Apostolic Fathers and Apologists

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Apostolic Fathers and Apologists

• Emperor cult.
• Persecution under Trajan.
• Ignatius, Letters.
• Justin, First Apology.

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

• Julius Caesar divinized after his death
• Temples dedicated to the genius of emperors
• Test of civil duty Caesar is (divine) Lord!

Octavian Augustus 63BC-14AD
Julius Caesar 100-44BC
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Ironies of history the cult of the emperor
revived
Julius Caesar (100-44 BC)

• Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)

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Or worse still...
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And almost contemporary...
Giant image of Kim Il-sung, the father of Kim
Jong Il
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Persecution under Emperor Trajan

• Time 112AD
• Place Bythinia, Asia Minor
• Occasion Pliny toured his province and
  discovered a group that looked like a secret
  society

Emperor Trajan 98-117
Pliny the Younger Governor of Bythinia 111-113
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Why are Christians a problem?

• Temples deserted
• Nobody buys sacrificial animals
• Christians disrupt local economy

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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

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Trajans 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
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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?

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Ignatiuss probable travel route from Antioch to
Rome
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Colosseum
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Colosseum
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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.

Justins birth place Flavia Neapolis (Nablus) in
Palestine
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Hadrian (117-138)
Hadrian sacrificing to Apollo
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Bar-Kokhbas revolt and Jewish War (132-136)
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Antoninus Pius (138-161)
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Pagan caricature of the Christian God (see
Octavius 9. 3)
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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).

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• 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.

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Church of Santa Sabina in Rome (5th c.).Female
figures personifying the church of the
circumcised and the church of the Gentiles
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Triclinum
Mithraeum (1st c. C. E.) under the Church of San
Clemente in Rome
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177 m. Vienne Lyons
112 p. Trajan
249-51 p. Decius
203 m. Perpetua
200
100
300
35-107 Ignatius of Antioch
69-155 Polycarp
84-160 Marcion 100-160 Justin
105?-165? Valentinus
130?-180? Ptolemy
130-200 Irenaeus of Lyons
150-215 Clement of Alexandria
150-236? Hippolytus
160-225 Tertullian
185-254 Origen
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Map 2nd c.