BOOK II.
PART I.
INTRODUCTION THROUGH CHAPTER IX.
BOOK II.
INTRODUCTION We have discussed in the preceding book those subjects in
ecclesiastical history which it was necessary to treat by way of introduction,
and have accompanied them with brief proofs.
Such were the divinity of the saving word and the antiquity of the doctrines which
we teach, as well as of that evangelical life which is led by Christians,
together with the events which have taken place in connection with Christ's recent
appearance and in connection with his passion and with the choice of the
apostles.
In the present book, let us examine the events which took place after his
ascension, confirming some of them from the divine scriptures and others from such
writings as we shall refer to from time to time.
Chapter I.
THE COURSE PURSUED BY THE APOSTLES AFTER THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST.
First, then, in the place of Judas the betrayer, Matthias, who, as has been
shown, was also one of the Seventy, was chosen to the apostolate.
And there were appointed to the diaconate, for the service of the congregation,
by prayer and the laying on of the hands of the apostles, approved men,
seven in number, of whom Stephen was one.
He first, after the Lord, was stoned to death at the time of his ordination by the
slayers of the Lord, as if he had been promoted for this very purpose.
And thus he was the first to receive the crown, corresponding to his name,
which belongs to the martyrs of Christ, who are worthy of the mead of victory.
Then James, whom the ancients surnamed the Just on account of the excellence of his
virtue, is recorded to have been the first to be made bishop of the church of
Jerusalem.
This James was called the brother of the Lord because he was known as a son of
Joseph.
And Joseph was supposed to be the father of Christ, because the Virgin,
being betrothed to him, was found with child by the Holy Ghost before they came
together, as the account of the Holy Gospels shows.
But Clement, in the sixth book of his Hypotipices, writes thus.
For they say that Peter and James and John, after the ascension of our Saviour,
as if also preferred by our Lord, strove not after honor, but chose James
the Just bishop of Jerusalem.
But the same writer, in the seventh book of the same work, relates also the
following things concerning him.
The Lord after his resurrection imparted knowledge to James the Just and to John
and Peter, and they imparted it to the rest of the apostles, and the rest of the
apostles to the seventy, of whom Barnabas was one.
But there were two Jameses, one called the Just, who was thrown from the pinnacle of
the temple and was beaten to death with a club by a fuller, and another who was
beheaded.
Paul also makes mention of the same James the Just, where he writes, Other of the
apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.
At that time also the promise of our Saviour to the king of the Osroenians was
fulfilled.
For Thomas, under a divine impulse, sent Thaddeus to Edessa as a preacher and
evangelist of the religion of Christ, as we have shown a little above from the
document found there.
When he came to that place he healed Abgaras by the word of Christ,
and after bringing all the people there into the right attitude of mind by means
of his works, and leading them to adore the power of Christ, he made them
disciples of the Saviour's teaching.
And from that time down to the present the whole city of the Edessenes has been
devoted to the name of Christ, offering no common proof of the
beneficence of our Saviour toward them also.
These things have been drawn from ancient accounts, but let us now turn again to the
divine scripture.
When the first and greatest persecution was instigated by the Jews against the
church of Jerusalem in connection with the martyrdom of Stephen, and when all the
disciples except the twelve were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, some,
as the divine scripture says, went as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch,
but could not yet venture to impart the word of faith to the nations, and
therefore preached it to the Jews alone.
During this time Paul was still persecuting the church, and entering the
houses of believers was dragging men and women away and committing them to prison.
Philip, also, one of those who with Stephen had been entrusted with the
diaconate, being among those who were scattered abroad, went down to Samaria,
and being filled with the divine power, he first preached the word to the
inhabitants of that country.
And divine grace worked so mightily with him that even Simon Magus, with many
others, was attracted by his words.
Simon was at that time so celebrated, and had acquired, by his jugglery,
such influence over those who were deceived by him, that he was thought to be
the great power of God.
But at this time, being amazed at the wonderful deeds wrought by Philip through
the divine power, he feigned and counterfeited faith in Christ,
even going so far as to receive baptism.
And what is surprising, the same thing is done even to this day by those who follow
his most impure heresy.
For they, after the manner of their forefather, slipping into the church,
like a pestilential and leprous disease, greatly afflict those into whom they are
able to infuse the deadly and terrible poison concealed in themselves.
The most of these have been expelled as soon as they have been caught in their
wickedness, as Simon himself, when detected by Peter, received the merited
punishment.
But as the preaching of the Savior's gospel was daily advancing, a certain
providence led from the land of the Ethiopians an officer of the queen of that
country, for Ethiopia even to the present day is ruled, according to ancestral
custom, by a woman.
He, first among the Gentiles, received of the mysteries of the divine word from
Philip in consequence of a revelation, and having become the first fruits of
believers throughout the world, he is said to have been the first on
returning to his country to proclaim the knowledge of the God of the universe and
the life-giving sojourn of our Savior among men, so that through him,
in truth, the prophecy obtained its fulfillment, which declares that Ethiopia
stretcheth out her hand unto God.
In addition to these, Paul, that chosen vessel, not of men, neither through men,
but by the revelation of Jesus Christ himself and of God the Father who raised
him from the dead, was appointed an apostle, being made worthy of the call by
a vision and by a voice which was uttered in a revelation from heaven.
Chapter 2.
How Tiberius was affected when informed by Pilate concerning Christ.
And when the wonderful resurrection and ascension of our Savior were already
noised abroad in accordance with an ancient custom which prevailed among the
rulers of the provinces of reporting to the emperor the novel occurrences which
took place in them, in order that nothing might escape him, Pontius Pilate informed
Tiberius of the reports which were noised abroad through all Palestine concerning
the resurrection of our Savior Jesus from the dead.
He gave an account also of other wonders which he had learned of him, and how,
after his death, having risen from the dead, he was now believed by many to be a
god.
They say that Tiberius referred the matter to the senate, but that they rejected it,
ostensibly because they had not first examined into the matter, for an ancient
law prevailed that no one should be made a god by the Romans except by a vote and
decree of the senate, but in reality because the saving teaching of the divine
gospel did not need the confirmation and recommendation of men.
But although the senate of the Romans rejected the proposition made in regard to
our Savior, Tiberius still retained the opinion which he had held at first,
and contrived no hostile measures against Christ.
These things are recorded by Tertullian, a man well versed in the laws of the
Romans, and in other respects of high repute, and one of those especially
distinguished in Rome.
In his Apology for the Christians, which was written by him in the Latin
language and has been translated into Greek, he writes as follows.
But in order that we may give an account of these laws from their origin,
it was an ancient decree that no one should be consecrated a god by the emperor
until the senate had expressed its approval.
Marcus Aurelius did this concerning a certain idol, Albernus.
And this is a point in favor of our doctrine, that among you divine dignity is
conferred by human decree.
If a god does not please a man, he is not made a god.
Thus, according to this custom, it is necessary for man to be gracious to
God.
Tiberius, therefore, under whom the name of Christ made its entry into the world,
when this doctrine was reported to him from Palestine, where it first began,
communicated with the senate, making it clear to them that he was pleased with the
doctrine.
But the senate, since it had not itself proved the matter, rejected it.
But Tiberius continued to hold his own opinion, and threatened death to the
accusers of the Christians.
Heavenly providence had wisely instilled this into his mind in order that the
doctrine of the gospel, unhindered at its beginning, might spread in all directions
throughout the world.
Chapter 3.
The doctrine of Christ soon spread throughout all the world.
Thus, under the influence of heavenly power, and with the divine cooperation,
the doctrine of the Savior, like the rays of the sun, quickly illumined the whole
world.
And straightway, in accordance with the divine scriptures, the voice of the
inspired evangelists and apostles went forth through all the earth, and their
words to the end of the world.
In every city and village, churches were quickly established, filled with
multitudes of people like a replenished thirst, and the threshing floor.
And those whose minds, in consequence of errors which had descended to them from
their forefathers, were fettered by the ancient disease of idolatrous
superstition, were, by the power of Christ operating through the teaching and the
wonderful works of his disciples, set free, as it were, from terrible
masters, and found a release from the most cruel bondage.
They renounced with abhorrence every species of demoniacal polytheism,
and confessed that there was only one God, the Creator of all things, and Him they
honored with the rites of true piety, through the inspired and rational worship
which has been planted by our Savior among men.
But the divine grace being now poured out upon the rest of the nations, Cornelius of
Caesarea in Palestine, with his whole house, through a divine revelation and the
agency of Peter, first received faith in Christ, and after him a multitude of other
Greeks in Antioch, to whom those who were scattered by the persecution of Stephen
had preached the gospel.
When the church of Antioch was now increasing and abounding, and a multitude
of prophets from Jerusalem were on the ground, among them Barnabas and Paul,
and in addition many other brethren, the name of Christians first sprang up
there, as from a fresh and life-giving fountain.
And Agabus, one of the prophets who was with them, uttered a prophecy concerning
the famine which was about to take place, and Paul and Barnabas were sent to relieve
the necessities of the brethren.
Chapter 4.
After the death of Tiberius, Caius appointed Agrippa king of the Jews,
having punished Herod with perpetual exile.
Tiberius died after having reigned about 22 years, and Caius succeeded him in the
empire.
He immediately gave the government of the Jews to Agrippa, making him king over the
tetrarchies of Philip and of Lysanias, in addition to which he bestowed upon him,
not long afterward, the tetrarchy of Herod, having punished Herod, the one
under whom the Savior suffered, and his wife Herodias, with perpetual
exile on account of numerous crimes.
Josephus is a witness to these facts.
Under this emperor, Philo became known, a man most celebrated not only among many
of our own, but also among many scholars without the church.
He was a Hebrew by birth, but was inferior to none of those who held high dignities
in Alexandria.
How exceedingly he labored in the scriptures and in the studies of his
nation is plain to all from the work which he has done.
How familiar he was with philosophy and with the liberal studies of foreign
nations, it is not necessary to say, since he is reported to have surpassed all
his contemporaries in the study of Platonic and Pythagorean philosophy,
to which he particularly devoted his attention.
Chapter 5.
Philo's embassy to Caius in behalf of the Jews.
Philo has given us an account in five books of the misfortunes of the Jews under
Caius.
He recounts at the same time the madness of Caius, how he called himself a god and
performed as emperor innumerable acts of tyranny.
And he describes further the miseries of the Jews under him and gives a report of
the embassy upon which he himself was sent to Rome in behalf of his fellow countrymen
in Alexandria.
How, when he appeared before Caius in behalf of the laws of his fathers,
he received nothing but laughter and ridicule and almost incurred the risk of
his life.
Josephus also makes mention of these things in the eighteenth book of his
Antiquities, in the following words.
A sedition having arisen in Alexandria between the Jews that dwell there and the
Greeks, three deputies were chosen from each faction and went to Caius.
One of the Alexandrian deputies was Appion, who uttered many slanders against
the Jews, among other things saying that they neglected the honors due to Caesar.
For while all other subjects of Rome erected altars and temples to Caius and in
all other respects treated him just as they did the gods, they alone considered
it disgraceful to honor him with statues and to swear by his name.
And when Appion had uttered many severe charges by which he hoped that Caius would
be aroused, as indeed was likely, Philo, the chief of the Jewish embassy,
a man celebrated in every respect, a brother of Alexander the Alabark,
and not unskilled in philosophy, was prepared to enter upon a defense in
reply to his accusations.
But Caius prevented him and ordered him to leave, and being very angry, it was plain
that he meditated some severe measure against them.
And Philo departed, covered with insult, and told the Jews that were with him to be
of good courage, for while Caius was raging against them, he was in fact
already contending with God.
Thus far, Josephus.
And Philo himself, in the work on the embassy, which he wrote, describes
accurately and in detail the things which were done by him at that time.
But I shall omit the most of them and record only those things which will make
clearly evident to the reader that the misfortunes of the Jews came upon them not
long after their daring deeds against Christ and on account of the same.
And in the first place, he relates that at Rome in the reign of Tiberius,
Sejanus, who at that time enjoyed great influence with the emperor, made every
effort to destroy the Jewish nation utterly, and that in Judea, Pilate,
under whom the crimes against the Savior were committed, attempted something
contrary to the Jewish law in respect to the temple, which was at that time still
standing in Jerusalem, and excited them to the greatest tumults.
Chapter 6.
The Misfortunes Which Overwhelmed the Jews After Their Presumption Against Christ.
After the death of Tiberius, Caius received the and besides innumerable other
acts of tyranny against many people, he greatly afflicted, especially the whole
nation of the Jews.
These things we may learn briefly from the words of Philo, who writes as follows.
So great was the caprice of Caius in his conduct toward all, and especially toward
the nation of the Jews.
The latter he so bitterly hated that he appropriated to himself their places of
worship in the other cities, and beginning with Alexandria, he filled them with
images and statues of himself, for in permitting others to erect them he
really erected them himself.
The temple in the holy city, which had hitherto been left untouched, and had been
regarded as an inviolable asylum, he altered and transformed into a temple
of his own, that it might be called the temple of the visible Jupiter,
the younger Caius.
Innumerable other terrible and almost indescribable calamities which came upon
the Jews in Alexandria during the reign of the same emperor are recorded by the same
author in a second work, to which he gave the title On the Virtues.
With him agrees also Josephus, who likewise indicates that the
misfortunes of the whole nation began with the time of Pilate, and with their daring
crimes against the Savior.
Hear what he says in the second book of his Jewish War, where he writes as
follows.
Pilate, being sent to Judea as procurator by Tiberius, secretly carried veiled
images of the emperor, called Ensigns, to Jerusalem by night.
The following day this caused the greatest disturbance among the Jews, for those who
were near were confounded at the sight, beholding their laws, as it were,
trampled underfoot, for they allow no image to be set up in their city.
Comparing these things with the writings of the evangelists, you will see that it
was not long before there came upon them the penalty for the exclamation which they
had uttered under the same Pilate, when they cried out that they had no other
king than Caesar.
The same writer further records that after this another calamity overtook them.
He writes as follows.
After this he stirred up another tumult by making use of the holy treasure,
which is called corban, in the construction of an aqueduct three hundred
stadia in length.
The multitude were greatly displeased at it, and when Pilate was in Jerusalem they
surrounded his tribunal and gave utterance to loud complaints.
But he, anticipating the tumult, had distributed through the crowd armed
soldiers disguised in citizens' clothing, forbidding them to use the but commanding
them to strike with clubs those who should make an outcry.
To them he now gave the preconcerted signal from the tribunal, and the Jews
being beaten, many of them perished in consequence of the blows, while many
others were trampled underfoot by their own countrymen in their flight,
and thus lost their lives.
But the multitude, overawed by the fate of those who were slain, held their peace.
In addition to these, the same author records many other tumults which were
stirred up in Jerusalem itself, and shows that from that time seditions
and wars and mischievous plots followed each other in quick succession,
and never ceased in the city and in all Judea until finally the siege of Vespasian
overwhelmed them.
Thus the divine vengeance overtook the Jews for the crimes which they dared to
commit against Christ.
Chapter 7.
Pilate's Suicide.
It is worthy of note that Pilate himself, who was governor in the time of our
Savior, is reported to have fallen into such misfortunes under Caius, whose times
we are recording, that he was forced to become his own murderer and executioner,
and thus divine vengeance, as it seems, was not long in overtaking him.
This is stated by those Greek historians who have recorded the Olympiads,
together with the respective events which have taken place in each period.
Chapter 8.
The Famine Which Took Place in the Reign of Claudius.
Caius had held the power not quite four years when he was succeeded by the emperor
Claudius.
Under him the world was visited with a famine, which writers that are entire
strangers to our religion have recorded in their histories.
And thus the prediction of Agabus recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, according to
which the whole world was to be visited by a famine, received its fulfillment.
And Luke in the Acts, after mentioning the famine in the time of Claudius and stating
that the brethren of Antioch, each according to his ability, sent to the
brethren of Judea by the hands of Paul and Barnabas, adds the following account.
Chapter 9.
The Martyrdom of James the Apostle.
Now about that time, it is clear that he means the time of Claudius, Herod the king
stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, and he killed James the
brother of John with the sword.
And concerning this James, Clement, in the seventh book of his Hypotipuses,
relates a story which is worthy of mention, telling it as he received it from
those who had lived before him.
He says that the one who led James to the judgment seat, when he saw him bearing his
testimony, was moved and confessed that he was himself also a Christian.
They were both therefore, he says, led away together, and on the way he
begged James to forgive him.
And he, after considering a little, said, Peace be with thee, and kissed him.
And thus they were both beheaded at the same time.
And then, as the divine scripture says, Herod, upon the death of James,
seeing that the deed pleased the Jews, attacked Peter also and committed him to
prison, and would have slain him if he had not, by the divine appearance of an angel
who came to him by night, been wonderfully released from his bonds, and thus
liberated for the service of the gospel.
Such was the providence of God in respect to Peter.
End of Book 2, Part 1