the Church already possessed
this means of grace, in so far as she had occasionally absolved mortal
sinners, even at an earlier period; but this possession was quite
uncertain and, strictly speaking, was not a possession at all, for in
such cases the early Church merely followed extraordinary directions of
the Spirit.]
[Footnote 281: Höfling, Das Sacrament der Taufe, 2 Vols., 1846. Steitz,
Art. "Taufe" in Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie. Walch, Hist. pædobaptismi
quattuor priorum sæculorum, 1739.]
[Footnote 282: In de bono pudic. 2: "renati ex aqua et pudicitia,"
Pseudo-Cyprian expresses an idea, which, though remarkable, is not
confined to himself.]
[Footnote 283: But Tertullian says (de bapt. 6): "Non quod in aquis
spiritum sanctum consequamur, sed in aqua emundati sub angelo spiritui
sancto præparamur."]
[Footnote 284: The disquisitions of Clement of Alexandria in Pædag. I, 6
(baptism and sonship) are very important, but he did not follow them up.
It is deserving of note that the positive effects of baptism were more
strongly emphasised in the East than in the West. But, on the other
hand, the conception is more uncertain in the former region.]
[Footnote 285: See Tertullian, de bapt. 7 ff.; Cypr., ep. 70. 2 ("ungi
quoque necesse est eum qui baptizatus est, ut accepto chrismate, i.e.,
unctione esse unctus dei et habere in se gratiam Christi possit"), 74. 5
etc. "Chrism" is already found in Tertullian as well as the laying on of
hands. The Roman Catholic bishop Cornelius in the notorious epistle to
Fabius (Euseb., H. E. VI. 43. 15), already traces the rites which
accompany baptism to an ecclesiastical canon (perhaps one from
Hippolytus' collection: see can. arab. 19). After relating that Novatian
in his illness had only received clinical baptism he writes: [Greek: ou
mên oude tôn loipôn etuche, diaphugôn tên noson, hôn chrê metalambanein
kata ton tês ekklêsias kanona, tou te sphragisthênai hupo tou
episkopou.] It is also remarkable that one of the bishops who voted
about heretic baptism (Sentent. episcop., Cypr., opp. ed. Hartel I. p.
439) calls the laying on of hands a sacrament like baptism: "neque enim
spiritus sine aqua separatim operari potest nec aqua sine spiritu male
ergo sibi quidem interpretantur ut dicant, quod per manus impositionem
spiritum sanctum accipiant et sic recipiantur, cum manifestum sit
_utroque sacramento_ debere eos renasci in ecclesia catholica." Among
other particulars found in Tertullian's work on baptism (cc. I. 12 seq.)
it may moreover be seen that there were Christians about the year 200,
who questioned the indispensability of baptism to salvation (baptismus
non est necessarius, quibus fides satis est). The assumption that
martyrdom replaces baptism (Tertull., de bapt. 16; Origen), is in itself
a sufficient proof that the ideas of the "sacrament" were still
uncertain. As to the objection that Jesus himself had not baptised and
that the Apostles had not received Christian baptism see Tert., de bapt.
11, 12.]
[Footnote 286: In itself the performance of this rite seemed too simple
to those who sought eagerly for mysteries. See Tertull., de bapt. 2:
"Nihil adeo est quod obduret mentes hominum quam simplicitas divinorum
operum, quæ in actu videtur, et magnificentia, quæ in effecta
repromittitur, ut hinc quoque, quoniam tanta simplicitate, sine pompa,
sine apparatu novo aliquo, denique sine sumptu homo in aqua demissus et
inter pauca verba tinctus non multo vel nihilo mundior resurgit, eo
incredibilis existimetur consecutio æternitatis. Mentior, si non e
contrario idolorum solemnia vel arcana de suggestu et apparatu deque
sumptu fidem at auctoritatem sibi exstruunt."]
[Footnote 287: But see Euseb., H. E. VI. 43. 15, who says that only the
laying on of hands on the part of the bishop communicates the Holy
Spirit, and this ceremony _must_ therefore follow baptism. It is
probable that confirmation as a specific act did not become detached
from baptism in the West till shortly before the middle of the third
century. Perhaps we may assume that the Mithras cult had an influence
here.]
[Footnote 288: See Tertullian's superstitious remarks in de bap. 3-9 to
the effect that water is the element of the Holy Spirit and of unclean
Spirits etc. Melito also makes a similar statement in the fragment of
his treatise on baptism in Pitra, Anal, Sacra II., p. 3 sq. Cyprian, ep.
70. I, uses the remarkable words: "oportet veio mundari et sanctificari
aquam prius a _sacer dote_ (Tertull. still knows nothing of this: c. 17:
etiam laicis ius est), ut possit baptismo suo peccata hominis qui
baptizatur abluere." Ep. 74. 5: "peccata purgare et hominem sanctificare
aqua sola non potest, nisi habeat et spiritum sanctum." Clem. Alex.
Protrept. 10.99: [Greek: labete hudôr logikos].]
[Footnote 289: It was easy for Origen to justify child baptism, as he
recognised something sinful in corporeal birth itself, and believed in
sin which had been committed in a former life. The earliest
justification of child baptism may therefore be traced back to a
philosophical doctrine.]
[Footnote 290: _Translator's note._ The following is the original Latin,
as quoted by Prof. Harnack: "Cunctatio baptismi utilior est, præcipue
circa parvulos. Quid enim necesse, sponsores etiam periculo ingeri ...
veniant ergo parvuli, dum adolescunt; veniant dum discunt, dum quo
veniant docentur; fiant Christiani, cum Christum nosse potuerint. Quid
festinat innocens ætas ad remissionem peccatorum? Cautius agetur in
sæcularibus, ut cui substantia terrena non creditur, divina credatur ...
Si qui pondus intelligant baptismi, magis timebunt consecutionem quam
dilationem."]
[Footnote 291: Under such circumstances the recollection of the
significance of baptism in the establishment of the Church fell more and
more into the background (see Hermas: "the Church rests like the world
upon water;" Irenæus III. 17. 2: "Sicut de arido tritico massa una non
fieri potest sine humore neque unus panis, ita nec nos multi unum fieri
in Christo Iesu poteramus sine aqua quæ de coelo est. Et sicut aricla
terra, si non percipiat humorem, non fructificat: sic et nos lignum
aridum exsistentes primum, nunquam fructificaremus vitam sine superna
voluntaria pluvia. Corpora unim nostra per lavacrum illam quæ est ad
incorruptionem unitatem acceperunt, animæ autem per spiritum"). The
unbaptised (catechumens) also belong to the Church, when they commit
themselves to her guidance and prayers. Accordingly baptism ceased more
and more to be regarded as an act of initiation, and only recovered this
character in the course of the succeeding centuries. In this connection
the 7th (spurious) canon of Constantinople (381) is instructive: [Greek:
kai tên prôtên hêmeran poioumen autous Christianous, tên de deuteran
katêchoumenous, eita tên tritên exorkizomen autous k.t.l.]]
[Footnote 292: Döllinger, Die Lehre von der Eucharistie in dem ersten 3
Jahrhunderten, 1826. Engelhardt in the Zeitschrift fur die hist.
Theologie, 1842, I. Kahnis, Lehre vom Abendmahl, 1851. Ruckert, Das
Abendmahl, sein Wesen und seine Geschichte, 1856. Leimbach, Beitrage zur
Abendmahlslehre Tertullian's, 1874. Steitz, Die Abendmahlslehre der
griechischen Kirche, in the Jahrbucher fur deutsche Theologie,
1864-1868; cf. also the works of Probst. Whilst Eucharist and love feast
had already been separated from the middle of the 2nd century in the
West, they were still united in Alexandria in Clement's time; see Bigg,
l.c., p. 103.]
[Footnote 293: The collocation of baptism and the Lord's Supper, which,
as the early Christian monuments prove, was a very familiar practice
(Tert. adv. Marc. IV. 34: "sacramentum baptismi et eucharistiæ;"
Hippol., can. arab. 38: "baptizatus et corpore Christi pastus"), was, so
far as I know, justified by no Church Father on internal grounds.
Considering their conception of the holy ordinances this is not
surprising. They were classed together because they were instituted by
the Lord, and because the elements (water, wine, bread) afforded much
common ground for allegorical interpretation.]
[Footnote 294: The story related by Dionysius (in Euseb., l.c.) is
especially characteristic, as the narrator was an extreme spiritualist.
How did it stand therefore with the dry tree? Besides, Tertull. (de
corona 3) says: "Calicis aut panis nostri aliquid decuti in terram anxie
patimur". Superstitious reverence for the sacrament _ante et extra usum_
is a very old habit of mind in the Gentile Church.]
[Footnote 295: Leimbach's investigations of Tertullian's use of words
have placed this beyond doubt; see de orat. 6; adv. Marc. I. 14: IV. 40:
III. 19; de resuri. 8.]
[Footnote 296: The chief passages referring to the Supper in Clement are
Protrept. 12. 120; Pæd. I. 6. 43: II. 2. 19 sq.: I. 5. 15: I. 6. 38, 40;
Quis div. 23; Strom. V. 10. 66: I. 10. 46: I. 19. 96: VI. 14. 113: V.
II. 70. Clement thinks as little of forgiveness of sins in connection
with the Supper as does the author of the Didache or the other Fathers;
this feast is rather meant to bestow an initiation into knowledge and
immortality. Ignatius had already said, "the body is faith, the blood is
hope." This is also Clement's opinion; he also knows of a
transubstantiation, not, however, into the real body of Christ, but into
heavenly powers. His teaching was therefore that of Valentinus (see the
Exc. ex. Theod. § 82, already given on Vol. i. p. 263) Strom. V. 11. 70:
[Greek: logikon hêmin brôma hê gnôsis]; I. 20. 46: [Greek: hina dê
phagômen logikôs]; V. 10. 66: [Greek: brôsis gar kai posis tou theiou
logou hê gnôsis esti tês theias ousias]. Adumbrat. in epp. Joh.:
"sanguis quod est cognitio"; see Bigg, l.c., p. 106 ff.]
[Footnote 297: Orig. in Matth. Comment. ser. 85: "Panis iste, quem deus
verbum corpus suum esse fatetur, verbum est nutritorium animarum, verbum
de deo verbo procedens et panis de pane coe'esti... Non enim panem illum
visibilem, quem tenebat in manibus, corpus suum dicebat deus verbum, sed
verbum, in cuius mysterio fuerat panis ille frangendus; nec potum illum
visibilem sanguinem suum dicebat, sed verbum in cuius mysterio potus
ille fuerat effundendus;" see in Matt. XI. 14; c. Cels. VIII. 33. Hom.
XVI. 9 in Num. On Origen's doctrine of the Lord's Supper see Bigg, p.
219 ff.]
[Footnote 298: The conception of the Supper as _viaticum mortis_ (fixed
by the 13th canon of Nicæa: [Greek: peri de tôn exodeuontôn ho palaios
kai kanonikos nomos phulachthêsetai kai nun, hôste eitis exodeuoi, tou
teleutaiou kai anagkaiotatou ephodiou mê apostereisthai]), a conception
which is genuinely Hellenic and which was strengthened by the idea that
the Supper was [Greek: pharmakon athanasias], the practice of
benediction, and much else in theory and practice connected with the
Eucharist reveal the influence of antiquity. See the relative articles
in Smith and Cheetham's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities.]
[Footnote 299: The fullest account of the "history of the Romish Church
down to the pontificate of Leo I." has been given by Langen, 1881; but I
can in no respect agree (see Theol. Lit. Ztg. 1891, No. 6) with the
hypotheses about the primacy as propounded by him in his treatise on the
Clementine romances (1890, see especially p. 163 ff). The collection of
passages given by Caspari, "Quellen zur Geschichte des Taufsymbols,"
Vol. III., deserves special recognition. See also the sections bearing
on this subject in Renan's "Origines du Christianisme," Vols. V.-VII.
especially VII., chaps. 5, 12, 23. Sohm in his "Kirchenrecht" I. (see
especially pp. 164 ff., 350 ff., 377 ff.) has adopted my conception of
"Catholic" and "Roman," and made it the basis of further investigations.
He estimates the importance of the Roman Church still more highly, in so
far as, according to him, she was the exclusive originator of Church law
as well as of the Catholic form of Church constitution; and on page 381
he flatly says: "The whole Church constitution with its claim to be
founded on divine arrangement was first developed in Rome and then
transferred from her to the other communities." I think this is an
exaggeration. Tschirn (Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, XII. p. 215
ff.) has discussed the origin of the Roman Church in the 2nd century.
Much that was the common property of Christendom, or is found in every
religion as it becomes older, is regarded by this author as specifically
Roman.]
[Footnote 300: No doubt we must distinguish two halves in Christendom.
The first, the ecclesiastical West, includes the west coast of Asia
Minor, Greece, and Rome together with their daughter Churches, that is,
above all, Gaul and North Africa. The second or eastern portion embraces
Palestine, Egypt, Syria, and the east part of Asia Minor. A displacement
gradually arose in the course of the 3rd century. In the West the most
important centres are Ephesus, Smyrna, Corinth, and Rome, cities with a
Greek and Oriental population. Even in Carthage the original speech of
the Christian community was probably Greek.]
[Footnote 301: Rome was the first city in the Empire, Alexandria the
second. They were the metropolitan cities of the world (see the
inscription in Kaibel, No. 1561, p. 407: [Greek: threpse m' Alexandreia,
metoikon ethapse de Rhomê, hai kosmou kai gês, ô xene, mêtropoleis]).
This is reflected in the history of the Church; first Rome appears, then
Alexandria. The significance of the great towns for the history of dogma
and of the Church will be treated of in a future volume. Abercius of
Hieropolis, according to the common interpretation (inscription V. 7 f.)
designates Rome as "queen." This was a customary appellation; see
Eunap., vita Prohaer. p. 90: [Greek: hê basileuousa Rhômê].]
[Footnote 302: In this connection we need only keep in mind the
following summary of facts. Up to the end of the second century the
Alexandrian Church had none of the Catholic and apostolic standards, and
none of the corresponding institutions as found in the Roman Church; but
her writer, Clement, was also "as little acquainted with the West as
Homer." In the course of the first half of the 3rd century she received
those standards and institutions; but her writer, Origen, also travelled
to Rome himself in order to see "the very old" church and formed a
connection with Hippolytus; and her bishop Dionysius carried on a
correspondence with his Roman colleague, who also made common cause with
him. Similar particulars may also be ascertained with regard to the
Syrian Church.]
[Footnote 303: See the proofs in the two preceding chapters. Note also
that these elements have an inward connection. So long as one was
lacking, all were, and whenever one was present, all the others
immediately made their appearance.]
[Footnote 304: Ignatius already says that the Roman Christians are
[Greek: apodiulismenoi apo pantos allotrion chrômatos] (Rom. inscr.); he
uses this expression of no others. Similar remarks are not quite rare at
a later period; see, for instance, the oft-repeated eulogy that no
heresy ever arose in Rome. At a time when this city had long employed
the standard of the apostolic rule of faith with complete confidence,
namely, at the beginning of the 3rd century, we hear that a lady of rank
in Alexandria, who was at any rate a Christian, lodged and entertained
in her house Origen, then a young man, and a famous heretic. (See
Euseb., H. E. VI. 2. 13, 14). The lectures on doctrine delivered by this
heretic and the conventicles over which he presided were attended by a
[Greek: murion plêthos ou monon hairetikôn, alla kai hêmetephôn]. That
is a very valuable piece of information which shows us a state of things
in Alexandria that would have been impossible in Rome at the same
period. See, besides, Dionys. Alex, in Euseb., H. E. VII. 7.]
[Footnote 305: I must here refrain from proving the last assertion. The
possibility of Asia Minor having had a considerable share, or having led
the way, in the formation of the canon must be left an open question
(cf. what Melito says, and the use made of New Testament writings in the
Epistle of Polycarp). We will, however, be constrained to lay the chief
emphasis on Rome, for it must not be forgotten that Irenæus had the
closest connection with the Church of that city, as is proved by his
great work, and that he lived there before he came to Gaul. Moreover, it
is a fact deserving of the greatest attention that the Montanists and
their decided opponents in Asia, the so-called Alogi, had no
ecclesiastical _canon_ before them, though they may all have possessed
the universally acknowledged books of the Romish canon, and none other,
in the shape of _books read in the churches_.]
[Footnote 306: See the Prolegg. of Westcott and Hort (these indeed give
an opposite judgment), and cf. Harris, _Codex Bezae. A study of the
so-called Western text of the New Testament_ 1891. An exhaustive study
of the oldest martyrologies has already led to important cases of
agreement between Rome and the East, and promises still further
revelations. See Duchesne, "Les Sources du Martyrologe Hieron." 1885.
Egli, "Altchristliche Studien, Martyrien und Martyrologieen ältester
Zeit." 1887; the same writer in the "Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche
Theologie", 1891, p. 273 ff.]
[Footnote 307: On the relations between Edessa and Rome see the end of
the Excursus.]
[Footnote 308: See my treatise "Die ältesten christlichen Datirungen und
die Anfánge einer bischòflichen Chronographie in Rom." in the report of
the proceedings of the Royal Prussian Academy of Science, 1892, pp.
617-658. I think I have there proved that, in the time of Soter, Rome
already possessed a figured list of bishops, in which important events
were also entered.]
[Footnote 309: That the idea of the apostolic succession of the bishops
was first turned to account or appeared in Rome is all the more
remarkable, because it was not in that city, but rather in the East,
that the monarchical episcopate was first consolidated. (Cf. the
Shepherd of Hermas and Ignatius' Epistles to the Romans with his other
Epistles). There must therefore have been a very rapid development of
the constitution in the time between Hyginus and Victor. Sohm, l.c.,
tries to show that the monarchical episcopate arose in Rome immediately
after the composition of the First Epistle of Clement, and as a result
of it; and that this city was the centre from which it spread throughout
Christendom.]
[Footnote 310: See Pseudo-Cyprian's work "de aleat" which, in spite of
remarks to the contrary, I am inclined to regard as written by Victor;
cf. "Texte und Untersuchungen" V. I; see c. I of this writing: "et
quoniam in nobis divina et paterna pietas apostolatus ducatum contulit
et vicariam domini sedem cælesti dignatione ordinavit et originem
authentici apostolatus, super quem Christus fundavit ecclesiam, in
superiore nostro portamus."]
[Footnote 311: See report of the proceedings of the Royal Prussian
Academy of Science, 1892, p. 622 ff. To the material found there must be
added a remarkable passage given by Nestle (Zeitschrift fur
wissenschaftliche Theologie, 1893, p. 437), where the dates are reckoned
after Sixtus I.]
[Footnote 312: Cf. the 8th book of the Apostolic Constitutions with the
articles referring to the regulation of the Church, which in Greek MSS.
bear the name of Hippolytus. Compare also the Arabian Canones Hippolyti,
edited by Haneberg (1870) and commented on by Achelis (Texte und
Untersuchungen VI. 4). Apart from the additions and alterations, which
are no doubt very extensive, it is hardly likely that the name of the
Roman bishop is wrongly assigned to them. We must further remember the
importance assigned by the tradition of the Eastern and Western Churches
to one of the earliest Roman "bishops," Clement, as the confidant and
secretary of the Apostles and as the composer and arranger of their
laws.]
[Footnote 313: See my proofs in "Texte und Untersuchungen," Vol. II.,
Part 5. The canons of the Council of Nicæa presuppose the distinction of
higher and lower clergy for the whole Church.]
[Footnote 314: We see this from the Easter controversy, but there are
proofs of it elsewhere, e.g., in the collection of Cyprian's epistles.
The Roman bishop Cornelius informs Fabius, bishop of Antioch, of the
resolutions of the Italian, African, and other Churches (Euseb., H. E.
VI. 43. 3: [Greek: êlthon eis hêmas epistolai Kornêliou Rhômaiôn
episkopou pros ... phabion, dêlousai ta peri tês Rhômaiôn sunodou, kai
ta doxanta pasi tois kata tên Italian kai Aphrikên kai tas autophi
chôras]). We must not forget, however, that there were also bishops
elsewhere who conducted a so-called oecumenical correspondence and
enjoyed great influence, as, e.g., Dionysius of Corinth and Dionysius of
Alexandria. In matters relating to penance the latter wrote to a great
many Churches, even as far as Armenia, and sent many letters to Rome
(Euseb., H. E. VI. 46). The Catholic theologian, Dittrich--before the
Vatican Decree, no doubt--has spoken of him in the following terms
(Dionysius von Alexandrien, 1867, p. 26): "As Dionysius participated in
the power, so also he shared in the task of the primateship." "Along
with the Roman bishop he was, above all, called upon to guard the
interests of the whole Church."]
[Footnote 315: This conception, as well as the ideas contained in this
Excursus generally, is now entirely shared by Weingarten (Zeittafeln,
3rd. ed., 1888, pp. 12, 21): "The Catholic Church is essentially the
work of those of Rome and Asia Minor. The Alexandrian Church and
theology do not completely adapt themselves to it till the 3rd century.
The metropolitan community becomes the ideal centre of the Great Church"
... "The primacy of the Roman Church is essentially the transference to
her of Rome's central position in the religion of the heathen world
during the Empire: _urbs æterna urbs sacra_."]
[Footnote 316: This is also admitted by Langen (l.c., 184 f.), who even
declares that this precedence existed from the beginning.]
[Footnote 317: Cf. chaps. 59 and 62, but more especially 63.]
[Footnote 318: At that time the Roman Church did not confine herself to
a letter; she sent ambassadors to Corinth, [Greek: hoitines martures
esontai metaxu humôn kai hêmôn]. Note carefully also the position of the
Corinthian community with which the Roman one interfered (see on this
point Wrede, Untersuchungen zum I Clemensbrief, 1891.)]
[Footnote 319: In Ignatius, Rom. inscr., the verb [Greek: prokathêmai]
is twice used about the Roman Church ([Greek: prokathêtai en] [to be
understood in a local sense] [Greek: topôi khôrion Rhômaiôn]--[Greek:
prokathêmenê tês agapês] = presiding in, or having the guardianship of,
love). Ignatius (Magn. 6), uses the same verb to denote the dignity of
the bishop or presbyters in relation to the community. See, besides, the
important testimony in Rom. II.: [Greek: allous edidaxate]. Finally, it
must be also noted that Ignatius presupposes an extensive influence on
the part of individual members of the Church in the higher spheres of
government. Fifty years later we have a memorable proof of this in the
Marcia-Victor episode. Lastly, Ignatius is convinced that the Church
will interfeie quite as energetically on behalf of a foreign brother as
on behalf of one of her own number. In the Epistle of Clement to James,
c. 2, the Roman bishop is called [Greek: ho alêtheias prokathezomenos].]
[Footnote 320: Euseb., H. E. IV. 23. 9-12; cf., above all, the words:
[Greek: Ex archês humin ethos esti touto, pantas men adelphous poikiôs
euergetein, ekklêsiais te pollais tais kata pasan polin ephodia pempein
... patroparadoton ethos Rhômaiôn Rômaioi diaphulattontes.] Note here
the emphasis laid on [Greek: Rômaioi].]
[Footnote 321: According to Irenæus a peculiar significance belongs to
the old Jerusalem Church, in so far as all the Christian congregations
sprang from her (III. 12. 5: [Greek: autai phônai tês ekklêsias, ex hês
pasa eschêken ekklêsia tês archên autai phônai tês mêtropoleôs tôn tês
kainês diathêkês politôn]). For obvious reasons Irenæus did not speak of
the Jerusalem Church of his own time. Hence that passage cannot be
utilised.]
[Footnote 322: Iren. III. 3. i: "Sed quomiam valde longum est, in hoc
tali volumine omnium ecclesiarum enumerare successiones, maximæ et
antiquissimæ et omnibus cognitæ, a gloriosissimis duobus apostolis Paulo
et Petro Romæ fundatæ et constitutæ ecclesiæ, eam quam habet ab
apostolis traditionem et annuutiatam hominibus fidem, per successiones
episcoporum pervenientem usque ad nos indicantes confundimus omnes eos,
qui quoquo modo vel per sibiplacentiam malam vel vanam gloriam vel per
cæcitatem et malam sententiam, præterquam oportet, colligunt. Ad hanc
enim ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem
convenire ecclesiam, hoc est, eos qui sunt undique fideles, in qua
semper ab his, qui sunt undique, conservata est ea quæ est ab apostolis
traditio." On this we may remark as follows: (1) The special importance
which Irenæus claims for the Roman Church--for he is only referring to
her--is not merely based by him on her assumed foundation by Peter and
Paul, but on a combination of the four attributes "maxima,"
"antiquissima" etc. Dionysius of Corinth also made this assumption
(Euseb., II. 25. 8), but applied it quite as much to the Corinthian
Church. As regards capability of proving the truth of the Church's
faith, all the communities founded by the Apostles possess
_principalitas_ in relation to the others; but the Roman Church has the
_potentior principalitas_, in so far as she excels all the rest in her
qualities of _ecclesia maxima et omnibus cognita_ etc. Principalitas =
"sovereign authority," [Greek: authentia], for this was probably the
word in the original text (see proceedings of the Royal Prussian Academy
of Science, 9th Nov., 1893). In common with most scholars I used to
think that the "in qua" refers to "Roman Church;" but I have now
convinced myself (see the treatise just cited) that it relates to "omnem
ecclesiam," and that the clause introduced by "in qua" merely asserts
that every church, _in so far as she is faithful to tradition, i.e.,
orthodox_, must as a matter of course agree with that of Rome. (2)
Irenæus asserts that every Church, i.e., believers in all parts of the
world, must agree with this Church ("convenire" is to be understood in a
figurative sense; the literal acceptation "every Church must come to
that of Rome" is not admissible). However, this "must" is not meant as
an imperative, but == [Greek: anagkê] == "it cannot be otherwise." In
reference to _principalitas_ == [Greek: authentia] (see I. 31. 1: I. 26.
1) it must be remembered that Victor of Rome (l.c.) speaks of the "origo
_authentici_ apostolatus," and Tertullian remarks of Valentinus when he
apostatised at Rome, "ab ecclesia _authenticæ_ regulæ abrupit" (adv.
Valent. 4).]
[Footnote 323: Beyond doubt his "convenire necesse est" is founded on
actual circumstances.]
[Footnote 324: On other important journeys of Christian men and bishops
to Rome in the 2nd and 3rd centuries see Caspari, l.c. Above all we may
call attention to the journey of Abercius of Hierapolis (not Hierapolis
on the Meander) about 200 or even earlier. Its historical reality is not
to be questioned. See his words in the epitaph composed by himself (V. 7
f.): [Greek: eis Rhômên hos epempsen emen basilêan athrêsai kai
basilissan idein chrusostolon chrusopedilon]. However, Ficker raises
very serious objections to the Christian origin of the inscription.]
[Footnote 325: We cannot here discuss how this tradition arose; in all
likelihood it already expresses the position which the Roman Church very
speedily attained in Christendom. See Renan, Orig., Vol. VII., p. 70:
"Pierre el Paul (léconciliés), voilà le chef-d'oeuvre qui fondait la
suprématie ecclésiastique de Rome dans làvenir. Une nouvelle qualité
mythique lemplagait celle de Romulus et Remus." But it is highly
probable that Peter was really in Rome like Paul (see 1 Clem. V.,
Ignatius ad Rom. IV.); both really performed important services to the
Church there, and died as martyrs in that city.]
[Footnote 326: The wealth of the Roman Church is also illustrated by the
present of 200,000 sesterces brought her by Marcion (Tertull., de præse.
30). The "Shepherd" also contains instructive particulars with regard to
this. As far as her influence is concerned, we possess various
testimonies from Philipp. IV. 22 down to the famous account by
Hippolytus of the relations of Victor to Marcia. We may call special
attention to Ignatius' Epistle to the Romans.]
[Footnote 327: See Tertullian, adv. Prax. I; Euseb., H. E. V. 3, 4.
Dictionary of Christian Biography III., p. 937.]
[Footnote 328: Euseb, H.E. V. 24. 9: [Greek: epi toutois ho men tês
Rhômaiôn proestôs Biktôr athroôs tês Asias pasês hama tais homorois
ekklêsiais tas paroikias apotemnein hôsan heterodoxousas, tês koinês
henôseôs peiratai, kai stêliteuei ge dia grammatôn, akoinônêtous pantas
ardên tous ekeise anakêruttôn adelphous]. Stress should be laid on two
points here: (1) Victor proclaimed that the people of Asia Minor were to
be excluded from the [Greek: koinê henôsis], and not merely from the
fellowship of the Roman Church; (2) he based the excommunication on the
alleged heterodoxy of those Churches. See Heinichen, Melet. VIII, on
Euseb., l.c. Victor's action is parallelled by that of Stephen.
Firmilian says to the latter: "Dum enim putas, omnes abs te abstineri
posse, solum te ab omnibus abstinuisti." It is a very instructive fact
that in the 4th century Rome also made the attempt to have Sabbath
fasting established as an _apostolic_ custom. See the interesting work
confuted by Augustine (ep. 36), a writing which emanates from a Roman
author who is unfortunately unknown to us. Cf. also Augustine's 54th and
55th epistles.]
[Footnote 329: Irenæus also (l.c. § 11) does not appear to have
questioned Victor's proceeding as such, but as applied to this
particular case.]
[Footnote 330: See Tertull., de orat. 22: "Sed non putet institutionem
unusquisque antecessoris commovendam." De virg. vel. I: "Paracletus
solus antecessor, quia solus post Christum;" 2: "Eas ego ecclesias
proposui, quas et ipsi apostolici viri condiderunt, et puto ante
quosdam;" 3: "Sed nec inter consuetudines dispicere voluerunt illi
sanctissimi antecessores." This is also the question referred to in the
important remark in Jerome, de vir. inl. 53: "Tertullianus ad mediam
ætatem presbyter fuit ecclesiæ Africanæ, invidia postea et contumeliis
clericorum Romanæ ecclesiæ ad Montani dogma delapsus."]
[Footnote 331: Stephen acted like Victor and excluded almost all the
East from the fellowship of the Church; see in addition to Cyprian's
epistles that of Dionysius of Alexandria in Euseb., H. E. VII. 5. In
reference to Hippolytus, see Philosoph. l. IX. In regard to Origen, see
the allusions in de orat. 28 fin.; in Matth. XI. 9, 15: XII. 9-14: XVI.
8, 22: XVII. 14; in Joh. X. 16; Rom. VI in Isai. c. 1. With regard to
Philosoph. IX. 12, Sohm rightly remarks (p. 389): "It is clear that the
responsibility was laid on the Roman bishop not merely in several cases
where married men were made presbyters and deacons, but also when they
were appointed bishops; and it is also evident that he appears just as
responsible when bishops are not deposed in consequence of their
marrying." One cannot help concluding that the Roman bishop has the
power of appointing and deposing not merely presbyters and deacons, but
also bishops. Moreover, the impression is conveyed that this appointment
and deposition of bishops takes place in Rome, for the passage contains
a description of existent conditions in the Roman Church. Other
communities may be deprived of their bishops by an order from Rome, and
a bishop (chosen in Rome) may be sent them. The words of the passage
are: [Greek: epi kallistou êrxanto episkopoi kai presbuteroi kai
diakonoi digamoi kai trigamoi kathistasthai eis klêrous ei de kai tis en
klêrô ôn gamoiê, menein ton toiouton en tô klêrô hôs mê hêmartêkota.]]
[Footnote 332: In the treatise "Die Briefe des romischen Klerus aus der
Zeit der Sedisvacanz im Jahre 250" (Abhandlungen fur Weizsäcker, 1892),
I have shown how the Roman clergy kept the revenue of the Church and of
the Churches in their hands, though they had no bishop. What language
the Romans used in epistles 8, 30, 36 of the Cyprian collection, and how
they interfered in the affairs of the Carthaginian Church! Beyond doubt
the Roman _Church_ possessed an acknowledged primacy in the year 250; it
was the primacy of active participation and fulfilled duty. As yet there
was no recognised dogmatic or historic foundation assigned for it; in
fact it is highly probable that this theory was still shaky and
uncertain in Rome herself. The college of presbyters and deacons feels
and speaks as if it were the bishop. For it was not on the bishop that
the incomparable prestige of Rome was based--at least this claim was not
yet made with any confidence,--but on the _city itself_, on the origin
and history, the faith and love, the earnestness and zeal _of the whole
Roman Church and her clergy_.]
[Footnote 333: In Tertullian, de præsc. 36, the bishops are not
mentioned. He also, like Irenæus, cites the Roman Church as one amongst
others. We have already remarked that in the scheme of proof from
prescription no higher rank could be assigned to the Roman Church than
to any other of the group founded by the Apostles. Tertullian continues
to maintain this position, but expressly remarks that the Roman Church
has special authority for the Carthaginian, because Carthage had
received its Christianity from Rome. He expresses the special
relationship between Rome and Carthage in the following terms: "Si autem
Italiæ adiaces habes Romam, unde nobis quoque auctoritas præsto est."
With Tertullian, then, the _de facto_ position of the Roman Church in
Christendom did not lead to the same conclusion in the scheme of proof
from prescription as we found in Irenæus. But in his case also that
position is indicated by the rhetorical ardour with which he speaks of
the Roman Church, whereas he does nothing more than mention Corinth,
Philippi, Thessalonica, and Ephesus. Even at that time, moreover, he had
ground enough for a more reserved attitude towards Rome, though in the
antignostic struggle he could not dispense with the tradition of the
Roman community. In the veil dispute (de virg. vel. 2) he opposed the
authority of the Greek apostolic Churches to that of Rome. Polycarp had
done the same against Anicetus, Polycrates against Victor, Proculus
against his Roman opponents. Conversely, Praxeas in his appeal to
Eleutherus (c. 1.: "præcessorum auctoritates"), Caius when contending
with Proculus, the Carthaginian clergy when opposing Tertullian (in the
veil dispute), and Victor when contending with Polycrates set the
authority of Rome against that of the Greek apostolic Churches. These
struggles at the transition from the and to the 3rd century are of the
utmost importance. Rome was here seeking to overthrow the authority of
the only group of Churches able to enter into rivalry with her those of
Asia Minor, and succeeded in the attempt.]
[Footnote 334: De pudic. 21: "De tua nunc sententia quæro, unde hoc ius
ecclesiæ usurpes. Si quia dixerit Petro dominus: Super hanc petram
ædificabo ecclesiam meam, tibi dedi claves regni cælestis, vel,
Quæcumque alligaveris vel solveris in terra, erunt alligata vel soluta
in coelis, id circo præsumis et ad te derivasse solvendi et alligandi
potestatem?" Stephen did the same; see Firmilian in Cyprian ep. 75. With
this should be compared the description Clement of Rome gives in his
epistles to James of his own installation by Peter (c. 2). The following
words are put in Peter's mouth: [Greek: klêmenta touton episkopon humin
cheirontonô, hô tên emên tôn logôn pisteuô kathedran ... dia autô
metadidômi tên exousian tou desmeuein kai luein, hina peri pantos ou an
cheirotonêsê epi gês estai dedogmatismenon en ouranois. dêsei gar ho dei
dethênai kai lusei ho dei luthênai, hôs ton tês ekklêsias eidôs
kanona.]]
[Footnote 335: See Dionysius of Alexandria's letter to the Roman bishop
Stephen (Euseb., H. E. VII. 5. 2): [Greek: Hai mentoi Suriai holai kai
hê Arabia, ois eparkeite hekastote kai ois nun epesteilate.]]
[Footnote 336: In the case of Origen's condemnation the decision of Rome
seems to have been of special importance. Origen sought to defend his
orthodoxy in a letter written by his own hand to the Roman bishop Fabian
(see Euseb., H. E. VI. 36; Jerome, ep. 84. 10). The Roman bishop Pontian
had previously condemned him after summoning a "senate;" see Jerome, ep.
33 (Döllinger, Hippolytus and Calixtus, p. 259 f.). Further, it is an
important fact that a deputation of Alexandrian Christians, who did not
agree with the Christology of their bishop Dionysius, repaired to Rome
to the _Roman_ bishop Dionysius and formally accused the first named
prelate. It is also significant that Dionysius received this complaint
and brought the matter up at a Roman synod. No objection was taken to
this proceeding (Athanas., de synod.). This information is very
instructive, for it proves that the Roman Church was ever regarded as
specially charged with watching over the observance of the conditions of
the general ecclesiastical federation, the [Greek: koinê henôsis]. As to
the fact that in circular letters, not excepting Eastern ones, the Roman
Church was put at the head of the address, see Euseb., H. E. VII. 30.
How frequently foreign bishops came to Rome is shown by the 19th canon
of Arles (A.D. 314): "De episcopis peregrinis, qui in urbem solent
venire, placuit iis locum dari ut offerant." The first canon is also
important in deciding the special position of Rome.]
[Footnote 337: Peculiar circumstances, which unfortunately we cannot
quite explain, are connected with the cases discussed by Cyprian in epp.
67 and 68. The Roman bishop must have had the acknowledged power of
dealing with the bishop of Arles, whereas the Gallic prelates had not
this right. Sohm, p. 391 ff., assumes that the Roman bishop alone--not
Cyprian or the bishops of Gaul--had authority to exclude the bishop of
Arles from the general fellowship of the Church, but that, as far as the
Gallic Churches were concerned, such an excommunication possessed no
legal effect, but only a moral one, because in their case the bishop of
Rome had only a spiritual authority and no legal power. Further, two
Spanish bishops publicly appealed to the Roman see against their
deposition, and Cyprian regarded this appeal as in itself correct.
Finally, Cornelius says of himself in a letter (in Euseb., H. E. VI. 43.
10): [Greek: tôn loipôn episkopôn diadochous eis tous topous, en hois
êsan, cheirotonêsantes apestalkamen]. This quotation refers to Italy,
and the passage, which must be read connectedly, makes it plain (see,
besides, the quotation in reference to Calixtus given above on p. 162),
that, before the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Church already
possessed a legal right of excommunication and the recognised power of
making ecclesiastical appointments as far as the communities and bishops
in Italy were concerned (see Sohm, p. 389 ff.).]