Index

Back

Next

All Christian writings, especially in the years after 70 CE, were produced by, and for, groups of Christian worshippers in the main centres of the Roman Empire. Antioch in Syria was one of these. When the Christians there were banished from Sabbath worship in the synagogues, they took their customary singing of the psalms, readings from Scripture, (OT ), and prayers to the Supper table on Sundays, and our modern-day shape of the Eucharist began to appear. The host and hostess at the dining table gave way to a leader, not now called a Rabbi, but a Bishop; the Elders were now called Presbyters, and they were served by the Deacons. The readings from the synagogue scrolls were followed by other readings from letters, (eg. From Paul), or anything that had recently arrived. When the gospel of Mark had arrived, the Church at Antioch had produced a 'better' one, in the gospel of Matthew, with much more of Jesus's teachings, and birth narratives to answer the insults about him coming from the 'synagogues down the road'.

The Christian writer, Luke, was also a native of Antioch in Syria, but moved away long before he began to write.

As the Church began to organise itself, the Christians in Antioch produced 'The Didache', or 'The Teaching of the Twelve Disciples'.

A later copy of this text was found in 1873, but it is widely held nowadays to have originated in the 1^st Christian century, and in Antioch. It is therefore of great importance to those who are interested to know how the Church was beginning its journey towards that with which we are familiar today.

It was a manual for 'How to do things', and divides into two sections.

The first part is a Christian adaptation of a Jewish 'Catechism' for converts with little, or no knowledge of the Jewish Law. It even begins, 'There are two ways, one of life, and one of death', very reminiscently of the old Hebrew Covenant challenge in Joshua 3, (see back to Session 3). The specifically 'Christian' additions all come from the gospel of Matthew!

The second part is very different. Sections 6 and 8 are again, straight out of Matthew, but in advising Christians to pray the Lord's Prayer three times every day, it seems to be the first advice on private individual prayer as well as corporate worship.

Section 7 describes 'how to baptise', - after instruction and fasting, - in running water if available, but always with the Trinitarian formula, as in Matthew's Gospel.

Section 9 describes 'how to give thanks', ie. make Eucharist. The cup was to be blessed first, as is usual at a Jewish Sabbath meal on a Friday evening, with phrases which already have a liturgical lilt. The bread, made from seed 'scattered over the hillsides', (identifying this with a Syrian background), now symbolises the unity of the Church in one loaf.

Section 10 gives the Grace at the end of the meal, and reads very much like an early Eucharistic prayer. It ends with the prayer quoted by Paul, 'Mara na tha', - 'O Lord, come!', and the great AMEN which encompasses everyone there in the action of the prayer. A wry note is added, that visiting prophets will do things 'their way'.

Section 14 recommends that the community meets for this Eucharist every Sunday, the 'Lord's Day'

Section 11 deals with the problems created when visiting apostles and prophets turn up. They are still accorded great respect, but must be genuine.

Section 15 states that their elected bishops and deacons must be given the same respect as the apostles and prophets, and brings the Didache to its conclusion, advising everyone to 'Say your prayers, give your charity, and do everything just as you find it in the gospel of our Lord'.

The tone of this document is a long way from the fiery urgency of Paul's letters, or even in the gospel of Mark, whose Church in Rome had already experienced persecution, - - - -

persecution that would soon break out again!

The Roman world had also moved on from the days of the Emperor Nero, in whose reign many Christians in Rome had been rounded up and killed, including the apostles Peter, and Paul. This setback for the Church had happened just before the Jewish war which ended in 70 CE. It added to the Christians' sense of foreboding when they were ejected from the synagogues and found themselves unknown, and unprotected, in the Roman state. Nothing untoward happened for twenty years, but when Domitian became Emperor in 81 he began to have very grand ideas about his own importance. Since the time of Augustus all emperors had been 'deified' after their deaths, but Domitian declared himself a living son of the Roman god, Jupiter, and minted coins with the title, 'Dominus et Deus', 'Lord and God'. He required that homage be paid to him as in worship. Several groups in society were forced to leave Rome by 95, and evidence, both in the Letter of Bishop Clement from there, and in the archaeological findings of an early Christian cemetry, suggest that the Christians in Rome suffered badly in refusing to 'worship' the Emperor. Even a Roman Consul, Flavius Clemens, was accused and executed, while his wife, Domitilla, - Domitian's own niece, - was ordered into exile.

The Emperor-cult spread quickly through the oriental part of the Empire, for this idea was nothing new there. A huge sanctuary to Domitian has been excavated in Ephesus, and many 'Jews', (including Christians?), suffered for their 'lawlessness'. It seemed inevitable that both the monotheistic Jews, and the Christians would at some point in the near future face a head-on clash with the Roman authorities.

The next Emperor was Trajan, (98 - 117), who faced political dangers from the Parthians in the East. Consequently he enforced the Licinian Law which banned all un-authorised 'supper clubs', fearing subversive plotters at work.

Many Christians, in many places, were rounded up and killed, having been 'found', or even 'informed against', at their Eucharistic meetings. A glimpse at this activity is to be found in the correspondence between Trajan and a pedantic civil servant, Pliny the younger, who wrote for clarification of what he was doing about these Christians. Trajan approved of Pliny's action, asking a suspect three times if he were a Christian. If he agreed three times, he was executed. Trajan approved, but said there was to be no witch-hunt, and they were to be pardonned if they would 'worship our gods'. He described Christians as 'out of keeping with this age'. For us, however, it is Pliny's bewildered description of Christians that is of interest. Their behaviour is in accord with the teaching in the Didache.

The future for Christians looked stark: worship the Emperor, or suffer the consequences. Tension spread throughout the churches, and lots more ink was written in letters to each other, while Luke was inspired to write and present Christianity as a NON-threat to the Empire.

Three Letters of encouragement in the New Testament reflect this greater threat, which in many localised areas became life-threatening persecution.

Revelation was written by a political prisoner, John, on the island of Patmos. 'I, John', he wrote, 'your brother, who shares with you in Jesus the persecution and the Kingdom, and the patient endurance ....', (Rev. 1.9). It is written in the apocalyptic style of many Jewish prophetic writings before 70 CE, and very reminiscently of the Book of Daniel. Its central theme is a call to all Christians to stand firm in the faith, in spite of the fear of suffering and death. The apocalyptic imagery portrays a heavenly war against the power of Satan. In ch. 12, the Dragon tries to destroy a new-born child, whom the reader can easily identify with Jesus, but the Dragon is defeated by the Cross and Resurrection of 'the Lamb'. The beast with horns is thought to be Domitian. This is an uncompromising, hard book, which equates Rome with Evil, and asserts that it is doomed to fall, as Babylon did before. It includes a wonderful vision of the 'Heavenly Jerusalem', to replace the earthly city, and includes several poetic 'hymns' which were obviously known to the readers - people in danger often sing to keep up their spirits.

1 Peter is another letter, written at the end of the 1^st cent, - long after the death of the apostle, Peter, - to Christians in Asia Minor/ Turkey, who were threatened with persecution. Again it is a call to them to stand firm, and even to recognise the Emperor's authority! The central core is advice about Christian conduct and a reminder that Jesus had suffered for them. The writer's language is much more moderate than that of Revelation, but he talks of Rome as the 'devil prowling about like a lion, seeking someone to devour', and reminds people that in the end, even Rome will be subject to the Judgment of God. Hebrews was possibly sent to the Jewish Christians in Rome, reminding them of the earlier persecution they had endured, and implying that Christians are expected to suffer, as Christ had done. Again, it is a letter of encouragement to stand firm in the long tradition of faith in all God's promises to His people, and to His Covenant, -all of which has culminated in Jesus, the Christian's 'High Priest', and their 'Sacrifice, in OT style.

More New Testament letters reflect these concerns:

The 'Pastoral Letters' of Timothy and Titus, written as if by Paul's companions, using many quotes and phrases of Paul, are manuals concerned with the sort of men who should be the bishops, presbyters and deacons, to organise the Churches more elaborately than in the Didache. They had to maintain the original faith, without deviations or speculations, and stressing that Love is the abiding Christian virtue, NOT 'knowledge'.

Also from Asia Minor, possibly Ephesus, with a similar stress that Love is the true characteristic of God, and the Church, are the three Letters of John. The '2^nd Letter of Peter', and Jude are also vehement in their attack on alterations in emphasis in the faith of 'incomers', and urge Christians to 'keep themselves in the love of God'.

Both heresies continued to flourish in to the 2^nd century, and were discovered by Bishop Ignatius of Antioch when he was in Asia Minor, travelling to Rome. He had been Bishop in Antioch from 70 onwards, but when he was an old man, a local persecution of Christians broke out, and he was arrested, and condemned to die in Rome, as food for the lions and entertainment for spectators in the Colosseum. He was marched overland from Antioch, chained to his Roman guards, but slowly, in view of his age. First at Smyrna, where Bishop Polycarp welcomed him warmly, he met leaders from other local Churches, and wrote letters for them to take home. Then later at Troas, he wrote more, making seven in all. They were 'farewell letters', very personal, and full of grumbles, as well as the great passions of his life, - his devotion to Christ, and the Eucharist. He urged all to whom he wrote to remain firm in the original teaching of Christ, and quotes often from Matthew's Gospel which his church had produced. He also urged them always to obey their bishops, and all in authority in their Churches. It is thought that he died about 112 CE.

50 years later, Bishop Polycarp also was arrested by a mob, and burnt at the stake, in the amphitheatre of Smyrna, a saintly man who could not deny his Lord, who had done him no harm! Such was the quality of two remarkable Christian leaders, as the developing times brought dangers to the Church, both from outside, and from within.