Baus, Karl. From the Apostolic Community to Constantine // History of the Church. Ed.H.Jedin, J.Dolan. Vol. I.

Content

SECTION TWO

The Way into the Pagan World

CHAPTER 4

The Religious Situation in the Graeco-Roman World at the Time of its Encounter with Christianity

IN contrast with the political and cultural unity which prevailed in the Mediterranean area at the beginning of the Christian era, we are presented in the religious sphere, with a multiplicity of religions. In all her political conquests Rome had never sought to impose on subject peoples a single religious faith and a single form of worship, rather was it a principle of Roman policy to leave undisturbed all the religious convictions and practices of the tribes and nations included in the empire. A brief survey of the manifold religious currents at the end of the pre-Christian period of Hellenism will enable us to see clearly and to estimate the task with which Christianity was faced when it undertook to win the Graeco-Roman world for Christ.

Decline of the Ancient Greek and Roman Religions
The first characteristic of the general religious situation in the Hellenistic world of the first century B.C. is the decline both of the ancient Greek polytheism and of the old Roman religion. The causes for this development are various and differ for each. In Greece itself, rationalistic criticism of the gods, which had prevailed in the philosophical schools, and especially among Stoics and Epicurians, had had an adverse effect on traditional beliefs. In these circles belief in the Homeric gods had long since been given up. The monistic doctrine of the Stoics, which offered the doctrine of a divine providence (7tp6voia) and of the Logos as world-reason pervading and ordering the universe, did not lead to the acceptance of a personal, supernatural God; for even the Stoic world-reason was subject to the iron law of Heimarmene, which watches over the course of earthly events as they revolve in an eternal circle, and thus deprives the Logos of freedom of action. Epicurus, for his part, did indeed reject the existence of such an inalterable fate, but his view of the world, following Democritus' doctrine of atomic laws, led only to a physically determined universe and likewise left no room for the mythical world of the gods or for a personal God directing all things. The attempt of the Greek Euhemeros to explain belief in the gods historically (Euhemerism), by saying that the gods were outstanding personalities of the past to whom, when glorified in the memory of men, divine honours had gradually come to be paid, only contributed further to the decay of the Greek belief in the gods. Those who held such ideas were indeed to be found at first only in "enlightened" upper-class circles, but their subsequent popularization through the writings of the Cynics and Stoics had a destructive effect on the faith of larger sections of the people.

Political developments in the eastern Mediterranean area also played their part in furthering the decline of the classical Greek religion. The period of the rule of the Diadochs involved in Greece itself the final dissolution of the old city-states, and this in turn was a death-blow to the religious cults which had been maintained by them or their associations of noble families. The newly founded Hellenistic cities in the East, with their commercial possibilities, enticed many Greeks to emigrate, so that the homeland grew poorer and many ancient sanctuaries fell into ruin. Of much more far-reaching effect was the exchange of religious ideas and their liturgical forms of expression, which was brought about by the hellenization of the East, an exchange in which the gods of Greece and the Orient were to a great extent assimilated to one another but lost many of their original attributes in the process. After a manner, of course, the religion of ancient Greece extended its influence; together with the externals of the way of life of the Greek polis, its forms of worship also reached the colonies of the East, and so there soon arose in them magnificent monuments of religious art in its characteristic Hellenistic form. But the spirit of the old religion was not to be found in them. On the other hand, oriental cults streamed into Greece and beyond to the western parts of the empire, effecting there a decline of old beliefs and, even in spite of new forms, a loss of religious content.

The ancient Roman religion was also subjected to the same process of dissolution. Since the Second Punic War there had been a steadily growing hellenization of Roman religion, which expressed itself in the erection in increasing numbers of temples and statues of Greek gods on Roman territory. While the Hellenistic gods were introduced mainly by way of the Greek cities of southern Italy and Sicily, it was the direct influence of Greek literature on the beginnings of Latin literature which very largely promoted the hellenization of religion. The stage, with its Latin versions of Greek comedies and other poetical works, also made the people familiar with the world of the Greek gods and mythology. In the face of such an invasion, the ancient gods and their festivals receded into the background, and this, in turn, led to a decline in influence of the colleges of priests who maintained the worship of the old Roman gods. When towards the end of the Second Punic War the Sibylline books demanded the introduction of the cult of Cybele from Asia Minor, the gods of the East began their triumphal entry into Rome and contributed to the disintegration of the ancient Roman faith. All attempts to stem the invasion on the part of the Senate and of those circles in Rome which viewed these developments with anxiety were in the long run unsuccessful.

The military conquests of the last century of the Republic made the Roman troops familiar with the cult of Mithras, and increasing contact with oriental civilization at last opened the gates of the capital to the worship of the Cappadocian Bellona and the Egyptian Isis. Even less could the penetration of Hellenistic philosophical ideas be prevented among the Roman upper class, to whom Stoic thought made a strong appeal; but with them came also a critical attitude towards the gods and a deterministic view of the universe. Especially in Rome itself the sceptical attitude of the leaders of society towards belief in the gods and the State religion could not remain concealed, and so the private family religion of the citizens was infected. The Roman populace still took a keen interest in the games, which were of religious origin; but they were a poor substitute, since their connexion with any religious function was no longer consciously felt.

Augustus on attaining the supreme power had attempted to call a halt to the threatened religious and moral breakdown of the people and introduced a comprehensive reconstruction of the State religion and of belief in it. It was this last that he could no longer recreate. The old colleges of priests were indeed reorganized, shrines were restored, forgotten feasts revived, and members of the leading families once more assumed religious offices and functions. But the inner spiritual content was already too little for the renewed cult to be performed with any real participation of the heart. This is especially apparent in Horace, whose Carmen Saeculare, written in 17 B.C. to celebrate the dawn of a new epoch in Rome, reflects his own scepticism by its lack of deep religious feeling. Even the fact that in 12 B.C. Augustus himself assumed the title of pontijex maximus and linked it for ever with the principate could not change the course of events.

The Emperor Cult

One feature of Augustus's religious policy was to have far-reaching consequences and to be of special significance when it encountered the growing power of Christianity, namely the adoption of the oriental cult of the ruler and the attempt to include it in his reorganization of the State religion under the modified form of the emperor cult. Religious veneration of the ruler had its origin in the East, where royal power was early regarded as having a religious basis. Alexander and his successors were able to build on this foundation when they added to it elements of Greek hero cult and Stoic ideas about the superiority of the wise man, and thus succeeded in introducing the religious cult of Hellenistic kingship. The first to adopt it were the diadochs of the Near East, and after them, without any special difficulty, the Ptolemies of Egypt, for in that country there already existed a willing priesthood. The example of the Ptolemies was soon followed by the Seleucides. The Hellenistic sovereigns received from the Greek cities of Asia Minor in return for favours and benefits, the title Soter, to which others of a religious character, such as Epipbanes and Kyrios, were later added. The idea increasingly prevailed that in the reigning king God visibly manifested himself. When the kingdoms of the diadochs were replaced by the Roman power, it was natural to transfer the cult of the ruler to those who embodied that power and to pay religious honours to them too. As the Roman Republic lacked a monarch, temples and statues were erected to Roma herself as a personification of Roman power. Even individual Roman generals, such as Anthony, permitted themselves without hesitation to be accorded divine honours when in the East.

It was easy for Augustus to take advantage of this veneration of the ruler in the eastern provinces of the empire, by having temples and shrines to himself set up alongside those of the goddess Roma and by not refusing religious honours, the offering of which was the responsibility of the municipal authorities or the provincial governments. To Augustus personally such honours were most willingly granted, because the pax Augusta had brought lasting peace to those territories, and he thus enjoyed unparalleled popularity.

In Rome and Italy the cult of the ruler had to be introduced more discreetly. There the Senate decided only after the emperor's death whether consecratio, inclusion among the gods, should be accorded to him because of his services to the State. In fact, the Senate had already placed Caesar as Divus Julius among the immortals, established a special cult for him with its own priesthood and thus introduced religious veneration of the Julian house. No doubt Eastern influences were at work here too. Octavian was able to assume the title Augustus, which was of a religious nature. Private citizens were to sacrifice to the genius of the emperor in their houses, for in him the divine was made manifest; men swore by the genius of the emperor, and the breaking of such an oath was regarded as high treason. When Vergil sings in his fourth Eclogue that in Augustus an old Etruscan prophecy has clearly been fulfilled, according to which a saviour should come into the world as a child and inaugurate a new Golden Age, we discern the same idea, namely the ascription of divine origin to the ruler.

In the course of the first century A.D. some of the Roman emperors gave up the prudent restraint of Augustus and demanded divine honours in Rome

THE "WAY INTO THE R/YOAIN »UM-U

during their lifetime, although their way of life and their performance as rulers of the empire hardly recommended them for deification; this had the effect of somewhat cheapening the emperor cult in Rome. Nevertheless there were even in the West private organizations which devoted themselves to promoting this cult. Since the cult of the Emperor was intimately linked with the power of the State, special importance was inevitably attached to it when Christianity, which rejected any form of divine honours paid to men, sooner or later came into conflict with that State.

The Eastern Mystery Cults

While the cult of the emperor as part of the State religion was becoming of universal significance both in East and West, though graduated in intensity in different parts of the empire, the oriental mystery-cults always retained their original private character, albeit their influence on all classes was considerable. The chief reason for their attraction is to be found in their claim to be able to give the individual a liberating answer to his questions about his fate in the next world. They claimed to show him how, by ordering his way of life in this world, he could assure his survival in the next; in a word, how he could find his eternal salvation, awT7)pia.

The oriental mystery-cults could begin their conquest of the East after Alexander's campaigns provided the opportunity. At first they groped their way slowly, gaining gradually a more certain foothold in the commercial and cultural centres, until by imperial times they reached the zenith of their influence. The Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor were the readiest to accept this new world of religious experience; and they were the principal means of its spreading to the West.

These cults were not strictly exclusive, but adopted from time to time elements of existing religious systems, permeated them, mingled characteristics of related divinities with those of their own objects of worship, and thus contributed to that religious syncretism which is typical of the Hellenistic age. Three oriental civilizations were the sources from which the new cults flowed into the Hellenistic world: those of Egypt, Asia Minor and Syria, to which may be added that of Iran, whence came the cult of Mithras which was of a rather different type.

In the centre of the Egyptian cult stood first of all the figures of Isis and Osiris, who are well known from the official religion of Egypt. The goddess Isis was honoured every year by a solemn procession, in which the outlandish and bizarre parade of shaven-headed, white-clad priests, of noisy musicians and other strange participants was the most noticeable feature. In the course of a long development, Isis had become a universal goddess who was believed to have brought morality and civilization to mankind. She was regarded as the inventor of agriculture and writing, as goddess of seafarers, as foundress of law and civil order, a protectress of the persecuted and liberator from every kind of distress.

In the secret cult of Isis, Osiris figured as her husband. He was the ancient Egyptian god of vegetation, who died and rose again, as the annual sowing and growth of the crops symbolically signify. His death was mourned by his worshippers, his resurrection celebrated with joy. In his dying, man saw his own death expressed; but like Osiris he would rise again to new life. That is the basic idea of these mysteries, to which the goddess Isis, in a dream, would herself call him who was found worthy. An impressive initiation ceremony consecrated the chosen one to the service of the goddess; he had previously prepared himself by a bath of purification and a ten days' fast, and he was now led by the priest into the sanctuary of the temple of Isis, crossed the threshold of death, passed through all the elements and adored the sun and the gods. Clothed with the "mantle of Heaven", with a torch in his hand and a wreath on his head, he was then presented to the congregation as an image of the sun-god, celebrating the day on which he was born to a new life. Before the statue of the goddess he spoke an enthusiastic prayer of thanksgiving, pledging himself constantly to keep in mind her divine countenance and her holiness.

In the Ptolemaic period Osiris was pushed into the background by the new Egyptian god Sarapis (Serapis), a creation of Ptolemy I, who wished in this way to unite the Egyptians and the Greeks of his kingdom. Therefore Sarapis combined in himself features which appealed to all the king's subjects: he too is associated with Isis as a god of life and death, earth-god and sun-god. Not only did his image, with its Hellenistic beauty, radiate sublime tenderness and helpful humanity, reminding one of Zeus and Asclepios; but his whole being made him widely honoured as a helper in material and spiritual needs. He was the Lord of Fate who led the soul safely into the next world. Zealous propaganda spread his cult from his main sanctuary, the Sarapeion at Alexandria, over the whole Mediterranean world as far as Rome; everywhere resounded the cry of praise: "Sarapis is conqueror!" (Nixa o Lap«Tri^). It was he whom Emperor Julian was to praise in words which reveal the monotheistic tendency of the cult: "One is Zeus and Hades and Helios, One is Sarapis."

Asia Minor was the home of the cult of the Great Mother, the fertility
THE WAY INTO THt I-AtjAN W<JK.JLL>

goddess Cybele, who was early known to the Greeks. In the Hellenistic age her worship spread quickly beyond her homeland and was introduced into Rome as early as 204 B.C. She too was connected with a male divinity, the Nature hero Attis, her lover. According to the myth (of which more than one version exists), Attis was unfaithful to her, wherefore he was cast into a frenzy, from the consequences of which he died. He was awakened to new life and reunited with the Great Mother. This myth became the basis of a wild and strange mystery cult, served by a special college of priests, the Galli. These, by ecstatic dancing and flagellation, brought on their own "mystical" frenzy, in which they were driven even to self-castration. In the rite of initiation, the candidate or mysta symbolically relived the fate of his god in death and resurrection; he was sprinkled with the blood of a bull and then entered the "bridal chamber", which he left as one reborn. At a sacred meal he made his profession as a mysta of Attis, and a priest proclaimed to the initiated the joyful tidings: "Be comforted, ye mystael Salvation came to the god. So also shall we be partakers of salvation after tribulation." Here, too, the promise of salvation was the deciding motive for joining the cult, the orgiastic features of which were not altogether foreign to a Greek, if he remembered the ways in which Dionysus had formerly been worshipped by his countrymen. The excesses of self-mutilation attendant upon the cult could, indeed, hardly have had much attraction for him; and Greek comedy did not spare with its mockery the itinerant priests of Cybele who travelled through the land propagating their religion.

A cult which originated at Byblos on the Syrian coast was marked by similar ecstatic features. Its divinities were the Mistress of Nature, Atargatis, akin to Cybele, and the beautiful youth Adonis, her husband. The latter was also a god of vegetation who died and rose again. According to the myth he was wounded by a boar while hunting and died of his wounds, but in the spring he would rise once more, a radiant god. The centre of the mystical celebration was the annual commemoration of Adonis' death, at which the women of Byblos abandoned themselves to unrestrained mourning, and interred an image of the youthful god amid loud lamentations. After a short time their mourning was turned to gladness, and the worshippers of the god joyfully proclaimed: "Adonis lives!" The symbolism of this cult, too, expressing sorrow at premature death and longing for a rejuvenating resurrection, was able to attract many people in the later Hellenistic period.

The three mystery cults have, in spite of differences of detail, one basic idea in common. The death and constant renewal observed in Nature were

IjRAtLU-KUMAN RtLlWUN

symbolically crystallized in the myth of a young god of vegetation, who is torn from the side of the goddess by a tragic death but rises again to new life. By this is represented the fate of man, whose strange and sometimes incomprehensibly tragic death weighed like a dark burden upon the thought and feeling of Antiquity. Should there not be for him also, as for the god in the myth, a resurrection into a mysterious hereafter? The mere possibility, hinted at in the myth, of such an eschatological hope was bound to appeal to Hellenistic man. Precisely because the old religions of Greece and Rome knew no encouraging answer to this exciting question, people turned to these new forms of religious faith, whose attraction was increased by the mysterious and outlandish nature of the initiation ceremonies, which seemed like an echo from beyond the grave. The hymns and prayers, with their intensity of feeling, caught in their spell many an anxious and excitable mind.

The mystery cult of Mithras came also to be dominated by ideas of a future life, though indeed these did not come to the fore until Christianity was both inwardly and outwardly well established. This cult had its origins in the Iranian world, was developed, as to its outward form, mainly in Cappadocia, and then spread from East to West. At first it met with little success in the central provinces of Asia Minor and Egypt and found hardly any response in Greece, but it was all the more successful in the western parts of the empire, where Rome and its surroundings — in Ostia alone about fifteen sanctuaries of Mithras are known to have existed — and the northern frontier on the Rhine were the regions in which it was most prevalent. It was essentially a masculine cult, having most of its devotees among the soldiers of the Roman army. Its main figure was the Persian god Mithras, who stole a bull belonging to the moon and slew it on the orders of Apollo; the representation of this event is the central motif of the image which was set up in all Mithraic temples. The blood of a bull was sprinkled over the believers, who were thus initiated and became entitled to expect salvation. The candidate for initiation prepared himself by undergoing various tests of courage and ritual washings; after his reception he proceeded through seven grades to that of a full disciple of Mithras. As Mithras was taken up by the sun-god Helios in the chariot of the sun, so did the disciple hope to be raised up in glory in the next world. The members of the cult were also united in a sacred meal, which prefigured, to those who partook of it, a happy life together in the hereafter.
Our sources give no precise data enabling us to state the number of devotees of all these cults. Their expansion throughout the Hellenistic world and their relative density in the larger centres of population leads us to suppose that their membership was not inconsiderable. The educated upper classes were, no doubt, least represented; these rather sought fulfilment of their religious needs in the philosophical schools of the time. All the more did the mystery cults appeal to the middle classes, whose religious feelings were not yet stifled by the material brilliance of Hellenistic civilization; they longed for actual contact with the divine and to find in rites appealing to the senses, an interpretation of life and a palpable guarantee of a better lot in the next world.

Popular Religion

Emperor cult and mystery religions did not, however, appeal to everyone in the Mediterranean world. The former was relatively seldom in evidence and it had moreover little contact with the rural population. As for the mystery cults, their esoteric character made them difficult of approach for many. The great mass of simple folk, therefore, turned towards the lower kinds of superstition, which in Hellenistic times especially were very widespread in numerous forms.

Chief of these, no doubt, was the belief in astrology, which ascribed to the stars a decisive influence on human destiny. The Graeco-Roman world first became more closely acquainted with it when Berossos, a priest of Baal from Babylon, the home of all astrology, set up a school on the island of Cos in 280 B.C. In the second century B.C. the priest Petosiris in Egypt wrote the fundamental astrological work on which later astrological literature repeatedly drew. A decisive factor was that Stoic philosophy was on the side of astrology, because it found therein confirmation of its doctrine that all things in this world were determined by the laws of destiny. The rejection of astrology by the Academic Carneades was far outweighed by the authority of Poseidonios, who gave to belief in astrology the appearance of a scientifically based system and gained for it such a degree of consideration that Roman emperors like Tiberius kept their own court astrologers, while others such as Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus erected, for the seven planetary gods, special buildings, the septizonia, which became centres of astrological activity. An extensive literature spread astrological knowledge among high and low and provided its readers with a belief in fate founded upon the stars; not only for important undertakings, but even in the simple and commonplace affairs of everyday life, they consulted the stars with an almost slavish fear. Whether one should go on a journey, accept an invitation to a party, take a bath — such matters depended on the words of an astrologer, who invariably found numerous believers in his wisdom. He was consulted especially to find out the position of the stars at the hour of birth, for that determined the whole of a person's life — whether he were destined for success or failure, sickness or health, above all for long life or earl)' death. This particular question concerning the hour of death, the darkest of all hours in the life of man in Antiquity, drove him constantly into the arms of astrology. Even when its adherents asserted that through information obtained from astrologers, they had achieved certainty and so were delivered from care and anxiety, they deceived themselves and sooner or later fell victims to a gloomy fatalism, which found expression in many an epitaph of the time. If life was so inevitably subject to the fatal power of the stars, there was no point in praying to the gods, and so faith in the old religions fell into greater neglect than ever among devotees of astrology.

Magic offered an escape from the iron compulsion of astrological fate. It undertook by secret practices to bring into the service of man both the power of the stars and all the good and evil forces of the universe. This form of superstition had likewise made its way from the ancient East to the West and, especially in Egypt, had reached alarming depths of religious confusion during the Hellenistic period. The magical books of Antiquity and numerous magical papyri which have survived give an instructive glimpse into that world, in which primitive human instincts, fear of the obscure and incomprehensible in Nature and in human events, hatred of fellow-men, delight in sensation, the thrill of the uncanny all find unrestrained expression. Belief in magic presupposes that mighty fear of demons which, from the fourth century B.C. onwards in ever more fantastic forms, had spread in the imagination of Hellenistic man. According to this belief, the whole world was filled with Saijiove«;, Suvafiei?, xupioTV)T?<; and ovre?, strange beings halfway between men and gods. Greater and greater became the number of evil demons who could and would harm mankind, but whose power could be held in check by magic. But in order that magic rites and magic words might be effective, one must first of all know the secret name of the god or demon and employ exactly the prescribed formula, however senseless its text might appear.

The professional magician, who was master of this secret science, could make the weather, set free captives, heal or induce sicknesses, calm the sea, sunder lovers or assure one of the love of another, deliver from diabolical possession, call up the dead and make them appear. The influence of such magic was supported and confirmed by certain philosophical currents, such as neo-Pythagoreanism and the neo-Platonic school, which, with their highly developed doctrine of demons, contributed largely to the extensive demonization of Hellenistic religion. A certain influence on contemporary magical literature must be ascribed to Judaism, in which magical practices and conjuring of spirits were quite usual (Acts 8:9-13).

Connected with magic were the belief in the secret meaning of dreams and the art of interpreting them which consequently developed. The latter wasparticulary successful in Egypt; special dream-books informed credulous readers about the meaning and import of things seen in dreams, and even the most bizarre interpretation found believers. No wonder that the ancient faith in the wisdom of oracles survived into Hellenistic times, only that, in this case too, a descent from a higher level to one of mere charlatanism is observable. Though the Delphic oracle of Apollo and that of the Egyptian Ammon were less respected, others gained in popularity, such as the oracle of Apollo near Miletus, that of Glycon at Abunoteichos in northern Asia Minor (which uttered about 60,000 pronouncements annually), or the oracle of Fortuna at Praeneste, to consult which the Romans made pilgrimages into the Campagna. At popular festivals professional soothsayers were regularly to be found, who with their oracular mirrors and sacred cocks were at the disposal of all classes of the population. A higher form of oracular soothsaying is exemplified by the Sibylline books, collections of which were numerous.8

Finally, the strong belief in miracles characteristic of the Hellenistic age belonged mainly to popular religion, even though it was shared by many among the educated classes. The miracle that was most ardently longed for was the restoration of lost health. For this, men prayed to the god Asclepios, who in the Hellenistic period was worshipped more than ever before. Originally a physician and demigod who healed the sick, he became the helper of mankind in distress, the "saviour of all". Where his principal temples stood, there soon developed places of pilgrimage, to which pilgrims streamed from far and near, in order that they might, after preparatory washings, be healed during sleep in or near the sanctuary, or that they might learn of the medicine that would take away their sickness. The great sanctuary of Asclepios (dating from the fourth century B.C.) at Epidauros in the Peloponnese was overshadowed in Hellenistic times by the magnificently laid out temple of the god at Pergamon,7 this, in its turn, became the mother-house of numerous new foundations, of which about two hundred are now known to have existed.

Men expected of the saviour Asclepios that he would make the blind see, restore to the lame the use of their limbs and to the dumb their speech, and that he would heal lung diseases and dropsy. If the miraculous cure succeeded, thanks to the god were expressed by costly votive gifts, which often took the form of gold or silver images of the healed member, thus proclaiming to all who visited the temple the wonder-working power of Asclepios. In the second century A.D. the rhetor Aelius Aristides became the enthusiastic prophet of this saviour; and the emperor Julian in the fourth century sought to set him up again as the saviour of mankind in opposition

' A. Kurfess, Sibyllinische Weissagungen (Munich 1951).

7 K. Kcrcnyi, Der gottliche Arzt. Studien uber Asklepios und seine Kultstalte (Basic, 2nd ed. 1952).
to the Saviour of the Christians. Christianity itself waged a long and hard campaign against Asclepios' claim to be a saviour, the beginnings of which are already apparent in the New Testament writings of John, and which lasted into the fourth century.

When one considers the general religious situation in the Hellenistic world at the beginning of the Christian era, the first impression is discouraging, if the missionary task of the early Church is seen in relation to it. The cult of the emperor was bound to prove a great obstacle to the peaceful expansion of the new faith, if only because the tidings of a Redeemer who had been executed upon the cross like a criminal were not likely to be readily accepted by a superficial society which had before its eyes the sacred figure on the imperial throne, surrounded by all the trappings of earthly glory. Moreover, the State could set all the machinery of power in motion if the adherents of the Gospel dared to disdain or attack this State cult, were it only with words alone. A further factor that would seem to prevent the acceptance of Christianity was the extreme licentiousness of the oriental mystery cults, the orgiastic features of which often led to serious moral deterioration. The reliance of these cults on outward demonstrations, calculated to affect the senses, was frequently due to a religious superficiality that was part of Hellenistic civilization, which was itself becoming more and more lacking in depth and inner feeling. The contemporary bold and disrespectful criticism of the gods, with its contempt for the beliefs and worship of the old religions, was another unfavourable factor, undermining as it did all reverence for what was sacred. The mocking irony with which educated circles greeted the preaching of Paul at Athens shows clearly what attitude the Christian missionary had to overcome there.

But, in opposition to these negative tendencies, we may discern also some positive features in the general picture of Hellenistic religion which may be regarded as starting-points for the preaching of the new faith. There was, for instance, the feeling of emptiness which had undeniably arisen among men of more thoughtful nature on account of the failure'of the ancient religions. It was not too difficult to fill this emptiness with a message that proclaimed a high ideal of morality and thus appealed particularly to those who felt disgusted with their own previous lives. Certain features of the mystery cults show the presence of a deep desire of redemption in the men of that time which was bound to be quickened when eternal salvation was offered by a Saviour who, while stripped of all earthly greatness, was for that very reason superior to a helper who would bring only salvation in this world. Finally, the strong tendency to monotheism, so apparent in the religions of the Hellenistic period,9 provided the Christian missionaries with an ideal bridgehead in the pagan lands, for the peoples of which — as for the Jews — " the fullness of time was come" (Gal 4:4).

CHAPTER 5

The Apostle Paul and the Structure of the Pauline Congregations

ONLY through a series of shocks could Jewish Christianity arrive at the knowledge that it was under an obligation to carry the tidings of redemption through Jesus Christ into the Gentile world also; the after-effects of the Israelites' consciousness of being the Chosen People were too strong. The first reception of a pagan into the community of the faithful, the baptism of the Ethiopian chamberlain by Philip (Acts 8:26-39), appears to have given no cause for a fundamental change of attitude. All the more powerful was the effect created by the baptism of the pagan captain Cornelius of Caesarea and his family (Acts 10:1-11:18). Peter, who was responsible for this step, was formally called to account by the disturbed community, and only his reference to the commission given to him directly by God in a vision was able to reconcile the Jewish Christians in some measure to his action. However significant this was in principle, it had at first no immediate consequences in the way of increased missionary activity among the Gentiles.

The impulse which started such activity came from a group of Hellenistic Jewish Christians from Cyprus and Cyrenaica, who had had to leave Jerusalem after the persecution of Stephen and had first settled in Antioch. Here they "spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus" and "a great number that believed, turned to the Lord" (Acts ll:19ff.). Thus, the first numerically significant group of pagans that accepted Christianity came from the world of Hellenistic civilization, which showed that there the Christian faith need not expect to meet with uncompromising rejection. The success of this missionary expedition caused the Jerusalem congregation to send one of its members, the former levite Barnabas,10 to Antioch, in order to appraise the situation. Barnabas, who himself came from the Jewish Diaspora in Cyprus, was sufficiently unprejudiced to be able to appreciate the importance of the events at Antioch. He approved the reception of the

• W. Weber, Die Vereinheitlichung der religiosen Welt: Probleme der Spatantike (Stuttgart 1930), 67-100.

>• H. Bruns, Barnabas (Berlin 1937); J. B. Bruger, Museum Helveticum 3 (1946), 180-93.

Greeks into the Church and at the same time saw clearly what was to be of vast consequence for the history of the world: that for the preaching of the new faith in this place there were needed the courage and spirit of the man who, after his own remarkable conversion to Christ, had withdrawn to his Cilician home town: Paul (or Saul) of Tarsus. Barnabas succeeded in persuading him to work in the Syrian city, and after a year's labouring together, the existence of the first large Gentile community was assured. It was at Antioch that its members first received the name of "Christians" (Acts 11:22-26).

The Religious History of the Apostle Paul

Like his earliest collaborator, Barnabas, Paul also came from the Diaspora; his birthplace was Tarsus in Cilicia, where his father carried on the trade of saddler which the son also learnt. When the family settled there is uncertain; according to a late account, his ancestors came from Galilee. His father already possessed hereditary Roman citizenship, the privileges of which Paul could later invoke with effect in his trial before the Roman governor. It was a fortunate circumstance for Paul's missionary work in the great centres of Hellenistic culture that he had in his youth become acquainted with all the manifold aspects of that culture in the fair-sized city of Tarsus with its lively transit traffic. Of even more consequence was the fact that the Greek koine, the common tongue of the Mediterranean region, had become as familiar to him as his native Aramaic. His family had, with that firm loyalty often to be found in a Diaspora situation, remained true to the convictions and traditions of Judaism, all the more so as it followed the Pharisaic school in its strict observance of the Law.

It was probably not until after the death of Jesus that Paul went to Jerusalem to be trained as a teacher of the Law in the school of the Pharisee Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). When the disciples of Jesus began to attract the attention of the Jewish authorities, Paul joined zealously in persecuting them, especially after the martyrdom of the deacon Stephen (Acts 7:58; 8:3). The account in the Acts of the Apostles is impressively confirmed by his own witness: "I persecuted the Church of God violently and tried to destroy it; and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers" (Gal 1:13 f.; cf. 1 Cor 15:9).

The lightning and radical change which made the persecutor into an ardent disciple of Jesus and his Gospel was, according to the Acts (9:3-18;

22:3-16; 26:12-30), brought about by a direct apparition of Jesus which Paul encountered when he was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians there. Paul refers to this event only in restrained terms in his letters (cf. Gal 1:15; 1 Cor 15:9; Phil 3:4), but he makes it clear that in the apparition of the Lord he saw the supernatural call of grace that, by calling him to be an apostle, gave his life the final purpose which he was never to give up and in which he was never to falter.

Soon after being baptized and during a short stay in Nabataean Arabia, Paul began to proclaim in the synagogues of Damascus and later in Jerusalem the message of his life, that Jesus was "the Messiah and the Son of God" (Acts 9:20, 22, 26—29). At both places he met with such strong opposition that his life was in danger; he therefore withdrew to his native city of Tarsus (Acts 9:30); and here, no doubt, while he may have engaged in local missionary activity on a small scale, he attained certainty about the scope of his mission and the forms which his preaching of the Gospel was to take. When, after several years' silence, he resumed work in Antioch, he knew that he was to concern himself with the pagan world which, no less than the Jews, could find its salvation only in Jesus Christ (Gal 1:16; Rom 15:15 f.).

The Mission of Paul

Once Paul knew that he was called to preach to the pagans, the Roman Empire presented itself as the appointed mission field. Within its frontiers dwelt those to whom his message must be addressed; they shared the same civilization and (in the cities at least) the same language, the koine. However much he felt himself to be immediately guided, even in detail, by the Spirit of God, it is nevertheless possible to speak of a plan to which he adhered. His journeys were mapped out at a kind of mission-base. For his first missionary period, up to the Apostolic Council at Jerusalem, his base was the Syrian capital, Antioch. The Gentile Christian congregation, which had grown up there, was at once spur and bridle for the first large missionary undertaking that Paul began with two companions, Barnabas and the latter's kinsman, John Mark. The account of it which the Acts give us clearly shows the special character of Paul's method.

The starting-points for his missionary work were the synagogues of the cities in the Mediterranean provinces; here the Diaspora Jews held their religious meetings, and here were to be found former pagans who had joined the Jewish community as proselytes or "God-fearing ones". The missionaries first went to Cyprus, where they worked in the city of Salamis. From there the way led to the mainland of Asia Minor, where the cities of Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe in the province of Lycaonia, and Perge in Pamphylia were the scene of their labours. Everywhere Paul's preaching was addressed to both groups, Diaspora Jews and former pagans. Both discussed his sermons and in both he met with acceptance and rejection; it is possible that the discussions reached the ears of the occasional pagan, who then joined the band of disciples (cf. Acts 13:49).

The Acts leave us no room to doubt that the majority of the Diaspora Jews decidedly rejected the message of Paul. In many places, as for example at Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, and Lystra, excited discussions developed into tumults, in the course of which the missionaries were driven out, sometimes mishandled. The initiative on these occasions lay with the Jews, who occasionally goaded their pagan fellow-citizens into using violence — a characteristic trait which can be observed in many subsequent persecutions. Nevertheless the preaching of Paul and his assistants generally found some receptive hearts, especially among the former pagans, "God-fearing ones" and proselytes, and thus there arose in most cities visited on this first journey Christian congregations, to which suitable leaders were appointed. In this way there were established a number of cells of the faith amid pagan surroundings which became centres of further activity. Clearly this was Paul's real object, for he never stayed very long in one place to work in depth, but aimed rather at making the Gospel known in as many places as possible in Asia Minor, leaving its further propagation to the newly-won disciples of Jesus. Paul certainly regarded the result of this first undertaking as a success, for his report to the congregation at the mission-base of Antioch reaches its culmination when he says how God "had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles" (Acts 14:26).

Paul, in conformity with his own conviction that belief in Christ implied the end of obligations under the Old Law, had not imposed either circumcision or the observance of other Jewish ritual prescriptions upon the Gentile Christian congregations of Asia Minor. This freedom from the Law for new converts, a central point of his message; was soon after his return decisively rejected by the extreme wing of Palestinian Jewish Christians, the so-called Judaizers, who demanded circumcision as an essential condition for attaining salvation (Acts 15:1-5). This was the occasion of that dispute between Paul and the Judaizers in the primitive Church, which reached its climax and its theoretical resolution at the Council of Jerusalem, but which was to hinder Paul's missionary work for a long time and compel him again and again to engage in a determined battle for his convictions.

The dispute began at Antioch, when "some from Judaea" demanded circumcision of the Gentile Christians in the local congregation. It was
THE WAY INTO THE PAGAN WORLD

decided to send a delegation with Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to settle the question. Consultation led to the recognition in principle of the Pauline thesis that the Mosaic Law could have no binding force for Gentile Christians, and so the independence of the Pauline mission was acknowledged by the original apostles. Paul also undertook the task of collecting money in the congregations of his mission field for the poor of the Jerusalem community, symbolically testifying by this charitable act to the mutual bond between Gentile and Jewish Christians (Gal 2:1-10).13

The Acts also tell of the resolution to "lay no further burden" upon the newly converted pagans; nevertheless James proposed that they should be required to "abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication" (Acts 15:28f.). Perhaps James intended this concession to Judaism to facilitate the living together in one community of Jewish and Gentile Christians. It is hard to reconcile this account with that of Paul in his letter to the Galatians; one is led to suppose that this point was only later brought into harmony with the resolutions of the assembly at Jerusalem. How difficult it was in practice to carry out the latter appears from the incident between Peter and Paul at Antioch mentioned in Galatians 2:14. Peter came to Syria probably soon after the Council of Jerusalem and took part in the communal meals of the congregation there; but he gave up doing so, "fearing them who were of the circumcision", Jewish Christians belonging to James' circle who had appeared in Antioch. His action signified a disparagement, if not a betrayal of the Gentile Christians by a leading personality of the primitive Church, which was in direct contradiction to the resolutions of the Council. Paul publicly criticized the inconsistent and cowardly behaviour of Peter and passionately proclaimed his conviction that "man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ" (Gal 2:16). Paul did not, however, succeed in winning over the Judaizers to his opinion; even though they no longer opposed him directly, they intrigued fanatically against him and tried to alienate his congregations from him, especially in Galatia.

The second phase of Paul's missionary work took him into a new field of activity, comprising principally the provinces of Macedonia, Achaea, and proconsular Asia. He was now in the very centre of Hellenistic civilization. The missionaries, who now included the cultivated Silas (instead of Barnabas) and later Timothy, made their way at first through Cilicia and Lycaonia — where no doubt they visited the congregations Paul had earlier founded — to the districts of Asia Minor whose cities offered possibilities of preaching. The Acts give no precise details of the length of their stay and the measure of their success; but the congregation to which the letter to

" G. Klein, "Gal 2:6-9 und die Geschichte der Jerusalemer Urgemeinde" in ZThK 57 (1960), 275-95; W. Schmithals, Paulas und Jakobus (Gottingen 1963).

inc. JU'UJIi't rAUL

the Galatians was addressed was probably founded at this time. They reached the coast in northern Troas, where Paul was called in a nocturnal vision to go to Macedonia (Acts 16:9). In Philippi the missionaries soon found adherents, who formed the nucleus of what was later to be a flourishing community (Acts 16:11-40). In Greece, the cities were the centres of Paul's activity, which in essentials followed his previous methods. In Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens and Corinth, the synagogues were the scene of his preaching; in them he proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah (Acts 17:1-10). In the first two of these cities congregations were formed which consisted of Jews and Gentiles. The majority of the Jews there, however, rejected the message of the Kingdom and bitterly persecuted the missionaries. In Athens success was small; in Corinth only a few Jews accepted the Gospel (Acts 17:34; 18:8), but many pagans listened to it. Paul therefore stayed eighteen months in that city, which thus became one of his main centres.

Only after the missionaries had laboured for some time did opposition arise on the part of the Jews, who accused the apostle before the Roman proconsul Gallio (Acts 18:12-17). A dated inscription bearing the latter's name and containing a message from the emperor Claudius to the city of Delphi allows us to date fairly accurately Paul's sojourn at Corinth and to place it in the years A.D. 51-52 or 52-53. Gallio refused to listen to the Jews' accusation, and soon afterwards Paul, with the Jewish couple Aquila and Priscilla, who had greatly promoted his work in Corinth, betook himself to Ephesus in Asia Minor. There he began no intensive missionary labours, but shortly after returned to Palestine by sea.

Ephesus was nevertheless soon to become, as Paul no doubt had long intended, the centre of missionary activity on the west coast of Asia Minor. This began probably in the summer of 54. Setting out from Antioch, Paul had visited the Galatian and Phrygian congregations on the way (Acts 18:23). Paul's work in Ephesus, which lasted about two years, was filled with successes but also with difficulties and worries which were almost unavoidable in such a city (Acts 19). His zealous proclamation of the Gospel soon caused a congregation to grow up which detached itself from the synagogue; but its members had yet to be weaned from many remarkable superstitious ideas and customs. Difficulties came not only from the Jews but also from the pagans, as when Demetrius, owner of a business that made small silver models of the temple of Diana, saw his profits threatened by Paul's preaching and staged a demonstration against the missionaries.

The apostle's concern for his earlier foundations, especially those at Corinth and in Galatia, found expression in letters (letter to the Galatians and first letter to the Corinthians) which were written in Ephesus. About the autumn of 57 Paul lelt the city to go to Macedonia ana vjrecce. jt.ii.ci a short stay in Troas he visited Corinth again for a few months; here originated his letter to the Christian community of Rome, still personally unknown to him. In this he announced his intention of coming himself to the imperial capital before going to work in Spain (Rom 15:24 29). For the return journey to Jerusalem, Paul chose first the land route through Macedonia, where he celebrated the Pasch with his congregation in Philippi. Then he sailed to Troas and afterwards to Miletus, whither he had summoned the elders of the Ephesian congregation (Acts 20:1-17). In spite of his own dark forebodings, he felt obliged to return soon to Jerusalem, to hand over the money he had collected for the poor of the congregation there. After taking a sorrowful farewell of the elders of Ephesus, he travelled on with his companions through Tyre, Ptolemais, and Caesarea, visiting the Christians in each place and reaching Jerusalem about the time of Pentecost (Acts 21:1-17).

In Jerusalem Paul's missionary work, in the form it had hitherto taken, came to an end. On a visit to the Temple he was recognized by some Diaspora Jews from Asia Minor. These tried to cause his death at the hands of the people. The Roman guard, however, took him into protective custody, and their commander sent him to the governor at Caesarea (Acts 21:27-23:35). From there a military escort took him to Rome, because Paul, to avoid a trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin, had appealed to the Emperor, so that the case had to be heard in the capital (Acts 27-28). As the lenient conditions of his custody permitted intercourse with the outside world, he resumed his missionary work in the only form possible; he addressed himself to the representatives of the Jewish community of Rome, "testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus... And some were convinced by what he said, while others disbelieved" (Acts 28:23 f.). With the statement that "this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen" (Acts 28:28), Luke concludes the last Pauline sermon in his book. And with it, too, the author's task is accomplished, namely to describe how the Gospel made its way from Jerusalem to the capital of the Roman Empire.

The Acts of the Apostles are silent about the subsequent events of Paul's life. There is much evidence that the trial ended with an acquittal and that he afterwards carried out his planned journey to Spain and also visited the Hellenistic East once more. This hyphothesis alone can explain the pastoral letters which tell of events and situations that can only be fitted into such a final period of his life.17 On this last missionary journey Paul was specially concerned witn giving directions ror tne organization or nis congregations and with warning them against the menace of false doctrines. A second imprisonment at Rome led to his martyrdom, which took place in the reign of Nero, even though it cannot with certainty be attributed to the actual Neronian persecution.

Organization of the Pauline Congregations

Every attempt to provide from historical sources an answer to the question of the organization or "constitution" of the Pauline congregations must reckon with the peculiar nature of those sources, which makes it impossible to give a picture that conveys all the facts. Not a single piece of writing originating in one of those congregations offers a description of its daily life or a clue to its organization. The Acts fail to give such a description, preferring to keep to their central theme, the route followed by Paul on his missionary journeys. The letters discuss matters of organization only on given occasions and therefore afford only casual indications, never principles or a complete system. Nevertheless, even these occasional utterances make it quite clear that an organization existed which regulated and established the congregations' religious life. It is indeed a special kind of organization, not to be compared, for instance, with the rules of a secular body, which are purely the work of man, based on human counsel and human judgment and therefore subject to alteration. But the organization of which we speak rests on a supernatural foundation, the same as that on which the Church herself is based, her Lord, who guides his Church through his Holy Spirit. The same Spirit which caused the young Church to grow (Acts 2:47; 6:7), directed Paul's missionary travels (Acts 16:9; 19:21) and crowned his work with success (Acts 19:11; 1 Cor 2:3 ff.; Rom 15:17 fi.), also created this organization for the life of the community (1 Cor 3:9ff; 2 Cor 12:19; Eph 4:12-16).18 When, therefore, members of the community were appointed to special tasks in the service of that organization, they were called by the Holy Spirit, whose organs they were (1 Cor 12:4f.). Those who were called thus knew themselves to be in the service of the Lord and fulfilled their tasks in and for the community in a spirit of love such as Jesus had required from his disciples (Mark 10:42-45). So this organization was willingly accepted by the congregation and not felt to be in opposition to the free working of the Spirit in those charismatically gifted, for it was the same Spirit who called all.

introduction; H. Schlier, Festschrift Gogarten (Giessen 1948), 36-60; A. Wikenhauser, New Testament Introduction (Freiburg-New York-London, 3rd ed. 1963), 445-52. 18 Cf. O. Michel in ThW V, 142—5; J. Pfammater, Die Kirche als Bau. Zur Ekklesiologie der Paulusbriefe (Rome 1960); K. H. Schelkle, "Kirche als Elite und Elite in der Kirche nach dem Neuen Testament" in ThQ 142 (1962), 257-82.

In the organization of the congregations their founder Paul occupied a unique place, ultimately based upon his direct vocation to be the Apostle of the Gentiles. He, indeed, felt himself to be the least of the servants of Jesus Christ and as such due to suffer every tribulation and humiliation (1 Cor 4:9-13; 2 Cor 6:4-10; Phil 2:17). But he was likewise fully persuaded that his office gave him full power and the authority he required for the "edification" or building up of his congregations (2 Cor 10:8; 13:10; 1 Cor 4:21). Conscious of this, he made decisions binding on them, as for instance when he cast out the incestuous adulterer from the congregation at Corinth (1 Cor 5:3 ff.), or gave directions for the worship of God (1 Cor 7:17; Tit 1:5) or for the moral behaviour of the faithful (1 Thess 4:11). Paul was, then, for all his congregations not only the highest teaching authority but also the chief judge and lawgiver, the apex of an hierarchical order.

In the individual congregations, other men were called to be members of this hierarchical order, particular tasks being assigned to them, care for the poor and the conducting of religious worship. For the exercise of their functions they had a right to give directions, to which the faithful according to Paul's explicit order had to submit (1 Cor 16:15f,; 1 Thess 5:12; Rom 12:6ff.). Paul stood behind these office-holders with his authority, their powers being similar but subordinate to and limited by his. Those entrusted with such duties were called (Acts 14:23) 7tpE(j(iuT?poi, presbyters or elders, whom Paul ordained with laying on of hands and prayer during his first missionary journey in Lystra, Iconium and Pisidian Antioch, before he left those cities to continue on his travels. One may assume that the elders of the congregation of Ephesus were called in a similar way; to them Paul said that the Holy Spirit had appointed them overseers (STOOXOTCOI) to rule the Church of God as shepherds their sheep. Here it is obvious that the terms "presbyters" and "episcops" indicate the same group of persons, that the two expressions could be used for holders of the same office. At the beginning of the letter to the Philippians "deacons" are mentioned alongside "episcops" as having special duties in the congregation. The later pastoral letters make it clear that the sphere of activity allotted to them was distinct from that of the "presbyters" and "episcops" (1 Tim 1:1-10; 5:17 19; Tit 1:5-l 1). That the pastoral letters should give a clearer picture of the circumstances is due to the quite understandable development which brought the functions of those who had received ordination into greater prominence as the number of the faithful increased.19 From the nature of things it is obvious that the office-holders were attached to local congregations; overseer-elders and deacons did not, like Paul and his closest collaborators,

" H. Schlier, "Die Ordnung der Kirche nach den Pastoralbriefen" in Die Zeit der Kirche (Freiburg i. Br., 3rd ed. 1962), 129-47; H. W. Bartsch, Die Anfange urchristlicher Kirchenordnung in den Pastoralbriefen (1963).

int STRUCTURE OF THE PAULINE CONGREGATIONS

travel from city to city and province to province, but fulfilled their tasks within the framework of a particular congregation, from which of course further missionary activity might be carried on in the immediate vicinity. Their vocation can only be understood as a permanent one, if the work begun by Paul in each place was to endure; Paul knew himself to be called, like the other apostles, to continue the work of Jesus of Nazareth and to prepare the community of the final age. In this task those who by God's will occupied the lower rungs of the hierarchical ladder had to play their appointed part.

Besides the holders of authority, there were in the Pauline congregations the charismatically gifted, whose function was essentially different. Their gifts, above all prophecy and the gift of tongues (glossolaly), came direct from the Holy Spirit, who imparted them to each as he wished; they were not therefore attached permanently to particular persons and were not necessary for the existence of the community. The charismatics appeared when the faithful assembled for worship, and, by their prophetic utterances and stirring prayer of thanksgiving, kept alive the lofty enthusiasm of the new faith; they were not guardians and guarantors of order. Here and there, indeed, order was endangered because of them, since the extraordinary and mysterious nature of their performances led many members of the congregation to overestimate their gifts — a danger against which Paul had to issue an admonition (1 Cor 14).
Finally, it was an essential feature of the structure of the congregations established by Paul that they did not regard themselves as independent communities which could go their own individual religious way. There was of course already a certain bond between them in the person of their founder who, even after his departure, remained for them the highest teaching and guiding authority. Paul had, besides, implanted in them a strong consciousness that they were closely linked with the community of Jerusalem, whence had gone forth the tidings of the Messiah and of the salvation wrought by him. To this connexion was due their charitable assistance to the poor of Jerusalem; Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, emphasized the duty of caring for "those who are of the household of faith" (Gal 6:10). By preaching unwearyingly that Christians of all congregations served one Lord (1 Cor 8:6), that they were members of one body (1 Cor 12:27), he kept alive the consciousness that all the baptized were "the Israel of God" (Gal 6:16), the Church of both Jews and Gentiles (Eph 2:13-17). From the point of view of Church history, it was one of the greatest achievements of the Apostle of the Gentiles that this consciousness of being one Church which he awakened and encouraged in his congregations made possible the spread of Christianity in the pagan world. Otherwise the believers in Christ might have split into two separate communities, one of Jewish and one of pagan origin, so that, even by the end of the apostolic age two Christian "denominations" might have come into being.

Religious Life in the Pauline Congregations

The religious life of the Pauline congregations was centred on belief in the risen Lord, which gave a decisive character both to its worship and to its everyday life. This was in accordance with the preaching of Paul, in the centre of which Christ stands and must stand; for this reason he could endure that during his imprisonment others should seek to supplant him, "only that in every way ... Christ is proclaimed" (Phil 1:18). The message of Christ, Paul leaves us in no doubt, must be accepted with real faith: because "if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom 10:9). This belief in the Kyrios, the Lord raised up and glorified after the humiliation of the Cross (cf. Phil 2 5:11), included the conviction that in him dwelt the fullness of deity (Col 2:9 f.), that he therefore as Son of God possessed the divine nature together with the Father and was himself "the power and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor 1:24).

Admission to the community of the faithful was to be gained by baptism, which for Paul, as for the original apostles, represented no mere external act of worship but made effective the death of Jesus, which he underwent for our sins (1 Cor 15:3). In his preaching, Paul was above all at pains to bring his hearers to the knowledge that baptism stands in a real relationship to Christ's death on the cross and to his resurrection. Only because the Christian is buried with Christ and so lets his former self ("the old man") die, does he, like Christ, rise from the dead to new life (Rom 6:2-8); through baptism and only through baptism can he win a share in salvation. The profound conviction of the Pauline congregations that by baptism they were not only symbolically but in reality "born again" to a new life, that would one day become one life with Christ's, gave this sacrament its pre-eminent rank in the religion of Pauline Christianity.

The worship of the congregations fitted into the larger framework of the assemblies at which the faithful regularly met together "on the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7). Even though no religious reason for the choice of this day and its preference over the other days of the week had been adduced, the giving up of the Sabbath clearly marked the beginning of a break with Jewish religion. Well-to-do members of the congregation placed their private houses at the disposal of the faithful for their communal act of worship (1 Cor 16-19; Rom 16:4; Col 4:15). Songs of praise, hymns and psalms introduced the celebration; these were to thank the Father for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 5:18 ff.; Col 3:16).

The central point and climax of the service was the eucharistic celebration, the Lord's Supper.28 Details of the way it was conducted are hardly to be found in Paul's writings. It was associated with a meal, no doubt intended to strengthen the solidarity of the faithful, but at which social distinctions among members were sometimes too much in evidence (1 Cor 11:17-27). Even more evident, however, is Paul's striving to convey a deeper theological understanding of the eucharistic act. The "breaking of bread" is unequivocally represented as a real participation in the body and blood of the Lord; this sacrifice is incomparably greater than those of the Old Law and quite different from those of the pagans: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ... You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons" (1 Cor 10:16 21). Because the blood and body of the Lord are truly received in wine and bread, whoever partakes unworthily of this fraternal eating and drinking makes himself guilty of betraying the Lord (1 Cor 11:27). Participation in this meal confirmed to the believer again and again his direct bond with the heavenly Lord. Therefore the congregation was filled with joy and thanks (Eph 5:20); it was a pledge of that final community with him which his second coming would bring about. Longing for this final consummation was expressed in the cry of the congregation at the eucharistic meal: "Marana-tha — Come, Lord Jesus!" (1 Cor 16:22; Apoc 22:30).27 For the Pauline congregation the eucharistic celebration was the source which nourished and constantly reaffirmed its inner unity; as all its members had a share in the same bread, which was the body of Christ, all of them formed one body, the community of God (1 Cor 10:17). This sacramentally based

" P. Neuenzeit, Das Herrenmahl. Studien zur paulinischen Eucharistieauffassung (Munich 1960).

47 К. G. Kuhn in ThW IV, 470-5; O. Cullmann, Christologie des Neuen Testaments (Tubingen 1958), 214-22, Eng. tr. The Christology of the New Testament (London 1959).
THE WAY INTO THE PAGAN WORLD

Christian faith in these provinces had formerly been pagans is quite clear from many passages in the First Epistle of Peter.

The fragmentary nature of our sources for the history of early Christianity is especially apparent when one inquires about the labours or even the lives of the other apostles (with the exception of Peter, John, and James the Younger). It might be expected that their missionary activities would have been confined mainly to Palestine and the surrounding areas, but all the reliable sources are silent. Only in the second and third centuries did the so-called apocryphal "Acts of the Apostles" seek to fill these gaps, giving more or less detailed accounts of the lives and deaths of several apostles. From a literary point of view these writings are related to the ancient novels and travel-books, the heroes of which are portrayed according to the models of profane aretology.

In so far as they proceed from heretical, Gnostic circles, they were intended to procure increased respect for the doctrines of that sect by the use of a revered name. The apocryphal acts of non-heretical provenance or rewritten in orthodox versions rely upon the strong interest shown by the common people in picturesque detail from the lives of great figures of the Christian past, and to this they owed their success. Their value as sources lies in the glimpses they give of the world of religious ideas in the age that produced them; their information about the missionary activity and manner of death of the apostles, or about the places where they laboured, is quite incapable of being checked. At the most it is conceivable that what these works relate of the countries or provinces where the apostles are said to have preached may be based upon genuine traditions; for curiously enough the mission field of the apostle Paul is hardly ever included. The persons named in the apocryphal acts as companions or assistants of the apostles can certainly be regarded as imaginary. Only for three leading members of the apostolic college, James, Peter and John, have we reliable sources of information which make it possible for us to know some facts about their activities. The last two will now be dealt with in more detail.

Sojourn and Death of the Apostle Peter in Rome

The Acts of the Apostles conclude their account of Peter's activity in the primitive Church of Jerusalem with the mysterious words: "He went to another place" (Acts 12:17). The motive for his departure is not known, nor is it apparent where he intended to go. The attempt to see in this vague form of expression a reliable piece of evidence for the apostle's early death32 is as misleading as the thesis that Paul, in the Epistle to the Galatians, (2:6-19) bears incontrovertible witness that Peter was already dead when the chapter was written.33 The tradition of Peter's sojourn at Rome and his martyrdom there is too strong to be brushed aside by such weakly grounded hypotheses. The route he followed to Rome, the time of his arrival in the imperial capital and the length of his stay (with interruptions perhaps) are matters on which no definite statement is possible. It is certain that Peter was present at the Council of Jerusalem, which must have taken place about the middle of the century, and that shortly afterwords he was staying at Antioch (Acts 15:7; Gal 2:11-14).

The basis of the Roman tradition concerning Peter is formed by three pieces of evidence, chronologically close to one another and forming together a statement so positive as practically to amount to historical certainty. The first is of Roman origin and is to be found in a letter written to Corinth by Clement in the name of his congregation. Therein he refers to cases in the recent past in which Christians had suffered ill-treatment and death "because of intrigues". Among them Peter and Paul stand out: "Peter, who because of unjust envy suffered tribulations not once or twice but many times, and thus became a witness and passed on to the place of glory which was his due."34 With him a great number died a martyr's death, among them female Christians, who were executed dressed up as Danai'des and Dirces. This points to the persecution of the Christians under Nero, to be described later,38 and permits us to connect Peter's death with it and to date the latter event about the middle of the sixties. Clement says nothing of the manner and place of Peter's martyrdom; his omission of such details clearly presupposes in his readers a knowledge of the events; to himself they were no doubt known at first hand, having taken place in the city where he dwelt and within his own time.

The essential part of this evidence occurs again in a letter from the East addressed, about twenty years later, to the Roman congregation. The bishop of the Gentile Christian community that possessed the most traditions and which was most likely to be informed about the careers of the two leading

" Thus D. F. Robinson in JBL 64 (1945), 255-67, and W. M. Schmaltz in JBL 71 (1952), 211-16.

SJ Especially K. Heussi, Die romische Petrustradition in kritischer Sicht (Tubingen 1955), 1-10: H. Katzmann also favours 55 as the year of Peter's death, 1KZ 29 (1939), 85-93. Against such early estimates see esp. O. Cullmann, Petrus, Junger-Apostel-Martyrer, (Zurich, 2nd ed. I960), 35f., Eng. tr. Peter, Disciple-Apostle-Martyr (London 1953), and K. Aland, Kirchengeschichtliche Entwurfe (Gutersloh 1960), 49-54. u 1 Clem 5:1-4; 6:1-2. w See below, chapter 8.

THE WAX 1INXVJ 1 NJC I-.NU/MN

unity must however show itself in self-sacrificing regard for all, that the kiss of brotherhood given in the assembly (1 Cor 16:20) might not be meaningless.

The assembly of the congregation was also the place where "salvation was preached"; for not only was it the task of the travelling missionaries to proclaim the Gospel (Acts 20:7-11; Cor 1:17; 9:16f.), the congregation must continue to hear from its permanently appointed preacher "the message of reconciliation" with God (2 Cor 5:18-21). The sermon was an instruction in the apostles' doctrine of the crucified and risen Saviour; it referred to the passages in Scripture dealing with salvation and derived from them belief in Christ. In doing so, it stressed the duty of the faithful to praise the Father, to await with courage and good cheer the coming of the Lord and to serve one another in brotherly love (Acts 14:22; 1 Thess 2:2-12; 2 Cor 6:1-2; Phil 2:1-11). Preaching, as the proclamation of the Word, had therefore its assured place in the Pauline congregation and was of prime importance. Finally in the worship of the congregation the speeches of the "prophets" also had a part; they were confirmed by the "Amen" of the assembly (1 Cor 14:16).

The realization of the new religious ideal in everyday life faced the Gentile Christian communities of Paul's missionary field with no inconsiderable difficulties. The surrounding pagan world, with its customs, deep-rooted in family and business life and often utterly opposed to the demands of Christian morality, demanded of them a far greater effort at good conduct and self-disciplinethan was required of the original community at Jerusalem, whom monotheism and the Jewish moral law had raised to a considerably higher level. Paul's preaching incessantly emphasizes, not without grounds, the sharp contrast which Christianity had set up between Christ and Belial, light and darkness, spirit and flesh, between the "old man" of sin and the "new man" of freedom and truth. That there were in individual congregations members who failed to live up to this high ideal may be inferred from the apostle's unwearying admonitions, even though such glaring examples as that of the incestuous adulterer of Corinth may have been exceptional (1 Cor 5:1 9-13). Frequent references to the spirit of unity and peace among the brethren indicate offences against the commandment of brotherly love (1 Cor 1:10; Eph 4:2f.; 1 Thess 5:13). As is usually so in such cases, the lapses stand out more than the faithful observance of the moral law. In many congregations no doubt the light prevailed over the shadows. When the apostle could say of the Christians in Philippi and Thessalonica that they were his "joy and crown" (Phil 4:1; 1 Thess 2:19), such unreserved praise was assuredly to be highly valued. Those Christians were numerous whose help and selfless labours in the service of the saints Paul could remember with gratitude.

The strongest proof of the moral strength which the Gospel had

THE STRUCTURE OF THE PAULINE CONGREGATIONS

developed in the Pauline mission field is to be seen in the continuance of his congregations in post-apostolic times and later. The seed that he had sown in his sermons about the power of God's grace and the happiness of being children of God in a pagan world, had sprung up marvellously. At the apostle's death the Hellenistic world was covered with a network of Christian cells, the viability of which ensured the further expansion of the Christian faith in the time to follow.

CHAPTER 6

Peter's Missionary Activity and his Sojourn and Death in Rome

Extra-Pauline Gentile Christianity
COMPARED with Paul's mission, which both in extent and depth was the most successful, the work of the other apostles who were active in the eastern or western parts of the empire is much less easy to follow. Paul himself is witness to the existence of such activity when he asserts that he made a point of not preaching the Gospel where the name of Christ was already known: he would not, as he says, "build on another man's foundation" (Rom 15:19-20). The existence of Gentile-Christian communities, whose origin was due to other missionaries, was therefore known to him; but he does not mention the names of the cities and provinces in which such communities had developed. The Acts of the Apostles refer only casually to extra-Pauline missions, as when it is stated that Barnabas, after his departure from Paul, travelled to Cyprus (Acts 15:40), clearly in order to do missionary work there. In another passage, the existence of a Christian congregation on Italian soil at Puteoli, near Naples, is taken for granted, when the Acts relate that Paul on his way to Rome met "brethren" at the port there who invited him to stay with them (Acts 28:14). Similarly, members of the Roman congregation came to meet him, being already informed of his arrival (Acts 18:15). The name of a Roman missionary is not mentioned. A reference to extra-Pauline mission fields may be found also in the opening of Peter's first letter, which is addressed to the Christians of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. If, as is probable, the Roman provinces of the East are here meant, three are named that did not actually belong to the area covered by the Apostle of the Gentiles: Pontus, Cappadocia, and Bithynia. As the Acts (2:9ff.) number Jews from Cappadocia and Pontus among those present at the first Christian Pentecost at Jerusalem, these may well be regarded as the earliest missionaries in those regions. That the new adherents of the apostles, Ignatius of Antioch, begs the Christians of Rome not to rob him of the martyr's crown he expected to receive there, by interceding with the pagan authorities. He qualifies his request with the respectful words: "I do not command you as Peter and Paul did."38 These two, therefore, stood in a special relationship to the Roman congregation, which had given them a position of authority; that is, they had stayed there for a lengthy period as active members of the community, not temporarily as chance visitors. The weight of this evidence lies in the fact that the knowledge of the Roman congregation about the sojourn of Peter in their midst is unequivocally confirmed by a statement emanating from the distant Christian East.

The third document may be placed alongside Ignatius' letter. Its value as evidence for Peter's residence and martyrdom at Rome has only recently been emphasized.37 The Ascensio Isaiae (4:2-3), which in its Christian version dates from about the year 100,38 says, in the style of prophecy, that the community founded by the twelve apostles will be persecuted by Belial, the murderer of his mother [Nero], and that one of the Twelve will be delivered into his hands. This prophetic statement is illuminated by a fragment of the "Apocalypse of Peter", which can also be ascribed to the beginning of the second century. Here it says: "See, Peter, to thee have I revealed and explained all things. Go then into the city of fornication and drink the chalice that I have foretold to thee.38

This combined text, with its knowledge of Peter's martyrdom at Rome under Nero, confirms and underlines the reliability of the Roman tradition considerably. To these three basic statements two further references can be added which complete the picture given by the tradition. The author of the last chapter of John's Gospel clearly alludes to Peter's death as a martyr and obviously knows of his execution upon the cross (Jn 21:18-19), but is silent about the place of his martyrdom. On the other hand, Rome is indicated as his place of abode in the final verses of the first epistle of Peter, which is stated to have been written at "Babylon"; this is most probably to be understood as meaning Rome, v/hich corresponds to the equation of Babylon with Rome in the Apocalypse (14:8; 16ff.) and in Jewish apocalyptic and rabbinical literature.40

The tradition of Peter's residence at Rome continued unchallenged through the second century and was further confirmed by evidence from

M Ignatius, Rom. 4, 3.

57 Cf. E. Peterson, "Das Martyrium des hi. Petrus nach der Petrusapokalypse" in Mi<c'. lanea Belvederi (Rome 1954-5), 181-5, reprinted in Friihkirche, Judentum und Gnosis (Freiburg i. Br. 1959), 88-91, where the texts are also given.
58
59 E. Peterson in ByZ 47 (1954), 70 f. N Greek text in JThS 32 (1931), 270. 40 Cf. K. H. Schelkle, op. cit. 135.
60
rtluKS SOJOURN AND DEATH IN ROME

the most distant regions in which Christianity had been established, for instance by Bishop Dionysius of Corinth in the East, by Irenaeus of Lyons in the West, by Tertullian in Africa. Even more important is the fact that this tradition was neither claimed for itself by any other Christian community nor opposed nor doubted by any contemporary voice. This almost amazing lack of any rival tradition is without doubt to be regarded as a deciding factor in the critical examination of the Roman tradition.

The Tomb of Peter

However positive the answer to the question of Peter's last residence and place of death may sound, the situation becomes surprisingly complicated when our inquiry has to do with the place of his burial and with the form it took. Here the literary evidence is joined by the weightier testimony of archaeological discovery. Both the excavations and the examination of the literary sources make it clear that in Rome itself the tradition concerning the location of Peter's tomb became divided in course of time. That the Vatican hill was the place of Peter's execution, as is implied by Tacitus' account of Nero's persecution read in conjunction with Clement's first epistle, is confirmed and amplified by the testimony of Gaius, an educated and active member of the Roman congregation under Bishop Zephyrinus (199-217). Gaius was involved in a controversy with the leader of the Mon- tanists in Rome, Proclus, which was concerned with proving the possession of apostolic graves as evidence for the authenticity of apostolic traditions. Just as, earlier, Bishop Polycrates of Ephesus48 had asserted, in discussing the question of the date of Easter, that the tombs of apostles and bishops in Asia Minor guaranteed indisputably the eastern custom, so Proclus argued that the graves of the apostle Philip and his charismatically gifted daughters in Hierapolis proved the truth of Montanist opinions. Gaius outdid his opponent with the counter-argument: "But I can show you the tropaia of the apostles; for if you will go to the Vatican or on the road to Ostia, there you will find the triumphal tombs of those who founded this congregation." So about the year 200 the conviction was held at Rome that Peter's tomb was on the Vatican hill; Gaius gives no indication that this conviction was not shared by the whole Roman community.

mt V/1\I UN1U 1 n? l'JUift IN »UM.U

As opposed to this, an entry in the Roman liturgical calendar of 354, supplemented by the so-called Martyrologium Hieronymianttm (after 431), states that in 258, on June 29th, the memory of Peter was celebrated at the Vatican, that of Paul on the road to Ostia, and of both in catacumbas; there was therefore about the year 260 a shrine of the two princes of the apostles on the Via Appia under the basilica later known as St Sebastian's, which in the fourth century was still called ecclesia apostolorum. An epitaph composed by Pope Damasus says that the two apostles had once "dwelt" there, which probably means that their bodies had once been buried there.48 Excavations in 1917 proved the existence of such a shrine about the year 260, in which both apostles were honoured by refrigeria, memorial services, as the numerous graffiti on the walls testify. In these, visitors to the shrine invoke the intercession of the two apostles.

Although the excavations brought to light no grave which could be regarded as the burial-place of the apostles, certain of the graffiti force us to the conclusion that the Christian visitors were convinced that here were the tombs of Peter and Paul. The discovery gave rise to a number of hypotheses, of which none has as yet decisively prevailed. Whereas the excavators maintained the view that the actual burial-place of both apostles was on the Via Appia, their bodies having been translated to Constantine's basilicas only after these were built, others held that the relics had been brought to St Sebastian's for safety during Valerian's persecution and had remained there until their translation to the new basilicas. A third opinion denies the possibility of such a translation to the Appian Way, in view of the Roman burial laws which strictly forbade the opening of graves; a substitute shrine may well have been set up here when the persecution of Valerian made visits to the real tombs impossible. Or again, there may have been on the Appian Way a centre of veneration of the apostles belonging to some schismatic group, perhaps the Novatians, who living in Rome itself, could not desist from such veneration.

Finally, it is said that the existence of two places in which the tomb of Peter was supposed to be proves that the Roman congregation in the third

PETER'S SOJOURN AND DEATH IN ROME

century no longer possessed any certain knowledge of the actual burial-place of the apostles; one group, represented by Gaius, thought Peter's grave was under the tropaion on the Vatican hill, another was convinced that it was on the Via Appia. The leaders of the congregation had to tolerate this double tradition till after the time of Constantine, for he himself erected basilicas in both places — on the Vatican hill that of Peter and on the Appian Way the ecclesia apostolorum, which only later received the title of St Sebastian's.55 The date of June 29th given in the Calendar is usually linked with an early liturgical celebration on the Appian Way.

The highly important excavations of 1940-9 under the Petrine basilica68 led first to the discovery of a vast necropolis reached by a street of tombs ascending to the west, from which one arrived at numerous mausolea, many of them richly adorned. Among them there is one that is purely Christian, possessing very ancient mosaics which include a representation of Christ-Helios, a very valuable piece of early Christian iconography.57 The mausolea were built in the period 130-200; but as the necropolis was only part of a larger cemetery, it is probable that graves were made there, especially towards the east, at an earlier date.

The ground immediately below and in front of the confessio of St Peter, where one might have expected to find evidence of Gaius' tropaion, proved to be a cemetery, unroofed before the building of Constantine's basilica and measuring approximately 7X4 metres (called P by the excavators), bounded on the west by a red wall erected about the year 160. In the east side of this wall there is a double niche (whether contemporary or later is uncertain), flanked by two small projecting columns, of which one was found in situ. It is not difficult to recognize this as an aedicula or tomb, not exceptionally ornate, which was regarded by the builders of Constantine's basilica as the monument in relation to which the new church, in spite of all the work involved — such as filling in the mausolea and difficulties caused by the ground level — had to be orientated. We are compelled to assume that they regarded the aedicula, built probably about 160, as the tropaion of Gaius with the tomb of Peter beneath.

In front of the lower niche a flat stone covered a space about 60 cm square, but set at an angle (approximately 11° less than a right angle) to the red wall. In the earth beneath this there were no actual remains of a grave, such as tiles; but there was here also a niche let into the lower edge of the red wall in which lay a little heap of bones from the skeleton of an elderly man. It is noteworthy that around this asymmetrically placed square four later graves (y,Y],9-,t) were so arranged that they would not encroach upon it; one of them (&) can be dated by a tile as being of the

M T. Klauser, op. cit. 73-75.

M The factual details are taken mainly from E. Kirschbaum, op. cit. " See also O. Perler, Die Mosaiken der Juliergruft im Vatikan (Freiburg i. Br. 1953).

time of Vespasian. This leads us to presume that an already existing grave was intentionally left intact. As all the other graves of the area P show only earth burials, the excavators concluded that it contained none but Christian graves, although no other indications prove their Christian character. The carefully preserved square under the stone of the aedicula is, say the excavators, the place where Peter was buried, and they think that the grave was shortened when the red wall or the aedicula was built. The absence of anything that might identify the tomb can be explained by the conditions of emergency, in which Peter had to be buried; its defective state may be due to interference either at the time of a possible removal or on some other occasion of which we can know nothing.

The assumption that Peter's tomb has been found must of course rest upon clues, the worth of which as evidence can be variously assessed. Their power to convince depends on how far they can explain the difficulties which still remain. Thus it does not appear to be proved that all the graves around the square under the stone of the tropaion are Christian; in the case of the child's grave (Y) with its libation vessels, the possibility, in the second century, seems to be excluded. Moreover, grave "1 does in fact encroach upon the alleged tomb of Peter, the situation of which would therefore appear not to have been exactly known when that grave was made. The "newly opened" tomb is not big enough for the burial of a man, and the hypotheses necessary to explain the shortening of the original grave are rather unconvincing. What remains regrettably unexplained is why the existing bones were not carefully placed in security either when the aedicula was built, or on the occasion of a translation, or after violation of the tomb. Finally, since all reliable information about the place of Peter's execution and burial is lacking, the possibilities concerning it continue to remain as so many open questions. The body might have been burnt or mutilated after execution, or buried in a common grave; or the authorities might have refused to hand it over to the Christians.

These difficulties taken together have not as yet been satisfactorily cleared up; they therefore make it impossible for the present to agree with the opinion that the excavations have with certainty brought to light the tomb of Peter or its original site. They have, however, led without doubt to some very important discoveries. The remains of the tropaion of Gaius have most probably been found; the Christians who had it erected certainly believed the apostle's burial-place to be on the Vatican hill. This conviction, shared by the builders of Constantine's basilica, excludes the likelihood of a translation of the bones into the new basilica, for then there would have been opportunities for reconstructing the tomb and orientating the new church which would surely not have been missed. In spite of all hypotheses, the shrine of the apostles on the Appian Way remains a great riddle, to be the subject of further researches in the future.
CHAPTER 7

The Christianity of the Johannine Writings

TOWARDS the end of the first century we encounter a group of Christian writings which tradition early ascribed — not entirely with one voice — to the apostle John, son of Zebedee and younger brother of James the elder. In these Johannine writings, which comprise a Gospel, a fairly long admonitory letter, two short letters and an apocalypse, we see a general picture of Christianity which unmistakably represents a unique stage in its development, in many respects more advanced than the primitive Church of Jerusalem and the Christianity of the Pauline congregations. Here we must note especially those features which are relevant from the point of view of Church history, those which emphasize features in the development of Christian belief and ecclesiastical life that shaped the future history of Christianity. Two in particular stand out: the image of Christ, which is projected in the fourth gospel especially, and the image of the Church, which in the Apocalypse acquires new characteristics.

Even if no generally accepted solution to the question of the authorship of the Johannine writings has been found — if, in particular, the assumption that the Gospel and the Apocalypse in their present form are the work of the same author involves serious difficulties — nevertheless, they can be dated to the end of the first century, and it can be stated with a high degree of probability that they originated among the Christian communities of the west coast of Asia Minor. But there, at that period, the apostle John was the outstanding figure, so that the scriptures that bear his name come also from his spirit, even though they may have received their final form from his disciples.58 The Gospel of John must have existed at the turn of the century, for Ignatius of Antioch very probably knew it, and a papyrus fragment of a codex written in Egypt about 130 containing John 18:31 ff. presupposes such a date of origin. Evidence for an approximately contemporaneous origin for the first letter of John is the use made of it by Papias and the fact that Polycarp of Smyrna quotes it in his letter to the Philippians (7:1). The Apocalypse, too, must have been written, as Irenaeus states, in the last years of Domitian's reign, for the letters it contains to Asiatic churches imply a development of ecclesiastical life which had not taken place before the year 70. Its clear references to a clash between the Church and the State cult of the emperor, especially in the thirteenth chapter, are most easily understood if the work received its final form towards the end of the reign of Domitian.

The purpose which guided John when he wrote his Gospel is thus expressed by him at the end of the book: "But these [signs] are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name" (20:31). If the readers here addressed were all Christians, the Gospel was intended to confirm and deepen their faith in the Messiah and the divine sonship of Christ. Indeed, chapters 13-17 could have been written only for those whose belief in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God was subject to no doubt. But we cannot exclude from the number of the evangelist's readers or hearers those groups who disputed or doubted Christ's claims. The author of the Gospel, writing in Greek, must have had in mind Jews of the Diaspora who were opposed to such ideas. Not without asperity does he attack them, since they had not only denied that Jesus was the Son of God and of divine origin (John 5:18; 8:40-59), but also cast out of their synagogues those who believed in him (9:22; 12:42). He wished to make clear to them that, with Jesus, the Jewish Law had lost its validity (2:1-22; 4:21 if.), that grace and truth had come into the world with him (1:17), and that the Old Testament scriptures bore witness that he was the Messiah. In Ephesus itself a group of Jews was seeking to destroy belief in the true Messiah, because they considered he had already come in the person of John the Baptist. To these disciples of John the fourth Gospel opposes the testimony of John himself, when it emphatically quotes him as saying that he was not the Messiah, nor the Prophet, nor the Light, but only a witness (1:6 if. 20 if.), only the friend of the bridegroom (3:28fF.), only he who pointed to the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world (1:29).

The evangelist seeks to impart to his readers, believers as well as Jews, an understanding of Christ unique in its depth and grandeur, when he proclaims him as the Logos who has existed from all eternity, being himself divine, and who, when he took flesh, came into this world out of his pre- existence. This is the content of that majestic exordium of the Gospel which serves as a prologue. There is much to support the view that the evangelist was here making use of an already extant hymn to the Logos. It was not, however, the hymn of a Gnostic group in praise of John the Baptist, for John's disciples never worshipped him as the Logos. It may have originated in a Christian congregation of Asia Minor.87 The idea of the Logos had already found there its inalterable and specifically Christian character, which the prologue endeavours to protect from misunderstanding by the insertion of certain phrases. However widespread the Logos-idea then was in different circles — it was known even to early Greek philosophers, to Philo, for whom the Logos was a middle being between God and the world, and to the Gnostics, for whom he was a redeemer, while Jewish wisdom speculation moved in a world of ideas related to that of the Logos — the very attributes given to the Logos by John — divine essence, personal subsistence and the Incarnation based thereon — are lacking in previous conceptions of it. The specifically Christian achievement consists in having taken over an idea already existing in many variations and in having given it an unmistakably Christian stamp.

The author of the prologue recognized with a sure instinct the significance of this christianized idea of the Logos and, by putting it into the fourth Gospel, he assured for it an effect that cannot easily be estimated. Where- ever Jews or pagans met the Logos as represented in John's Gospel, they encountered the person of Jesus interpreted in a way that left no doubt as to his real Godhead. It was a formulation that was essentially in agreement with Pauline christology, but which, by its conceptual formulation, opened to the Gospel new spheres of influence. In spite of the fact that the evangelist was deeply rooted in Jewish thought, as the Qumran texts have again emphasized,88 he was able, by taking over the idea of the Logos, to create an image of Christ which, without affecting the essential uniqueness of the message of the Gospel, created fresh possibilities of missionary expansion in the Graeco-Roman world.

To this image of Christ the evangelist joins a clear consciousness of the universal mission of Christianity and of its character as a world religion. This Logos is the light of men; with him came into the world the true light "that enlightens every man" (Jn 1:9); he is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (1:29); he was sent that the world might be saved through him, so that every man that believed in him might have eternal life (3:16 f.). He gave his flesh for the life of the world, and he went to his death that he might unite the scattered children of God into one community (6:51; 11:52). This image of the divine Logos, who brings light and life and therewith salvation to all mankind, is John's bequest at the end of the first century to the next generation of Christians. In making this bequest John performed an act of first-class importance in the history of the Church.

« Idem in BZ 1 (1957), 69-109, esp. 90-101, with which P.-H. Menoud, L'evangile de Jean (Paris 1958), 17, agrees.

®8 Cf. e.g. F.-M. Braun, "L'arriere-fond du quatrieme ?vangile" in L'evangile de Jean, 179-96.
Beside this concept of Christ there appears in the Johannine writings an image of the Church which also shows a new aspect.69 The ecclesiological content of John's Gospel has indeed often been misunderstood because critics allowed themselves to be too much influenced by a phraseology which seems to imply an individualistic concept of the salvation process (3:16; 5:24; 6:56; 15:5). It was believed that he showed a lack of interest in active missionary and pastoral work, characteristics of a community conscious of being a church.70 In reality the author of the Johannine writings possessed a highly individual, deeply thought out concept of the Church, which he over and over again sought to impart to his readers.

John's Gospel leaves no doubt that men are received by a sacramental act into the community of those who by faith in Jesus attain eternal life: "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (3:5) The Spirit that the risen Lord will send effects this new birth and gives the new, divine life. The baptized form the community of believers, cleansed from all sin by the blood of Jesus(l Jnl:7). The "anti-Christs" are separated from their fellowship, because they do not hold steadfastly to the true faith of Christ and to brotherly love (1 Jn 2:19-20; 5:1-2; 4:2-3; 2:9-10), and so lose their divine sonship.71 Only within this community does one become a partaker in the other source of that life, given, as in baptism, by the Spirit: namely, the Eucharist. Participation in the eucharistic meal, at which the faithful receive the real flesh and blood of the risen Lord (Jn 6: 53-58), unites them most intimately with him and with one another and strengthens the bonds of their fellowship as nothing else can.

The evangelist seeks to explain and interpret the reality of this fellowship by words and images employed by Jesus, which have always had an ecclesiological significance. The image of the one shepherd and one flock (Jn 10) illustrates above all the inner unity and compactness of the Church, but also her universality; for all men, Jew as well as Gentile, will one day be members of her flock (11:52; 17:20ff.).'2 The transfer to Peter of the office of shepherd will ensure the unity of the Church in the future as well. The secret inner life of the Church shines forth in the figure of the vine and its branches. Only in close and permanent attachment to the true vine, Christ, do the members of the Church possess life; only if they remain in

" For what follows cf. esp. R. Schnackenburg, Die Kirche im Neuen Testament (Freiburg i. Br. 1961) 93-106, Eng. tr. The Church in the New Testament (Freiburg-New York- London 1965).

,0 E. Schweizer, "Der johanneische Kirchenbegriff" in Studia Evangelica (Berlin 1959), 363-81, esp. 379.

" R. Schnackenburg, Die Johannesbriefe (Freiburg i. Br. 1953), 155-62.

71 For the origin of the supplementary chapter from Johannine tradition, cf. M.-E. Bois-

mard, "Le chapitre 21 de S. Jean" in RB 54 (1947), 473-501.

1 tit JOHANNINt WRITINGS

this community do they remain also in him and be capable of bringing forth fruit.

According to the evangelist's view, the Church is called to bear witness, in the midst of a hostile world, to the risen Christ and to the salvation brought by him. (15:26-27). This leads to conflict with the world and so inevitably to actual martyrdom: the Church becomes a church of martyrs. It is a theme to which the Apocalypse constantly returns, whether the Church be regarded under the image of the heavenly woman73 who has to fight and overcome the dragon (Rev. 12), or whether she be represented as those who follow the Lamb (14:1-5; 13:7-10). The fellowship of the followers of the Lamb here on earth is strengthened in its constancy by the sight of the perfect brethren who have already conquered, "for they loved not their lives, even unto death" (12:11), and have overcome Satan "by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony" (ibid.). Thus is completed the bridge between the heavenly and the earthly Church, who, as the bride of the Lamb, is on the way to her marriage, to her own perfecting. When she reaches the goal of her journey, she will live on as the new Jerusalem in the kingdom of God at the end of the world.

This majestic view of the perfected Church was proclaimed, as a message of comfort and encouragement, to the actual Church of the late first century, oppressed by the persecution of Domitian.74 In the fortifying possession of such a vision, she strode out boldly towards her objective. Out of these riches she was able to renew her steadfastness in the faith, whenever she was called upon to give further concrete witness to it.