<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>Harnack, 89-96</title> <style> .maintext { font-size : 16px } </style> <style> .footnote { font-size : 14px } </style> </head> <body> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="10"></a> 10. CRETE AND THE ISLANDS (INCLUDING THE IONIAN)</span><sup style="font-weight: bold;">2</sup> <br> </p> <p>From the epistle to Titus it is clear that Christianity had reached <span style="font-weight: bold;">Crete</span> before the close of the apostolic age, and that Titus had a special connection as a missionary with the island though Paul is also said to have visited it (Tit. i. 5). About 170 CE Dionysius of Corinth wrote an epistle "to the church of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gortyna</span> and to the other churches of Crete" (Gortyna being evidently the metropolis),<sup>3</sup> and a second epistle to the Cretan church of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cnossus</span>, whose bishop, Pinytus by name, wrote him a reply (Eus., H.E., iv. 23). But nothing further is known of early Christianity in the island, and no bishop came from Crete to the Nicene council. For a considerable conversion of Jews in Crete, cp. the tragi-comic story of Socrates (HE, vii. 38). It is clear that the Jews were scattered all over the island. <br> </p> <p>Achelis (Zeitschr. fu. die neutest. Wissensch., i. pp. 87 f.), like some other scholars before him, has tried to prove, from the evidence of the inscriptions, that Christian churches existed on the smaller islands, particularly in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rhodes</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Thera</span><sup>4</sup> and<br> </p> </div> </span> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> </div> </span> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="footnote"> <p><sup>1</sup> For Isaura nova= Dorla, cp. Ramsay, Topogr. and Epigr. of Nova Isaura (1905), and the above-mentioned essay of Miss Ramsay. In this extremely interesting essay the monument sketched and discussed on pp. 264 f. is of special importance. It belongs to a bishop (A s ) called on the inscription A  .. By a custom of the pagan priests, his name is not given. Or was he called Theophilus? The monument must be pre-Constantine, as its general character and the ornaments prove. The inscription for x     (pp. 269 f.) also seems to be pre- Constantine, .possibly too that on bishop Sisamoas (p. 272). The other antique monuments which have been discovered and described belong also to the years 250-400 A.D. The rarity of Greek names on them is extremely striking ; the Latin are more - numerous. For that very reason, one must not go too far with them. </p> </div> </span><br> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="footnote"> <p><sup>2</sup> Cp. Map VII. </p> </div> </span><br> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="footnote"> <p><sup>3 </sup>Evidently there were several local churches. </p> </div> </span><br> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="footnote"> <p><sup>4</sup> Cp. the publications of Hiller von Gartringen with their interesting Christian inscriptions (ys). </p> </div> </span></div> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[230]] <span style="font-weight: bold;">Therasia</span>, as early as circa 100 CE; but the proofs of this are unsatisfactory, both as regards the fact of Christianity and the age of the inscriptions. Thus, even in the third century, one may put a query opposite <span style="font-weight: bold;">Thera</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Therasia</span> in connection with Christianity. But in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Melos</span> (Malus) Christians seem certainly to have existed in the third century.<sup>1</sup> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Patmos</span>, with its great associations, they would hardly leave unclaimed till the fourth century ; and martyrdoms are connected in tradition with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chios</span>. Bishops from <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rhodes</span> (where early inscriptions have been also discovered), <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cos</span> (the seat of Asclepius !) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lemnos</span>, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Corcyra</span> (Euphrosynus, Meliphron, Strategius,<sup>2</sup> and Aletodorus respectively) attended the Nicene council. Mytilene (Lesbos) had a bishop in the days of Julian (ep. Socrat., H.E., ii. 40). <br> </p> <p>Paul is reported (Coast. App., vii. 46) to have installed Crispus as the first bishop of Aegina-a legend which denotes the existence of a church there at some early period. The presence of gnostic Christians at Same in Cephallenia may be inferred from Clem. Alex., St.om., iii. 2. 5.<sup>3</sup> </p> <p><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;; font-weight: bold;"><a name="11"></a> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">11. THRACE, MACEDONIA, DARDANIA, EPIRUS, THESSALY, ACHAIA</span><sup style="font-weight: bold;">4</sup> <br> </p> <p>We have but a faint knowledge of Christianity in the Balkan peninsula (the diocese of Illyria) during the first centuries. No [[231]]<br> </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <p><br> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> For Christian catacombs in the ravine of Ceima in Melus, cp. Ross, Reisen auf d. griech. Inseln des agaischen Meers (1845, 3rd vol., pp. 145 f ).<br> &nbsp;<br> <sup>2</sup> Among the signatures of Nicaea (cp. Gelzer, Ixiii.-lxiv.) are (n. 167) ys  and (n. 214) ys 's - the one in the islands, the other in Achaia. They are identical, for Hephaestia lies in Lemnos. <br> <br> <sup>3</sup> Epiphanius the gnostic, whose father was Carpocrates, was connected with Cephallenia through his mother, v x   s s ,   1x ,A , , ,    v , v s 0s x 1x 1  p  y   ',   v  v U  (" He is honoured as a god in Same of Cephallenia, where a shrine of huge stones, with altars and precincts and a museum, has been erected for him, and consecrated. And the Cephallenians celebrate his birthday at new moon, assembling at his shrine, doing sacrifice, pouring forth libations, and feasting, with song of hymns to him "). But does not this story perhaps rest on a confusion of names? <br> <br> <sup>4</sup> Cp. Map VII.-These represent different provinces of the church with metropolitans of their own (cp. Optatus, ii. I : "Ecclesia in tribus Pannoniis, in Dacia, Moesia, Thracia, Achaia, Macedonia"). I group them together merely for the [[232b]] <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">sake of unity, as we know little of their respective histories. Duchesne's study, Les anciens Aveches de la Grace (1896), and the earlier works of de Boor (Zeits. f. K. Gesch., xii., 1891, pp. 520 f.) and Gelzer (Zeits. f. Wiss. Theol., xxxii., 1892, pp. 419 f. ), refer to a later period, but even the period previous to 300 may have some light cast on it by the list (Duchesne, p. 14), which assigns to Eubeea three bishoprics (Chalcis, Carystus, Porthmus), to Attica one (Athens), to Northern Greece ten (Megara, Thebes, Tanagra, Plataea, Thespise, Coronia, Opus, Elataea, Scarphia, Naupactus), to the Peloponnese seven (Corinth, Argos, Lacedaemon, Messina, Megalopolis, Tegaea, Patras). Tertullian (de Virg. Vel. ii.) writes thus " Per Graeciam et quasdam barbarias eius plures ecclesiae virgines suas abscondunt." As he means by "Graecia" in ch. viii. Greece proper (i.e., Corinth, etc.), we should probably locate these churches among the neighbouring barbarians in the northern half of the Balkan peninsula.-Could we avail ourselves of the episcopal list of Sardica, we should be able to verify a large number of bishoprics for Achaia, Macedonia, and the provinces farther north. But (cp. above, p. 90) we cannot use this list for the pre-Nicene age.</span></div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>outstanding figures emerge, and Dionysius of Corinth, who exhorted and counselled many churches East and West by his letters during the reign of M. Aurelius, and collected these letters into a volume (Eus., H.E., iv. 23), stands quite by himself. <sup>1</sup> The extension of Christianity was far from being uniform. In  Europe," over against Bithynia, and Thrace, there must have been numerous churches previous to 325 (cp. also Vit. Coast., iv. 43), as is evident from the church-history of Thrace during the fourth century. Corinth and Thessalonica bad flourishing churches. In Carthage it was known about 220 A.D. that councils were held ( quae per Graecias certis in locis ex universis ecclesiis ") throughout Greece,  per quae et altiora quaeque in commune tractantur, et ipsa representatio nominis Christiani magna veneratione celebratur." But the larger part of the peninsula cannot have had more than a scanty population of Christians up till 325, so that we cannot speak of any common Christian character or type, of course, in this connection. I shall therefore proceed to set down a list of the various places, not according to their provinces, but as far as possible in chronological order. First, those which are known to us from the earliest period. <br> </p> <p>Philippi,  []  .   (Acts [[232]]<br> </p> </div> </span> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="footnote"> <p></p> </div> </span> <p><sup>1</sup> The tone of his letters, which can be felt even in the brief extracts of Eusebius, shows that he wrote to Athens and Lacedaemon as metropolitan, to Crete and Pontus as a colleague and equal, and to the bishop of Rome as a modest and admiring colleague (cp. vol. i. P. 468). </p> </div> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>xvi. 12; Paul, Epaphroditus, Euodias, Syntyche, Clement ; Polycarp's epistle ; pseudo-Dionysius is our only witness to another-unauthentic-letter of his addressed to Athens<sup> 1</sup>). <br> </p> <p>Thessalonica (where there was a synagogue, or else the synagogue of the province ; Paul ; Antoninus Pius wrote to this city, forbidding any rising against the Christians [Melito, in Eus., H.E., iv. 26] ; the metropolitan Alexander was present at Nicaea, and also at the dedication of the church of Jerusalem, Vit. Const., iv. 43). <br> </p> <p>Beroea (Paul). <br> </p> <p>Athens <sup>2</sup> (Paul). From the outset the church here was small, and small it remained, for in this city of philosophers Christianity could find little room. According to Dionysius of Corinth, Dionysius the Areopagite<sup>3</sup> was the first bishop of Athens ; Antoninus Pius forbade the city to rise against the Christians (see above) ; and after the persecution of M. Aurelius, Dionysius of Corinth wrote to the church (Eus., H.E., iv. 23), "accusing them almost of apostasy from the faith since the death of their martyred bishop Publius ; and mentioning Quadratus who succeeded Publius in the episcopate, testifying that the church had been gathered together again by his zealous efforts and had gained new ardour for the faith." The apologist Aristides came from Athens ( ). So did Clement of Alexandria, perhaps. Origen, who spent some time in Athens <sup>4</sup> (Eus., vi. 23.32), mentions the local church in c. Cels., III. xxx.: "The church of God at Athens is a peaceable and orderly body, as it desires to please Almighty God. Whereas the assembly of the Athenians is refractory, nor can it be compared in any respect to the local church or assembly of God." The bishop of Athens, </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <p><br> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> For "Macedonia," see J. Weiss's article in the Fret. Real-Encyk.(3), vol. xii. Philippi gave Paul his first experience of a city which had a considerable Latin element in it. <br> <br> <sup>2</sup> See the instructive article on "Greece in the Apostolic Age," by J. Weiss, ibid., vol. vii. Apart from Corinth, Greece was in a reduced position by the time it came into contact with Christianity. <br> <br> <sup>3</sup> Being raised perhaps to the episcopate from the position of an influential member, perhaps a leader of the local church. <br> <br> <sup>4</sup> Circa 230 A. D., and again between 238 and 244, "on pressing church business" and "for the conversion of heretics." On his journey to Rome he had already touched at Athens (between 211 and 215/216). </div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[233 ]] Pistus, attended Nicaea. For the pagan character of the city in the middle of the fourth century, see the remarks in Gregory of Naz. <br> </p> <p>Corinth (the metropolis: Paul; the epistle of the Roman church to the church of Corinth <sup>1</sup> c. 95 A.D. ; Hegesippus, in Eus., H.E., iv. 22,        @ y   i   6   0 ', v t    1,  6 r  @ y (p= the Corinthian church remained by the true faith till Primus was bishop in Corinth. I conversed with them on my way to Rome, and spent some time with the Corinthians, during which we refreshed each other with orthodox teaching." Also the letter of Soter, the Roman bishop, to Corinth = 2 Clem. The Moscow MS., in the appendix to Polycarp's Mart., mentions a Socrates at Corinth, Dionysius of Corinth. Bacchyllus, bishop of Corinth, during the Paschal controversy. Tertullian, who knew the local practice with regard to the veiling of virgins [de Vi.g. Vel. viii : hodie denique Corinthii virgines suas velant]. Origen, who speaks of Corinth in the same term as of Athens, c. Cels. III. xxx. Martyrs in Corinth, according to Ma.t. Syr.). <sup>2</sup> <br> </p> <p>Cenchreae (Paul ; the Apost. Constit. [vii. 46] mentions the first bishop of this seaport, whom Paul is said to have appointed-a remark which deserves no credence). <br> </p> <p>Lacedaemon (Dionysius of Corinth wrote a letter to this church [Eus., HE., iv. 23] enjoining peace and unity ; the fact of a Christian community existing in a country town like Lacedaemon by the year 170, proves that missionary work had been done from Corinth throughout the Peloponnese, although as we see from the subsequent period, Christianity only got a footing there </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <p><br> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> With unusually high praise of their virtues prior to the split (Clem. Rom. i.-ii.). <br> <br> <sup>2</sup> The second recension, extant only in Syriac, of pseudo-Justin's " Address to the Greeks" (cp. Sitzungsber. der K. Preuss. Akad. d. W., 1896, pp. 627 f.) hails from Corinth perhaps, or at any rate from Greece. It is a third-century document, and opens with these words : "Memoirs which have been written by Ambrose, a senator of Greece, who became a Christian. All his fellow-senators cried out against him, so he fled away and wrote in order to show them all their mad frenzy." In any case the reference is to the conversion of a councillor in a Greek city. </div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[234]] with difficulty. The "bishop of Achaia" sided with Origen in his dispute with Demetrius (231 A.D.). -- Philostorgius (iii. 2) relates how the emperor Constantius brought the remains of the apostle Andrew and of Luke from Achaia to Constantinople (cp. Jerome, de Vir. Inl. vii.). It is not impossible that Andrew and Luke really died in Achaia. -- The allusion to "Arcadia" in the ninth similitude of Hermas (the angel of repentance conveys him thither) has no bearing on the history of the spread of Christianity ; "Arcadia" here is simply an apocalyptic accessory borrowed from paganism. <br> </p> <p>Larissa in Thessaly (Melito [in Eus., HE., iv. 20] tells us that Antoninus Pius wrote to this town, forbidding it to rise against the Christians; <sup>1</sup> the metropolis ; its bishop was at Nicaea, for the  Claudian of Thessaly," as he is called in most of the lists, is the bishop of Larissa. The Greek recension actually describes him as such). <br> </p> <p>Debeltum in Thrace (Eus. v. 19 informs us that this town had a bishop towards the close of the second century. From the same passage we may perhaps infer that a Thracian provincial synod was held there over the Montanist controversy, but more probably the Thracian bishops in question went to Apollinaris at Hierapolis). <br> </p> <p>Anchialus in Thrace (which also had a bishop about the same time ; loc. cit.). Philippopolis was the capital of Northern Thrace (cp. the semi-Arian synod there in 343), so that it certainly had a bishop also before 325. <br> </p> <p>Nicopolis in Epirus (according to Eus., H.E., vi. 16, Origen <sup>2</sup> was there ; so that there must have been local Christians at that time [Paul wished to winter there, according to the epistle to Titus]). <br> </p> <p>Byzantium in Europe (where the Christologist Theodotus <sup>3</sup> </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <p><br> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> This edict, designed by Pius for Thessalonica, Athens, Larissa, and " the Greeks" (the scope of this address is unfortunately obscure), shows that the strength of Christianity in these cities must not be underrated. Of course, one has to bear in mind the intolerance of Greeks in all matters of religion. <br> <br> <sup>2</sup> He found a version of the Old Testament hitherto unknown to him.<br> &nbsp;<br> <sup>3</sup> According to Epiph., Her., liv. r, Theodotus abjured his faith during a persecution (hence there was one before 190 in Byzantium, i.e., perhaps under Marcus Aurelius). </div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[235]] was born about 190 A.D. [Hippol., Philos., vii. 35; perhaps one may refer also to Tert., ad Scap. iii.] ; local martyrs, cp. Mart. Syr. and Eus., Vit. Const., iii. 48; on Alexander, the local bishop when Arius appeared, cp. Alex. of Alex. in Theodoret, HE., i. 2 ; on 26th Nov. 39.6 Constantinople was founded, and on 11th May it was dedicated). <sup>1</sup> <br> </p> <p>Heraclea=Perinthus in Europe, the metropolis (numerous martyrs, according to Mart. Syr. ; cp. also Erbes in Zeits. f. K. Gesch., xxv. 3 ; also a  primitive " martyr called Marcianus ; Nicaea, bishop Paederus). <br> </p> <p>Stobi in Macedonia (bishop Budius at Nicaea). <br> </p> <p>Thebes in Thessaly (bishop Cleonicus at Nicaea). <br> </p> <p> Euboea (Bishop Marcus at Nicaea). <sup>2</sup> <br> </p> <p>Pele in Thessaly (bishop Ballachus at Nicaea ; doubtful, how ever). <br> </p> <p>Scupi [ = Uskub] in Dardania (Nicaea. The entry runs as follows : <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span>  , alluding to this bishopric). <br> </p> <p>Trustworthy notices of the martyrs permit us finally to assume the existence of Christians in Adrianopolis (Mart. Syr., Ruinart, p. 439 ; cp. Theod., HE., ii. 15), Drizipara = Drusipara, and Epibata (unidentified) in Thrace, Buthrotum in Epirus, and Pydna.<sup>3</sup>&nbsp; <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">[[236]]</span> </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <p><br> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> Cp. the pretty legend in Philostorg., H. E., ii. 9 : <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">x</span> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span> A,   <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span>, <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">x</span>   v <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span> v r s s   "  0  r,   P  v ,  ,  <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">x</span> r <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span>     [[]]   [[]],  , as s P s P [[++]] ("Constantine, he says, went out on foot to mark the circuit of the city, carrying a spear in his hand. When his attendants thought he was measuring too much ground, one of them came up to him, and asked him, How far, 0 prince? He replied, Until He who precedes me stops. By this answer he signified that some divine power was leading him on and instructing him what to do"). <br> <br> <sup>2</sup> The presence of Christians at Chalcis in Euboea, under Decius or Valerian, may be inferred with some likelihood from Jerome (<span style="font-style: italic;">de Vir. Inl.</span> lxxxiii.) -- a passage in which Methodius of Olympus seems to be confused with a certain Methodius of Chalcis who was martyred under Decius or Valerian. <br> <br> <sup>3</sup> At Tricca in Thessaly, a certain Heliodorus was bishop (according to Socrates, H. E., v. 22). If he is to be identified, as Socrates declares he is, with the author of the romance, he must have lived at the close of the third century, for the romance dates from the reign of Aurelian, and was a youthful work. Rohde, however, doubts this identification. </div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>Thracian Christianity was that of Bithynia.<sup>1</sup> No distinctive Macedonian or Greek Christianity ever arose, like the Christianity of Asia Minor, or of Syria, or of Pontus-Armenia, or of Egypt, vigorous as the missionary efforts of the Thessalonian church may have been. The martyr-Acts furnish one or two indications of Christianity as it developed at Thessalonica and elsewhere. </p> <p><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="12"></a> 12. MOESIA AND PANNONIA, NORICUM AND DALMATIA</span><sup style="font-weight: bold;">2<br> </sup><span style="font-weight: bold;">&nbsp;</span><br> On the soil of Moesia (and of Pannonia, in part), while the Romans and the Greeks competed for the task of ruling and developing the land, the former gradually got the upper hand, and the province must have been counted as Western in the main at an early period. Here, too, we find from Acts of martyrs (under Diocletian) and the church's history in the fourth century, that Christianity had secured a firm footing in the third century. Even by the time that Eusebius wrote, however, the local churches (like those of Pannonia) were still young. At the dedication of the church at Jerusalem, he writes (Vita Constant., iv. 43), the Moesians and Pannonians were represented by t the fairest bloom of God's <i>youthful stock</i> among them " (p ' P <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span>     ). All that we learn from the Nicene subscriptions is that in "Dacia" (the country south of the Danube, modern Servia) at Sardica there was one bishopric (Protogenes, a Greek), with another (bishop Pistus) at Marcianopolis in Moesia (near the shores of the Black Sea), but the Acts of the martyrs attest the presence of Christians at Dorostorum = Dorostolum = Durostolum (Ruinart, p. 570, and Mart. Dasii), Tomi (Mart. Syr.), Axiupolis (Mart. Syr.), and Noviodunum (in Moesia Inferior; Mart. Syr.) previous to the council of Nicaea. <sup>3</sup> Perhaps there was also a bishopric at </p> </div> </span> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="footnote"> <p><sup>1</sup> According to Epiphanius (Haer., lxxviii. 23 and lxxix. I), the heretical worship of Mary arose in Thrace (and Scythia Superior) and was imported into Arabia (<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">as</span> 0 D s <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span>   <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span> [sc. women] v  v x Px v <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">0</span> D s s <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span> r x     <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">v</span>  <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"></span>  v <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">0</span></span> D <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">P</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">s</span> 1 p ).</p> </div> </span> <p><sup>2</sup> Cp. Map VII. </p> <p><sup>3</sup> Leontius the bishop of Lydian Tripolis, circa 340 A.D., came from Moesia (cp. Philostorgius in Suidas, s. v. " Leontius"). </p> </div> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[237]] Naissus (Moesia Superior) before 325 A.D. ; the bishop was at the synod of Philippopolis. <br> </p> <p>One Pannonian bishop (called Domnus) was present at Nicaea (bishopric unknown). The Acts of the martyrs <sup>1</sup> tell us of Christian communities at Sirmiun (Mart. Syr., Ruinart, p. 432), Cibalis (ibid., pp. 433 f.), Siscia (ibid., p. 521 ; cp. Jerome's Chron., ad ann. 2324), Singidunum (ibid., p. 435), <sup>2</sup> Scarabantia (ibid., p. 523), and Sabaria, the birthplace of Martin of Tours, whose parents, however, were pagans (ibid., p. 523).  Very many years" (plurimi anni) had elapsed'in 304 A.D. since bishop Eusebius suffered martyrdom at Cibalis ; and as he probably perished under Valerian, this is our earliest piece of evidence for the existence of a Christian community in these regions. The diocese of the notorious bishop Valens at Mursa would also be ante-Nicene (cp. Socrates, loc. cit.). Even the distant Pettau (in modern Styria) had a bishop circa 300 A.D., and in Victorinus it had one who was famous as a theologian and author, well versed in Greek Christian literature. Pannonia was Romanized, but the last offshoots of Hellenism may have penetrated to this province. <br> </p> <p>It is extremely surprising how few bishops from Moesia or Pannonia (even from the provinces mentioned under 11) were present at Nicaea. Was the emperor indifferent to their presence? Or had they themselves no interest in the questions to be debated at the council? We cannot tell. Nevertheless, the fourth century saw a large part of the mental interchange between East and West realized in the church of one province, and that province was Moesia. <br> </p> <p>The likelihood is that the number of bishops (and consequently of churches also) was still small (see above).-It is intrinsically probable<sup>3</sup> that, Christianity also penetrated </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <p><br> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> In these regions military martyrs seem to have been particularly numerous. <br> <br> <sup>2</sup> Ursacius was the bishop of this place (cp. Socrat., H.E., i. 27). <br> <br> <sup>3</sup> Cp. Hauck, Kircheng. d. Deutschlands, I.(2) pp. 346 f.: "Noricum was a purely Latin province (cp. the Vita Severini, and Mommsen, v. 180). The neighbourhood of Italy, and the brisk trade (dating as far back as the Etruscan age) with this country, suggest an early invasion 0f N0ricum by Christianity. From the East, too, several seeds of the faith -would be borne to the Alpine regions, for Syrian traders visited the towns of Noricum as well as of Gaul." </div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[238]] Noricum, a country studded with towns and wholly Romanized by 300 A.D., with Pettau, too, lying close upon its boundary. But the only direct evidence we possess is a notice of the martyrdom of St Florian in Lorsch (Martyrol. Jer.: "in Norico ripense loco Lauriaco," cp. Achelis, op. cit., p. 140). <sup>1</sup> A saint called Maximilicn <sup>2</sup> was also honoured in Salzburg (Hcuck's Kirchengesch. Deutschlands, i. p. 347), and Athanasius mentions bishops of Noricum about the year 343 (Apol. c. Arian i. ; Hist. ad Mon. 28) who attended Sardicc. But, apart from Lorsch, <sup>3</sup> no church in Noricum and no bishopric can be certainly referred to the pre-Constcntine period. Next to Lorsch, Teurnia <sup>4</sup> has the best claim to be assigned an early bishopric. There is no pre-Constantine evidence for Juvcvum. <br> </p> <p>Paul seems to imply that he visited Illyricn territory (Rom. xv. 19), and we are told that Titus went to Dclmctic (l Tim. iv. 10). The wealth of inscriptions which have been discovered reveal c considerable amount of Christianity in Dclmctic, which may be held with great probability to go back to the preConstcntine period, particularly as regards Sclonc (mcrtyrdoms also ; cp. Mart. Syr., and now C.I.L., vol. iii., Supplem., Pcrs Poster.), where c local churchyard is traced back as far as the beginning of the second century (Jelic, in the Rom. Quartalschrift, vol. v., 1891 ; cp. Bull. di archeol. et storia Dalmat., vol. xv., 1892, pp. 159 f.). The episcopcl register of Sclonc can still be partially reconstructed. <sup>5</sup> Domnio was bishop of Sclonc, and was martyred there under Diocleticn. He was followed by Venantius (before 312 A.D.), and shortly afterwards by Primus, whose epitaph has been discovered by Bulic. He is called  nepos [nephew?] of Domnio the martyr." Four Christian stonemasons worked in the mines of Fruschka Gora, whither Cyril, bishop of Antioch, was also banished (cp. <span style="font-style: italic;">Passio quattuor coronat</span>., in <span style="font-style: italic;">Sitzungsberichte der K. Preuss. Akad. d.</span> </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <p><br> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> The " Martyrdom" which is extant is worthless. <br> <br> <sup>2</sup> Was this originally the Mauretanian, whose remains were brought to Rhaetia ? <br> <br> <sup>3</sup> i.e., Lauriacum at the mouth of the Enns. <br> <br> <sup>4</sup> i.e., Tiburnia, in Carinthia, on the upper waters of the Drave. <br> <br> <sup>5</sup> Cp. Annal. Boll., xviii. (1899), pp. 369 f. ("Saints d'Istrie et de Dalmatie"), and Delehaye's essay on " L'hagiographie de Salone d'apres les dernieres d6couvertes arch8ol." (ibid., vol. xxiii., 1904, p. 18). </div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[239]]<span style="font-style: italic;"> Wissensch.</span>, 1896, pp. 1288 f.). No Christians, or at least extremely few, would be lodged in the Dalmatian islands, which were, as c rule, thinly populated (cp. Jerome's <span style="font-style: italic;">Ep</span>. Ix. 10:&nbsp; "insularum Dalmatiae solitudines"). </p> <p><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;; font-weight: bold;"><a name="13"></a> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">13. THE NORTH AND NORTH-WEST COASTS OF THE BLACK SEA</span><sup style="font-weight: bold;">1</sup> <br> </p> <p>Theophilus, bishop of "Gothia," and Cadmus, bishop of Bosporus, attended the Nicene council. Both bishoprics are indeed to be looked for on the Tcuric peninsula, but it is possible that  Gothia" was the bishopric of Tomi. It does not follow that because there were Christians in those cities there were Christian Goths by that time, for the .cities were Greek. But it is certain that the conversion of this German tribethough of individuals in it, only-had commenced before the year 325. <sup>2</sup> On c military raid through Asia Minor in 258, the Goths had captured and taken home with them a number of Ccppcdocicn Christians, who maintained their Christian standing, continued to keep in touch with Ccppcdocic, and did mission-work among the Goths themselves (Philostorg., ii. 5). <sup>3</sup> It was Ulfilcs, of course, who initiated the work of converting the Goths upon c large scale, but shortly before his day mission-work in the interior of Gothic ( 0   ) was undertaken by the Mesopotamian monk Arnobius, who had been banished to Scythic (cp. Epiph., Haer., lxx. 14). Still, Sozomen (viii. 19) notes as c striking fact, that the Scythians had only. one bishop, although their country included </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <p><br> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> Cp. Map VII. <br> <br> <sup>2</sup> The version of the Bible by Ulfilas proves that Gothic then possessed a considerable number -of Latin loan-words, but hardly any Christian ecclesiastical terms. There was also a later and smaller proportion of Greek loan-words (perhaps originally the creation in part of Ulfilas himself), which included many ecclesiastical technical terms. <br> <br> <sup>3</sup> This connection between the Gothic Christians and Cappadocia survived and revived in the fourth century. The epistle of the Gothic church, recounting the martyrdom of St. Sabas (Ruinart, pp. 617, f., ed. Ratisbon), is addressed to a Cappadocian church towards the close of the fourth century. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catech., x. 19) mentions martyrs about the middle of the fourth century, not only in Persia but among the Goths, meaning not Greek residents but Goths themselves. </div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[240]] a number of towns (in which, of course, there were Christians). Tradition tells us of some martyrdoms, which are not quite certain, at the Tauric town of Cherson (Sebastopol) during the reign of Diocletian. So far as I know, the inscriptions discovered in Southern Russia have not revealed any Christian item which can be referred with certainty to the first three centuries. <sup>1</sup> </p> <p><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;; font-weight: bold;"><a name="14"></a> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">14. ROME, MIDDLE AND LOWER ITALY, SICILY, AND SARDINIA </span><sup style="font-weight: bold;">2</sup><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><br> </p> <p>For these and all subsequent regions in our discussion, the Nicene list ceases to be of any service ; all it furnishes is the bare fact that deputies from the bishop of Rome, bishop Hosius of- Cordova (as the commissioner of Constantine), bishop Marcus of Calabria (from Brindisi ?),'bishop Caecilian of Carthage, and bishop Nicasius of Duja in Gaul (= Die), were present at the council. In place of it we get the episcopal lists of the synods of Carthage (under Cyprian), Elvira (in Spain, c. 300), Rome (313 A.D.), and Arles (314). The beginnings of Christianity in the Western towns (including Rome) and in the provinces are obscure throughout. A priori, we should conjecture that Rome took some part in the Christianizing of these regions, <sup>3</sup> but beyond this conjecture we cannot </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <p><br> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> The statement of Sozomen (ii. 5) does not seem unhistorical :   [he is thinking primarily of Goths and the allied races) x    x y     p x   v s v s   v  ' Px  ("Almost all the barbarians professed to honour Christianity, from the date of the wars between the Romans and the foreign tribes under Gallienus and his successors").<br> <br> <sup>2</sup> Cp. Map VIII. <br> <br> <sup>3</sup> The. authoritative position of Rome among the Italian churches is exactly parallel to the metropolitan position of the provincial capital in the province. Italy was first divided into (17) provinces by Diocletian, so that there were not any ecclesiastical provinces. As the Italian communities were treated as part of the Roman community, so the Roman Christian community also held and exercised authority, practically and therefore legally, over the Christian churches of Italy. The Roman bishop became not so much the metropolitan of Italy as the regulative authority for all the Italian churches in virtue of his position as "episcopus Romanus." The alteration which took place towards the close of the fourth century lies outside our present purview. The supreme power of the Roman bishop included the right of ordination, as soon as ever that developed. What held true of the Roman community in relation to the Italian churches, applied also-though less definitely and rigidly-to its relations with the Christian [[241b]] <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">communities of the Roman world at large. " Ecclesia Romana semper habuit primatum," i.e., it possessed it, as soon as the circumstances of the political organisation and authority began to be important and normative for the churches of the Roman empire, while at the same time a sort of politico-ecclesiastical unity began to prevail in all the churches. </span></div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[241]] go. The later legends which vouch for systematic missionary enterprise on the part of the Roman bishops are unauthentic one and all. Some basis for them may have been afforded by the famous passage in the epistle of Pope Innocent I. to bishop Decentius (Ep. xxv. 2):  It is certain that throughout all Italy, Gaul, Spain, Africa, and Sicily, and the intervening islands, no one has founded any church except those appointed to the priesthood by the apostle Peter or his successors." But this passage itself is a product of tendency, and destitrtte of historical foundation. <br> </p> <p>In Rome and throughout Italy Christianity at first spread among the Greek population<sup>1</sup> and retained Greek as its language. Even Hippolytus, who belonged to the Roman church and died -circa 235 A.D., wrote exclusively in Greek ; and the first author to employ the Latin tongue in letters, so far as I know, is the Roman bishop Victor (189-199). The episcopal list of the Roman church <sup>2</sup> down to Victor contains only a couple of Latin names. When Polycarp of Smyrna reached Rome in 154 he conducted public worship there (i.e., in Greek), and it was in Greek that the ancient Roman symbol was composed (about the middle of the second century, or, as </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> One recollects Seneca's remarks upon the population of Rome : " Jube istos omnes ad nomen citari et unde domo quisque sit quaere ; videbis maiorem partem esse quae relictis sedibus suis venerit in maximam quidem et pulcherrimam urbem, non tamen suam" (" Have them all summoned by name, and ask each his birthplace. You will find the majority have left their homes and come to the greatest and fairest of cities-yet a city which is not their own "), adv. HeIv. 6. <br> <br> <sup>2</sup> I have discussed the origin of the first 48 (47) popes in the Sitzungsber. der K. Preuss. Akad. d. Wissensch. (1904), 14th July, pp. 1044 f. The following preNicene bishops are described in the list as "Graeci," viz. (Anacletus), Euaristus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, Eleutherus, Anterus, Xystus II., and Eusebius ; Anicetus is said to have been a Syrian, Victor and Miltiades Africans, Gaius a Dalmatian. The rest are "Romani" (Cletus, Clement, Alexander, Xystus I., Zephyrinus, Callistus, Urbanus, Pontianus, Fabianus, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephanus, Felix, Marcellinus, Marcellus, and Sylvester) or " Itali " (Linus and Pius) or "Campanus" (Soter) or "Tuscus" (Eutychianus). The origin of Dionysius is undefined. From Victor onwards (perhaps even earlier) the majority of the [[242b]] <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">statements seem to me trustworthy. Anacletus and Telesphorus are said to have come from Athens, Euaristus from Antioch, and his Jewish father Judas from Bethlehem ; Anicetus is reported to have journeyed from Emesa, Rufinus from Aquileia, Soter from Fundi, Eleutherus from Nicopolis-all these items are worthless. But it is credible that Eutychianus (275-283) came from the town of Luna in Tuscany. The districts of five of the bishops born at Rome are given (possibly some local churches were connected with the memory of these popes). </span></div> <p> </p> </div> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[242]] some hold, later).<sup>1</sup> The Roman clergy did not become predominantly Latin till the episcopate of Fabian (shortly before the middle of the third century), and then it was that the church acquired her first Latin writer of importance in the indefatigable presbyter Novatian. <sup>2</sup> Long ere this, of course, there had been a considerable Latin element in the church. Since the middle of the second century, there must have been worship in Latin at Rome as well as in Greek, <sup>3</sup> necessitating ere long translations of the Scriptures. But the origins of the Latin versions of the Bible are wrapt in mystery. They may have commenced in Northern Africa earlier than in Rome itself. Very likely they were prior to 200 A.D. <br> </p> <p>The church of Rome was founded by some unknown missionaries at the beginning of the apostolic age. <sup>4</sup> It was already of considerable importance when Paul wrote to it from Corinth ; it comprised several small churches (ecclesiolae, Rom. </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> Jordan (Rhythmische Prose in der altchristl. lot. Litt., 19o5) has recently attempted, on the ground of the rhythm, to prove that the Latin text is the original. But, apart from the fact that this involves a transposition in one passage, the rhythm affords no convincing evidence. <br> <sup>2</sup> Possibly there are some Roman writings among the pseudo-Cyprianic writings, which are earlier than Cyprian. <br> <br> <sup>3</sup> According to the "Shepherd" of Hermas, the church still seems entirely Greek ; at least, the author never mentions bilingual worship, though he might have done so. Still, the Latin versions of his own book, of Clemens Romanus, and of the baptismal symbol, fall probably within the second century. <br> <br> <sup>4</sup> It is very remarkable that the founders of the Roman church are never mentioned. The list of persons saluted in Rom. xvi. opens with Prisca and Aquila (and the church in their house). Though this indicates that they were the "most prominent " Christians in Rome, yet they are specially mentioned for their services not to the local church but to Paul (and with Paul). If the " church in their house" probably was the oldest, circle within the Roman church (though this is not certain), Prisca and Aquila certainly were not the first Christians in Rome or the founders of the church as a whole. Then comes Epaenetus, " the firstfruits of Asia for Christ." Obviously there was a Christian lite ; this description of Epaenetus (who was either a temporary or permanent resident) explains why he was put second. Then comes a woman who has deserved well of the church, Mary ; then two " apostles," older in point of Christianity than Paul him [[243b]]&nbsp;<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> self, Andronicus and Junias. These, however, cannot have been the founders of the Roman church. They only came to Rome later, after having once been in prison with Paul. The Roman church had really no proper founders ; or else those who might have claimed this title were insignificant people who perhaps were already dead.</span> </div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[243]] xvi.) <sup>1</sup>; and  its faith was spoken of throughout all the world " (i. 8). By the time Paul himself reached Rome, there was even a small church  in Caesar's household" (  1,Phil. iv. 22). <sup>2</sup> Not long afterwards, when the Neronic persecution burst upon the church, an " ingens multitudo Christianorum" (Tacitus) or z   b(Clem. Rom. vi.) were resident in Rome. Allowing for the fact that "crowd" means one thing in the case of judicial murders and anothcr thing in that of popular assemblies, we may still regard both of these calculations as sufficiently weighty. The members of the church of Rome must at that time have been already counted by hundreds. <br> </p> <p>Paul and Peter both fell in this persecution. But the church soon recovered itself. We meet it in the epistle of Clement (about 95 A.D.), consolidated, active, and alive to the duty of caring for all the church. The discipline of " our troops" presents itself to this church and the other churches as a pattern of conduct, uniting them together in the ranks and regulations of Christian love. The " rule of tradition " is to be maintained by the church. Order, discipline, and obedience are to prevail, not fanaticism and wilfulness ; every element of excited fervour seems to be tabooed. The Christian church of Rome had in fact adopted even by this time the characteristics of the city, Greek though the church was in nature. It felt itself to be the church of the world's capital. And already it numbered among its members some of the emperor's most intimate circle.<sup>3 </sup><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">[[244]] </span> </p> </div> </span> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="footnote"> <p></p> </div> </span> <p><sup>1</sup> Many scholars, of course, refer this chapter to Ephesus, but I cannot persuade myself that of 1   ' and 1    (10-11) are to be looked for anywhere except at Rome. </p> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="footnote"> <p><sup>2</sup> The Roman Christians Claudius Ephesus and Valerius Biton, mentioned in Clem. Rom., would also belong to this group. They are aged and honoured circa 95 A.D. </p> </div> </span> <p><sup>3</sup> T. Flavius Clemens and Domitilla, cp. Above, p. 46  The first Christian catacombs at Rome were already begun. It is impossible to discuss them here. Let me only say that the number, the size, and the extent of the Roman catacombs [[244b]] which can be certainly referred to the pre-Constantine period is so great that even from them we may infer the size of the Roman church, its steady growth, its adherents from distinguished families, its spread all over Rome, etc. Wilpert, in his monumental work on Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms (1903), has established important data for the chronology. He carries on the work of de Rossi (Romae Sotteranea and Inscript. Christianae Urbis Romae Saeculo VII. Antiquiores, 1861-1888), but the Christian inscriptions of Rome still await an editor who shall complete the labours of the latter distinguished scholar. </p> </div> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>This consciousness on the part of the Roman church, which was justified by the duties which it discharged, was recognized by other churches. Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, extols it about 115 A.D. in extravagant language as being the "leading church in the region of the Romans" ,    `;) and  the leader of love " (  y, ad Rom., inscript.), whilst Dionysius of Corinth writes to her, about 170 A.D. (Eus., H.E., iv. 13), in terms that have been already quoted (cp. vol. i. p. 184). <br> </p> <p>These and other passages imply that the church had ample means at her disposal,<sup>1</sup> and this, again, suggests a large number of members, including many rich people-an inference corroborated by the  Shepherd" of Hermas, a Roman document which opens our eyes to the state of the church in Hadrian's reign. It reveals a very large number of Christians at Rome, and the presence among them of a considerable number of well-to-do and wealthy members, with whom the author is naturally wroth. The epistle of Ignatius also proves how the church had pushed its way into the most influential circles of the population. Why, the good bishop is actually afraid of being deprived of his martyrdom through the misguided intervention of the Roman Christians ! It goes without saying that, under such circumstances, the needs of the Christian community at Rome could not be met by a single place of assembly. Justin (Acts Justini) says so explicitly. When asked by the judge,  Where do you meet? " he replies,  Where everyone chooses and wherever we can" [which is evasive]. "Think you we can all meet _ in one place? Not so" -(  ;). Still more </p> </div> </span> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"> <p><sup>1</sup> We know that Marcion brought her a present of 200,000 sesterces when he joined her membership (cp. above, vol. i. p. 156). </p> </div> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[245]] valuable is the evidence afforded soon after 166 A.D. by the Roman bishop Soter, the author of the so-callcd second epistle of Clement. He observes, in explaining a prophetic<sup>1</sup> passage, (c. ii.), that Christians were already superior in numbers to the Jews ; and although the statement is general, one must assume that, as it was written in Rome, it applied to Rome, and especially to middle and lower Italy. This statement occurs in a letter (i.e., in a homily) addressed by Soter to Corinth. The fact of Soter addrcssing a foreign church, and of the church in question accepting its superior's communication with such gratitude and respect as we find expressed in the reply of Dionysius of Corinth, is a further proof of the repute enjoyed by the Roman church far beyond the bounds of Italy. The Corinthians promise to read this communication on Sundays, as they had already done with the. Roman encyclical forwarded by Clement.</p> <p>Thanks to the large number of Christians from all provinces and sects who continued to flock to Rome, <sup>2</sup> not merely did local Christianity <sup>3</sup> go on increasing, but the church would have had the duty of caring for the interests of the church at large </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <p><br> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> He is explaining Isa. liv. 1, partly of the Jews, partly of the Christians; and in this connection he observes,   6 x    xs , v r s s      (see above, p. 4). <br> <br> <sup>2</sup> An almost complete survey is given by Caspari in his Quellen z. Gesch. des Taufsymbols, vol. iii. (1875). <br> <br> <sup>3</sup> Cp. the fresh evidence for the size of the Roman church circa 180 A.D. in the Coptic Acta Pauli (K. Schmidt, p. 83). But the most important testimony to the size and prestige of the Roman church is that of Irenaeus (iii. 3) : " Sed quoniam valde longum est, in hoc tali volumine omnium ecclesiarum enumerare successions, <i>maximae</i> et antiquissimae et <i>omnibus cognitae, </i>a gloriosissimis duobus apostolis Petro et Paulo Romae fundatae et constitutae ecclesiae eam quam habet ab apostolis traditonem et annuntiatam hominibus fidem per successiones episcoporum pervenientem usque ad nos indicantes confundimus omnes eos, qui quoquo modo . . . . praeterquam oportet colligunt. ad <i>hanc enim ecclesiam propterpotentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire ecclesiam, hoc est eos qui sunt undique fideles, in qua semper ab his qui sunt undique conservata est ea quae est ab apostolis traditio"</i> (" But since it would be very long in such a volume as this to enumerate the series of bishops in all the churches, we confound all who in any way .... otherwise than they ought, meet for worship, by pointing out the tradition (which it holds from the apostles) of the most great and ancient and universally known church founded and established at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, and also the faith declared to men which comes down to our own day through the episcopal successions. For to this church, on account of its more [[246b]] <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">powerful lead, every church, i.e., the faithful everywhere, must resort; since in it the apostolic tradition has been preserved by those who are from everywhere "). Cp. my essay in the Sitzungsber. d. K. Preuss. Akad. d. Wiss. (1893, 9th October).</span> <p></p> </div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[246]] thrust on her, even had she not spontaneously assumed it. Besides, her position in the city grew stronger day by day. In this connection the age of Commodus marked an epoch by itself. Eusebius relates (v. 21) how "our affairs then became more favourable, while the saving word led an uncommonly large number of souls of every race to the devout worship of God. In fact, a number of those who were eminent at Rome for their wealth and birth, began to adopt the way of salvation, with their whole households and families." It is well known, e.g., how much influence the Christians (cp. above, pp. 47-48) had with Marcia, the "devout concubine" ( ) of the emperor.<sup>1</sup> The growing size and prestige of the church soon showed themselves in the despotic attitude assumed by Victor, the Roman bishop, towards the controversy between the Asiatic church and the catholic church (c. 190 A.D.) over the Paschal question.<sup>2<br> </sup>&nbsp;<br> The advance made by Christianity among the upper classes, and especially among women, in Rome, resulted in the edict of bishop Callistus,<sup>3</sup> which gave an ecclesiastical imprimatur to sexual unions between Christian ladies and their slaves. Furthermore, the importance attaching to Christianity in Rome is proved by a number of passages from Tertullian,4 by the attitude of the Roman bishops after Victor, and by the large number of sects which had churches in Rome at the beginning </p> </div> </span> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"> <p><sup>1</sup> Hippol., Philos., ix. 12. The Roman bishop Victor went to and from her freely. One gathers from this passage also that the Roman church kept a list of all who languished in the mines of Sardinia. The archives of the Roman church certainly went far back ; cp. my study of the origins of the popes (above, p..241). </p> <p><sup>2</sup> The Coptic-Arabic Synaxarium notes, on the loth Hatur (Wustenfeld, I. p. 110), that Victor then held a Roman synod (for which there is other evidence), attended by fourteen bishops and a number of presbyters. The statement may be correct, though the number is so low. </p> <p><sup>3</sup> The statement of the papal catalogue about Callistus having built a church in Rome across the Tiber (" trans Tiberim ")maybe quite authentic. It is quite authentic, at any rate, that under Zephyrinus he was put in charge of a  at Rome, and that he ordained bishops for Italy (Hippol., Philos., ix. 12). </p> <p>4 He writes, e.g., of the emperor Septimius : " Sed et clarissimas feminas et clarissimos viros, sciens huius sectae esse, non modo non laesit verum et testimonio exornavit" (ad Scap. iv. ; cp. above, p. 48). </p> </div> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[247]] of the third century. Besides the catholic churches, we know of a Montanist, a Theodotian (or Adoptian), a Modalist,. a Marcionite, and several gnostic churches besides the church of Hippolytus. <br> </p> <p>After the reign of Commodus and the episcopate of Victor, the reign of Philip the Arabian and the episcopate of Fabian <sup>1</sup> (236-250) form the next stage in the story (cp. Protest. RealEncyklop.<sup>(3)</sup>, v. pp. 721 f.). Two phases of organization mark the growing size of the church at Rome. One is the creation of the lower clergy with their five orders, the other is the division of the Roman church into seven districts (or 7 x p2), corresponding to the different quarters of the city (Catal. Liber.: " Fabianus regiones divisit diaconibus ").<sup>2</sup> Two items of evidence throw light upon the extent a id the importance of the church at this period (c. 250 A.D.): one is the saying of Decius, that he would rather have a rival emperor in Rome than a bishop ; <sup>3</sup> and the other is the statement of Cornelius, bishop of Rome, in a letter (Eus., vi. 43), to the effect that " there were 46 presbyters, 7 deacons, 7 sub-deacons, 4 2 acolytes, 52 exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers, and 1500 widows and persons in distress, all of whom the Master's grace and lovingkindness support" (  ;,  , Q , p  v , p r v y    v ,    Q p  , S      v  ). <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;">[[248]]</span> </p> </div> <div class="footnote"> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><sup>1</sup> Fabian had been a country-bishop in the neighbourhood of Rome, or even a farmer (Eus., HE., vi. 29). <br> <br> <sup>2</sup> Cp. Duchesne's Le Liber Pontif., i. P. 148; and Harnack in Texte u. Unters., ii. 5. The entry in the papal list runs thus : " Hic regiones dividit dias conibus et fecit vii subdiacones."-Apropos of Clement I., the papal list had noted : " Hic fecit vii regiones, dividit notariis fidelibus ecclesiae [sic], qui gestas martyrum sollicite et curiose unusquisque per regionem suam diligenter perquireret." The statement, of course, is valueless. See further under "Euarestus." <br> <br> <sup>3</sup> So we learn from Cyprian, Ep. Iv. 9. With this antithesis we may compare a remark of Aurelian, preserved by Flavius Vopiscus (Aurelian, c. xx.) : " Miror vos, patres sancti, tamdiu de aperiendis Sibyllinis dubitasse libris, proinde quasi in Christianorum ecclesia, non in templo deorum omnium tractaretis" ("I am astonished, holy father, that you have hesitated so long upon the question of opening the Sibylline books, just as if you were debating in the Christian assembly and not in the temple of all the gods"). </div> </div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>So far as regards statistics, this passage is the most important in our possession for the church-history of the first three centuries. In 251 A.D. the Roman church had evidently 155 clergy (with their bishop), who were maintaincd and fed, together with over 1500 widows and needy persons. From this I should put the number of Christians belonging to the catholic church in Rome at not less than 30,000. <sup>1</sup> The forty-six priests perhaps denote as many places of worship in the city ; <sup>2</sup> for, as we see from Optatus (ii. 4), there were over forty basilicas in Rome about the year 300 ( quadraginta et quod excurrit basilicas"). This large number indicates the great size of, the church. <sup>3</sup> <br> </p> <p>The great Novatian schism split the Roman church, but only a minority went over to the  Purists." From a letter of bishop Cornelius to Fabius, bishop of Antioch (Eus., H.E., vi. 43), we learn that Novatian was consecrated by three imported bishops from  a small and very limited district" of Italy (   v ), whom Cornelius deposed, ordaining others in their place and sending them to the aforesaid dioceses.4 In </p> </div> </span> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="footnote"> <p><sup>1</sup> So too Renan (Mart-Aurele, p. 451). Probably this estimate is too low (Renan: 30,000-40,000). At Antioch, as Chrysostom narrates (Opp., vii. pp. 658, 810), the 3000 persons in receipt of relief were members of one church consisting of over 100,000 souls. In the case of Rome, then, we might put the total at about 50,000, which is the estimate of Gibbon, followed by Friedlander and Dollinger (Hippolyt and Callist, p. 24). One may assume, however, that the readiness of Christians to make sacrifices was greater about 250 in Rome than it was about 380 in Antioch, so that I should exercise caution and calculate only 30,000, which would amount-if one puts the population of Rome very roughly at 900,000-to about a thirtieth of the population. Friedlander's (Sittengesch., iii. P. 531) calculations bring out a twentieth (50,000 to a million). He may perhaps be right ; at any rate, the total about 250 A. D. lies somewhere between a twentieth and a thirtieth (from 5 to 3 per cent.). But between 250 and 312 an extraordinary increase of Christianity certainly occurred everywhere, including Rome, which I doubt not is at least equivalent to a doubling of the previous total (from 10 to 7 per cent.). </p> </div> </span> <p><sup>2</sup> For the reasons which led to an increase of presbyters in any town, cp. Schiffer (Pfarrkirche u. Stift, 1903). His work deals with the mediaeval situation, but it also throws light upon the early Christian church. He also discusses (pp. 85 f.) the  of the council of Nicaea (can. 16, 17). </p> <p><sup>3</sup> Athanasius (Apol. 2 adv. Arian) mentions the church of Biton the presbyter at Rome as one in which a synod was held. </p> <p><sup>4</sup> This proves (1) once more that the Roman bishop possessed and practised the right of ordination, in fact under certain circumstances the right of appointment, in Italy ; (2) that he himself was ordained by Italian bishops, that any [[249b]] <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> Italian bishop could be summoned to the ordination (for Cornelius did not demur to the abstract right of the imported bishops), but that as a rule bishops in the vicinity of Rome completed the ordination (Cornelius himself being consecrated with the help of sixteen Italian bishops; cp. Cypr., Ep. IV. 24). According to the Liber diurnus, p. 24, the bishop of Ostia usually consummated the ordination, while the bishops of Albano and Portus offered up the prayers. But we cannot decide whether this custom obtained as early as the third century. Incidentally, we find that bishop Ursinus was ordained by the bishop of Tibur in the middle of the fourth century.</span> </p> </div> <span style="font-family: &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;;"> <div class="maintext"> <p>[[249]] the same letter Cornelius tells of a Roman synod held in connection with the schism, <i>attended by sixty bishops and a larger number of presbyters and deacons,</i><sup>1</sup> while he closes with a list (which is unfortunately lost) of those bishops who had appeared at Romc and condemned the folly of Novatian.  In this list he gives their names and also the diocesc which each represented. He also gives the names of those who did not put in an appearance at Rome, but gave their assent in writing to the decision of those already mentioned-together with the town from which each wrote." From this we may argue that in the middle of the third century Italy possessed at least nearly one hundred bishops ; for the absentees and the adherents of Novatian must be added to the sixty who were present of the Roman synod. <br> </p> <p>Shortly after Fabian, Dionysius (259-268) apparently instituted the class, of parish churches in Rome, and at the same time fixcd the ep