The Gnostic Sects and the Roman Empire

W. H. C. Frend

doi:10.1017/S0022046900068068

The Gnostic Sects and the Roman Empire

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011

W. H. C. Frend

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W. H. C. Frend: Affiliation:
S. A. Cook Bye-Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

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Two generations of lawyers and historians of the early Church have worked over the scanty evidence bearing on the legal and political relations between the first Christian communities and the Roman Empire. It is not the intention of the present writer to add to the enormous volume of work on the subject. The results of their battles have been ably summarised by A. N. Sherwin-White, and with his conclusions the legal problem may be allowed to rest until new evidence is forthcoming. The object of this paper is to look at the question from another point of view, and to ask who were the sufferers, and in particular, who were martyred in the period before the first general persecution under Decius. Were Polycarp, Justin, Blandina and the rest chance victims of private denunciation and the fury of the mob, or did they represent a tradition of belief in which martyrdom became the climax of earthly life? And what of those who obeyed the precept to flee during persecution? Was their action due to cowardice, or was it the belief that martyrdom was not the will of God? Can we see in the controversy over martyrdom which engaged so much of Tertullian's energies, one more phase in the strife between the orthodox and gnostic concepts of Christianity, on the outcome of which so much in the future of the Church depended? What, in fact, was the relationship between the Gnostics and the Roman authorities?

Type: Research Article
Information: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , April 1954 , pp. 25 - 37

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046900068068 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1954

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^{page 25 note 1} Sherwin-White, A. N., ‘The Early Persecutions and Roman Law Again,’ Journal of Theological Studies, N.S. iii. 2 (Oct. 1952), 199–213CrossRef Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 2} Eusebius, Hist. Ecc, iii. 36. 1 and v. 24. 16.

^{page 25 note 3} Pseudo-Tertullian, Adversus omn. haer. 8. (ed. Kroymann, C.S.E.L. xlvii. p. 225). See Kidd, B. J., A History of the Church to A.D. 461, Oxford, 1922, i. 355Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 4} Polycarp, Ep. ad Philipp., x. 2. = I Peter ii. 12.

^{page 26 note 1} Eusebius, Hist. Ecc, iv. 15. 26 and 29.

^{page 26 note 2} ‘To apostates let there be no hope and the kingdom of pride do thou quickly root out in our days. And let the notzrim (Christians) and minim (heretics) perish in a moment.’ Statement by Rabbi Samuel the Small, quoted from Lukyn Williams, Adversus Judaeos, Cambridge 1935, 32. See also Acts xxiv. 5.

^{page 26 note 3} Text in Krüger, G. and Knopf, R., Ausgewählte Märtyrerakten, Tübingen 1929, 18–28Google Scholar; and Eusebius, Hist. Ecc, v. 1. The martyrdoms took place at the Festival of the Three Gauls for the worship of Augustus on 1 August. See B. J. Kidd, History of the Church to A.D. 461, i. 250.

^{page 26 note 4} Paganism was still a living force in Vienne at the end of the fourth century when St. Martin baptised Foedula there. It was predominant in the surrounding countryside up to the end of the fourth century. Irenaeus, Adv. Haereses (ed. Harvey) Proemium 3, and iv. 38. 2 indicates the formidable difficulties in the way of proselytising in Gaul. See also, Mâle, F., La Fin du Paganisme en Gaule, Paris 1950, 10–35Google Scholar.

^{page 26 note 5} Eusebius, Hist. Ecc, v. 1. 55.

^{page 27 note 1} Op. cit., 1.26.

^{page 27 note 2} Resch, G., ‘Das Aposteldecret,’ Texte und Untersuchungen, N. F. xiii. 2 (1905), 148Google Scholar.

^{page 27 note 3} Tertullian, Apol. ix: Minucius Felix, Octavius (ed. Glover and Rendall), 30. 6.

^{page 27 note 4} Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. v. 28. 3. For Jewish Millenarist hopes in the first century a.d., see The Book of the Secrets of Enoch (ed. Morfill and Charles), c. 33.

^{page 27 note 5} Eusebius, Hist. Ecc, v. iii. 4.

^{page 27 note 6} Et Judaeos quidem jam non esse dicunt, Christianos autem nondum.

^{page 27 note 7} Galen, De Pulsuum Differentiis (ed. Kuehn), ii. 4. and iii. 3. See Walzer, R., Galen on Jews and Christians, Oxford 1952, 14 and Ch. iiiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 27 note 8} Spartian, Vita Severi, 17. 1.

^{page 27 note 9} Lampridius, Vita Alexandri Severi, 22. 4. It is interesting too, to find that the first known Christian church, that at Doura built circa 230, should have been modelled on a synagogue.

^{page 27 note 10} Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. iii. 6. 1; i. 13. 4: τν χουσν τν φβον το θεο.

^{page 27 note 11} Irenaeus, Adv. Haeres. i. 13. 1 and 7: P.G. vii, 577 and 592.

^{page 27 note 12} Eusebius, Hist. Ecc, v. 1. 14: πε σημοσα κελυαεν γεμ$ν ναζητεῖσθαι, πντας μς. This of course, was contrary to the general practice ordered by Trajan ‘conquirendi non sunt.’

^{page 28 note 1} Tertullian, Scorpiace adversus Gnosticos 1 (ed. Reifferscheid and Wissowa C.S.E.L. XX). I have used Roberts and Donaldson's translation.

^{page 28 note 2} Ibid. 1: tunc Gnostici erumpunt, tune Valentiniani proserpunt, tunc omnes martyriorum refragatores ebulliunt.

^{page 28 note 3} Rev. ii. 13–17.

^{page 28 note 4} Quoted from Roberta's translation, The Writings of Irenaeus, ii. 11–12.

^{page 29 note 1} 1 Clement, Stromata, iv. 16.3 (ed. Stählin, ii. 256). Cf. Tertullian, De Fuga, 1.

^{page 29 note 2} In Rome, Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. i. 25. 6 (Carpocratians). In Africa, Tertullian, De Praescriptione, 1. In Egypt, see H. Leclercq, ‘Gnosticisme’, Dict. d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, vi. i., col. 1350.

^{page 29 note 3} Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. i. 20. 1. Hippolytus, Refutatio (ed. Wendland), v. 23. 2; cf. Epiphanius, Panarion, xxvi. 8. 1.

^{page 29 note 4} Note the very interesting remark made by Celsus in his discussion on the Gnostic sects, cited in Origen, Contra Celsum, v. 64: πντων δ φησν, κοσῃ τν π τοσοτον διεστηκτων κα σφς αὐτοὺς ταῖς ἔρισιν αἴσχιστα σιελεγχντων, λεγντων τἜμοι κσμος σταρωται, κγὼ κσμῳ.

^{page 29 note 5} Ed. Robinson, J. A., Cambridge Texts and Studies, i. 4, 1891Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 6} Clement, Eclogae propheticae, 25. 1 (ed. Stählin, iii. 143) on the Carpocratians sealing their ears. Cf. Celsus in Origen, (ed. Koetschau) Contra Celsum v. 64.

^{page 29 note 7} Nock, A. D., ‘The Genius of Mithraism,’ Journal of Roman Studies, xxvii. 1. (1937), 108–113CrossRef Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 8} Justin, Dialogus 70. 1. Tertullian, De Corona 15 and De Praescriptione, 40. Celsus in Origen, Contra Celsum, vi. 22.

^{page 29 note 9} I am accepting the views of Anz, W. in the still valuable study ‘Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Gnosticismus’, Texte und Untersuchungen, xv, 1897, 93 fGoogle Scholar. A close association between some forms of Gnosticism and Iranian religion is also suggested by the discovery of an Apocalypse of Zostrianus or Zoroaster among the Sethite library from Nag-Hammadi. Mention too, should be made of Kirsopp Lake's note on the Zoroastrian origins of the Gnostic prophets Bar Kabbas and Bar Coph in his ed. of Eusebius Hist. Ecc. iv. 7. 7.

^{page 30 note 1} Dodd, C. H., The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, Cambridge 1952, p. 98Google Scholar.

^{page 30 note 2} Passio Marculi 1 (Migne, P.L. viii, col. 760): mox ubi beatae fidei rudimenta suscepit, statim mundanas litteras respuens, forense exercitium et falsam saecularis scientiae dignitatem suspensa ad coelum mente calcavit. It would be hard to find an allusion to a classical author in Cyprian, rhetorician and lawyer though he was before his conversion. Tertullian's view in his catholic period is shown in De Praescriptione 7 and 36.

^{page 30 note 3} Augustine, Contra Faustum xx. 3 (P.L. xlii, col. 370). Also, Confessions, v. 6. 11 and vii. 12.

^{page 30 note 4} Puech, C. H., ‘Les nouveaux écrits gnostiques découverts en Haute-Egypte,’ in Coptic Studies in Honour of Walter Ewing Crum, Byzantine Institute, Boston, 1950, 143Google Scholar.

^{page 30 note 5} Lagrange, J. M., ‘L'Hermetisme’, Revue Biblique, xxxv (1926), 240–264, at 252Google Scholar.

^{page 30 note 6} Cited from C. H. Puech, ‘Les nouveaux écrits gnostiques déouverts en Haute-Egypte,’ 108. Cf. Celsus in Origen, Contra Celsum, v. 63.

^{page 31 note 1} Tertullian, Scorpiace 10 (C.S.E.L. xx. 165–6).

^{page 31 note 2} Ibid., 15: quod si iam tunc Prodicus et Valentinus adsisteret suggerens non in terris esse confitendum apud homines. (C.S.E.L. xx. 178).

^{page 31 note 3} Augustine, Ep. 237. 3. (C.S.E.L., lvii. 528).

^{page 31 note 4} Apuleius, Apol. 55 (ed. Helm, p. 62). See Nock, A. D., Conversion, Oxford 1933, 114Google Scholar.

^{page 31 note 5} Eusebius, Hist. Ecc, iv. 7. 7.

^{page 31 note 6} Clement, Stromata, iv. 81. See H. von Campenhausen, Die Idee des Martyriums in der alten Kirche, Göttingen 1936, 94.

^{page 31 note 7} Tertullian, Scorpiace 1: sed vanitas, immo dementia pro deo mori, ut qui me salvum faciat. (C.S.E.L., xx. 145). Clement, Stromata, iv. 72. 2.

^{page 31 note 8} Tertullian, Scorpiace, 5.

^{page 31 note 9} Ibid., 1 and 6.

^{page 31 note 10} Clement, Stromata, iv. 73. 1 (Heracleon's view).

^{page 32 note 1} Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., i. 24. 5.

^{page 32 note 2} Ibid., ii. 14.

^{page 32 note 3} Ibid., i. 25. 3.

^{page 32 note 4} Rev., ii. 20–2. See Ramsay, W. M., Expositor, (1904), 59Google Scholar.

^{page 32 note 5} Tertullian, Adversus Hermogenem i. (ed. Kroymann, C.S.E.L., xlvi. 126).

^{page 32 note 6} Cechelli, C., Monumenti cristiano-heretici di Roma, Rome 1944, 148Google Scholar.

^{page 33 note 1} Ignatius, Ep. ad Smyrnaeos, 4 (ed. Kirsopp Lake, Apostolic Fathers, i. 257).

^{page 33 note 2} See J. Lebreton and J. Zeiller, Histoire de l'Église, ii. 11.

^{page 33 note 3} Tertullian, De Fuga, 1.

^{page 33 note 4} Tertullian, Scorpiace, 8.

^{page 33 note 5} Particularly in Saturus's speech in Passio Perpetuae, 17 (ed. J. A. Robinson): notate tamen nobis facies diligenter ut recognoscatis nos in die illo (i.e. the Last Day).

^{page 33 note 6} Tertullian, De Spectaculis 30, Assumptio Moseos x. 8–10 (ed. Charles). Cf. T. R. Glover, Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire, 171.

^{page 33 note 7} Tertullian, Apol., 50.

^{page 33 note 8} Tertullian, Scorpiace 2 (C.S.E.L., xx. 148).

^{page 33 note 9} Tertullian, De Fuga, 9.

^{page 33 note 10} Tertullian, De Anima, 55 (C.S.E.L., xx. 388): Perpetua fortissima martyr sub die passionis in revelatione paradisi solos illic commartyres suos vidit.

^{page 34 note 1} Tertullian, Ad Scapulam, 5. See the present writer's The Donatist Church, Oxford 1952, 115–6 and 174.

^{page 34 note 2} Augustine, Ep. 185. 3. 12 (C.S.E.L., lvii. 11).

^{page 34 note 3} Detailed in Fuchs, H., ‘Tacitus über die Christen,’ Vigiliae Christianae, iv (1950), 65–93Google Scholar.

^{page 34 note 4} Taken from Ps. 115, Wisdom, xiii. 15. See also Book iii of the Jewish Sibyllines (ed. Geffcken, 1902, 78), lines 583–90. There may even have been Jewish and Christian summaries of arguments purporting to show that all that was true in classical philosophy was borrowed from Moses and the remainder was rubbish. See Knox, W. L., St. Paul and the Church of the Gentiles, Cambridge 1938, 91, n. 1Google Scholar.

^{page 34 note 5} See W. A. L. Elmslie, ‘The Jewish Moral Outlook in the first two Centuries a.d.,’ Cambridge Texts and Studies, viii. 2, 1911.

^{page 34 note 6} Aelius Aristides, Oratio, 46, (ed. Dindorf, ii. 397): πρς Πλτωνα ὑπρ τν τεσσρων. Aristides finds a resemblance between the Christian and Jewish outlooks.

^{page 35 note 1} I am accepting W. Bauer's theory expressed in Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum, Tübingen, 1934, that Gnostics were in a majority in Edessa, and also in Egypt, where the absence of bishops coupled with the abundance of gnostic texts supports this view, but elsewhere I think he over-emphasises the strength of Gnosticism.

^{page 35 note 2} This was the experience of Faustus the Manichee (Augustine, Contra Faustum iv. 1 and xv. 1) and of Augustine himself for some years.

^{page 35 note 3} Contra Celsum, iii. 12 (Koetschau, i. 212).

^{page 35 note 4} See Festugière, R. P.. La Révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste, Paris 1944, 13Google Scholar.

^{page 35 note 5} As in the story of the debate between Timothy and Aquila. Cited from L. Williams, Adversus Judaeos, 52.

^{page 35 note 6} Origen, Contra Celsum, iii. 8 and Hom. in Jerem., iv. 3 (ed. Klostermann, 1901, 25): also In Matt. Comment. Sermo, 39 (Persecutions partial only). See H. Grégoire, Les Persécutions dans l'Empire romain (Mémoires de l'académie royale de Belgique, Cl. des Lettres, t. xlvi. fasc. 1), 1951, 12.

^{page 35 note 7} Eusebius, Hist. Ecc, vi. 3.

^{page 36 note 1} Josephus, Antiquities, xviii. 1. 6: μνον γεμνα κα δεσττην τν θον ὑπειλφοσιν μηδνα ἄνθρωπον προσαγορυειν δεοπτην.

^{page 36 note 2} Isaiah, xlii. 1–4 and xlix. 6.

^{page 36 note 3} The Jews were the first to try to pin a charge of treason on the Christians—Acts, xvii. 7 and Luke xxiii. 2–23. On their systematic propaganda against the Church in the second century see, Justin, Dial, cum Tryphone, 17. 4.

^{page 36 note 4} Eusebius, Hist. Ecc, iv. 15, and Acta S. Pionii (ed. Krüger and Knopf), 21.5.

^{page 36 note 5} Ignatius, Ep. ad Smyrnaeos, vi. 2.

^{page 36 note 6} C.I.L., viii. 20906. Another inscription from the same site contains the lines ‘Aelemosinam enim facere | Hoc est christianum monstrare.’ L. Leschi, Bull. Archéologique du comité des Travaux historiques, séance de 27 mai 1940, xvii.

^{page 36 note 7} Justin, Apol., ii. 12. 1 (P. G. vi. col. 464).

^{page 36 note 8} Tertullian, Apol., 50.

^{page 36 note 9} Galen, extract from a lost summary of Plato's Republic, written circa 180. Quoted from Charlesworth, M. P., The Roman Empire, Home University Library, 1951, 151Google Scholar.

^{page 37 note 1} Cyprian, Ep. 13. 1 (ed. Hartel, C.S.E.L., iii. 2, 504–5).

^{page 37 note 2} Eusebius, Hist. Ecc, iv. 7.1.

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