LESSON 15
Other developments of the Church during the apostolic age. Description of the different Churches with particular reference to those connected with St John. Judeo-Christianity. The spread of Christianity around 150 AD.
The Church, from the first moment it is revealed to us in the NT, is organised in a multitude of "churches", one church to each city. In each church there are two groups, the clergy, who preside over its affairs, offer the sacrifice, administer the sacraments, explain the teaching, etc., and the laity. This arrangement is established everywhere, with a uniform regularity that derives, obviously, from something that is not just chance. All is according to some single primitive pattern -the fundamental structure of the Church.
The clergy are chosen for their position by the whole local church from among the viri probati (literally, "tested men"), and they receive their spiritual powers by a ritual (the imposition of hands) from others who have already received these powers and the power to communicate them. There are 3 main degrees among the clergy. Each church is presided over by a single bishop (from the end of the first century at any rate). (Before then it is likely that the churches were ruled by colleges of 'bishops', under the surveillance of the Apostles.) The bishop is assisted by priests, for the spiritual administration, and deacons, whose main work is the care of the Church's property, distribution of alms, assistance of its poor, its widows and its orphans.
The various churches founded by an Apostle possessed an obvious unity in their relation to the common founder. For most of the affairs of life they were self-sufficing although communication between them was good (e.g., 'sharing' letters). Christians, members of one or other of the local churches, felt themselves to be, and were in fact, members of the great Church of which these were all cells, the "Catholic Church" as St Ignatius of Antioch called it around 107, in a phrase that has lasted. All were united in belief, in ritual, and in regulations that governed their daily life.
From very early on the Church at Rome had a pre-eminent place among the churches, as seen by Pope St Clement I intervening in the affairs of the Church at Corinth around the year 90, and a few years later St Ignatius of Antioch acknowledging her special place in his famous letters to the Churches. (Cf P Hughes, A Popular History of the Church, p 15. Cf also J Monforte, Getting to know the Bible, pp 117-121.)
In the Apocalypse of St. John, the Apostle addresses himself with authority to seven local churches of Asia Minor: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. The Navarre Bible commentary on the book of Revelation explains the situation of these different churches.
Among the early Churches were those connected with the Apostle John, e.g., the seven referred to by him in the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea (Rev 1:11). Ephesus, as we have already seen, was a commercial centre of considerable importance where the goddess Artemis, or Diana, was worshipped. Evangelised by Paul, according to tradition the Apostle John went to live in Ephesus, probably around the year 67 and possibly taking the Blessed Virgin with him.
The Church at Ephesus is praised in the Apocalypse for its endurance and for the resistance it has shown to false apostles, especially the Nicolaitans, a heretical sect difficult to identify, but who seem to have been arguing in favour of some degree of compromise with idolatry and pagan lifestyles.
Smyrna was also a port, renowned for its loyalty to Rome and its ritual worship of the emperor, where the Christians had to endure persecution and deprivation for their faith. They also had to bear with the lies spread by certain Jews, who accused them of being agitators against the civil authorities and against pagans in general.
Pergamum was known for its temples, including the first in Asia to the "divine Augustus" and "divine Rome". It was a place of pilgrimage where sick people flocked to the temple of Aesculapius, the god of health and miracles. As the name might imply, the city was noted for its great library and for its manufacture of parchment.
Thyatira was the least important of the seven Churches mentioned. It was known for smelting, weaving and dyeing. It had many craft guilds which organised festivities in honour of the gods, which posed problems for the Christians who felt obliged to take part.
Sardis was an important hub in the highway system. It was famous for its acropolis, which was located in an unassailable position. The inhabitants of the city have been described by secular writers as an immoral, licentious people. Philadelphia, in the province of Lydia, served as the gateway to all Phrygia. There was a sizeable and influential Jewish community there, many of whom would later become converts and recognise the Church.
Laodicea was a city on the border of Phrygia. The Church there is mentioned by St Paul when he suggests to the Colossians that they exchange their letter for the one he sent to the Laodiceans (cf. Col 4:16). There was no persecution of the Church here and the Christians were in a comfortable position. The prosperity the city enjoyed, with its flourishing trade and textile industry, may have contributed to the laxity and lukewarmness that the Church there is accused of. The presence of hot springs close to the city may account for the reference to tepidity and lukewarmness. Just as Israel had tended to become forgetful of Yahweh when living was easy so these early Christians are warned of the consequences of adopting an easy-going lifestyle.
From this we can see that the first Christians had to deal with problems and live and extend the faith in environments that were far from suited to the task. Nevertheless, they rose to the challenge aided by the Holy Spirit.
After receiving Baptism a good number of faithful Jews continued practicing the Jewish customs and following the indications of the Law of Moses. A number of them seem to have been closely grouped around St. James the Lesser, “ brother of the Lord” and Bishop of Jerusalem, an Apostle and pious traditional Jewish man from whom we have received a wonderful Epistle.
Some of them tried erroneously to impose on those coming from the Gentiles those traditional Jewish practices but the Council of Jerusalem of the year 50 solved the doctrinal aspects of the problem once and for all.
But not totally in practice. We know that many of the Judeo-Christians made St Paul suffer immensely, going to the Christian communities he had founded one by one, stirring controversy and confusing the spirits among the new Christians.
But God has his ways and after the Jewish Wars of the year 70 that ended in the destruction of the Temple, those tensions disappeared. When, in repression of the last Jewish revolt , Emperor Hadrian ordered sixty years later the complete destruction of Jerusalem and built on top of the ruins a new city, the Jewish Church became practically inexistent. (Cf J de Pedro, History of Salvation, manuscript)
At the same time there were reasons for the loss of Jewish influence within the Church at large.
While externally she had to endure the test of persecution; internally, the Church had to face the defence of the truth against ideologies which sought to undermine the basic dogmas of the Christian faith. One of these early heresies -the name given to these currents of ideas- was an heretical Judeo-Christianity, which denied the divinity of Christ and the redemptive effectiveness of his death: according to its followers, the messianic mission of Jesus consisted in bringing Judaism to perfection by complete observance of the Mosaic Law. (Cf J Orlandis, A Short History of the Catholic Church, p 22)
Christianity spread slowly and steadily, once "the days of Pentecost were accomplished". As it spread outwards, the Jewish nucleus from whose activities all this had sprung began to lose its importance. The divisions between those who wished to impose the whole Jewish Law on all Christians and those who, following St Paul, denied that this had any binding force, had already weakened Jewish Christianity when the Jewish War of 69-70 and the consequent destruction of the Temple, destroyed its material raison d'être. The Jewish Church had already shrunk to a handful of believers when, 60 years later, Hadrian's repression of the last Jewish revolt and the establishment on the ruins of the Holy City of the new town Aelia, into which no Jew might enter, destroyed it altogether as a church. (Cf J Orlandis, A Short History of the Catholic Church, pp 19-20)
J de Pedro summarises this period as follows:
In less than a hundred years, the Church spread far away from its origins. It had gone deep into the Nile valley; in Edessa,- northern Mesopotamia, for the first time a kingdom become officially Christian after its king converted; in northern Turkey Capadocia, large areas were almost totally Christian; in the Rhone Valley of France- Vienne- in Trace, and all central and northern Italy, Christianity had grown considerably and in South East Spain, Cyrene, the Delta of the Nile river, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor and Greece and around Rome, Christianity which had already been preached in the first century, was solidly implanted.
The majority of Christians were simple folks, but a number of wealthy Romans followed their example moved by their a pious and charitable life, and at the time of the persecutions we find martyrs among persons of high rank, like Flavia Domitila under Domitian and Retius of Lyon under Marcus Aurelius. In the second century the number of important people who became Christians increased considerably, including Senators like Apollonius, senior magistrates like the Consul Liberalis and intellectuals like Justin. They were still a minority in the Empire but a very active one.
Their apostolic work was carried mostly man to man, on personal and discrete bases, by way of friendship and confidence. The Christians lived in the world in the midst of pagans and had to undergo calumnies, tales of ritual crimes etc. Even the best of them, may suffer their colleagues and relatives commenting : “He is a real good fellow, but, what a pity that he is a Christian!” (Tertulian).
They met at times difficulties within their own families but even more in public life: teachers, (remember St Casian killed by his students), career officers, directors of festivals, army men, etc. were discriminated and even persecuted because of their faith and were naturally excluded of a number from professions like actors and actresses, gladiators, judges and magicians.
There were some heretics (not yet too many) and a few apostates, but above all there were many saints and martyrs, whose blood made the Church grow.