THE CHURCH IN ROME
IN THE FIRST CENTURY
George Edmundson's
The Church in Rome in the First Century
Is in the Public Domain
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MCMXCIX
THE BAMPTON LECTURES
THE CHURCH IN ROME
IN THE FIRST CENTURY
AN EXAMINATION OF VARIOUS CONTROVERTED QUESTIONS
RELATING TO ITS HISTORY, CHRONOLOGY, LITERATURE AND
TRADITIONS
EIGHT LECTURES
PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
ON THE FOUNDATION OF THE LATE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, M.A.
CANON OF SALISBURY
BY
GEORGE EDMUNDSON, M.A.
LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF BRASENOSE COLLEGE,
VICAR OF ST. SAVIOUR, UPPER CHELSEA
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
NEW YORK, BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA
1913
[A11 rights reserved]
CAROLO BULLER HEBERDEN
D.C.L.
AUL. REG. ET COLL. AEN. NAS. PRINCIPALI
ACAD. OXON. VICECANCELLARIO
AMICITIAE PROBATAE
TESTIMONIUM
D. D. D.
OLIM PER DECENNIUM COLLEGA
EXTRACT
FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
OF THE LATE
REV. JOHN BAMPTON
CANON OF SALISBURY
. . . I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and singular the said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the intents and purposes hereinafter mentioned; that is to say, I will and appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford for the time being shall take and receive all the rents, issues, and profits thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, and necessary deductions made) that he pay all the remainder to the endowment of eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, to be established for ever in the said University and to be performed in the manner following:
I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room adjoining to the Printing-House, between the hours of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, the year following, at St. Mary's in Oxford, between the commencement of the last month in Lent Term, and the end of the third week in Act Term.
Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity Lecture Sermons shall be preached upon either of the following Subjects--to confirm and establish the Christian Faith, and to confute all heretics and schismatics--upon the divine authority of the holy Scriptures--upon the authority of the writings of the primitive Fathers, as to the faith and practice of the primitive Church--upon the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour testis Christ --upon the Divinity of the Holy Ghost--upon the Articles of the Christian Faith, as comprehended in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds.
Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity Lecture Sermons shall be always printed, within two months after they are preached; and one copy shall be given to the Chancellor of the University, and one copy to the Head of every College, and one copy to the Mayor of the city of Oxford, and one copy to be put into the Bodleian Library; and the expense of printing them shall be paid out of the revenue of the Land or Estates given for establishing the Divinity Lecture Sermons; and the Preacher shall not be paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, before they are printed.
Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be qualified to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, unless he hath taken the degree of Master of Arts at least, in one of the two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge; and that the same person shall never preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons twice.'
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS
LECTURE I
Character of the theme--The Rome of Claudius and of Nero--Intercourse--Population--Slavery--The Freedman' Class--Alien admixture--The Jewish Colony and its history--Its privileges and characteristics--Judaism attractive--Proselytes and God-fearers'--The Synagogues--Soil prepared for Christianity--The Laureolus--The Jews expelled by Claudius--Aquila and Prisca at Corinth--Their antecedents and position--Their close intercourse with St. Paul--St. Paul at Ephesus--His Journey to Greece--He writes to the Roman Church from Corinth--The Epistle to the Romans: an Apologia--St. Paul's proposed visit to Rome--Three groups of Roman Christians addressed--The impelling motive of the Epistle--The Judaeo-Christians at Rome--The Salutations of Chap. xvi. 1-23--Genuineness of the passage--Criticism dealt with--The Church in the house of Prisca and Aquila--Was this Ecclesia Domestica existent before 57 A.D.?--The Apostles Andronicus and Junias--The households of Aristobulus and Narcissus--The auto-biographic passage Chap. xv. 14-29--Another man's foundation'--Was the other man St. Peter? 1-29 LECTURE II
The Lukan authorship of the Acts--Fragmentary character of the narrative--The Acts written before 62 A.D.--The closing verses of the Acts--The Day of Pentecost--The sojourning Romans--The Twelve at Jerusalem--The Hellenists and St. Stephen--Consequences of St. Stephen's martyrdom--Activity of St. Peter --The vision at Joppa--Conversion of Cornelius--Missionaries at Antioch--Barnabas sent to Antioch--He seeks Saul--The name Christiani--Herod Agrippa persecutes the Church--St. Peter escapes from prison--St. James and the Brethren--Value of tradition--Oral tradition--Early Christian written records--Their destruction--Apocryphal Acts'--Criteria of authenticity--Evidence for St. Peter's martyrdom at Rome--Ascension of Isaiah'--Clement of Rome--Ignatius--Dionysius of Corinth--Irenaeus--The Episcopal lists--Eusebius of Caesarea--Jerome--The Petrine tradition universally accepted in East and West alike--Archaeological evidence--Portraits--Sepulchral inscriptions--Mosaics--Frescoes--The Petrine legends' based on fact--The Preaching of Peter--Local memories--St. Peter at Rome--The envoy of the Twelve--Precedents of Samaria and Antioch--Analogy of circumstances 30-58 LECTURE III
St. Peter encounters Simon Magus at Rome--Eusebius on the story of Simon Magus--His visit to Rome in Claudius' reign, and success--Weighty evidence of Justin Martyr, of Irenaeus and Hippolytus--The theories of Baur and Lipsius untenable--Vogue of Oriental cults and teachers at Rome--John Mark Peter's interpreter--Origin of St. Mark's Gospel--Its date--Jerome's version of the Petrine tradition--His sources of information--Relations with Pope Damasus--The Hieronymian tradition and that of the Liberian Catalogue--The differences between them--Chronological difficulties and discrepancies--Attempted solution--The Antiochean narrative [ Acts xi. and xii.] examined--Barnabas and Paul bear alms to Jerusalem, 46 A.D.--They meet Peter on his return from Rome--Peter makes Antioch the missionary centre of his work, 47-54 A.D.--Peter with Barnabas at Corinth, 54 A.D.--Testimony of the First Epistle to the Corinthians--Accession of Nero--Peter and Barnabas journey to Italy--Evidence of Bamabas' missionary activity in Rome and North Italy--No rivalry between St. Peter and St. Paul at Corinth--Paul's delay in visiting Rome due to Peter's presence there, 54-56 A.D.--First organisation of the Roman Church--The trial of Julia Pomponia Graecina--Inscription in the crypt of Lucina 59-86 LECTURE IV
St. Paul's visit to Jerusalem, Pentecost, 57 A.D., and captivity at Caesarea--Character of the administration of Felix--Accuracy and trustworthiness of the Lukan narrative--St. Paul's financial resources--Indulgent treatment of St. Paul by Felix--Influence of Drusilla--Recall of Felix--Elymas or Etoimos--Attitude of Festus--St. Paul's appeal to Caesar--His motives in appealing --St. Paul's journey from Puteoli to Rome--He is delivered in charge to the Stratopedarch--The favours accorded to him--St. Paul invites the Jewish leaders to meet him--His interviews with the chiefs of the Synagogues--The Apostle's appeal to the Jews is fruitless--The Epistles of the First Captivity--The earlier group--Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon--Their tone cheerful--Release expected--Many friends surround the Apostle--Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, at Alexandria--His visit to Rome and mission to Colossae--The Epistle to the Philippians--Changed situation--Friends absent--Issue of trial in doubt but Paul hopeful--The letter of a friend to friends--Discords at Philippi--The true yoke-fellow'--Clement--Caesar's household--St. Paul is set at liberty--Probable course of the trial 87-114 LECTURE V
A High-Priestly embassy in Rome--Growth of hostility between Jew and Christian--The Christians accused of anarchism and secret crimes--St. Peter's last visit to Rome in 63 A.D.--The First Epistle of St. Peter--Its genuineness--The Epistle written at Rome--Its literary indebtedness to other New Testament writings--St. Peter acquainted with the Epistles to the Romans and Ephesians--Mark and Silvanus with Peter at Rome--The great fire of July 19, 64 A.D.--Rumour attributes the fire to Nero--Steps taken by Nero to efface the rumour--The Pisonian conspiracy and its suppression--The charges brought against the Christians--The Tacitean account of their sufferings--Character of the Neronian persecution--The personal act of Nero--Tigellinus, the active agent of Nero's cruelty--The Christians not implicated in the burning of Rome--Origin of the charge of incendiarism--Apocalyptic utterances--Tigellinus and Apollonius of Tyana: a parallel--Atheism, Thyestean feasts, Oedipodean intercourse--Hatred of the human race, Institutum Neronianum'--Crimina adhaerentia Nomini'--Christian contemporary evidence--The spectacle in the Vatican Gardens --The arrest of the great multitude, end of April, 65 A.D.--Comparison of evidence from Tacitus, Suetonius and Orosius fixes the date--Persecution in the Provinces 115-144 LECTURE VI
Deaths of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome--Their tombs piously preserved--They were not martyred on the same day--Manner of their deaths--How the mistake as to a common date arose --Statement of Prudentius--The Quo Vadis?' story examined --St. Peter's crucifixion in the early summer of 65 A.D.--The Epistle to the Hebrews--Addressed to Judaeo-Christians at Rome--Internal and external evidence for this--The Epistle never received as Pauline in Rome or the West--Tertullian names Barnabas as the author--Barnabas well qualified to write this Epistle--Sent to Rome, as an eirenicon--The personal references support the Barnabean hypothesis--The Pastoral Epistles--St. Paul's second imprisonment at Rome--His sense of desertion--His death, 67 A.D.--The Apocalypse written in 70 A.D.--Statements of Irenaeus and Origen considered--Eusebius' use of his authorities--Evidence of Victorinus and Jerome--The book reflects contemporary history--Neronian Persecution--Events of 69 A.D.--Burning of the Capitol--Domitian in power, Jan. to June, 70 A.D.--Nerva Consul, 71 A.D.--Temple of Jerusalem still standing--The Number of the Beast--Nero Caesar--The Apocalypse, a Neronian document--Nero is Anti-Christ--The Nero legend--Armageddon--Impressions of an eye-witness--Earthquakes and convulsions of nature--The islands of Patmos and Thera 145-179 LECTURE VII
The First Century Episcopal Succession at Rome--The Jewish Synagoge and the Christian Ecclesia--The Official Ministry in the early Church--Duties and position of episcopi--Pastors and Stewards with cure of souls--They form an inner Presbyterate--Its president The Bishop--Apostles, Prophets, Teachers and their functions--The Didache an untrustworthy authority for the First Century--The genuine Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians--Not written in 96 A.D. but in beginning of 70 A.D.--The recent examples of our own time--The Neronian persecution fresh in memory--The sudden and successive troubles and calamities of 69 A.D.--Internal evidence of the Epistle to its early date--Church Organisation--Christology--New Testament Quotations--The Daily Sacrifice at Jerusalem had not ceased--The Corinthian dissensions--Predisposing circumstances, 66-68 A.D.--Reference to the Phoenix--Episcopal succession--Apostolical regulations--The disturbers of the peace at Corinth rebuked--Force of the word archaian--The bearers of the Epistle to Corinth--No allusion to Clement as the writer--Authoritative position of Clement in 96 A.D.--The Epistle belongs to an earlier time--Written by him as secretary to the Presbyterate--Interesting inscription 180-205 LECTURE VIII
Attitude of the Flavian emperors to the Christians--A quarter of a century of moderation--Titus personally hostile--The Shepherd' of Hernias: a Flavian writing--Blunder of the Muratorian Fragmentist--The notice in the Liberian Catalogue'--The Muratorian and Liberian statements derived from a common source--Hermas confused with the presbyter Pastor--Patristic testimony supports the early date--Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian--Unity of The Shepherd'--It contains a real life story--Hermas a contemporary of Clement of Rome--Harnack's views discussed--The book in three parts, but the period covered by it short--Hermas' references to the Neronian persecution--To the organisation of the Church--Its primitive character--Signs of an evolutionary movement--Contentions about precedence--Growth of a Monarchical Episcopate--The persecution of Domitian--In its origin fiscal--The didrachma tax--Many Christians of high position suffer--Flavius Clemens put to death--His wife Flavia Domitilla banished--Flavius Sabinus, father and son--Flavius Clemens the Consul and Clemens the bishop--A third contemporary Clemens--M. Arrecinus Clemens is Consul 94 A.D.--He is put to death by his relative Domitian--The two Flavia Dornitillas--The Acts of Nereus and Achilles'--Plautilla the sister of Clemens the Consul--Relationship between the Flavian and Arrecinian families --Is Clement the bishop brother of Arrecinus Clemens?--The death of M. Acilius Glabrio--The Acilian Crypt in the cemetery of Priscilla--Conclusion 206-237 APPENDICES
Note A. ?Chronological Statement 239-241
Note B. ?Aquila and Prisca or Priscilla 242-3
Note C. ?The Pudens Legend 244-249
Note D. ?The Family Connexion of Clement the Bishop 250-258
Note E. ?The Tombs of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul 259-272
Note F. ?The Cemeteries of Priscilla and Domitilla 273-282
Index
Index of Scripture References 295-6
THE CHURCH IN ROME
LECTURE I
Rom. i. 8: First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.'
The subject of these lectures is in one sense a well-worn theme. The literature bearing upon the history of the Church in Rome during the first century is enormous, and unfortunately in modem times the prevailing note has been controversial. It has seemed as if it were impossible even for those who have tried to write on the beginnings of Roman Christianity in the impartial spirit of the scientific historian to free themselves from bias and prejudice. This very fact, however, only proves that this has been and is a subject of profound and indeed of absorbing interest, and it is so from whatever point of view we regard it, the political, no less than the. ecclesiastical and religious. That interest indeed, so far from diminishing, has been greatly stimulated and increased by the archaeological researches and discoveries made in Rome and its immediate neighbourhood during the past half-century. Year by year additions have been made to our knowledge, and it is now generally admitted that the last word on many most important and critical questions has not yet been spoken. Already many assertions once confidently made have had to be modified or abandoned, opinions put forward with authority are constantly being revised, and a careful study of avail-able evidence has convinced me that there are grounds for questioning seriously certain conclusions now generally received, and at the same time for upholding the historical character of some ancient traditions too hastily rejected.
The first point to grasp is the character of the spell exercised over the minds of men by the very name of Rome during the period of the early Caesars. Rome in the first century of our era occupied a position of influence unique in the annals of history. It had become the magnetic centre of the civilised world, and it was itself the most cosmopolitan of cities that have ever existed. The Rome of Claudius and of Nero was the seat of an absolute and centralised Government, whose vast dominion stretched from the shores of the Atlantic to the borders of Parthia, from Britain to the Libyan deserts, over diverse lands and many races, all of them subdued after centuries of conflict and of conquest by the Roman arms, but now forming a single empire under an administrative system of unrivalled flexibility and strength, which enforced obedience to law and the maintenance of peace without any unnecessary infringement of local liberties or interference with national religious cults. One of the most remarkable features of this great Empire was the freedom of intercourse that was enjoyed, and the safety and rapidity with which travelling could be undertaken. Never until quite modern times has any such ease and security of communication between place and place been possible. And this not merely by those admirable military roads which were one of the chief instruments for the maintenance of the Roman rule and for the binding together of province with province and of the most distant frontiers with the capital; the facilities for intercourse by water also were abundant and were, except during the winter months, freely used. The Roman Empire, as a glance at the map reveals, was--even at its zenith--essentially a Mediterranean power. Its dominion consisted mainly of the fringe of territory encircling that sea. In the midst stood the capital. The greatest cities of the Empire were ports, and Rome itself, the chief among them, was dependent upon sea-borne traffic for its daily food.' [1]
At the beginning of the Christian era the population of the imperial city has been estimated at not less than 1,300,000, of which more than one half were slaves. The entire number of citizens owning private property was very small--a few thousands only.' Each of these possessed vast numbers of slaves, who were trained to perform every kind of work, so that a considerable portion of the free inhabitants found themselves without occupation or employment. In the time of Julius Caesar no fewer than 320,000 were supported by the state, and though Augustus was able to reduce this multitude of paupers to 200,000, the number afterwards rapidly increased. This huge population was, as has been already said, one of the most cosmopolitan that has ever been gathered together to form one community. This was due in the first instance to the practice of selling prisoners of war, and the inhabitants of captured cities, as slaves. The institution of slavery therefore implied that in every wealthy household in Rome there was a great mixture of races, and the custom of manumission on a large scale was continually admitting batches of persons of foreign extraction to many privileges of citizenship. Thus was formed the large and important class of freedmen (liberti) containing men of culture and ability, who not only filled posts of responsibility in their former masters' households but not seldom became rich and rose to high official positions in the state. Freedmen indeed and the descendants of freedmen played no small part in the history of the times with which we are dealing, and Christianity found among them many of its early converts and most earnest workers. But the freedmen and the slaves by no means comprised all the foreign population of Rome at this epoch. The legionaries were recruited in all parts of the empire; the Pretorian camp contained contingents drawn from distant frontier tribes. Traders, travellers, adventurers of every kind thronged to Rome--particularly from the East. So did the preachers and teachers of many philosophies, cults, and modes of worship, Greek, Egyptian, and Phrygian. The very language of ordinary everyday life in Rome had become Greek, and the whole atmosphere of the great city was in no small measure orientalised. [6]
Amongst this large alien element in the population the Jews formed one of the most marked and important sections. Their position indeed was at once singular and exclusive, for they had privileges accorded to none others. The origin of the Jewish colony at Rome may be traced back to 63 B.C., when Pompeius after the capture of Jerusalem brought back a large number of prisoners, who were sold as slaves. But the Jew, as a slave, was always difficult to deal with, through his obstinate adherence to his ancestral faith and peculiar customs, and so many of these slaves were speedily manumitted that they were able to form a community apart on the far side of the Tiber. Julius Caesar from motives of expediency showed especial favour to the Jews, and his policy was continued by Augustus and, except for brief intervals, by his successors. The privileges thus conferred were very great, and included liberty of worship, freedom from military service and from certain taxes, the recognition of the Sabbath as a day of rest, the right of living according to the customs of their forefathers, and full jurisdiction over their own members. Once in the reign of Tiberius the worshippers of Jahveh and of Isis fell under the heavy displeasure of the emperor; some were punished, others expelled from the city, and the consuls were ordered to enlist 4000 Jews for military service in the malarious climate of Sardinia, 19 A.D. The determination of Caligula to set up a statue of himself in the Temple of Jerusalem aroused a storm of opposition, which would undoubtedly have brought a fierce persecution upon the Jews but for the assassination of the tyrant (41 A.D.), before his design was carried into effect. Claudius, however, on his accession at once renewed all the old privileges, and took steps to allay the fanatical passions stirred up by the action of his half-insane predecessor. From this time forward the Jews were never compelled to take part in Caesar-worship. To them alone of all the peoples of the empire was this concession made.
This Jewish colony in Rome seems from the descriptions of contemporary writers to have had the same characteristics as the Jewish colonies in European cities throughout the Middle Ages, and indeed much as we see them to-day. A large proportion of these Roman Jews were very poor, living in rags and squalor, making a precarious livelihood as hawkers, pedlars, and dealers in second-hand goods. Above these were then, as now, the moneylenders, larger traders, and shopkeepers, and at the head the wealthy financiers, and in the days of Tiberius and his successors many members of the Herodian family made Rome their home and lived on terms of close intimacy with the Imperial circle. It is a curious fact that the Jewish race, while hated and despised by the people of Rome, should have been endowed with so many immunities by the Emperors, and above all that its exclusive religion and ceremonial rites should have possessed such an attraction as undoubtedly they did possess, and should have drawn so many adherents from all classes. The truth is that the privileges, as I have said before, were granted from motives of pure expediency. The Jewish race was numerous, it had settlements in practically every important city in the empire, and it was financially indispensable. The number of Jews in Rome in 5 B.C. has been estimated at 10,000; in Egypt, 1,000,000; in Palestine, 700,000; in the whole Roman Empire (out of a total population of fifty-four to sixty millions) four to four and a half millions.
As 4000 adult males were actually sent to Sardinia in 19 A.D. it may safely be said that a quarter of a century later, allowing for the natural growth of population, for fresh batches of slaves receiving manumission, and for immigration from outside, the total Jewish settlement in Rome would not be less than 30,000 and might reach 50,000.
Everywhere the Jew however held aloof from his Gentile neighbours, and his absolute refusal to mingle with them and to share their life could only be met either by coercion or by favoured treatment. To the wise statesmanship of the dictator Julius the latter course commended itself, and the permanence of the policy he adopted is sufficient proof of its prescience. The attractiveness of Judaism, as a religious cult, is more difficult to explain. It had neither the mysticism nor the sensuousness of the worship of Isis or of Cybele. Yet although the Jew was hated and scorned, his religion became to a surprising degree the mode in Rome, especially among ladies of the patrician houses. The number of actual proselytes of Gentile origin was large, and still larger the number of those whom St. Luke in the Acts styles God-fearers' (sebomenoi ton Theon), i.e. people who adopted the Jewish monotheism, attended the synagogue services, and observed the Sabbath and certain portions of the ceremonial law. These God-fearers,' in every place where Jewish communities were to be found, formed a fringe round the Synagogue of bodies of men and women, who, in this age of religious electicism, without altogether abandoning their connexion with Paganism, had become semi-Jews.