A Christian's Thoughts on Pliny's Thoughts on Christians

“Yes, in one short evening, I’ve become the most successful impresario since the manager of the Roman Colosseum thought of putting the Christians and the lions on the same bill.”

Blackadder Goes Forth E3, ‘Major Star’ (1989)

You might or might not know that the earliest reference to Christianity in an extant pagan source is found in a letter of Pliny the Younger – who was at the pertinent time the governor of the province of Bithynia and Pontus (now northern Turkey), though in good Roman fashion he held a whole bunch of different military and civic offices during his career – to the Emperor Trajan, and dates to about 112 CE (and certainly to no later than 113, because that’s when Pliny died). At this point, then, the Church had been going for about eighty years – and the Roman authorities, you won’t be surprised to know, were none too fond of it. But there’s more than that to be gleaned from Pliny’s letter. I’ve had a stab at translating it:¹

 

The library at Ephesus, which was not in Bithynia and Pontus, but is also in modern-day Turkey. And is very pretty.

Caius Plinius to Traianus the Emperor,

It is customary for me, lord, to refer everything about which I am uncertain to you. For who is better able either to direct my hesitation or to instruct my ignorance? I have never been present at inquiries about Christians: therefore I don’t know what it is appropriate to punish or to seek out, and to what extent. I have been inordinately stuck as to whether there be any distinction with respect to age, or the young, however so, be no different from the mature; pardon be given for repentance, or if whoever has been a Christian at all be unable to stop; the name itself, if it be without crimes, be punished, or the crimes attached to the name. Meanwhile, among those who were denounced to me as Christians, I have followed this method. I asked them whether they were Christians. Those who admitted it I asked again and a third time, having threatened capital punishment;² those who persisted I ordered to be taken. For I was not uncertain, whatever it was that they said, that defiance and inflexible obstinacy ought to be punished. There were others of the same senselessness whom, because they were Roman citizens, I noted down to be despatched to the City.

Soon – due to this very treatment, as tends to be the case – the scandal disseminated itself, and many varieties of it turned up. A publication was put out, without author, containing the names of many people. Those who denied that they were Christians, when, as I dictated, they called upon the gods and prayed to your image – which I ordered to be brought nearby for this purpose along with likenesses of the divinities –with incense and wine, and moreover they cursed Christ (none of which, it is said, those who are in actual fact Christians can be forced to do), I thought ought to be released. Others named by the informer said they were Christians and promptly denied it; indeed they had been, but had stopped, one of them three years ago, another one many years ago, some even twenty years ago. All these also worshipped both your image and the likenesses of the gods, and cursed Christ. But they affirmed that this was the sum total of their guilt, or their error: that they were accustomed to come together on a given day before dawn, and to say a song to Christ as if to a god, by turns with one another; and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime or other, but that they would not commit theft nor robbery nor adultery, nor break a promise, nor deny an entrustment to one calling for it. When these things were done their custom was to disperse, and meet again to take food, though normal and harmless food; and they stopped doing even that after my edict, in which, following your orders, I forbade that there be any religious brotherhoods. For this reason I believed it all the more necessary to seek out what was true from two slave women, who were called ministers.³ I found nothing other than perverse and excessive superstition.

For this reason I delayed the inquiry and hastened to consult you. For it seems to me a matter worthy of consultation, largely on account of the number of people in danger. For many of all ages, all classes, and both sexes even, are being called and will be called into danger. The contagion of this superstition has pervaded not only the cities but also the villages and countryside; still, it seems to be possible to halt and correct it. Certainly it is evident enough that the temples that were just now almost deserted have begun to be frequented; and the customary sacrifices, neglected for a long time, to be resumed; and the meat of sacrificial animals to be sold here and there, for which it has hitherto been very rare to find a buyer. From this it is easy to believe, what a crowd of people might be corrected, if there be a place for repentance.

A few observations:

1) It isn’t actually very clear what the Christians are supposed to have been doing wrong. Pliny doesn’t really know what he’s looking for. He can either condemn people merely for bearing the name ‘Christian’ – which has the advantage of being a straightforward category, but doesn’t seem like much of a crime in itself – or for the crimes associated with the name. The trouble is that Pliny can’t find any crimes associated with the name. In fact, these guys have been placing themselves under oath not to commit crimes. Other than that, they’ve just been singing hymns and eating food. (So, you know, not much has changed since then in terms of what your average church service involves.)

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.⁴ – 1 Peter 2:12

2) Apostasy isn’t a new phenomenon. A whole bunch of these people followed Pliny’s command to worship the Roman gods and the emperor and curse Christ. Some of them had given up the faith as many as twenty years before. Almost as long as the Church has existed, people who ostensibly belong to her have been falling away, giving in to the pressures of the world, breaking faith. When we see the same thing happening today, much as it’s appropriate to be saddened, there’s no need, in the grand scheme of things, to be discouraged: it’s always been like this.

And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.⁵ – Luke 8:13

3) The Church transcends every human social barrier – age, class, sex, neighbourhood, you name it; no group is immune to the ‘contagion’ Pliny describes. That kind of unifying power was terrifying to the Roman authorities. They knew it was capable of overturning the structures and traditions and norms they held dear; specifically, Pliny was worried about empty temples and the stagnating trade in sacrificial animals. The unifying power of the Church as she is today is not diminished. Modern authorities have something to be terrified of too.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.⁶ – Galatians 3:28

4) One’s worldly status has no impact on one’s eligibility to carry out church ministry. The two ministers Pliny interrogated with torture were slave women; no lower status existed in the Roman world. They would have had no education, no resources, no reputation; but none of that hindered them from being able to serve their brothers and sisters in Christ.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.⁷ – 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

5) People have always thought Christians are crazy. It’s not just modern rationalism that views the worship of Jesus as perverse and excessive superstition; Pliny, who worshipped a whole pantheon that included his own boss, thought so too. He couldn’t believe that even Roman citizens could be so deprived of their proper senses as to fall for this nonsense. And those who weren’t Roman citizens, he was prepared to have tortured and killed on account of what he saw as their senselessness. Being thought crazy and dangerous by the world is part of the Christian’s job description.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. – 1 Corinthians 1:18

Some of those Pliny interrogated refused to deny that they were Christians. He sent them to their deaths. Their refusal looked like folly to Pliny, but these guys knew that the word of the cross was the power of God. They knew that by losing their lives for the sake of their Lord and his gospel, they would actually save them.

Footnotes

¹ I got the text off Perseus, as usual: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0139%3Abook%3D10%3Aletter%3D96.

² The word I’ve translated ‘capital punishment’, supplicium, could actually refer to any sort of punishment, but it probably means capital punishment here. Here’s what the legendary Lewis and Short have to say on the matter: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=supplicium&la=la#lexicon.

³ Most translations prefer ‘deaconesses’ here, but given that the Latin word is actually ministrae (a feminine plural form of minister, which is by itself a Latin word), I tend to feel there’s a good case for the translation ‘ministers’. At any rate, the word really means one who attends, assists, or serves – which is what ministry is, right guys?

⁴ Whole chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+1&version=ESVUK.

⁵ It’s from the parable of the sower, just in case all this business of rocks and roots was confusing you: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+8&version=ESVUK.

⁶ You know the drill: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal+3&version=ESVUK.

⁷ This one will do you for the next quotation too: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+cor+1&version=ESVUK.