It is interesting to see the different ways in which the early church fathers and mothers shaped the church as they further explored the teachings of Jesus and of Paul and the other apostles. You can tell when you read the works of people like Ignatius and Clement of Rome that they were not very far removed from the earthly ministry of Christ himself. Many of these early writings and traditions follow the same lines of thought and are obviously heavily influenced by the writings of Paul as well as Jewish Wisdom literature.
In Clement’s Letter to the Corinthians he is addressing an issue that has come up between two different groups in the church. One being the established authority and the other being a group that desires to be in authority. They seem to have believed that they had superior spiritual gifts and ought to be in charge instead of those already in charge.
I have seen something like this happen in a church that my dad pastored. A group of people left the church because they thought everyone in the church needed to be speaking in tongues during every service. They joined a church which practiced this in every meeting, and as it turns out this church ended up being a cult which relocated its members to somewhere in Tennessee. Since all church issues that arise today seem to have already happened and been addressed in the past, I wonder how Clement’s letter might be of use in a situation like the one in my dad’s church. How could Clement’s points of unity over division be presented to a modern congregation? Also, what is up with the story of the Phoenix? No wonder this letter did not make the canon.
One of the most famous martyrs of the early church was Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius had been arrested and condemned to death by the Romans. On the way to Rome, Ignatius wrote seven different letters to the churches. In these letters is seen his perspective on martyrdom and his own impending execution. In his letters he says that he sees his upcoming martyrdom as a way to “imitate the Passion of my God.” In his Letter to the Magnesians he writes, “Yes, everything is coming to an end, and we stand before this choice – death or life […] And if we do not willingly die in union with his Passion, we do not have his life in us.” Ignatius had a high view of martyrdom, and he saw this as his way of being able to meet with God.
When a group of the early Christians tried to figure out a way to get his sentence revoked or lightened, he asked them to please leave him alone for he wanted to die in imitation of Christ. He saw his martyrdom as a witness to the Passion of Christ and himself as Christ’s servant even unto death.
In The Martyrdom of Polycarp Eusebius records that there were some who turned themselves in desiring to be martyred but who then became fearful of death having looked it in the face and chose to recant and offer sacrifices to the emperor instead. These incidents made the Christians look bad. Other Christians chose martyrdom as an act of defiance against the Roman authorities. Though Polycarp had been influenced by Ignatius, he did not see martyrdom as something that should be embraced unless it was the will of Christ. Polycarp fled, but later had a dream that convinced him this was Christ’s will, and he allowed himself to be captured.
In The Martyrdom of Polycarp is seen his gracious attitude towards his captors. Polycarp was respectful of those who were in authority, even though they were trying to kill him. Polycarp had no desire to be martyred as so many others had. He simply believed that this was the will of God for him. A point that Eusebius appears to be making is that the call of martyrdom is not up to the individual, and that those who should be martyred should remember the One whom they represent. Just as Christ was silent before his sufferers, so too, should those who die for Christ seek to imitate Christ not only in his death but in his life.
I found The Shepherd of Hermas to be interesting and dull at the same time. It was interesting because of the form in which it was presented to the reader. It was a narrative of sorts with visions and the appearances of angels. However, the words the angels had to speak in this story were uninteresting to me. They tended to carry on for too long and did not contain the amazing revelations I was hoping for and instead ended up leaning more towards a book on laws and opinions. Also, where did the idea of two different angels, one good and one evil, accompanying a person during their lifetime come from?
I found Papias’s work to be especially helpful in exegesis of the Gospels. He did the wonderful work of interviewing people who knew the apostles and who had witnessed some of the earliest day of Christianity. Without Papias, we would know much less about the origins of the Gospels, who were the likely authors, and why and to whom they wrote.
