of the second great general persecution, under Diocletian (303-313), a space of over forty years. In this period the Church cast off the chiliasm whi

9). The cultus and the disciplinary work of the bishops advanced in turn the hierarchical organization of the Church and the place of the bishops (§ 50), but the theory of local episcopal autonomy and the universalistic tendencies of the see of Rome soon came into sharp conflict (§ 51), especially over the validity of baptism administered by heretics (§ 52). In this discussion the North African Church assumed a po

g

Chiliastic

nd no place in its system for such an article as chiliasm. The belief lingered, however, in country places, and with it went no little opposition to the "scientific" exegesis which by means of allegory explained away the promises of a millennial kingdom. The only account we have of this so-called "Chiliastic Contro

NF, IV); Lactantius, Divini Institutiones, VII, 14-26 (ANF,

. Ec., VII, 24

has, with the exception of fragments preserved by Eusebius, perished, as has also the work of Nepos, Against the Allegorists. The date of the work of Nepos is not known. That of the work of Dionysius is placed

n a more Jewish manner, and that there would be a certain millennium of bodily luxury upon this earth. As he thought that he could establish his private opinion by the Revelation of John, he wrote a book on this subject, entitled Refutation

ecause he has gone before us to rest.... But as some think his work very plausible, and as certain teachers regard the law and the prophets as of no consequence, and do not follow the Gospels, and treat lightly the apostolic epistles, while they make promises as to the teaching of this work as if it were some great hidden mystery, and do not permit our simpler brethren to have any sublime and lofty thoughts concernin

d I exhorted them to make a public examination of this question. Accordingly when they brought me this book, as if it were a weapon and fortress impregnable, sitting with them from morning till evening for three successive days, I endeavored to correct what was written in it.... And fina

Half of the Third Century u

chianism (b), had become universal. Under this influence, Paul of Samosata, reviving Dynamistic Monarchianism, modified it by combining with it elements of the Logos theology (c-e). At the same time

Athanasius, De Sent. Diony

rgus, Confession of

Origen at C?sarea in Palestine from 233 to 235, and became one of the leading representatives of the Origenistic

p. cit., § 185. According to a legend, it was communicated to Gregory in a vision by St. John on the request of the Blessed Virgin. It represents the speculative tendency of Orig

antive Wisdom, Power, and Eternal Image, the perfect Beget

m which comprehends the constitution of all things, and the Power which produced all creation; the true Son of the true Fa

ct Son, Life and Cause of the living [the sacred Fount], Sanctity, Leader of sanctification, in whom is revealed God the Father, who is ove

there before, but coming afterward; for there never was a time when the Son was lacking to th

g

Dionysii, 4, 5, 6, 13-15.

xandria did not hold the right view of the relation of the Son to the Father and of the divinity of the Son. Thereupon, Dionysius of Rome wrote to Dionysius of Alexandria. In reply, Dionysius of Alexandria pointed out at length, in a Refutation and Defence, his actual opinion on the matter as a whole, rather than as merely opposed to Modalistic Monarchianism or Sabe

just as the husbandman is from the vine, or the shipbuilder is from the boat; for that, being a creature, He was not before He came to be." Yes. He wrote it, and we, too, admit that such was

6, Nic?a, 325; see below, § 72), and sent men to counsel the guilty ones to cease from their false doctrine. As they did not cease but waxed more shameless in their impiety, he was compelled to meet their shameless conduct by writing the said letter and [pg 224] to define from the Gospels the human nature of the Saviour, in order that, since th

worthy of credit. But if, when he had written his letter to Ammonius, and fallen under suspicion, he made his defence, bettering what he ha

k him so as to learn from himself what he had written, went up to Rome and spake against him in the presence of his namesake, Dionysius, bishop of Rome. And the latter, upon hearing it, wrote simultaneously against the adherents of Sabellius and against those who held the same opinions for uttering which Arius was cast out of the Church; and

ertain prefatory matter in the first book of the work ent

ollows, "that Christ is forever, being Word and Wisdom and Power. For it is not to be supposed that God, ha

. Ec., VII, 27, 29

ion of Paul

o 268. His works have perished, with the exception of a few fragments. The importance of Paul is that in his teaching is to be found an attempt to combine the Lo

low and degraded views of Christ, contrary to the teaching of the Church, namely, that in his nature He was a common man, Dionysius of Alexandria was entreated to come to the synod. But being unable to come on account of age and phy

heaven. Malchion especially drew him out from his hiding-place and refuted him. He was a man learned also in other matters, and principal of the sophist school of Grecian learning in Antioch; yet on account of the superior nobility of his faith in Christ he

by common consent an epistle addressed to Dionysius, bishop of Ro

ceding and following him, so that the faith is envied and hated on account of his pride and haughtiness of heart, ... or that he violently and coarsely assails in public the expounders of the Word that have departed this life, and magnifies himself, not as bishop, but as a sophist and juggler, and stops the psalms to our Lord Jesus Christ as being novelties and the productions of modern men, and trains women to sing psalms to himself in the midst of the church on the great day of the passover.... He is unwilling to acknowledge that the Son of God came do

op]. But as Paul refused to surrender the church building, the Emperor Aurelian was petitioned; and he decided the matter most equitably, ordering the building to be give

dvisers to institute a persecution against us. And there was great talk about it everywhere. But as he was about to do it, and was, so to spea

h, Disputation with Pa

e of Paul o

e above (c)], which Malchion is said to have revised and published. The passages may be found also in Routh, Reliqui? Sacr?, second ed., III, 300 ff. Fragments

otten of the Holy Ghost. And Him the Virgin bore by the Holy Spirit; but God generat

became [pg 228] greater through Wisdom, that

m might not dwell so largely in another. For it was in the prophets, and more in Moses, and in many th

be found in an outward form, neither in the appearanc

rationes ad Sabinum, Ro

trine o

as perished with the exception of

ature shows us a substance becoming one and the same out of many things, so the na

things, was united in character to God, since He had preserved one and the same effort and aim as He for the promotion of things that are goo

Panarion, H?r. L

e of Paul o

he gives accounts at some length. He is a valuable, though not always [pg 229] reliable, source for many otherwise unknown heresi

a hypostasis, but in God himself.... That the Logos came and dwelt in Jesus, who was a man. And thus he says God is one, neither is the Father the Father, nor the Son the Son, nor the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit, but

pus, Symposium, III,

eternity of the creation were too offensive. The more important of the two is Methodius, who combined a strong anti-Origenistic position on these two points with that "recapitulation" theory of redemption which has been called the Asia Minor type of theology and is represented also by Iren?us; see above, § 27. He

Nothing else is known with certainty as to his life. Of his numerous and well-written works, only one, The Banquet, or Symposium, h

the Only begotten, even the Wisdom [of God], should be joined to the first-formed man, and first and first-born of men, and should become incarnate. And this was Christ, a man filled with the pure and perfect Godhead, and God received into man. For it was most suitable that the oldest of the

heaven, and, being "joined to His wife," the Church, should provide that a certain power be taken from His side, so that all who are built up in Him should grow up, even those who are born again by the laver, receiving of His bones and of His flesh; that is, of His holine

mpus, De Resurrect.,

ich, also, He, who was not man, became man, that, "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." For if it was not that he might set the flesh free and raise it up that He bore flesh, why did He bear flesh superfluously, as He purposed neither to save it nor to raise it up? But the Son of God does

evelopment

n turn the conception of the hierarchy (see below, § 50). Baptism was regarded as conferring complete remission of previous sins; subsequent sins were atoned for in the penitential discipline (see above, § 42). As for the eucharist, the conception of the sacrifice which appears in the Didache, an offering of praise and thanksgiving, gradually gives place to a sacrifice which in some way partakes of the nature of Christ's sacrificial death upon the cross. At the same time, the elements are more and more completely identified with the

, De Corona, 3

es connected

alone, and the countenance thereafter of custom, affords us any precedent. To deal with this matter briefly, I shall begin with baptism. When we are going to enter the water, but a little before, in the church and under the hand of the president, we solemnly profess that we renounce the devil, and his pomp, and his angels. Hereupon we are thrice immersed, making a somewhat ampler pledge than the Lord has appointed in the Gospel. Then, when we are taken up (as new-born children), we taste first of all a mixture of milk and honey; and from that day we refrain from the daily bath for a whole week. We take also in congregations, before daybreak, and from the hands of none but the

De Baptismo, 5-8

heathen purifying washings, but referred the effects of the heathen rites to evil powers, quite in harmony with the Christia

d; the image is counted being in His form [in effigie], the likeness in His eternity [in ?ternitate]. For h

rit, but in the water, under (the witness of angels)

riesthood men were accustomed to be anointed with oil from a horn, wherefore Aaron was anointed by Moses.... Thus, too, in our case the unction runs carnally, but pro

rom the old sacramental rite in which Jacob blessed his grandsons born of Joseph, [pg 234] Ephraim, and Manasses; with his hands laid on them and interchanged,

C?cilium, Ep. 63,

euch

aracteristic theology of North Africa. His discussion of the place and authority of the bishop in the ecclesiastical system was of fundamental importance in the development of the theory of the hierarchy, though it may be ques

with water should be used, for in all respects we do exactly what Christ did at the Last Supper when he instituted the eucharist. In the course of the letter, which is of s

lly and firmly continuing in that in which they have believed-from Christ in such a way as to prevent their undivided love from always abiding and adhering. Thus, [pg 235] therefore, in consecrating the cup water alone should not be offered to the Lord, even as wine alone should not be offered. For if wine only is offered, the blood of Christ begins to be without us.77 But if the water alone be offered, the people begin to be without Christ, but when both are mingled and are joined to each other by an intermixed union, then the spiritual and heavenly sacrament is completed.

st, we ought certainly to obey and do what Christ did, and what He commanded to be done, since He himself says in the Gospel: "If ye do whatsoever I command you, henceforth I call you not servants, but friends" [John 15:14 f.].... If Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, is Himself the chief priest of God the Father, and has first offered Himself a sacr

g sacrifices lest the taste of wine should be redolent of the blood of Christ.78 Therefore, thus the brotherhood is beginning to be kept back from the passion of Christ in persec

otherhood. But still it was not in the morning, but after supper that the Lord offered the mingled cup. Ought we, then, to celebrate the Lord's cup after supper, that so by continual repetition of the Lord's Supper we may offer the mingled cup? It was necessary that Christ should offer about the evening of the day, that the very hour

ing else than what He did. For the Scripture says: "For as often as ye eat this bread and [pg 237] drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's dea

piscopate i

According to his theory of the office, every bishop was the peer of every other bishop and had the same duties to his diocese and to the Church as a whole as every other bishop. No bishop had any more than a moral authority over any other. Only the whole body of bishops, or the council, could bring anything more than moral authority to bear upon an offending prelate. The constitution of the council was not as yet defined. In several points the ecclesiastical theories of Cypr

ly the following: 26:1 [33:1], 51:24 [55:24], 54:5 [59:5], 64:3 [3:3], [pg 238] 72:21 [73:21], 74:16 [75:16] (important for

stula 68, 8 [=66

nce you ought to know that the bishop is in the Church and the Church in the bishop; and that if any one be not with the bishop, he is not in the Church, and that those flatter themselves in vain who creep in, not having peace with G

arthage, A. D. 2

present. The full report of proceedings is to be found in the works of Cyprian. See ANF, V, 565, and Hefele, § 6. The theory of Cyprian which is here express

a bishop of bishops, nor by tyrannical terrors does any one compel his colleagues to the necessity of obedience; since every bishop, according to the allowance of his liberty and power, has his own proper right of judgment, and can no more

pistula 67:5.

ce of Basilides and Martial, who had lapsed in the persecution and had been deprived of their sees. The passage illustrates the methods of election and ordination of bish

own the life of each one, and have looked into the doings of each one as respects his manner of life. And this also, we see, was done by you in the ordination of our colleague Sabinus; so that, by the suffrage of the whole brotherhood, and by the sentence of the bishops who had assembled in their presence, and who had written letters to you concerning him, the episcopate was conferred upon him, and hands were imposed on him in t

g

of the Church an

f an order of the hierarchy. The former was the theory of the Roman bishops; the latter, the theory of Cyprian of Carthage, and possibly of a number of other ecclesiastics in North Africa and Asia Minor. Formerly polemical theology made the study of this point difficult, at least with anything like impartiality. In the passage given below from Cyprian's treatise

es an extract (n. 71), might be cited in this connection, but its force depends upon its origin. It is wholly uncertain that it was writ

lic? Ecclesi? Unitate

the Church's constitution, interpolations were early made in the text which seriously distort the sense. These interpolations are to-day abandoned by all scholars. The best critical edition of the works of Cyprian is by

ays, "As the Father has sent me, I also send you: receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye retain, they shall be retained" (John 20:21); yet, that He might show the unity, [He founded one see. Interpolation.] He arranged by His authority the origin of that unity as beginning from one. Assuredly the rest of the Apostles were also what Peter was, with a like partnership both of honor and power; but the beginning proceeds from unity [and the primacy is given to Peter. Interpolation.], that there might be shown to be one Church of Christ [and one see. And they are all shepherds, but the flock is shown to be one which is fed by the Apostles with unanimous consent. Interpolation.]. Whi

y a perfidious prevarication. The episcopate is one, each part of which is held by each one in its entirety. The Church, also, is one which is spread abroad far and wide into a multitude by an increase of fruitfulness. As there are many rays of the sun, but one

p. ad Cyprianum, in Cyprian,

of Dionysius to Sixtus of Rome, the successor of Stephen, in Eusebius, Hist. Ec., VII, 5. "He" (Stephen) therefore had written previously concerning Helenus and Firmilianus and all those in Cilicia, Cappadocia, Galatia, and the neighboring countries, saying that he would not communicate with them for this same cause: namely, that they

hat it has now happened through his unkindness [inhum

the present, lest, while we remember his audacity and pride, we bring

hem, and that all things are not observed there alike which are observed at Jerusalem; just as in very many other provinces also many things are varied because of the difference of places and names, yet on this account there is no departure at all from the peace and unity of the Catholic Church. And this departure Stephen has now dared to make; breaking the peace against you, w

ion of the Church was laid, should introduce many other rocks and establish new buildings of many churches, maintaining that there is a baptism in them by his authority; for those who are baptized, without doubt, make up

s' custom we oppose custom, but the custom of [pg 244] truth, holding from the beginning that which was delivered by Christ and the Apostles. Nor do we remember that this at a

at sin have you heaped up for yourself, when you cut yourself off from so many flocks! For it is yourself that you have cut off. Do not deceive yourself, since he is really the schismatic who has made himself an apostate from the commun

ently and meekly as not to receive them even to the speech of common conference; and, even more, so unmindful of love and charity as to command the whole brotherhood that no one should receive them into his house, so that not only peace and communion, but also a shelter and entertainment were denied to them when they came. This is to have kept the unity of the Spirit [pg 245] in the bond of peace, to cut himself off from the unity of love, and to make himself a stranger in all things to his brethr

rsy over Bapti

d and they be required to receive baptism on conforming if they had not previously been baptized within the Church? Was baptism outside the unity of the Church valid? Rome answered in the affirmative, admitting conforming schismatics without distinguishing as to where they had been baptized; North Africa answered in the negative and required not, indeed, a second baptism, but claimed that the Church's baptism was alone valid, and that if the person conformin

F, vol. V); Eusebius, Hist. Ec., VII, 7:4-6; Augustine, De

bianum, Ep. 73, 7 [=72

epistle may be fou

nted and showed the source of unity, the power, namely, that that should be loosed in heaven which he loosed on earth [John 20:21 quoted]. When we perceive that only they who are set over the Church and established in the Gos

trary to the testimony of the Apostle, who says that it will profit them nothing although they are burned and slain. But if not even the baptism of a public confession and blood can profit a heretic to salvation, because there is no salvation outside of the Church, how much less shall it benefit him if, in a hiding-place and a cave of robbers stained with the contagion of [pg 247] adulterous waters, he has not only not put off his old sins, but rather heaped up still newer and greater ones! Wherefore baptism cannot be

modest abilities, prescribing to none and prejudging none, so as to prevent any one o

um, Ep. 75 [=69]. (MSL,

and love of Christ, neither ought to be, nor can be, omitted from being counted among the adversaries and antichrists. For our Lord Jesus Christ, when He declared in His Gospel that those who were not with Him were His adversaries, did not point out any species of heresy, but showed that all who were not with Him, and who were not gathering with Him, were [pg 248] scattering His flock, and were His adversaries, saying: "He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth" [Luke 11:23]. Moreover, the blessed Apostle John distinguished no heresy or schi

eginnings o

these ascetics lived in close relations with those who were non-ascetics. Monasticism is an advance upon this earlier asceticism in that it attempts to create, apart from non-ascetics, a social order composed only of ascetics in which the ascetic ideals may be more succes

sium (ANF, VI, 309); the Lausiac History of Palladius, E. C. Butler, Texts and Studies, Camb

Antonii, 2-4, 44.

56, at the age of one hundred and five. His Life, by St. Athanasius, although formerly attacked, is a genuine, and, on the whole, trustworthy account of this remarkable man. It was written either 357 or 365, and was tran

sions and brought and laid them at the Apostles' feet for distribution to the needy, and what and how great a hope was laid up for them in heaven. While he was reflecting on these things he entered the church, and it happened that at that time the Gospel was being read, and he heard the Lord say to the rich man: "If thou wouldest be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor; and come and follow me and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." Anthony, as though G

mselves practised the ascetic discipline in solitude near his own village. Now there was in the next village an old man who had lived from his youth the life of a hermit. Anthony, after he had seen this man, imitated him in piety. And at first he began to abide in places outside the village. Then, if he heard of any good man anywhere, like the prudent bee, he went forth and sought him, nor did he turn back to his own place until he had seen him; and he returned, having got from the good man supplies, as it were, for his journey in the way of virtue. So dwelling there at first, he steadfastly held

usness of one, the unceasing prayer of another; he took knowledge of one's freedom from anger, and another's kindliness; he gave heed to one as he watched, to another as he studied; one he admired [pg 251] for his endu

o his narrative, in the form of a speech, a long account of the discipline laid down, probably by Antho

th holy bands of men who sang psalms, loved reading, fasted, prayed, rejoiced in the hope of things to come, labored in almsgiving, and maintained love and harmony with one another. And truly it was possible to behold a land, as it were, set by itself, filled with piety and justice. For then there was neither the evil-doer nor the injured, nor the reproaches of the tax-gatherer; but i

ncreased his discipline, and sighed daily as he thought of the mansions of heaven

g

Manich

re with Eastern Gnosticism. After 280 it began to spread within the Empire, and was soon opposed by the Roman authorities. Yet it flourished, and, like other Gnostic religions, with which it is to be classed, it assimilated more an

tine (PNF, ser. I, vol. IV), and Alexander of Lycopolis, On the Manich?ans (ANF, VI, 239). On Alexander of Lycopolis, see DCB. In the opinion of Barden

(Translation after

Nadim. In spite of its late date, it is the most important authority for the original doctrines of Mani and the facts o

Life o

elves, baptists, and of whom remnants are to be found in these parts and in the marshy districts at the present time. These belonged to that mode of life which Fatak had been commanded to follow. His wife was at that time pregnant with Mani, and when she had given him birth she had, as they say, glorious visions regarding him, and even when she was awake she saw him taken by some one unseen, who bore him aloft into the air, and then brought him down again; sometimes he remained even a day or two before he came down again. Thereupon his father sent for him and had him brought to the place where he was, and so he was brought up with him in his religion. Mani, in spite of his youthful age, spake words of wisdom. After he had completed his twelfth year there came to him, according to his statement, a rev

pon his head; and this was Sunday, the first day of Nisan (March 20, 241), when the sun stood in the sign Aries. He was accompanied by two men, who had alread

r Sapor. The Manich?ans relate: He thereupon entered where he was and on his shoulders were shining, as it were, two candles. When Sapor perceived him, he was filled with reverence for him, and he appeared great in his eyes; although he previously had determined to seize him and put him to death. After he had met him, therefore, the fear of him filled hi

nd among the inhabitants of Turkestan, and i

g

Teaching

h is given to show the mythological character of his speculation. The bulk of his doctrine was Persian and late Babylonian, and the Chri

Darkness. They are separated from each other. As to the Light, this is the First, the Mighty One, and the Infinite. He is the Deity, the King of the Paradise of Light. He has five members or attributes, namely, gentleness, wisdom, understanding, discretion,

sight. The members of the Light-Earth are the soft gentle breath, the wind, the light, the water, and the fire. As to the other O

between them and the Light touched the Darkness on its broad side. The Light is unlimited in its height, and also to the

d to get down into the deep, so that he continually brought ruin and destruction to every one who attempted to overmaster him. Next he hastened up on high and perceived the rays of light, but felt an aversion to them. Then when he saw how these rays by reciprocal influence and contact were increased in brilliancy, he became afraid and crept together into himself, member by member, and withdrew for union and strengthening back to his original constituent parts. Now once more he hastened back into the height, and the Light-Earth noticed the action of Satan and his purpose to seize and to attack and