Apostolic Fathers and Apologists

1. Emperor cult.

2. Persecution under Trajan.

3. Ignatius, Letters.

4. Justin, First Apology.

The Murder of Julius Caesar. The Senate declared him god

”Yet this father, this high priest, this inviolable being, this hero and god, is dead, alas, dead not by the violence of some disease, nor wasted by old age, nor wounded abroad...but right here within the walls as a result of a plot... Of what avail, O Caesar of what avail was your humanity, of what avail your inviolability, of what avail the laws?” Marc Antony's funeral oration for Caesar, Cassius Dio, XLIV.

“Yet this father, this high priest, this inviolable being, this hero and god, is dead, alas, dead not by the violence of some disease, nor wasted by old age, nor wounded abroad...but right here within the walls as a result of a plot.”

Dio Cassius. Marc Antony's funeral oration for Caesar, XLIV.

Emperor Cult

• Julius Caesar divinized after his death

• Temples dedicated to the genius of emperors

• Test of civil duty: Caesar is (divine) Lord!

Julius Caesar 100-44BC

Octavian Augustus

63BC-14AD

Ironies of history… the cult of the emperor revived

Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)Julius Caesar (100-44 BC)

Or worse still...

And almost contemporary...

Giant image of Kim Il-sung, the father of Kim Jong Il

Persecution under Emperor Trajan

Emperor Trajan 98-117

Pliny the Younger Governor of

Bythinia 111-113

• Time: 112AD

• Place: Bythinia, Asia Minor

• Occasion: Pliny toured his province and discovered a group that looked like a secret society

Why are Christians a problem?

• Temples deserted• Nobody buys sacrificial

animals• Christians disrupt local

economy

‘Horrible’ facts about Christians that Pliny discovered

• Christians meet on Sunday• Sing a hymn to Christ ‘as to a god’• Promise to each other not to act

immorally• Eat together• Conclusion: ‘depraved, excessive

superstition’

Trajan’s reply to Pliny

• Do not seek Christians out

• do not consider anonymous accusations

• Give them a chance to sacrifice

• Punish only those who refused to sacrifice Temple dedicated to

Trajan in Pergamum

St. Ignatius of Antioch (35-107 AD)

• Bishop of Antioch• Composed 7 letters on his way

from Syria to Rome• Sentenced to be devoured by wild

beasts in the reign of emperor Trajan

• Major issues in his correspondence?

Ignatius’s probable travel route from Antioch to Rome

Colosseum

Colosseum

Justin Martyr and Philosopher (c. 100-c. 165)

• First Apology addressed to Antonius Pius and his adopted sons. How would you date the apology? Hint: Look up Apol. 1. 46.

• Dialog with Trypho is placed in the time of Jewish War.

Justin’s birth place: Flavia Neapolis (Nablus) in Palestine

Hadrian (117-138)

                                                                                                                

Hadrian sacrificing to Apollo

Bar-Kokhba’s revolt and Jewish War (132-136)

Antoninus Pius (138-161)

Pagan caricature of the Christian God (see Octavius 9. 3)

Creation ex nihilo in the Septuagint (not Tanakh)

• The mother of the seven Maccabean brothers, addressing her youngest son, about to be killed by Antiochus Epiphanes IV:

“I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things; and in the same way the human race came into existence. (2 Maccabees 7: 28).”

Mysterious Lady addresses Hermas:

“God, who dwells in the heavens, and made out of nothing the things that exist, and multiplied and increased them on account of His holy Church, is angry with you for having sinned against me.” Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 1. 1.

Church of Santa Sabina in Rome (5th c.).Female figures personifying “the church of the circumcised”

and “the church of the Gentiles”

Triclinum

Mithraeum (1st c. C. E.) under the Church of San Clemente in Rome

100 30035-107 Ignatius of Antioch

200

69-155 Polycarp

130-200 Irenaeus of Lyons

84-160 Marcion; 100-160 Justin

105?-165? Valentinus130?-180? Ptolemy

150-215 Clement of Alexandria

150-236? Hippolytus

160-225 Tertullian185-254 Origen

112 p. Trajan249-51 p. Decius

177 m. Vienne & Lyons

203 m. Perpetua

Map 2nd c.