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 he Christian Church, in its earliest centuries
after Jesus, endured wave after wave of persecution. All kinds of insults
and charges were hurled at them.
A document written in the late 2nd century A.D. called The Octavius of
Minicius Felix describes a debate between a Christian and a pagan at the
Roman port of Ostia. It provides valuable insight into how Christians
were reviled and how they responded.
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Minicius Felix was walking about Ostia with two friends, Octavius a Christian,
and Caecilius a pagan. When Caecilius pauses to pay respect to a pagan
idol, Octavius objects. An extended debate develops. Here is an adaptation
of their debate drawn from that document as well as other early church
sources for a taste of that time. We suggest you look carefully at the
following charges and consider in what ways Christians today are similarly
accused, and where the specifics of opposition now may have changed.
Charge: Cannibalism
CAECILIUS THE PAGAN: You Christians are the worst breed ever to affect
the world. You deserve every punishment you can get! Nobody likes you.
It would be better if you and your Jesus had never been born. We hear
that you are all cannibals--you eat the flesh of your children in your
sacred meetings.
OCTAVIUS The Christian: That story is probably based on reports that
we share together a meal of the body and blood of Christ. That we do.
But it is not human flesh we eat. It is bread and wine we consecrate to
commemorate our Lord's death.
IMAGE LEFT: Ruins
at Ostia can be visited today at this ancient Roman port. 12 million barrels
of corn came through Ostia annually from Egypt. It was the setting for
the encounter between the Christian Octavius and the pagan Caecilius as
recorded by Minicius Felix in the late second century A.D. and was used
as a basis for this issue
It amazes me you give credibility to these rumors of cannibalism. You
know what we're like. Keep in mind that if you have a child and it is
a girl but you wanted a boy, or if the child is deformed, or if you simply
don't want it, what is done? You leave the child outside, exposed to die.
CAECILIUS: You know that it is far more merciful to let the baby die
than to bring it up in a home where it is not wanted.
OCTAVIUS: We do not expose our children, and you are well aware how so
many of the little ones that have been left out to die have been rescued
by Christians and given a home. So it's just the opposite of what you
accuse us of, Caecilius. We don't consume human life; we rather protect
and defend it.
Charge: Gross Immorality
CAECILIUS: All right. Granted, it was just a rumor, but we also hear that
you meet in secret, even before sunrise, and the gross immorality that
we hear goes on in those places is repulsive -- especially the incest.
OCTAVIUS: If you came to one of our meetings you would find that the
lovemaking and intimacy you are so quick to imagine is of a totally different
nature. We meet before sunrise because we are working people. We have
jobs to go to. We do not always meet in secret, but we have no temples
or synagogues, so we use somebody's home which has enough room. We call
one another brother and sister and pledge to love one another because
that is what our Lord commanded us to do. And we greet one another and
bless one another with a holy kiss, not out of lust but out of genuine
love and concern for one another. Come and you will see that we demand
the highest standards of morality among all who join us.
Charge: Poor and Lower Class
CAECILIUS: Take a look at your gatherings. What are they made up of? Mostly
women, gullible children, the majority are from the working classes, not
well-educated, mostly poor and even slaves. It makes me laugh when I think
how poor you are, barely enough to live on. If this God of yours is so
great and so loving, why are so many of you so poor? Either He's not that
loving and doesn't care that you are poor or He is not that great and
is unable do anything about it. Some God! No wonder you¥re all regarded
as fools.
OCTAVIUS: If you had bothered to take the time to find out, you would
know that there are many from the upper classes among our number, even
some of Caesar's staff. And notable scholars, who were once pagans, have
written in defense of our faith for the more educated to consider. But
let's not quibble. Many of our number -- most of our number are poor.
But what is more important is how we regard ourselves. We consider ourselves
to be rich. We have that which is most valuable, the most precious gift,
which cannot be lost. And for your information, there are those of us
who are wealthy. We do not despise wealth; we welcome it when it comes
lawfully. But we do not lust after it. And when we get more wealth, we
simply give more away. Wealth can be a great burden. It weighs you down
with many cares and concerns. Traveling light has its advantages -- some
big advantages!
CAECILIUS: Sorry, I haven't noticed any. I'll take the wealth instead
any day.
OCTAVIUS: You know, Caecilius, talking to you makes me realize why God
doesn't automatically bless us with wealth. Because if he did, people
like you would rush to become Christians and miss the whole point. So
don't pity us. We have plenty, not only for ourselves but also for those
in need, the ones that you walk right by.
Charge : Self-righteousness
CAECILIUS: Oh, aren't you so pure and good. That's another thing that
bothers me: you all think you are so righteous and better than the rest
of us.
OCTAVIUS: First you accuse us of cannibalism and orgies, now you're offended
because we seek to lead a holy life. Let me assure you, we do not consider
ourselves to be holy. Every Lord's day we have a service of communion,
and it is a service of thanksgiving -- thanksgiving because we are forgiven,
not because we are holy, and if we are forgiven, then we shall seek to
lead lives that are like Christ.
Charge: Atheism
CAECILIUS: What concerns me is what you really are. This is the reason
that you are hated across all the lands of this vast empire. Let's get
to the real problem. You are atheists.
OCTAVIUS: Yes, we are atheists -- if you mean that we do not pray to
or believe in all of the gods that we are expected to worship. But these
are not gods. We worship the one true God, the Lord over all.
Charge: Novelty
CAECILIUS: You act as if you people know more than the rest of us. You
think you know more than all of our fathers. What it comes down to is
that you people are captive to novelty.
OCTAVIUS: That is simply just not the case. Why is it you do not require
the Jews to sacrifice to your gods. They alone are given exemption. Why?
Because of the antiquity of their religion. Well, be assured that the
God that the Jews worship is the very same God that we worship. Their
sacred writings, the Law and the Prophets, we revere and read aloud in
our meetings. And because we worship this God of the Jews, the one thing
we cannot be accused of is novelty. It is just the opposite. Our faith
looks back beyond the beginning of time to the God who created all that
is. What you won't listen to and what the Jews refuse to accept is that
this God has come into our world to show us what He is like in the person
of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we love and serve.
Charge: Foolishness, Lack of Patriotism
CAECILIUS: How you tire me with this reckless babble! I shall not take
the time now to answer you, except to say, how absurd to think that even
if the "one true God," as you assert, were to come to earth, he would
surely do better than to come as an unschooled, working-class carpenter
in a place like Galilee in Judea. And if forgiveness were to be found
through some man, I assure you that it would never come through the death
of some convicted and crucified criminal. But let's put aside such simplicity
and naivet¨ for now, for we are a tolerant people, and you are free to
believe as you wish. In many ways you do not sound all that different
from some of the mystery religions, and they are left alone. But what
makes you people so offensive is your stubbornness. Believe what you will,
but that is no excuse for the lack of patriotism.
You people are happy to benefit from all that is ours, living in this
greatest time of all history, but where is your gratitude? You are antisocial
snobs. You will not show proper respect for our anniversary festivals.
You will not sacrifice to the genius of the emperor. You will not fight
and join the empire. Simply put, you are disloyal, unpatriotic, and not
to be trusted. As far as I am concerned, you are a danger to society.
OCTAVIUS: Hold on! One at a time, please. We do not join the army, and
we do not fight because we do not believe in killing. We love our enemies
and do good to them. Even though we are often hunted down and killed because
of accusers like you, we do not even take up arms to defend ourselves.
So I fail to see how we are any danger to anyone. But yes, you are right.
We do not pray to the emperor or join with our neighbors in the sacrifices
to the gods. But while we do not pray to the emperor, we do pray for the
emperor. We recognize those in authority as appointed by God to preserve
order. We seek, we pray for the peace and tranquility of the empire. God
knows, if any group seeks a quiet and undisturbed life, it is us. We never
know when we will be blamed for anything that is going wrong, be hunted
down and arrested.
Charge: Cause of God's Anger
CAECILIUS: Not without cause, I assure you. Why can you not see what is
so clear to everyone? Your lack of patriotism has caused us all grief
and suffering. The gods have been good to Rome. They have given us great
victories, good food, fertile land. That is why we must propitiate them
and rid ourselves of you atheists. You are no more than criminals and
must be dealt with as such.
OCTAVIUS: Oh yes, we have heard that before, too many times. As one of
our fathers wrote: If the Tiber overflows its walls, if the Nile does
not rise to the fields, if the sky doesn't move or the earth does, if
there is famine, if there is plague, the cry is at once, "The Christian
to the lion!"
In the original account by Minicius Felix, Caecilius gets converted.
The video dramatization of the Octavius from which this issue is adapted
is from Christian History Institute's Early Church video curriculum From
Christ to Constantine: the Trial and Testimony of the Early Church. You
may read the full script at http://chi.gospelcom.net/EARLYF/trial3.shtml.
Gold-trimmed statue of Caesar Augustus, Roman Emperor 27 B.C. - A.D. 14.
He ruled at the time Jesus was born. Jesus is confessed to be God incarnate
by historic Christianity. Ironically, at the same time that Jesus was
upon this earth, Augustus was revered in his office of emperor as divine
-- as were his successors. Christians refused to recognize the emperor's
divinity and were punished and persecuted for that.
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