3. THE CONFESSIONS OF THE MARTYRS.-The confessions of faith that have come down to us from the lips of the early martyrs, furnish another important contribution to the positive Tradition of the primitive Church concerning the Blessed Trinity. Being the formal pronouncements of holy men and women, made before pagan magistrates in the face of cruel death, they are rightly held in high esteem. The oldest document of this kind which we possess is the confession of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, who laid down his life for his faith A. D. 166. Its salient passages are as follows: "Verax Deus, te glorifico per sempiternum et coelestem pontificem Iesum Christum, dilectum Filium, per quem tibi cum ipso et in Spiritu Sancto gloria et nunc et in futura saecula - O truthful God, . I glorify Thee, through the Eternal and Heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, [Thy] beloved Son, through whom be glory to Thee, with Him in the Holy Ghost, both now and for the ages to come." Some martyrs in their profession of faith laid special stress on the Divinity of Jesus Christ. Thus St. Epipodius of Lyons (+178): "Christum cum 15 Acta Martyr. Polyc., XIV, 3. "Here," says Newman, "the Three are mentioned, as in the baptismal form; as many as Three, and no more than Three, with the expres sion of a still closer association of " 15 the Three, one with another, than is signified in that form, viz., as contained in the words, 'through,' 'with,' and 'in.'" Tracts Theol. and Eccles., p. 150. Patre et Spiritu Sancto Deum esse confiteor, dignumque est, ut illi [scil. Christo] animam meam refundam, qui mihi et creator est et redemptor-I confess Christ to be God, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, and it is meet that I should give back my soul to Him [i. e., Christ], Who is my Creator and Redeemer.” 16 The holy deacon Vincent, who died a martyr's death, A. D. 304, is reported to have professed his faith in these words: "Dominum Christum confiteor, Filium altissimi Patris, unici unicum, ipsum cum Patre et Spiritu Sancto unum solum Deum esse profiteor-I confess the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the most high Father, the Only One of the Only One, I confess Him with the Father and the Holy Ghost to be the one sole God." 17 To St. Euplus of Catania (+ 304) we owe one of the most beautiful confessions of faith in the Trinity that has come down to us from the early days. It is as follows: "Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum adoro; sanctam Trinitatem adoro, praeter quam non est Deus. fico modo Christo Deo meipsum. crifico et immolo meipsum Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto I adore the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost; I adore the holy Trinity, besides which there is no God. . . . I now sacrifice my 16 Ruinart, Acta Martyr., p. 65, Veronae 1731. SacriEgo sa self to Christ, [who is] God; . . . I sacrifice and immolate myself to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost." 18 READINGS: On the worship of the Blessed Trinity by the early Christians, see Zaccaria, Bibliotheca Ritual., t. I, diss. 2, c. 5. On the acts of the martyrs, see *Ad. Harnack, Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius, Vol. I, Part 2, pp. 816 sqq., Leipzig 1893; Semeria, Dogma, Gerarchia e Culto nella Chiesa Primitiva, Roma 1902; cfr. also James Bridge in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, pp. 742 sqq.; H. Delehaye, S. J., The Legends of the Saints, London 1897. ARTICLE 2 THE ANTE-NICENE FATHERS I. THEIR CLEAR AND DEFINITE PROFESSION OF FAITH IN THE BLESSED TRINITY.-The AnteNicene Fathers acknowledged in the One Godhead three real Persons of coequal power, that is to say, not essentially subordinated one to the other. Hence it requires no special argument to prove that these Fathers professed the Catholic dogma of the Trinity. Of course any explicit and emphatic assertion, in their writings, of the Divinity of Jesus Christ must be of special weight. We shall have to confine ourselves to a few salient quotations. a) Eminent among the "Apostolic Fathers" is St. see 18 For further testimonies, Franzelin, De Deo Trino, thes. 10; cfr. also Von Gebhardt, Ausgewählte Märtyrerakten und andere Urkunden aus der Verfolgungszeit der christlichen Kirche, Berlin 1902. Ignatius of Antioch, who was exposed to wild beasts at Rome under Trajan, some time between A. D. 98 and 117.19 In his much-discussed Epistles,20 Ignatius frequently avers his faith in the Divinity of Jesus Christ, whom he calls "our God." In combating the absurd heresy of the Docetae,21 he insists particularly on Christ's twofold nature, the divine and the human. "There is one physician," writes St. Ignatius, "fleshly and spiritual, generate and ingenerate, God and come in flesh, eternal life in death, from Mary and from God, first passible and then impassible." 22 "23 The truth that there are three Persons in the Godhead is clearly professed also by Athenagoras (about 170), who is called "the Christian Philosopher of Athens.' He says: "Who would not be astonished to hear those called atheists, who speak of the Father as God, and the Son as God, and the Holy Ghost; showing both their power in unity (τὴν ἐν ἑνώσει δύναμιν) and their distinction in order (tǹv év táέei diaípeσiv) ? " 24 St. Irenæus of Lyons 25 deserves special mention, because he not infrequently refers to the Holy Ghost 19 Cfr. Bardenhewer-Shahan, Patrology, pp. 30 sqq.; J. Tixeront, History of Dogmas, Vol. I, pp. 121 sqq.; E. Bruston, Ignace d'Antioche, ses Épîtres, sa Vie, sa Théologie, Paris 1897. 20 Cfr. Newman, Tracts Theol. and Eccles., pp. 95-135. 21 For an account of Docetism, see the dogmatic treatise on Christology. Properly speaking it is not a Christian heresy at all, but "rather came from without." Cfr. Arendzen in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, s. v. "Docetae." 22 Epist. ad Eph., VII, 2. Newman's translation, Tracts Theol. and Eccles., p. 108. On St. Ignatius's refutation of Docetism see particularly Tixeront, op. cit., p. 124. 23 The manuscript tradition of his Apology can be traced to the year 914. Cfr. Bardenhewer-Shahan, Patrology, pp. 64 sqq., and Peterson in the Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 42 sq. An English translation of his works in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, American Reprint, Vol. II, pp. 129 sqq., New York 1903. 24 Legat. 10, Migne, P. G., VI, 909. Newman's translation, Tracts Theol. and Eccles., p. 151. 25 Cfr. Bardenhewer-Shahan, Patrology, pp. 118 sqq. as "Wisdom." Take, for instance, this passage: 26 "Adest ei [scil. Deo Patri] semper Verbum et Sapientia, Filius et Spiritus, per quos et in quibus omnia libere et sponte fecit - There is present to Him [i. e., God the Father] always the Word and the Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, through whom and in whom He has made all things freely and of His own accord." Of the many dicta of Clement of Alexandria,27 which could be quoted in support of our thesis, we select but one. "The Lord," he says, "apparently despised, but in reality adored, the Reconciler, the Saviour, the Meek, the Divine Logos, unquestionably true God, measuring Himself with the Lord of the Universe [i. e., God the Father], because He was His Son, and the Logos was in God." 28 b) Of occidental witnesses, let us adduce at least a few besides Irenæus. Tertullian (born about 160) in his usual rugged style writes: "Custodiatur oeconomiae sacramentum, quae unitatem in trinitatem disponit, tres dirigens: Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum. Tres autem non statu, sed gradu; nec substantia, sed forma; non potestate, sed specie. Unius autem substantiae et unius status et unius potestatis, quia unus Deus, ex quo et gradus isti et formae et species, in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti deputantur - Let the mystery of the dispensation be guarded, which distributes the unity into a Trinity, placing in their order the Three, viz., the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; Three not in condition, but in degree, not in substance, but in form, not in power, but in aspect; but of one substance, and of one condition, and of one power, because God is one, 26 Adv. Haer., IV, 20, 1. 27 Cfr. Bardenhewer-Shahan, Pa trology, pp. 127 sqq.; The Catholic Encyclopedia, IV, 45 sqq. 28 Cohort. ad Gent., c. 10. |