CHAPTER
IV
THE
SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY
IN
THE ANCIENT WORLD
Introduction
The
great missionary journeys of St. Paul and the wonderful work of Peter and the
rest of the apostles make us think of the extraordinary spread of Christianity
and its establishment in most of the Roman provinces in apostolic times (cf. Rom
1,8; Col 1,6,23), while in the rest of the known world its spread was
slow and more difficult.
In
the most important cities of the Roman Empire we find Christian communities of
considerable size. For a very long time
Christianity continued to be substantially a religion for the cities,
and only slowly and with much difficulty did Christianity establish itself in
the countryside. The first groups came
from the Jews of the diaspora and from the pagans, the “devout men who
feared God” (Cf. Acts 10,2) (viri religiosi et timentes Deum).
The
new religion took root in the middle and low classes of
society: artisans, traders, soldiers, slaves and among women. We find, however, from the very beginning,
rich Christians, learned and high people among the faithful, as we can see from
the Acts of the Apostles (Sergius Paulus: Areopagus) and from the
Pauline Letters. From the end of the 2nd
century the number of learned and important Christians grew and even people
belonging to the Roman nobility, to the Roman Army and officials of the Empire
became Christians. Tertullian (ca.
155-228) says: “we are but of yesterday and we fill your towns, your islands, even
your camps and your palaces, the Senate and the forum; we have left you only
your temples.” By the year 250
Christianity was so widely extended that the universal and ferocious
persecutions which began at this time could not hinder its final victory.
By
the beginning of the fourth century, out of a possible population of 50 or 60
million in the Roman Empire, the number of Christians may have been seven or
eight million (ca.); most of them in the East.
The Christians were particularly strong in Asia Minor, Greece, Syria,
Armenia, Egypt and in some regions in Central and Northern Italy, in North-West
Africa, in Spain and in Gaul. Clement of
Alexandria and Origen, and still more the Church Fathers of the 4th
and 5th centuries saw in this wonderful and rapid expansion of
Christianity, among the many obstacles and difficulties, a clear proof of its
supernatural origin. In fact, for them
this was the literal fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy: the grain of mustard seed
had become a tree, which had began to cover the earth.
Major External Causes for the
Rapid Diffusion of Christianity
We
are not well informed in general about this mysterious expansion, about the
external diffusion of this new reality that was Christianity. All we know is that its spread surprisingly
fast, even in the face of the mightiest opposition.
When
we proceed to enumerate the “causes” of this rapid diffusion of Christianity we
must never lose sight of a mysterious reality behind everything. We cannot answer this question on the causes
of this rapid diffusion of Christianity just by citing three or four sentences
continuously repeated. It is possible to
bring in some concrete historical facts, but the total process in which
numberless causes operate and actuate at the same time. But, in fact, this growth proves the truth of
one of the most important theological principles, “gratia praesupponit
naturam.” That is, the decisive thing is the divine grace; yet grace does
not work by chance or magic, but orderly, in accordance with the natural
realities.
With
this brief introduction let us now examine the “external realities” that
favored the rapid diffusion of Christianity or those that actually promoted its
advance. Some of the most important have
been mentioned already in the chapter dealing with the State of the World at
the time of Jesus. In this chapter on
the diffusion of Christianity we will follow the noted and famous Protestant
historian Adolf Harnack.[1]
Harnack mentions a number of causes, external to Christianity, that greatly
helped in the spreading of the Christian religion. These were the following:
.
The Hellenization of the East
The
“Hellenizing of the East,” (in part also) of the West, which had gone on
steadily since Alexander the Great; or, the comparative unity of language
and ideas which this Hellenizing process had produced. Not until the close of the second century AD
does this Hellenizing process appear to have exhausted itself, while in the
fourth century, when the seat of the empire was shifted to the East the
movement acquired a still further impetus in several important directions. As Christianity allied itself very quickly
though incompletely to the speech and spirit of Hellenism, it was in a position
to avail itself of a great deal in the success of the latter. In return it furthered the advance of
Hellenism and put a check to its retreat.
The World-Empire of Rome
The
world-empire of Rome and the political unity which it secured for nations
bordering on the Mediterranean; the comparative unity secured by this
world-state for the methods and conditions of outward existence, and also the
comparative stability of social life.
Throughout many provinces of the East, people felt the emperor really
stood for peace, after all the dreadful storms and wars; they hailed his law as
a shelter and a safeguard. Furthermore,
the earthly monarchy of the world was a fact which at once favored the
conception of the heavenly monarchy and conditioned the origin of a Catholic
or Universal Church.
Rapid Communication
The
exceptional facilities, growth, and security of international traffic:
the admirable roads, the blending of the different nationalities; the
interchange of wares and of ideas; the personal intercourse; the ubiquitous
merchant and soldier – one may add the ubiquitous professor, who was to be
encountered from Antioch to Cadis, from Alexandria to Bordeaux. The Church thus found the way paved for
expansion; the means were prepared and the population of the large towns was a
heterogeneous and devoid of a past as could be desired.
The Acceptance of the
Essential Unity of Mankind
The
practical and theoretical conviction of the essential unity of mankind, and of
human rights and duties, which was produced or at any rate intensified, by the
fact of the “Orbis Romanus” on the one side and the development of
philosophy upon the other, and confirmed by the truly enlightened system of
Roman jurisprudence, particularly between Nerva and Alexander Severus. On all essential questions the Church had no
reason to oppose, but rather to assent to, Roman law, that grandest and most
durable product of the empire.
The Birth of Democratic Ideas
The
decomposition of ancient society into a democracy; the gradual equalizing of
the “Cives Romani” and the provincials, of the Greeks and the barbarians; the
comparative equalizing of classes in society; the elevation of the slave class,
in short, a soil prepared for the growth of the new formations by the
decomposition of the old.
Religious Policy of Rome
The religious policy of Rome, which furthered the
interchange of religions by its toleration, hardly presented any obstacles to
their natural increase or transformation or decay, although it would not stand
any practical expression of contempt for the ceremonial of the State-religion. The liberty guaranteed by Rome’s religious
policy on all other points was an ample compensation for the rough check
imposed on the spread of Christianity by her vindication of the State-religion.
The Existence of Associations
and Organizations
The
existence of associations, as well as of municipal and provincial
organizations: in several respects the former had prepared the soil for the
reception of Christianity, while in some cases they probably served as a
shelter for it. The latter actually
suggested the most important forms of organization in the Church and thus saved
her the onerous task of first devising such forms and then requiring to commend
them.
The Irruption of Syrian and
Persian Religions
The irruption of the Syrian and Persian religions
into the empire dated especially from the reign of Antoninus Pius. They had certain traits in common with
Christianity, and although the spread of the Church was at first handicapped by
them, any such loss was amply made up for by the new religious cravings which
they stirred within the minds of men – cravings which could not finally be
satisfied apart from Christianity.
All these outward conditions … brought about a great
revolution in the whole human existence under the empire, a revolution which
must have been highly conducive to the spread of the Christian religion. The narrow world had become a wide world; the
rent world had become a unity; the barbarian world had become Greek or Roman;
one empire, one universal language, one civilization, a common development
towards monotheism, and a common yearning for saviors.
.
The Major Internal Causes for
the Rapid Diffusion of Christianity
We
have to look for some internal causes to be found in Christianity itself. Is it possible for us, so far away from the
events and facts, to pinpoint the internal causes of this unparalleled
diffusion? Is there anything inherent to
Christianity itself favoring the unstoppable expansion of early Christianity?
Indeed,
there are many causes inherent to Christianity.
A good historian must not conform himself with external causes,
forgetting the basic historical reasons explaining any historical event. In the case of Christianity’s marvelous
expansion in the Roman empire, the cause has to be found in Christianity
itself.
Among
the forces of attraction inherent to Christianity we find above all:
The Force of the Truth
The
force of the truth which proved all the more effective since the Gospel so far
surpassed in contents and understanding all the wisdom of the world and gave an
answer to the problems that perennially torment the human spirit, such as, a)
the problem of God, b) the immortality of the soul [If man dies shall he live
again?] c) the meaning of human life [Where do we come from? Where are we going
to?] d) the problem of retribution.
Christianity won over to its cause men who like Justin (ca. 100-168),
Tatian (ca. 120-183) and Dionysius had made all the necessary efforts to
discover the truth in the different systems of pagan wisdom, but all was in
vain. As St. Justin rightly says, (Dial,
8) they discovered in Christianity the only true philosophy on which to hope,
the only one to be put into practice.
Christ’s
doctrine was, for the pagans, something absolutely new and unheard of. Christianity gave and offered them “the
Gospel of the Savior and of Salvation, the Gospel of love and fraternal help,
the religion of the spirit of fortitude, of moral behavior and holiness, the
religion of authority and reason, of mysteries and transcendent revelations,
the message of the new people and of the third kind of men, the religion of the
book and of the historical realization” (A. Harnack; cfr. Bihlmeyer, o.c. p.
95). The followers of Christ were
convinced that their religion was totally new and something extraordinary had
happened with the advent of Christianity, so that the old criteria of values
were destroyed. Ignatius of Antioch
(ca. 35-107) declares (Rom. 3, 3): “Christianity is not the work of
human persuasion but of divine greatness, for that it is hated the world over.”
The Gift of Charisms
We
must not forget the gift of charisms in the primitive Church (1 Cor. 12-14),
first of all that of curing the sick and the expulsion of demons,
the gift of tongues and many more extraordinary miracles which gave
testimony to the truth (Justin, Apol. II, 6; Dial. 127; Adv. Haer.
II, 32, 4); Tert., Apol. 23; De Anima 47; Origen, Contra
Celsum I, 6, 46; IIIm 28; Cyprian, Ad Donatum 5; Eus. H.E.,
V, 3, 4).
The Life and Fervor of the
First Christians
A
great importance in the rapid expansion of Christianity has the life and
fervor of the faith of the first Christians. Men and women, noble and plebeian, free and
slave, learned and ignorant, rich and poor, officials, magistrates, traders,
and soldiers: all of them felt the need of expanding and spreading Christianity
like apostles. According to the
primitive Christian conception every Christian must be a missionary of his
faith in virtue of the grace and duty conferred upon him in baptism.
Not
only Christian writers, but also pagans [Pliny the Younger (62-120), Celsus,
(II cent.), Galenus (ca. 129-200), the Emperor Julian the Apostate, (361-63)]
testify that:
a.
The life of the Christians as such was a most eloquent
sermon in that pagan atmosphere and that the example of their virtues procured
for the Church many new converts.
b.
The severe customs, their chastity, their fraternal
love and admirable charitable activities were bright lights in that dark and
obscure background which was the pagan world, the pagan society, filled with
vices, with mutual aversion and hate.
The Christian
apologists of the 2nd century, such as Aristides (c. 15,16) and the
author of the Letter to Diognetus, speak of the wonderful life of the
Christians. But not only these
apologists, but also men like Tertullian (ca. 155-228) (Apol. 39),
Minucius Felix (Octavius, p.31). According to Origen, (185-254) in his Contra
Celsum (III, 29) the Christians, in comparison to the pagan masses, were
“authentic celestial stars on earth.”[2] St. Justin (100-168), rightly believes that
the wonderful examples given by the Christians were the motives why many people
embraced Christianity (cfr. Apol. I, 16). Tertullian, (Apol. 39) reminds us of
the common pagan exclamation despising the Christians: “Look how they love one
another and are ready to die for one another.”
The Emperor Julian, the Apostate (361-363) (Epistula, 49), said
that the rapid diffusion of Christianity was due to its charitable work, to the
care given to the dead and to the holy life (in his eyes hypocrisy) of the followers
of Christ.
Martyr’s Heroism
One of the main and decisive arguments for conversion
was, however, the strength and fortitude of the Christians during persecution
and above all, the martyr’s heroism.
These people were ready to suffer anything, even death for Christ. The great Apologist St. Justin (100-168) (Apol.
II, 12), testifies that this fortitude of the Christians had broken in him the
conviction of their guilt and, in the end, had moved him to become a Christian.
Y es asi yo mismo,
cuando seguia la doctrina de platon, oia las calumnias contra los cristianos;
pero, ai ver como iban intrépidamente a la muerte y a todo lo quer se tiene por
espantoso, me puse a reflexionar ser imposible qué tales hombres vivieran en la
maldad y en el amor de los placeres.
Porque qué hombre, amador del placer, que intemperante y que tenga cosa
buena devorar carnes humanas, pudiera abrazar alegremente la muerte, que ha de
privarle de sus bienes, y no trataria más bien por todos los medios de
prolongar indefinidamente su vida presente y ocultarse a los gobernantes,
cuante menos soñar en deleitarse a si mismo para ser muerto?
The great Tertullian, writing to
the pagan proconsuli exclaimed: “Afflict us, torment us, crucify us, - in
proportion as we are mowed down, we increase; the blood of Christians is a
seed” (Apol. 50), “Cruciate, torquete, damnate, atterite nos;…plures
efficimur, quotiens metimur a vobis; semen est sanguis Christianorum.” And
not only St. Justin and Tertullian, but also most of the Fathers and Christian
writers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries (Acta Apolloni
24; Adv. Haer. IV, 33, 9; Ep. Ad Diog. 7; Origen, Contra
Celsum, VII, 26). Lactantius
(245-338) the great African Christian writes: “Augetur religio Dei, quanto
magis premitur.” (Inst. V, 19, 9) “The religion of God grows the
more it is persecuted.”
[1] The
Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries,
Chicago, 1961.
[2]
Cf. St. Paul, Philippians 2, 15: “Do all things without grumbling that
you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst
of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the
world.”
