HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON A THEOLOGY OF SUFFERING, PERSECUTION, AND MARTYRDOM Complete in eight chapters by Roy Stults, PhD “If here we suffer something for Christ, there we shall be blessed. For He tests us by the cross 1 and suffering, as gold is tested by fire by the Creator, Who out of nothing created the whole world. Blessed then we shall be if we persevere in the good to the end.” From a letter Jan Hus wrote to the people of Louny, after March 15, 1411, translated in Matthew Spinka, The Letters of John Hus.1 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ......................................................................................................... 1 Roy Stults, PhD ........................................................................................................................... 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................. 3 GENERAL INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 11 General Observations on Persecution and Martyrdom in the Early Church ...................................... 15 CHAPTER 1: CHRISTIANITY IN CONFLICT WITH ROMAN RELIGION ........................................... 19 The Clash between Christians and Rome .......................................................................................... 19 Aspects of Roman Religion ............................................................................................................... 20 The Expectations of Roman Authorities and People ......................................................................... 22 Points of Conflict............................................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 2: THE END OF THE FIRST CENTURY AND THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND ............. 28 Ignatius of Antioch ............................................................................................................................ 28 Letter to the Romans ...................................................................................................................................28 Letter to the Church at Smyrna ....................................................................................................................29 Letter to Polycarp ........................................................................................................................................30 Letter to the Ephesians ................................................................................................................................30 Ignatius’ Thoughts on Martyrdom .................................................................................................... 31 3 Clement of Rome .............................................................................................................................. 32 An Assessment of Clement’s Thoughts on Martyrdom ..................................................................................33 Aristides Presents His Case ............................................................................................................... 33 An Assessment of Aristides’ Apology ............................................................................................................34 CHAPTER 3: THE SECOND CENTURY .......................................................................................... 35 Martyrdom and Apologetics ............................................................................................................. 35 Justin Martyr: Where Apologetics and Martyrdom Converge ........................................................... 36 Justin Martyr’s First Apology ........................................................................................................................38 Justin Martyr’s Second Apology ....................................................................................................................41 Assessment of Justin’s Thought ....................................................................................................................41 Tatian of Assyria ............................................................................................................................... 42 An Assessment of Tatian’s Thought ..............................................................................................................43 The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus ............................................................................................... 43 Assessment of Mathetes’s Thought on Persecution ......................................................................................44 Minucius Felix ................................................................................................................................... 45 An Assessment of Octavius of Minucius Felix ................................................................................................46 Tertullian’s Thoughts on Persecution and Martyrdom...................................................................... 47 Tertullian’s Defense of the Christians Against the Heathen ...........................................................................49 Tertullian’s Scorpiace ...................................................................................................................................51 Tertullian’s Ad Martyrs ................................................................................................................................53 Tertullian’s Ad Nationes ...............................................................................................................................53 Assessment of Tertullian’s Thought on Persecution and Martyrdom .............................................................55 Athenagoras of Athens’ Thought on Persecution.............................................................................. 56 4 Assessment of Athenagoras’ Thought on Persecution...................................................................................58 Clement of Alexandria’s Perspective on Persecution and Martyrdom .............................................. 59 An Assessment of Clement of Alexander’s Thought on Persecution and Martyrdom .....................................61 Origen’s Thought on Persecution and Martyrdom ............................................................................ 62 Origen’s An Exhortation to Martyrdom .........................................................................................................63 Origen’s Response to The True Doctrine by Celsus ........................................................................................66 An Assessment of Origen’s Thought on Persecution and Martyrdom ............................................................68 CHAPTER 4: THIRD AND FOURTH CENTURIES ........................................................................... 69 Cyprian of Carthage’s Thought on Persecution and Martyrdom ....................................................... 69 Exhortation to Martyrdom ...........................................................................................................................70 Epistle VIII To the Martyrs and Confessors ....................................................................................................71 Epistle XXIV To Moyes and Maximus and the Rest of the Confessors ............................................................72 Epistle XXV Moyes, Maximus, Nicostatus and the other Confessors answer the forgoing letter (250) ............72 Epistle LXXVI Cyprian to Nemesianus and other Martyrs in the Mines ...........................................................73 Epistle LXXVII The Reply of Nemesianus, DatiVus, Felix, and Victor to Cyprian ...............................................74 Epistle LXXX Cyprian to Sergius, Rogatianus, and Other Confessors in Prison ................................................74 On the Lapsed Treatise 3 ..............................................................................................................................75 An Assessment of Cyprian’s Thought on Persecution and Martyrdom ...........................................................77 Athanasius: Persecution within the Church and State ...................................................................... 77 On the Incarnation .......................................................................................................................................78 Apology of our Holy Father Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria, in Vindication of His Flight, when He was Persecuted by Duke Syrianus .......................................................................................................................80 An Assessment of Athanasius’ Thought on Persecution and Martyrdom .......................................................81 Methodius of Olympus ..................................................................................................................... 81 5 Discourse on the Resurrection ......................................................................................................................82 Assessment of Methodius for a Theology of Persecution and Martyrdom .....................................................82 CHAPTER 5: FIFTH SIXTH, AND SEVENTH CENTURIES...............................................................