Early church extra notes

Montanists

The Montanists emerged in what is now Turkey in the mid second-century.  Their founder, Montatas, believed he was was directly inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Priscilla and Maximillia, were two of his prominent followers.  They believed that the Lord's return was imminent.  They pursued rigorist lifestyles

Other.        

The early church was countercultural in accepting women and slaves into its membership.  It attracted many people from the poorer elements of society.  In 217 A.D., Callixtus, a former slave became the bishop pf Rome.  The second century Greek philosopher, Celsus, criticised the church for simply attracting uneducated and poor people.  He also criticised Jesus for coming for a poor and humble background.  There were some influential people who became Christians, as can be seen in the greeting that the apostle Paul shares from those of the household of Caesar (Phil. 4:22).   

Some have said that martyrdom provided the early church with its first opportunity for mass evangelism.  There are stories of people watching the early Christians being fed to lions in the Roman arenas and being converted from watching their courage.  The love that was shared among the early Christians was also a powerful apologetic.

There are a lot of legends about what happened to the twelve apostles.  The Scots claim that Andrew got as far as Scotland.  It is hard to know what to make of these legends.  However, it seems possible to probable that Thomas got to India.

The Greek word for 'witness' gives us the word 'martyr'.

The early Christians thought of the dates of the martyrs as 'birthdays' as it marked the beginning of their lives in heaven.

In the first and second century persecution was localized and sporadic.  From the third century there were times of state sponsored persecution along with periods of peace.

Christians were accused of cannibalism (because they ate the body and blood), incest (because they referred to each other as brother and sister and had 'love feasts'), illegal assembly and atheism.  They refused to bow to images of the emperor or offer incense to statues of him. 

They were accused of hating humanity for withdrawing from public and civic life (Tacitus).  They could not go along with all elements of society because of certain immoral practices.     

Christians were sown or wrapped inside the hides skins of wild beasts (which then shrunk in the heat), fed to wild dogs and crucified.

Christians were viewed with suspicion and often blamed when natural disasters etc. befell and an area.

Worship of the emperor was fairly easy.  You just had to give a sight bow before a portrait or seal or the emperor, or add a pinch of incense to a flame in his honour.  The Jews were exempt from emperor worship, but not the Christians.  

Perpetua and Felicity

Perpetua was a twenty-two year old noblewoman who was martyred in 203 A.D.. Her diary is one of the earliest texts written by a Christian woman.  

During this time there was an edict forbidding conversion to Christianity.  She was a catechumen (a believer awaiting baptism).  She was a nursing mother and she was arrested with her friend Felicity, who was heavily pregnant.  Her father visited her in the dark hot dungeon where she was detained trying to get her to recant.  She pointed at a pitcher of water and she could no more call herself anything other than a Christian than she could call a pitcher anything else, because Christian is what she was.  She was granted permission to have her infant with her.  Felicity gave birth to a healthy baby.  

On March 7th the martyrs entered the arena singing hymns,  She was to be gored to death by a mad heifer.  The heifer failed to finish her off.  A young terrified gladiator was to finish her off, when she took his shaking hand in hers and guided the blade through er own throat.    

Post baptismal sin

From an early time baptism began to be associated with conversion and that it was the rite that brought about our forgiveness.  The problem then was, what do you do about sins that occurred after baptism.  One second century writing, 'The Shepherd of Hermes', suggested that you could have one serious sin after baptism forgiven.  Tertullian thought this was too lenient and nick named the writing 'The Shepherd' of adultery.

Lapsed 

One of the special issues regarding forgiveness was what to do with the lapsed.  The  lapsi was the term for those who had denied their faith during the Decian persecution of A.D. 250.  The church debated whether people how had denied their faith under pressure should be allowed back into the church.

One interesting tradition was that Confessors could forgive the lapsed.  The confessors were people who had been tortured or mutilated for their faith, but who had not denied their faith.  they were honoured in the church.  

After this persecution, Cyprian the Bishop of Carthage, held a council, where the lapsi were classified into five categories.  The sacrificati, were those who had sacrificed to idols, and were only to be offered absolution on their deathbeds.  The thunificati were those who had burned incense before statutes of the gods.  Libellatici were those who had bribed officials to get the certificate to say they had offered a sacrifice to the emperor--they were given a two-year sanction.  Acta facienties were those who had made false statements to save their lives.  Traditors (from Latin, 'handover')were those who had handed over Scriptures to be burned by the authorities from which we get our word traitor.

The general view was that the lapsed should not be treated as if nothing happened, yet pardon should not be denied to the repentant.   

Novitians  

Novatian (c.200-258), was a Roman presbyter, who opposed the election of a bishop due to his lenient attitude to those who had lapsed under persecution.  He believed that God could forgive sinners but that the church should not readmit the lapsed.  He led a strict group that separated from the church.  They were known as the Novatianists.  The re-baptised people who converted from the Catholic church.

Donatism

Donatism emerged in the forth century, in response to clergy who had renounced or betrayed their faith.  They believed that the purity of the church on a pure clergy who administered by worthy clergy.  They believed that sacraments offered by unworthy clergy were invalid.  They separated from the main church.  A radical group of Donatists attacked the church (they did not use swords because Jesus had forbidden this, but they murdered and attached with clubs).

Augustine inherited the problem of the Donatists.  He resorted to force ('compel them to come in') to bring them into the Catholic church.  Some Donatists remained in north Africa, until the arrival of Islam.  Some think that the church was vulnerable to being overrun by Islam because of the centuries of division between the Catholics and Donatists.  

Let's finish with a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, a prayer that goes back to the fifth-century. 

Almighty and everlasting God,

you are always more ready to hear than we to pray

and to give more than either we desire or deserve:

pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,

forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid

and giving us those good things

which we are not worthy to ask

but through the merits and mediation

of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.