CHAPTER VI

THE APOLOGIES

The Faith, having gained prominence and power by the help of its early literature, was obliged to take up the attitude of self defence against various opponents.

Judaism was the first antagonist; Hebrew Christianity was an enemy almost as bitter as Judaism proper; the popular pagan religion waged ceaseless warfare against the new teaching; and the civil power, with all the forces at its command, offered a long and relentless opposition.

Christian literature was therefore turned into a weapon of defence. During the second century the work of writing Apologies or Defences absorbed the attention of Christian men of letters, who gave their best gifts to the task. “All Christian literature is in a sense an Apologia;" but these early Apologists wrote special treatises to deny the slanders and to disarm the hatred which provoked the unjust persecution of a religion that was blameless, peaceable and loyal to the State.

The Apologies are valuable aids to an understanding of the "objections urged against Christianity by contemporaries." As specimens of Christian literature, they serve to reveal the mind of the Church in the second century, and to show the range of learning over which that mind was accustomed to move.

Many of the Apologists were deeply in debt to Athens for their culture; they were philosophers of the Faith, and with them the language of Christianity becomes literary, if not classical.

The earliest of the Apologies was the work of QUADRATUS, whom tradition describes as bishop of Athens in 126, and as "famous for his prophetic gifts." He submitted An Address on behalf of the Christians, to the Emperor Hadrian on the occasion of a royal visit to Athens in 125 or 126.

All but a few fragments are lost; but from the remaining relics it appears that the Address laid stress upon the public character of the work of Christ, and also claimed that some whom Christ had healed, "have lived to our own times."

A Letter to Diognetus, written by one who veiled his identity under the nom-de-plume of "a disciple," is "the most striking Christian pamphlet of early times." The original Letter consisted of the present chapters 1-10; the chapters 11-12 were added later, perhaps by PANTAENUS of Alexandria. The date of the work is about 150.

This is a philosopher's Apology; exquisitely graceful and concisely arranged, and "conveys the impression of high literary power." It answers three questions, viz., On what God do Christians rely and how do they worship Him? What is the "charity" which they have one for another? What is this new race or profession that has invaded society?

The substance of the answers to these questions appears in the following passage:

In one word, Christians are to the world what the soul is to the body. The soul is dispersed through all the limbs of the body: so the Christians are dispersed through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells within the body, yet is not part thereof: so the Christians dwell in the world, and yet they are no part of it. . . . The flesh hates the soul and makes war upon it, though the soul injures it not, but only hinders it from indulging its lusts: so the world hates the Chris

tians, though they injure it not, but only set themselves against its pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it: so do Christians love those that hate them. . . . God has assigned them a certain place, to fill, and it is not lawful for them to refuse to fill it.

The "disciple" who wrote to Diognetus has been identified by some critics with ARISTIDES, who wrote an effective Apology in his own name, and presented it either to the Emperor Hadrian or, according to the Syriac version, to Antoninus Pius. The original has perished, but three versions of it remain; the Armenian, the Syriac, and the Greek.

Among the adventures of this Apology was the remarkable use made of it in an old romance, The History of Barlaam and Joasaph (or Josaphat) where it appears as "a defence of Christianity delivered by Barlaam before the Indian ruler Abenner and his son Joasaph."1

"The language and thought of the writer are simple and straight-forward; in fact he is more of a child than a philosopher, . . . but this simplicity of treatment, so far from being a weakness, often adds greatly to the natural impressiveness of the subject, and gives the work a place by the side of the best Christian writings of his age."2

An Address to the Greeks, by the 'Assyrian' TATIAN, 110172, was only one of the infinite number of works ascribed to him by JEROME. It is written with an indifference to style which was part of TATIAN'S protest against the Greeks. Yet he had literary gifts; he could command a noble rhetoric; he had the gift of appeal; he could draw word-portraits with rare skill, like that of the actor:

I have often seen a man .

giving himself exces

sive airs of daintiness and indulging in all sorts of

1For the romance cf. F. Max Muller, Chips from a German Workshop, new ed. (1895), Vol. IV., pp. 444-457.

2Rendel Harris, Cambridge Texts and Studies (1891), I., 1.

effeminacy; sometimes darting his eyes about; sometimes throwing his hands hither and thither, and raving with his face smeared with mud; . . . . a solitary accuser of all the gods, an epitome of superstition, a vituperator of heroic deeds, an actor of murders, a chronicler of adultery, a store house of madness,

and yet such a man is praised by all (Chap. xxii.).

The Address consists of a preface and two main divisions. The first division gives a sketch of the Christian teaching; the second division proves that Christianity is older than the heathen faiths. As an exposure of the worst side of the Greek cults TATIAN'S book has permanent value; as a description of the contrast between the sanity of the new Faith and the immoral unreason of the old it was an effective Apology.

TATIAN followed strange ascetic courses after the death of his master, JUSTIN MARTYR, 114-168, one of the bright lights of the age. JUSTIN took the position that "whatever is rightly said among all men belongs to us Christians", and therefore retained his philosopher's cloak. He opened the way for a fresh interpretation of Christianity by teaching that revelation satisfies reason and crowns philosophy.

Two Apologies, and a Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, came from his pen; in all likelihood he also wrote an Address to the Greeks. The First Apology, 150-155, was addressed to Antoninus Pius on behalf of "those of all nations who are unjustly hated and wantonly abused." It is well considered, and is argued with dignity and confidence. JUSTIN describes Christians as "the best friends that a ruler could desire." They are those

who believe in a God whose eye no crime can escape, no falsehood deceive; . . who look for an eternal judgment, not only on their deeds, but even on their thoughts!

Their moral conversion proves the reality of their faith in Christ:

We who once delighted in adultery, now are become chaste; once given to magic, now are consecrated to the one good God; once loving wealth above all things, now hold all our goods in common, and share them with the poor; once full of hatred and slaughter, now live together in peace, and pray for our enemies, and strive to convert our persecutors.

The Second Apology, written soon after the first, is a less important work as a defence of Christianity; but its vivid pictures of the perils of persecution for the Name' add much valuable material to the history of the period.

JUSTIN'S dialogue with Trypho, an Ephesian Jew, was held about 148 but the report of it was written after 155. Friendliness between Jews and Christians "was probably exceptional and in any case the Dialogue makes it clear how incapable the representatives of the two related faiths were of coming to any understanding." Trypho was a cultured Jew, with an open, tolerant mind, and the easy courtesy of the literary class. He wondered how Christians could profess to serve God, and yet disregard His Law; and how they could believe in a human Saviour. JUSTIN answers him by denying that the Law is permanently binding; he then undertakes to prove the divinity of Christ; finally, he declares that the true Israel consists of those who believe in the new revelation of grace.

"The whole Dialogue is a perfect storehouse of early Christian interpretation of Scripture." It shows that while the Old Testament held a place of high esteem, there was another measure of truth for the Church, and all forms of faith were tried by that new standard.

JUSTIN'S philosophic temper was characteristic of the

A. F. Findlay, Byways of Early Christian Literature, p. 103.