Christian beliefs and practices in the 2nd and 3rd centuries
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| Icon of Mary, Rome (6th century or earlier) Image source: Asia |
- These Christians believed in one God as the “single ruler over all things”, such that no other Gods should be acknowledged. Some, if not many, early Christians equated the monotheistic God of Christianity with Sol / the sun, and others equated the Christian God with “the One” of Neo-Platonism. Thus there was, at least for some, a fusion between traditional Greco-Roman beliefs (now updated to embrace monism) and Christian scripture.
- While the core belief of ancient Christianity was monotheism and belief in Jesus as the son of God, there was a diversity of other beliefs amongst early Christians whereby there was debate on such things as:
─ the exact nature of Jesus (how much was of Christ was human versus how much was divine),─ whether or not God was trinitarian or utterly singular (ie, separate from Christ),─ whether or not scripture should be taken as literal truth or interpreted allegorically.
- Veneration of Mary, the Saints and relics were early practices, certainly arising before Constantine and the Council of Nicaea.
- Early Christians believed in demons, and some alleged the traditional Gods were demons.
- They adhered to traditional gender binaries, eg, men should be masculine (not effeminate or androgynous) but exercise personal restraint, especially in relation to violence, food and sex. Nonetheless, though men led the Church, Christian women were extremely active and some women were deaconesses.
- They met with each other regularly (eg, on a Sunday morning) and at these meetings the following might take place:
─ the reading out of “sacred words of holy books”,─ hymns were sung to Christ / God,─ something akin to a sermon was delivered,─ prayers would be made while standing and with hands spread “toward God”,─ members would commit themselves to moral precepts, such as not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, etc,─ food was shared which included bread and wine,─ those who could afford it would donate money to the Church so that it may engage in philanthropic activities, such as feeding the poor and taking in orphans and widows who had no-one else to care for them.
- Individual Christians engaged in regular fasting / moderation in food and drink.
- Some Christians appear to have been proto-monks and nuns by engaging in lifelong celibacy.
Christianity in the 2nd century
Given that I have a good understanding of the religious landscape in ancient Rome it seems fitting to look at Christianity during this era. Many contemporary analyses of this kind focuses heavily on the New Testament, with a particular focus on 1st century Christians. As there is nothing I can add to the discussion on 1st century Christians I am instead starting in the 2nd century, with a focus on this nascent religion as it was before it became a major political force in the 4th century CE.
“Within a short time after Christ’s death [certainly by the 2nd century], Christianity became identified as a cult quite separate and distinct from Judaism. Non-Jewish converts often brought to the new cult ideas and rhetoric from their former religions or philosophies [especially Stoicism and Neo-Platonism] … Christianity … was a cult that attracted large numbers of lower-class people and encouraged them to participate in … emotionalism ... [and] private assembly ... [Shelton at 407-409]”
In the early 2nd century a Roman governor wrote to Trajan (ruled 98-117 CE) about the measures he was taking in relation to adherents of the new religion:
“… among those who were brought before me as Christians, I have used the following method, I asked them if they were Christians. If they admitted it, I asked them a second and even a third time, threatening them with punishment. I ordered those who persisted to be led away for execution … I thought that those who denied that they were or had been Christians should be dismissed, if they prayed to our gods, repeating the words after me, and if they dedicated incense and wine to your image … [together] with the statues of the gods, and if, moreover, they cursed Christ. It is said that those who are truly Christians cannot do any of those things. Others who … said that they had indeed been Christians, but had now ceased to be … asserted, however, that this had been the sum total of their offence or error: they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and to sing in responsion a hymn to Christ as if to a god, and to bind themselves by an oath … not to commit theft, robbery, or adultery, not to break their word, and not to refuse to return a deposit when called upon [since there were no banks at this time people sometimes left their money in the home of someone with a secure residence – an unscrupulous person might later refuse to return such money]. When these things had been done, it had been their custom … to depart, and then meet again later to dine together, on food that was ordinary and innocent. They had ceased to do even this … after my edict by which I had forbidden the existence of secret societies … I believed it was necessary to search out the truth … by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. However, I found nothing other than depraved, excessive superstition … The contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities, but also to the villages and even to the farms … [from a letter by Pliny the Younger, a Roman governor of Bithynia-Pontus in 111 CE, to the emperor, extracted in Shelton at 409-411]”
Another early description of Christians by a non-Christian comes from Galen, a late 2nd century Greek physician and philosopher:
“Most people are unable to follow the thread of demonstrative arguments; hence they need allegories to benefit from … Thus we now see the people called Christians, though they have drawn their faith from mere allegories, sometimes acting like true philosophers. For their lack of fear of death and of what they will meet thereafter is something we can see everyday, and likewise their restraint in cohabitation. For they include not only men but also women who have refrained from cohabiting all through their lives; and they include people who, in self-discipline and self-control in all matter of food and drink, and in their keen pursuit of justice, have attained a pitch not inferior to that of true philosophers [extracted in Beard et al at 338].”
Tertullian, a Christian born in the mid 2nd century in Carthage described Christian beliefs with reference to a trinitarian God and leant on Stoic philosophy to lend credibility to Christian cosmology:
“We worship the one God, who formed this whole mass out of nothing, who formed it with its entire supply of elements, bodies and spirits, who formed it in the glory of his majesty by the Word with which he commands, by the Logic with which he arranges, and by the Might with which he has power … Among … philosophers, too, it is believed the logos (that is, word and reason) seems to be the creator of the universe. Zeno [a Stoic philosopher] defines logos as the maker who formed and arranged all things. He says that logos can be called fate and God … Cleanthes [another Stoic philosopher] collects all these under the title ‘spirit’ and affirms that spirit permeates the universe. We, too, ascribe ‘spirit’ as the appropriate nature of Word, Logic and Might … When the Spirit speaks, Word is present in it. When the Spirit arranges, Logic is present in it. When the Spirit accomplishes, Might is present in it …
… we pray looking upward, with our hands spread … with our heads bare [note that Roman priests normally covered their heads with a shawl; it is likely that Christian women prayed with a veil as per 1 Corinthians 11:5-10] … we pray from the heart. We pray for the emperors a long life, a secure reign, a safe home, strong armies, a faithful Senate, honest subjects, and a world at peace … God has said clearly and explicitly, ‘Pray for kings and princes and worldly powers so that your lives may be tranquil’ [this paraphrases 1 Timothy 2:1-4]. For when the empire is shaken, and all the other members of it are shaken, we, too, of course, although we are considered alien by the crowds, find ourselves sharing some part of the disaster …
But we make our oaths not by the genius [guardian spirit] of the emperor, but by his health … We are a society with a common religious belief, a common body of teachings, and a common bond of hope. We gather in meeting and congregation so that we may join together in our own prayers toward God … We nourish our faith on the sacred words of holy books … but we also substantiate our teachings by the inculcation of divine precepts … Once a month, or whenever he wishes, each member gives a small coin, but only if he wishes and only if he can … the offering is voluntary …
The name we give to our communal dinners reveals their purpose, for such a dinner is called by the Greek word for love [agape]. Whatever the cost of the dinner, we consider it profitable to incur expenses in the name of charity, if we can help some less fortunate people with the refreshments we provide. We do this … under the authority of God, whereby consideration for people of humble means is a major concern … the dinner is a matter of religious duty … Christians … eat only enough to satisfy their hunger and drink only an amount suitable to modest people … and they converse as people who know that the Lord [Dominus] hears them. After they wash their hands and light the lamps, each person is called into the middle of the room to sing to God as best he can either from the Holy Scriptures or from his own heart, And here it becomes evident how much wine he has drunk. Prayer, done in the same way, brings the dinner to a close … [extracts from Shelton at 413-415]”
Christian charity
In another version of these extracts from Tertullian the purpose of Christians giving a small monthly donation is expanded upon as follows:
“… the offering is voluntary. These are, as it were, the trust funds of piety. For they are … to feed and bury the poor, for boys and girls who lack property and parents, for elderly slaves and ship-wrecked mariners, and who may be in the mines, islands or prisons … [extracts from Warrior at 180]”
Thus it seems Christian charity was a significant aspect of Christian piety from the earliest days – something which Julian the Apostate rued as a major means of their success in obtaining converts in the mid 4th century CE:
“… [the Christians] … devoted themselves to philanthropy. And they have gained ascendancy … through the credit they win for such practices … just as those who entice children with a cake, and by throwing it to them two or three times induce them to follow them … and the result is that they have led very many into atheism [extract from a letter by Julian the Apostate, from tertullian.org].”
Justin Martyr, a 2nd century Christian philosopher, also alludes to Christian charity:
“The wealthy among us help all those in need, and we always keep together. For everything we receive we praise the maker of all things through his son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. On the so-called Sunday everyone in town or countryside gathers together in one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read out … Next, when the reader has finished, the president in an address exhorts us to imitate these good examples. Then we all stand together and offer prayers; when we have finished praying … bread, wine and water are brought out, and the president also offers prayers of thanks, to the best of his ability; the people assent, saying Amen, and each person receives and shares in that … and a portion is taken by the deacons to those not present. The wealthy and willing each gives what he wants as each sees fit, and what is collected is deposited with the president. He helps orphans and widows, and those in need through sickness or any other reason … in a word, he takes care of everyone in distress [extracted in Beard et al at 337].”
Discontent with Roman order
One of the justifications Justin Martyr gives for embracing Christianity is that he finds stories associated with Greco-Roman mythology to be preposterous:
“We pity those who believe these stories and we recognise that demons are responsible for them [extracts from Beard et al at 330].”
Tatian, a 2nd century Christian theologian, criticised traditional Hellenic rites for being full of blood and gore and condemned the performers of these rites as “effeminates and androgynes” (ibid at 332). He states that he was drawn to Christian texts:
“… because of the simplicity of their expressions, the artlessness of the authors, the very accessible account of the creation of the world, the foreknowledge of the future, the extraordinary nature of the precepts, and the idea of a single ruler over all things. As my soul was taught by God, I realised that some things … end slavery in the world and liberate us from many rulers and countless tyrants [extracts from Beard et al at 332].”
So it seems that the very fact that Christian beliefs constituted a rebellion against Greco-Roman norms and governance appears to have been part of the attraction to the new religion.
Monism
Christianity did not arise in a vacuum, rather its monistic beliefs tended to align with the zeitgeist of the day.
“Plotinus and his Neo-Platonism, the dominant philosophy of the Pagan world from the mid-3rd century CE, had given powerful, mystical shape to the Platonic and Stoic conception that the universe is governed by a single force. On the other hand, the greatest religious figure of the century, the Iranian Mani, who had started to preach in Mesopotamia c. 240, dramatically preached the opposing dualistic idea that the world is the creation not only of a good power but of an evil one as well. Mani’s church, which alarmed Diocletian and for a time attracted the great Christian theologian St. Augustine, absorbed many of the innumerable cults of Gnostics who claimed special knowledge (gnōsis) by illumination and revelation and taught how people can purge the nonspiritual from within themselves and escape their earthly prison. More impressively, the cult of the Persian Mithra blended the dualism of Mani with the emotional initiations of the mystery religions … and became a strong link between the cult of the Sun (which appealed to contemporary monotheists) and the fashionable revulsion from the senses that was shortly to lead to Christian monasticism. Like Christianity, Mithraism had its sacraments; but the life of Mithra exercised a less far-reaching appeal than the life of Christ, and Mithra’s cult excluded women.
Christianity, unique in its universal charity and unique also in its demand for a noble effort of faith in Jesus’ blend of divinity and humanity, was the religion that prevailed in the Roman world ... [Encyclopaedia Britannica]”
Even Roman emperors were drawn towards monism, though initially Christianity was not their route:
“After his victory over Palmyra in the summer of 273 … [Aurelian] established the cult of Sol Invictus (Invincible Sun) in Rome … This cult had an air of monotheism, insofar as there was a central God, but it did not exclude the veneration of other Gods … the worship of Sol was one of the key cults in the 4th century [Rüpke at 102-114].”
Sol was regarded by some with a Neo-Platonic bent as “the supreme God, of whom all the others are aspects” (Macrobius, cited by Rüpke), while for others there was an overlap between Sol and the monotheistic God of early Christianity.
“Constantine [the first Roman emperor to grant Christianity imperial favour, in the early 4th century] was not aware of any mutual exclusiveness between Christianity and his faith in the Unconquered Sun … A tomb mosaic … found at Rome, probably made early in the fourth century, depicts Christ as the Sun-God mounting the heavens with his chariot. Tertullian says that many Pagans imagined the Christians worshipped the sun because they met on Sundays and prayed towards the east … A law of Constantine of 321 closed law courts ‘on the venerable day of the sun’ … Sunday became not merely the day on which Christians met for worship but also a day of rest … in both law and inscription Constantine’s stated motive for introducing this custom is respect for the sun [Chadwick at 126-128].”
However, by the mid-5th century Pope Leo I had put an end to the overlap between sun worship and Christianity in Rome by:
“rebuking his over-cautious flock for paying reverence to the sun on the steps of St Peter’s before turning their back on it to worship inside the westward-facing basilica [ibid].”
Regardless, the Orthodox Church has kept with the ancient tradition to orient east when praying. Matthew 24:27 is cited in support of this (ie, Christ will return from the east) but associations with the sun are not eschewed, for the Book of Malachi refers to the Messiah as “the Sun of Righteousness” and in a complimentary vein the Book of John cites Jesus as saying:
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life … Walk while you have the light, less darkness overtake you … believe in the light that you may become sons of light [John 8:12 and 12:35-36].”
Meanwhile Paul says “you, brethren, are not in darkness … You are all sons of light and sons of the day”: 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5.
A diversity of beliefs
Christianity in the 2nd the 3rd centuries:
“… included a wide diversity of practices and beliefs, as professed Christians attempted to think about the relationship between Christianity … and Greek Gods and philosophy ... [Beard et al at 338]”
Gnosticism (stressing the difference between an inferior demiurge who created the physical world and a more transcendent God) is a well-known heresy among early Christians but there were many other beliefs that caused controversy. We can get an idea of the more popular range of beliefs amongst early Christians by looking to the earliest ecumenical councils (4th to 6th centuries CE), where variations on Christian theology were strongly debated:
- Arianism, which maintained that Jesus was a created being who was inferior to God, the Father, and favoured a unitarian God as opposed to the trinitarian God that came to prevail in most subsequent churches.
- Nestorianiam, which denied Mary the title of Theotokos (Mother of God – most modern churches accept this title). Nestorius believed that Mary’s proper title was “Mother of Christ”, thus emphasising the humanity of Christ, while holding that Christ had two natures, one being divine and the other human.
- Monophysitism, which held that although Jesus took on a human body his nature was fundamentally divine (and he was of only one nature, that being divine), as opposed to the now predominant position that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine (hypostasis) and that these natures cannot be separated.
- Origenism, in particular, views advocating the pre-existence of souls and apokatastasis (successive spiritual trials that lead to final restoration with God, so that all souls will eventually be saved, including Satan). The Neo-Platonic notion of the soul’s ascent towards the divine is implicit in Origen’s thought, which was popular for centuries after his death.
Origen was a highly influential 3rd century Christian philosopher and so his thought deserves some emphasis. His views on the multiplicity of meanings within scripture, including using allegorical interpretation, are today considered highly influential. However, his manner of viewing Christianity through a Neo-Platonic lens remains controversial. He speculated that:
“God created not this material world in the first instance, but a realm of spiritual beings endowed with reason and free will and dependent on the Creator. To explain the Fall, Origen … suggested that the spiritual beings became ‘sated’ with the adoration of God, and fell by neglect, gradually cooling their love and turning away from God to what is inferior. The material world was brought into being … under the will of the supreme God … to train, and to remake them so that they turn back towards their Maker without whom they are less than themselves … The material world is … temporary and provisional, and life in it is a short period in a much longer life of the soul, which exists before being united to the body and will continue hereafter. The process of redemption is therefore gradual; the atonement is going on all the time and, since it is God’s way not to use force but to respect freedom, the work of restoration to a correspondence with the divine intention is a slow and painful ascent … Origen was convinced that the symbols of early Christian eschatology – heaven, hell, resurrection, the Second Coming of Christ – were not to be rejected merely because literalistic believers understood them in a crude and prosaic way … he wanted to find a way of interpreting the symbols in a sense ‘worthy of the divine greatness’ which maintained the essential meaning of the church’s tradition … [Origen] criticises the notion that the resurrection of the body means a literal resuscitation of this present physical frame [Chadwick at 104-106].”
Origen's thought had implications for beliefs regarding the afterlife which (by the standard of contemporary Christianity) seem unconventional but were not so in his lifetime. The most common Greco-Roman beliefs concerning the afterlife in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE included the notion that:
- the soul went to reside in dank Hades, which was a rather gloomy place for most, though some might be rewarded (for courage or other virtues) in Elysium while others (who had committed particularly egregious crimes) might be punished in Tartarus, or
- there was no life after death (taken from Epicureanism), or
- reincarnation, ie, the migration of the soul from one body to another (taken from Stoicism and Neo-Platonism, and perhaps some of the mystery religions), or
- resurrection and a blessed afterlife (this is obviously Christian but not uniquely so, resurrection for the faithful was likely a key belief for participants in the mysteries of Isis).
Belief in a heavenly reward after death was clearly a key Christian doctrine, what is less clear is what they thought happened to those who were not to be so rewarded. What is akin to hellfire is mentioned on a few occasions in what became known as the New Testament, but it is unclear whether or not this is only for the worst of sinners (see Matthew 5:22) or for all who do not embrace Christ, or whether or not hellfire amounts to the annihilation of the soul (eternal death, see Matthew 10:28) or a continuing torment (see Luke 16:24), and if so whether or not that torment is eternal (see 2 Peter 2:4-9).
Veneration of Mary
Veneration of the Virgin Mary began at least as early as the 3rd century, if not earlier. An epitaph of Bishop Aberkios (died early 3rd century) in Phrygia makes reference to the “Virgin” (Beard et al at 334), and the earliest known images of Mary date from the 3rd, if not the 2nd, century. One image of which we may be certain is from the Roman catacombs and depicts Mary with baby Jesus on her lap. It resembles imagery that had already been in place for centuries in relation to Isis:
“The earliest images of Mary nursing the Child are of Coptic and Palestinian origin … this theme echoed images of Isis nursing her son Horus [Tradigo at 183].”
Originally an Egyptian Goddess of healing, by the Roman period Isis had taken on quasi-monist characteristics. In the 2nd century CE an adherent of her cult described Isis as a Goddess who incorporated Minerva, Venus, Diana, Proserpina, Ceres, Juno, Bellona, Hecate, as well as other Goddesses (Apuleius at 219-222). As with so many other eastern cults which flourished during the Roman period, the cult of Isis gradually fell away as Christianity became ascendant. Amongst the believers of the new covenant Mary’s significance was a key issue for Christian theologians, such that at the Council of Ephesus in 431 CE it was proclaimed that Mary should be called the Theotokos (God Bearer), in recognition of Christ’s hypostatic union within the Trinity.
Persecution of Christians leads to veneration of the Saints
The topic of the persecution of Christians is an overwhelming one and is covered in depth on many other websites and so, despite its huge importance and significance, I will not cover it with any depth. Christians were intermittently persecuted from the 1st century onward, and particularly brutal persecutions were initiated in the reigns of Decius (249-251 CE), Valerian in 257 CE (stopped 3 years later by Gallienus) and Diocletian (284-303 CE):
“[The] principal aim was to restore the traditional religion and places of worship and so ensure the pax deorum [peace with the Gods] in a time of political, military and economic instability … Those who did not follow Roman religion were required to observe the Roman religious ceremonies. Prominent individuals … who refused to sacrifice were subjected to confiscation of property, exile and even death [Warrior at 182].”
A notable passage from the Edict of Diocletian included the following:
“These men, who set up new-fangled and unheard-of sects in opposition to the older religious practices, are using their perverted judgment to shut out what heaven once bestowed on us [extracts from Warrior at 183].”
This period is referred to as the “age of martyrs”. Numerous Saints, who were believed to have ascended directly to heaven and thus capable of interceding with God, emerged from this era. Relics of martyred Saints became a focal point (eg, the veneration of the martyrs memorialised on the Appian way probably began in the mid 3rd century), and anniversaries of martyrdoms became commemorated dates in an emerging Christian calendar.
Christianity in the 4th and 5th centuries
In 313 CE an edict of toleration was signed by Constantine and by 341 CE Constantius passed a law which sought to suppress traditional Roman religion and redefined it as superstition in the process (note Pliny’s letter to Trajan, above, which describes Christianity as superstition), stating that “the madness of sacrifice [must] be abolished” (Warrior at 184). This law was partly walked back the following year to ensure long-held entertainments for the populace could continue. Julian the Apostate attempted to restore traditional Roman religion during his reign from 361-363 CE, but by the time of Valentinian II (ruled 372-392 CE) the prefect of Rome, Symmachus, was imploring the emperor to allow toleration for traditional Roman religion:
“And so we are asking for amnesty (pax) for the Gods of our fathers, our native Gods. It is reasonable to assume that whatever each of us worships is one and the same. We look up at the same stars, the same sky is common to us all, the same universe encompasses us. What difference does it make which system each of us uses to seek the truth? It is not by just one route that man can arrive at so great a mystery [extracts from Warrior at 186].”
But toleration was not to be. By the 390s CE Theodosius I prohibited sacrifices, visiting temples and worshipping the traditional Gods. It was during this time that the flame of Vesta, which had been reverently tended to by virgin priestesses for centuries, was permanently extinguished in Rome. The Law Code of Theodosius II (438 CE) entrenched the position of the government that rendered traditional Roman religion effectively illegal, it read:
“Although all superstitions must be abolished, we nevertheless desire that the temples situated outside the walls should remain untouched and undamaged … such structures must not be torn down, since they provide the regular performance of long-established amusements for the people … It is our pleasure that in all places and every city the temples be immediately closed and access to them forbidden … all should refrain from sacrifice. But if anyone should perpetrate such a criminal act, he shall be killed by an avenging sword. We also decree that the property of the executed shall be claimed by the treasury and that the governors of the provinces shall be similarly punished if they fail to take measures against such crimes … If any madman or sacrilegious person, so to speak, should involve himself in forbidden sacrifices for divination … and if he should … approach a shrine or temple for the commission of such a crime, he shall know that he will be subject to proscription ... [extracts from Warrior at 184-185]”
This pattern of repression more or less played out wherever Christianity was adopted by European rulers, with the protestant reformation operating as a rinse and repeat process. The operative factor appears to have been political expediency supplemented with genuinely held beliefs – as was the case with the emperors who persecuted Christians in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It is tempting to paint the religion of Christianity with the brush of intolerance and violence but, given the excesses of the 20th century in the name of certain political ideologies (which were also excessively intolerant and violent), it seems more sensible to infer that humans are, as a species, prone to adhering to belief systems which operate to unify and then justify the persecution of other humans, ie, tribalism. Abandoning historical sources of tribalism from the mind are unlikely to evict tribalism from humanity, but rather leave us open to new sources of tribalism which may at first seem innocent. Ultimately, what matters more than this is the pursuit of truth – wherever and whenever it has resided, even if distant rulers of the past have misused and stained it.
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Sources
- aleteia.org
- Apuleius, The Golden Ass (Oxford)
- Beard, North and Price, Religions of Rome: Vol 2 (Cambridge)
- britannica.com (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online)
- catholic.com
- Chadwick, The Early Church (Penguin Books)
- newadvent.org
- Rüpke, A Companion to Roman Religion (John Wiley and Sons)
- St Athanasius Academy, The Orthodox Study Bible (Thomas Nelson)
- Shelton, As the Romans Did (Oxford)
- tertullian.org
- Tradigo, Icons and Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church (The J Paul Getty Museum)
- Ware, The Orthodox Church (Penguin)
- Warrior, Roman Religion: A Sourcebook (Focus Publishing)
Written by M' Sentia Figula (aka Freki), find me at neo polytheist and romanpagan.wordpress.com
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