171
Acts of S. Ignatius, Ruinart, pp. 8, 9.
172
Ad Rom. iv.
173
Ἐκκλησίᾳ – ἥτις καὶ προκάθηται ἐν τότῳ χωρίου Ῥωμαίων – προκαθημένη τῆς ἀγάπης.
174
S. Chrysostom, Hom. on S. Ignatius, tom. ii. 600.
175
S. Ignatius in the 11th sec. of his epistle to the Smyrnæans requests them to send a messenger to congratulate the church of Antioch, ὅτι εἰρηνεύουσιν, καὶ ἀπέλαβον τὸ ἵδιον μέγαθος, ἀποκατεστάθη αὐτοῖς τὸ ἴδιον σωματεῖον. The word σωματεῖον, or corpusculum, indicates the completeness of a diocesan church with its bishop, the whole Church being σῶμα Χριστοῦ, as S. Ignatius had said in sec. I of the same epistle, ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ.
176
There is some doubt about the time of S. Ignatius's martyrdom. We suppose it to be at the end of Trajan's reign. S. Alexander I. is reckoned a martyr, and placed in the canon of the Mass next after S. Ignatius, which seems to indicate a connection between their deaths.
177
So the persecution of Diocletian is said to have arisen from Apollo declaring that the just who were upon the earth prevented him from uttering true oracles; and a like answer was received by Julian the Apostate at Antioch, where the relics of S. Babylas had been translated by Gallus to Daphne, near a celebrated temple of Apollo. Here Julian, offering in vain a great number of sacrifices to the demon, was at length informed that the body of the saint condemned him to silence, and ordered the Christians to remove it. S. Chrys. tom. ii. 560.
178
Acts of S. Symphorosa, from Dom Ruinart, pp. 23-4.
179
Justin. 1 Apol. 1, 2.
180
Sec. 7.
181
Sec. 11.
182
Sec. 17.
183
Sec. 45.
184
Sec. 68. Chevallier's translation, sometimes altered.
185
Origen c. Cels. i. 3. Περὶ τοῦ κρύφα Χριστιανοὺς τὰ ἀρέσκοντα αὐτοῖς ποιεῖν καὶ διδάσκειν εἰπὼν, καὶ ὅτι οὐ μάτην τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν, ἅτε διωθούμενοι τὴν ἐπηρτημένην αὐτοῖς δίκην τοῦ θανάτου.
186
Σὲ τὸν καθωσιωμένον ὥσπερ ἄγαλμα αὐτῷ δήσας ἀπάγει καὶ ἀνασκολοπίζει. viii. 38, 39.
187
viii. 69; by this we should judge that the work of Celsus appeared not long after the punishment of the Jews by Hadrian.
188
Attached to Justin's first Apology.
189
See Trajan's remark to S. Ignatius: “You mean him that was crucified under Pontius Pilate.”
190
See the curious letter of Hadrian about the Alexandrians, in which the Christians spoken of are probably heretics.
191
They are first mentioned at Rome in the reign of Alexander Severus.
192
See Origen c. Cels. vii. 62.
193
See Trajan's question, “Who art thou who art zealous to transgress our commands, besides persuading others to come to an evil end?”
194
Αἷρε τοὺς ἀθέους.
195
The Roman legionary, if he wished to lay aside his helmet, was only allowed to go bareheaded.