CHAPTER
IX
LITERARY ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANITY
Introduction
The persecutions against Christians were principally
the work of the state, yet, in fact, every social class took part in this
tragic and bloody persecution against the revealed religion of Christ. Paganism did not only persecute Christianity
with dispositions emanated from the state, but also availed itself of the arms
of the spirit, that is, very soon the pagan philosophers started a literary
attack against Christianity. The
Christians’ doctrine, their beliefs, their dogmas, their moral life, their
philosophy, everything Christian was attacked, ridiculed, despised by pagan
philosophers. The pagan philosophers who
considered the new philosophy of Christianity as a philosophy in opposition to
theirs, felt very soon impelled to express in writing their rejection of the
Christian religion.
The
pagans realized that sheer force, even if it were the might of the Roman
empire, could not fight against a determined spirit who did not want to submit
to violence. The human spirit, whenever
it remains determined against the brutal force of the state, most often becomes
victorious in a long and protracted fight.
History has shown that the power of the spirit of man cannot be subdued
by the power of arms. Even the most
formidable state remains defenseless in the sight of determined people who are
even ready to offer their lives for the defense of their freedom and religious
convictions. This was the case of
Christianity. Paganism could not
understand how the weak, the women, the slaves, the poor soldiers: the most
humble people of society could challenge the Roman authorities and, in spite of
the bloody persecutions, still grow in numbers and in influence. Hence, the need to look for some other arms
to fight them, the arms of the spirit and the written word. Pagan philosophy, so proud of its own
achievements, came out to fight Christianity.
Initially and from the philosophical point of view, Christianity was not
well prepared. Yet, through the apologists,
defenders of Christianity, and most especially through the heroic valor of the
Christian martyrs, the Gospel of Christ could not be stopped in its victorious
march. We have then, together with the
bloody fight the Literary Dispute.
The superiority
of the Christian religion was again manifested in this new fight, as it was
manifested in the daily life of the Christians.
Celsus’ True Discourse (AlhqhV LogoV) and His Fight Against
Christianity (2nd Century)
Christianity found a very dangerous
enemy in the pagan philosopher Celsus. He wrote a book entitled AlhqhV LogoV (True Discourse)
against the Christians around the year 178.
Celsus did not feel happy with the accusations against the Christians
current among his contemporaries. He
accepted them but he wanted to present a systematic work in which the Christian
religion would be subjected to the criticisms of philosophy and reason. In fact ever since Celsus, philosophy and
rationalism have not been able to add new objections against the Christian
religion.
We do not know who Celsus was. The few things that have come down to us are
from the Christian scholar Origen (185-254).
It seems that Celsus was an eclectic philosopher with Platonic
tendencies. He was a very erudite man,
well versed in the philosophy of his own times.
He had traveled extensively within the Roman Empire. He was a man of public affairs perhaps a
politician and one of the main purposes was to bring everybody to the
observance of laws and customs of the Romans.
We can gather from Origen that
Celsus was already active during the time of Emperor Hadrian (117-138) and this
activity extends as far as the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161-180).
The answer of Origen was quite
casual. A certain man named Ambrose became Christian due to the efforts of
Origen himself. He had been a Gnostic
and found the work of Celsus. He thought
of it as dangerous for Christianity, thus he asked Origen to present a
scientific refutation of it. Origen
presented the doctrine of Celsus in long original quotations of Celsus himself,
passing later to refute them. Thus, with
this method, we have almost complete the text of Celsus, especially in regard
to Celsus’ main objections against Christianity. For clarity’s sake we will divide them into
five headings.
a.
The Christians are enemies of the national
customs and culture.
Celsus
considered the Christians as men without country and motherland, enemies of the
civil and religious traditions of the Romans.
They are “new” men, coming together at night, in dark and hidden places.
Their propaganda extends more to women, slaves, poor, children and old people
than to powerful and intelligent people.
In Celsus’ opinion they defend ridiculous principles: “Do not try to
know, but simply believe (Noli inquirere, sed credere)”.
b.
Relations between Judaism and Christianity
He touches on the relations between Judaism and
Christianity. Celsus was intelligent
enough to realize the dependency of Christianity from Judaism, but most
especially he emphasized the points that divided Judaism from
Christianity. Thus in his work he
presents a Jew arguing against the Christians as apostates and schismatics from
Judaism. But his main point was not to
prove the superiority of Judaism over Christianity, but rather to present a
refutation of both Christianity and Judaism.
According to Celsus the books of the Old Testament have no
historical value. The narrations about
creation, the fall of the first parents, the great flood, the patriarchs and
the rest are puerile descriptions.
The people of Israel do not come from Abraham but rather
from a group of refugees from Egypt who settled down in Palestine. Moses has no originality in his laws. The faith of the Jews in a Messiah is
ridiculous and absurd because it is impossible for God to come down from
heaven.
c.
The Incarnation of Christ
In relation to the different truths of Christianity he has
many objections. The Incarnation of
Christ is ridiculous and repellent to God’s own nature and definition, as God
cannot be changed and moved.
On the other hand, why did God come down to earth? Because he lacked something? Because there was need for him there to solve
some problems? Perhaps to show his
goodness? If so, why did he wait for so
long? And why was he sent to miserable
people? Man was then more miserable than
insects.
Christ is the fruit of the adultery of Mary with a Roman
soldier called Panthera. Mary, due to
this fact, was divorced by Joseph and she fled to Egypt. Jesus there became a magician to deceive his
disciples and the people in general.
Christ’s life lacks originality.
If there is anything good in it comes from Plato. The Passion and Death of God are unworthy of
him. Hence repellent and unbelievable.
They are irrational.
d.
Divinity of Christ
The Christians adduced the prophecies and the miracles
performed by Jesus to prove his divinity.
Celsus rejects both the prophecies and the power of miracles using three
main arguments or theses.
The first one is rationalistic. Prophecies and miracles go against
reason. And he tries to prove this by
saying that prophecies go against freedom, for what was foretold had to
happen. This goes against freedom and
thus is irrational. Miracles, again go
against the balance of nature. They are
irrational.
The second proof against prophecies and miracles is taken
from paganism. The prophecies of
the Old Testament are also found in paganism, in their oracles. If so, prophecies prove nothing. As for miracles, they do not differ much from
those done by magicians in paganism and in mythology. They are the effect of the imagination. Christ’s resurrection is fantasy of women.
The third proof against prophecies and miracles is taken
from Judaism. If there are any
prophecies, they do not refer to Christ.
The same for miracles, if there are any they do not prove Christ’s
divinity.
e. Life
of the Christians
The Christians are rude, ignorant and idiot people. They belong to the lowest classes of society
and they do not get along well, as there are many sects among them. This is, incidentally, a proof of how strong
Gnosticism was during the second century, the times of Celsus.
The Christians make converts among women, slaves, soldiers
and the like, not among the learned and the philosophers.
The Jews and Christians’ presumption that they were the
only ones to have received revelation is ridiculous and preposterous. Hence, despicable. He compares them to insects eating
themselves.
As for the fortitude and courage to face death, this is
found also among pagans. The belief in an after-life is a
transformation of the myth of Tartarus and of the Champs Elysees. The resurrection is impossible.
f.
Conclusion
The logical conclusion of Celsus’s Alethes Logos
would seem to be this: the Christian religion must be extirpated. And yet, he proposes a new method and a new modus
vivendi. Celsus was an intellectual
and a man of public affairs. He saw the
Roman Empire already threatened and in danger of disruption. So he wanted to gain the Christians to his
cause, the cause of the Roman Empire. He
seemed to argue thus to the Christians: do not place yourselves outside the
Roman Empire, outside its laws and customs.
Come inside, be good citizens, help the Empire. If so, the Empire will help you and will
tolerate you.
We can see that Celsus had read some books of the Old
Testament, like Genesis, Exodus, and parts of Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Daniel. Without
any doubt also some of the New Testament, like Matthew, Luke and perhaps some
Jewish literature, hostile to Christianity.
He knew some Christian literature, like the so-called Epistle of
Barnabas and some works of Justin the Philosopher.
Celsus’ rejection of Christianity is systematic and
complete, from which the enemies of Christianity have taken their inspiration
and materials. He was thus able to
discover as early as his time, the second century, that Christianity meant the
death of paganism.
He often uses the argument from tradition, the so-called
argument from antiquity. Every nation
has its own traditions and culture, given and handed over from generation to
generation. Religion has also been
handed down through the centuries to the new generations. It has the seal of antiquity. It has been
tested. It has survived time. So, it is
true. Wisdom consists in the fidelity to
national and parental traditions.
The Christian religion is to be despised and rejected
because it has no tradition. Still more, it undermines all the traditional
institutions. It lacks the authority of
antiquity. So even from the political
point of view, Christianity is illegal.
Hence, the persecutions are justified.
Porphyry’s Polemic Against
Christianity (Third Century)
The
literary attack against Christianity in the third century, when the Christians
were already a sizable minority in the Roman Empire, was carried on by the
pagan philosopher Porphyry who towards the year 270 wrote a voluminous work
entitled: Kata Xristianwn
(Contra Christianos/ Against the Christians)”.
Life of Porphyry
Porphyry
was born towards the year 232 or 233 in Tyre, Phoenicia. According to some scholars, he comes from a
place near Caesarea in Palestine. As a
young man, he traveled extensively within the Roman Empire, especially Syria,
Palestine, Egypt. He seems to have had
certain contacts with Origen. In 263 he
came to Rome, where he became a disciple of Plotinus and became a
neo-Platonist. While in Rome he suffered
a nervous breakdown and thought of committing suicide. Plotinus dissuaded him and Porphyry again
traveled extensively.
We
do not know the reason of his hatred against the Christians, but according to
the Christian historian Socrates[1], a
Christian slapped him in Caesarea and Porphyry abandoned Christianity. Perhaps Porphyry was initially sympathetic to
Christianity or even was a catechumen, but he was not an apostate for he never
was a Christian. Whatever the reason, he
has a passionate hatred against the Christians and the Christian religion. He wrote Philosophy Derived From the
Answer of the Oracles and his Against the Christians.
Porphyry’s Objections Against Christianity
Porphyry’s
objections were many and more extensive than that of Celsus, as he was a better
philosopher. For clarity’s sake we can
classify them into five general headings:
1)
Idea of the Apostles and Evangelists
Porphyry’s general judgment is very severe. They were liars, inventors and deliberate
falsifiers. They were not good
historians. They invented the miracles
and the facts. This is his general
judgment.
In concrete, and related to the evangelists, he finds many contradictions
among them, especially the following:
o
The genealogy of Matthew and that of Luke are
different. So they are falsifiers.
o
St. John speaks of Jesus’ breast having been
transfixed by a lance; blood and water came out. This according to Porphyry does not happen in
(cadavers) dead bodies.
o
St. John’s sayings are against the Old Testamnet
and yet John says his testimony is true.
o
Lake Tiberias is called a sea. That is
false. The calming of the tempest is
false too, for in small lakes there are no tempests.
o
The descriptions of the passion of Christ given
by the four evangelists do not coincide.
So their testimonies are false.
Related to the
apostles he says that they are rude, ignorant and their testimonies
contradictory. In concrete, and
regarding Peter, he extols:
o
The denial of Christ (three times); the killings
of Saphira and Ananias.
o
He furthermore says that Peter had always with
him a woman. It seems that Porphyry
realized well Peter’s eminent place in the Church and that to him the power of
the keys had been given. Hence he tries
to discredit him by all means.
Regarding Paul,
Porphyry says that:
o
He was an enemy of Hellenistic culture. He extols Paul’s rebuke against Peter in
Antioch. He is the first pagan to use
this episode. In fact the Paulinismus of
the school of Tubinga has its first basis on Porphyry.
2)
Porphyry’s Judgment of the Old Testament
For Porphyry, Moses did not write all the so-called Mosaic writings, as
some of them were written eleven centuries after him. He denies any value to Daniel’s prophecies.
3)
Idea of Christ
What was
Porphyry’s opinion of Jesus Christ?
Historians tend to say that Porphyry’s opinion was not too bad. He hated the Christians but his hatred is not
extensive of Christ. Perhaps initially
Porphyry was sympathetic to Christ, but later on hardened his opinion on him
due to his experiences with Christians.
Whatever his opinion of Christ was, Porphyry could not quite accept and
understand some teachings of Christ, especially the following:
o
The humble birth of Jesus, in an obscure place
and in a manger.
o
That Christ did not jump from the pinnacle of
the temple when tempted by the Devil.
o
That after his resurrection he showed himself to
the women and not to Pilate and Herod.
o
His silence in front of the judges.
o
The comparison of God’s kingdom to a mustard
seed.
o
These words of Christ: “I came to evangelize the
poor people.” He seems to object that
for Christians the criterion is not virture by poverty.
o
These other words: “I came to call sinners…”
o
And these words: “I praise you, Lord God Almighty,
because you have hidden these things from the wise and powerful and have
revealed them to the little ones.”
In general, Porphyry cannot tolerate anything in Christ’s life related to
poverty and humility. This is due to the
basic assumptions of Platonic religiosity and mysticism. For Platonism the attainment of God is
realized by contemplation of divine ideas, by abstraction from the sensible
world, through a jump into the world of archetypes and through an understanding
of the principles until we come to the first principles. And this is a task reserved to very few
people and surely not to little ones, ignorant and poor people.
4)
His Judgment of Christian Dogma and Belief
He treats different Christian doctrines and tries to refute them. Thus we have his opinion on the following
doctrines:
o
Resurrection: This is something
absurd. For neo-Platonist Philosophy the
body is something evil, as it is material and keeps the soul in captivity. The resurrection would be a return to slavery.
o
Incarnation: Again this is an absurd
doctrine, because God is pure spirit and cannot be destroyed by coming down to
live in a human body. Porphyry here could not understand God’s intervention in
man’s history to elevate him. Man must
elevate himself by his own powers and through the search and knowledge of
truth. Sin is nothing but ignorance and
ignorance can be overcome by intellectual activity, without God’s intervention.
o
Redemption: Once again this is absurd, as God cannot
suffer. Death upon a cross is unworthy
of God.
o
Eucharist: This is nothing more than mere
anthropophagy or cannibalism.
5)
Porphyry’s Judgment on the Church of His Time
Porphyry is a wonderful witness to the life and vitality of the Christian
Church in the third century and to some of the problems besetting her, both
from within and without. Whether he was
a catechumen or not, we do not know, but Porphyry had a great knowledge of the
Christian Church.
Precisely he accepts the fact that Christianity has been preached already
to the four corners of the world and yet the end of the world has not come, as
the Christians were expecting. So
Christianity is false.
Another point is regarding the fact that in his time there were already Christian
basilicas, as we also know from Eusebius.
The Christians were divided into two general segments.
He writes about the custom of the Christians to have virgins consecrated
to God, and that the custom was extensive and much appreciated.
Regarding the martyrs he is a first-class witness as he tells us that
Christians were put to death for their religion and this in large bumbers.
Celsus and Porphyry were proud of the achievements of Hellenism and of
pagan philosophy. Their main thesis was
to dissuade the pagans, especially the learned ones, from falling into
Christianity. Their defense of paganism
is more an attempt to discredit Christianity than a real philosophical defense
of paganism as such.
Pagan Philosophy and Religious Syncretism
Pagan
philosophy, especially Neo-Platonism, tried to keep the pagans away from
Christianity. This neo-Platonist school
was founded in Alexandria by Ammonius Sacca (d. ca. 243)
Neo-Platonism,
systematically developed in Rome by his principal representative Plotinus
(ca. 204-270), by his disciple Porphyry, already mentioned (d. ca. 303),
by Tamblichus (d. ca. 330) and later by Proclus of Athens (d.
485), acquired a great importance not only for paganism, but also for Christian
theology, especially for St. Augustine and the Pseudo-Dionysius and through
them for the Middle Ages. Neo-Platonism
presents a strong religious interest; not only this, in its substance it is an
idealistic philosophy and, through its allegorical interpretation and stress on
ascetics and ecstasies, tries to unify and justify the gross polytheism of
those times, and it tries, too, to give a certain satisfaction to the superior
religious exigencies and to create, in this way, a kind of pagan pietism
opposed to Christianity.
But
Neo-Platonism soon came into conflict with Christianity, notwithstanding the
similarity of certain ideas and aspirations (let us not forget that it played a
great role in the persecution of Diocletian).
This pagan
pietism was current even before the birth of neo-platonism, as we see in the Meditations
of Marcus Aurelius and the growth of a kind of syncretistic religion during the
first half of the third century. During
the 1st and 2nd centuries we find an irruption of
oriental religions into the Roman world, especially during the epoch of the
so-called Antonine Emperors.[2] The hearts and minds of people found no
satisfaction in the external religion of the Roman Empire. People searched for interiority and
meaning. They felt the problem of
religion. It was here where
neo-platonism and the growth of religious syncretism posed a threat and a
danger to Christianity. Why go to
Christianity, with its emphasis on mystical experience and unity with God, if
paganism can offer the same? Why feel
drawn to Christ and his extraordinary life, if paganism can present another
wonder-worker?
This was
precisely what the neo-pythagorean philosopher Flavius Philostratus, tried to
do during the first half of the third century under the inspiration of Julia
Domna, wife of Septimius Severus (193-211).
This lady invited to her palace the learned people of her times, one of whom
was Flavius Philostratus (ca. 175-249).
She asked him to write the life of Apollonius of Thyana, which is
nothing else than an attempt to create a syncretistic religion. This Apollonius of Thyana is, without any
doubt, a historical person (1st century) born in Thyana,
Cappadocia. He was a Pythagorean
philosopher who searched for wisdom in all philosophical schools and religions
and found it in Pythagoreanism. He died
during the reign of Nerva (96-97) or Trajan (98-117).
Philostratus, in
his Life of Apollonius of Thyana, makes him a great traveler, taking him
to Babylon and even India, to listen to the wisdom of Indian philosophers. He traveled in the West, in Ephesus, Troas,
Pergamum, Athens, Rome and other less important places. He gave his whole life to the search of
wisdom and virtue and even had miraculous powers. In Rome he was persecuted by Nero and had to
flee the city. He went to Gaul and
Spain. He returned to the East, to
Alexandria. In Syria, he met Vespasian
(69-79), not yet an emperor, and there foretold him his accession to the
empire. He became an adviser to Titus
(79-81). Under Domitian (81-96) he was
imprisoned but escaped. In Ephesus he
told the people about the assassination of Domitian at the same time that it
was happening in Rome. During his life
he went down to hell and there he was given an answer that Pythagoreanism is
the best philosophy. When he was in a
temple, among a choir of girls, he was taken up to heaven. After his death he appeared to some people,
to convince them of the immortality of the soul. He performed many miracles.
Philostratus’ Life
of Apollonius is not a historical work but a novel, a romance. His purpose was to prove that Apollonius was
not a magician but god. Furthermore, he
wanted to present a kind of pagan gospel against the Christian gospel. This Apollonius would be the counterpart of
the historical Jesus given to us by Christianity. It is strange that in all those many places
Apollonius visits he never meets a Christian.
This is suspicious, for a great deal of Apollonius’ life resembles the
life of Jesus as given in the gospels.
Let us see the parallelisms now:
Gospels
Life of Apollonius
Jesus, as a boy of twelve, went
to the temple and he disputed with the Doctors of the Law, who could not
understand his wisdom.
Apollonius, as a lad of sixteen,
was teaching in Greece (Aegea). He
attracted many people due to his wisdom.
The apostles did not understand
Jesus. They abandoned him.
Apollonius was abandoned by many
of his disciples when he set for India and Rome.
Jesus raised back to life the
daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Naim.
Apollonius raised to life a dead
girl. This narration has a great
similarity with that of the Gospels.
Philostratus doubts about the death of the girl.
The disciples did not believe
Jesus was raised from death, unless they touched him.
After Apollonius’ liberation from
prison, his disciples did not believe him until they touched him.
Acts of the Apostles
Life of Apollonius
St. Paul converted to Christianity Sergius Paulus.
Apollonius converted consul Telesinum.
The apostles were given the gift of tongues during
Pentecost.
Apollonius understood all languages.
Peter was liberated from prison by an angel.
Apollonius frees himself from Domitian’s prison.
Christ ascends into heaven.
Final apotheosis of Apollonius.
Philostratus
did not want to write a direct polemic work against Christianity. In fact, no mention is made in Apollonius’
Life, of Christ or of Christianity, but the similarities are so many that this
cannot be assigned to chance. He wanted
to present a pagan Christ, a Hellenistic Christ, a wonder-worker, a
miracle-worker. Apollonius was not a
magician but a god, worthy of cult and worship.
The implication would be this: why go to Christianity and Christ if
paganism has produced also a wonder-worker?
And in fact, at the beginning of the 4th century, the
neo-platonist philosopher Hierocles, the instigator of the persecution of
Diocletian and Galerius, proposed the cult of Apollonius in opposition to that
of Christ and said there was no need to accept Christ’s divinity on account of
his miracles because Apollonius performed similar miracles.
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