Christ-bearers and fellow-initiates: Local cultural life and Christian identity in Ignatius' letters

Journal of Early Christian Studies

Volumn 11, Issue 4, 2003, Pages 481-499

  Harland, Philip A ^a  

^a Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering   (Canada)

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EID: 60949970043     PISSN: 10676341     EISSN: 10863184     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/earl.2003.0060     Document Type: Article

References (104)

1. I rely primarily on the Greek text of Ignatius in Kirsopp Lake, ed., The Apostolic Fathers, LCL (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985).
2. J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers (New York: Macmillan, 1889), 2:17-18, 54-57.
3. Lightfoot's primary material was John Turtle Wood's then-recent archeological reports, particularly the Salutaris inscription which I discuss further below. See Discoveries at Ephesus Including the Site and Remains of the Great Temple of Diana (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1975 [1877]).
4. W. R. Schoedel, Ignatius of Antioch: A Commentary on the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch, Hermeneia (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), 67-68, 72-73, 89-90.
5. Cf. W. Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, ed., tr. W. F. Arndt, F. W. Gingrich, and F. W. Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979 [1958]), entries for hagiophoroi and naophoroi;
6. R. M. Grant, ed., The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation and Commentary (New York: T. Nelson, 1964-68), 4:40-43.
7. Unfortunately, H. Paulsen's recent reworking of Bauer's commentary adds little in explaining these passages regarding Christ-bearers and fellow-initiates (Die Briefe des Ignatius von Antiochia und der Brief des Polykarp von Smyrna, Handbuch zum Neuen Testament [Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1985], 35-36;
8. cf. W. Bauer, Die Briefe des Ignatius von Antiochia und der Polykarpbrief, Handbuch zum Neuen Testament [Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1920], 209-10).
9. Epigraphical abbreviations throughout this paper follow the standard outlined by G. H. R. Horsley and John A. L. Lee, "A Preliminary Checklist of Abbreviations of Greek Epigraphic Volumes," Epigraphica 56 (1994): 129-69. All translations of inscriptions are mine unless otherwise stated.
10. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.
11. For "fellow-initiates" see: ISmyrna 330;
12. IStratonikeia 845-46;
13. IApamBith 103;
14. IPrusiasHyp 845;
15. CCCA 1.60 (Pessinos, Galatia).
16. On the mysteries generally see Walter Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987) and the works cited by him.
17. On the often vexing issue of the relationship between the mysteries and Christianity, which is not the central focus of this paper, see the extensive discussion by Jonathan Z. Smith, Drudgery Divine: On the Comparison of Early Christianities and the Religions of Late Antiquity, Chicago Studies in the History of Judaism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990);
18. cf. G. S. Gasparro, Soteriology and Mystic Aspects in the Cult of Cybele and Attis, EPRO 130 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1985), especially the introduction.
19. For a general introduction to associations along with a useful bibliography, see Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World, ed. Stephen G. Wilson and John S. Kloppenborg (London: Routledge, 1996).
20. "Claiming a Place in Polis and Empire: The Significance of Imperial Cults and Connections among Associations, Synagogues, and Christian Groups in Roman Asia (c. 27 B.C.E.-138 C.E.)," Ph.D. diss. (Toronto: University of Toronto, 1999);
21. "Honouring the Emperor or Assailing the Beast: Participation in Civic Life among Associations (Jewish, Christian, and Other) in Asia Minor and the Apocalypse of John," JSNT 77 (2000): 99-121;
22. "Connections with Elites in the World of the Early Christians," in Handbook of Early Christianity: Social Science Approaches, ed. Anthony J. Blasi, Paul-André Turcotte, and Jean Duhaime (Walnut Creek: Alta Mira Press, 2002), 385-408;
23. Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003);
24. "Imperial Cults within Local Cultural Life: Associations in Roman Asia," Ancient History Bulletin/Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 17 (2003): 47-69.
25. Cf. IMagnMai 117, 215 (Dionysos; early-mid II C.E.);
26. ILydiaKP I 42 (Philadelphia; Dionysos Kathegemon; II C.E.);
27. ITralles 74, 86 (Isis and Sarapis; II C.E.), 168.
28. ISmyrna 600-601 (c. 158 C.E./c. 163 C.E.), 622 (c. 130 C.E.), 639 (late-II C.E.), 652 (I C.E.), 729 (c. 247 C.E.), 731-32 (c. 80 C.E.);
29. cf. ISmyrna 728 (Dionysiac-Orphic cult regulation).
30. tr. W. A. Oldfather, Epictetus, LCL [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967], 263).
31. tr. G. W. Butterworth, Clement of Alexandria, LCL [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968], 117).
32. Cf. Eusebius, HE 8.10 ("Christ-bearing martyrs");
33. Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, 2:55.
34. The title "Christ-bearer" is attested in papyri. See H. I. Bell, Jews and Christians in Egypt (London: British Museum, 1924), 100-102, 108-10, 114-15 (on the fourth-century correspondence of the "Christ- bearing" Paphnutius).
35. There are few studies of processions in the Roman era specifically, but see M. P. Nilsson, "Die Prozessionstypen im griechischen Kult," in Opuscula Selecta (Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup, 1951 [1916]), 1:166-214;
36. Walter Burkert, Greek Religion, tr. John Raffan (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985), 99-101;
37. S. R. F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 110-12;
38. Guy MacLean Rogers, The Sacred Identity of Ephesos: Foundation Myths of a Roman City (London: Routledge, 1991), 80-126.
39. H. W. Pleket, "Nine Greek Inscriptions from the Cayster-Valley in Lydia: A Republication," Talanta 2 (1970): 55-88, especially 66 n. 15.
40. Recent scholarship tends to accept the writing's authenticity and to view it as a relatively reliable source of information on the Syrian goddess' cult, something that has been confirmed by archeological finds: see C. P. Jones, Culture and Society in Lucian (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986), 41-42.
41. M. Rostovtzeff, "Vexillum and Victory," Journal of Roman Studies 32 (1942): 100 and plates V-VI.
42. Cf. Pleket, "Nine Greek Inscriptions," 67-72.
43. Studies by Rostovzteff and H. Seyrig ("Antiquités Syriennes," Syria 37 [1960]: 233-52) have shown the older view - that "Scmea" was actually a Syrian deity - to be incorrect, and that we are seeing here a reference to a standard upon which symbols of gods were attached for processions.
44. Translation from Harold W. Attridge and Robert A. Oden, The Syrian Goddess (De Dea Syria), Society of Biblical Literature Texts and Translations 9 (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1976).
45. Greek text cited from A. M. Harmon, ed., Lucian, LCL (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961).
46. Cf. Strabo, Geography 14.1.20.
47. Also see IMagnMai 100.33 for a procession at Magnesia involving transport of the statue of Artemis Leukophryene.
48. See C. Picard, Éphèse et Claros: Recherches sur les sanctuaires et les cultes de l'Ionie du nord, Bibliothèque des Écoles Françaises d'Athènes et de Rome 123 (Paris: E. de Boccard, 1922), 240-46.
49. Translation by G. Anderson, "Xenophon of Ephesus: An Ephesian Tale," in Collected Ancient Greek Novels, ed. B. P. Reardon (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 125-69.
50. See Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, 2:55;
51. cf. J. Keil, "Zum Martyrium des heiligen Timotheus in Ephesus," Jahresheft des Österreichischen Archäologischen Instituts 29 (1935): 82-92.
52. For an excellent study of this inscription see Rogers, Sacred Identity.
53. M. Wörrle, Stadt und Fest in kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasien. Studien zu einer agonistischen Stiftung aus Oenoanda, Beiträge zur alte Geschichte 39 (Munich: Beck, 1988), 10-11, 216-19 = SEG 38.1462, C (time of Hadrian).
54. Cf. Louis Robert, "Hellenica," in Opera minora selecta: Épigraphie et antiquités grecques (Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1969), 2:1275-78.
55. Cf. Rogers, Sacred Identity, 56-57;
56. IEph 27.451-526, 28,-276, 943, 951, 991 (II C.E.) 3263, 4330 (231-34 C.E.).
57. It is worth mentioning that one member of the gold-bearers, M. Antonius Artemidoros, was apparently also a member in the association of Dionysiac initiates discussed earlier (IEph 276 and IEph 1601 [c. 117-38 C.E.]).
58. Cf. IAphrodSpect 66-68, 89-90 (= IEph 11), 93;
59. IDidyma 107, 201, 272;
60. TAM 5.977 (Thyatira).
61. On athletic associations see H. W. Picket, "Some Aspects of the History of Athletic Guilds," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 10 (1973): 197-227.
62. On bastazein and processions see Louis Robert, "Une nouvelle inscription grecque de Sardes: Règlement de l'authorité perse relatif à un culte de Zeus," Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1975): 324.
63. Pleket, "Nine Greek Inscriptions," 61-74, no. 4
64. E. N. Lane, Corpus monumentorum religionis dei Menis (CMRDM), EPRO 19 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1971-76), 1:49-50, no. 75 (mid-second century).
65. Pleket, "Nine Greek Inscriptions," 63.
66. Cf. Richard Oster, "Ephesus as a Religious Center Under the Principate, I. Paganism Before Constantine," ANRW II.18.3 (1990): 1671-73.
67. Peter Herrmann, "Mystenvereine in Sardeis," Chiron 26 (1996): 315-41, no. 27;
68. For discussion of such functionaries see F. Dunand, Le culte d'Isis dans le basin oriental de la Méditerranée (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973), 3:63-65.
69. Cf. Ladislav Vidman, Isis und Sarapis bei den Griechen und Römern: Epigraphische Studien zur Verbreitung und zu den Trägern des ägyptischen Kultes, Religionsgeschichtliche Versuch und Vorarbeiten 29 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1970), 211-12.
70. cf. Picard, Éphèse et Claros, 242. However, neither Chapot or Picard give references to inscriptions that I could track down to confirm this.
71. See Dunand, Le culte d'Isis, 78-79;
72. G. Hölbl, Zeugnisse ägyptischer Religionsvorstellungen für Ephesus (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978), esp. plate XII, no. 1b;
73. David Magie, "Egyptian Deities in Asia Minor in Inscriptions and on Coins," American Journal of Archeology 57 (1953): 163-87.
74. See M. P. Nilsson, The Dionysiac Mysteries of the Hellenistic and Roman Age (Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup, 1957).
75. Cf. Achille Vogliano, "La grande iscrizione bacchica del Metropolitan Museum," American Journal of Archeology 37 (1933): 215-31;
76. Nilsson Dionysiac Mysteries, 21-57.
77. Also see IGBulg 401, 1517 (Asian-influenced initiates in Thracia).
78. For a general survey of similar evidence see Elpis Mitropoulou, "The Goddess Cybele in Funerary Banquets and with an Equestrian Hero," in Cybele, Attis and Related Cults: Essays in Memory of M. J. Vermaseren, ed. E. N. Lane, RGRW 131 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996), 135-65.
79. or Harland, Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations, ch. 2;
80. and Elpis Mitropoulou, "Feasting at Festivals," in Akten des XIII. internationalen Kongresses für klassische Archäologie, Berlin 1988 (Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1990), 472-74.
81. Earlier I discussed several other ancient authors who, like Ignatius, use the analogy of processions (see n. 16).
82. Heinrici, "Zum genossenschaftlichen Character der paulinischen Christengemeinden," Theologische Studien und Kritiken 54 [1881]: 505-24).
83. So too did the insightful attempt by E. A. Judge to place Christian groups, socially speaking, within the structures of the ancient city, including the association (koinōnia) (see The Social Pattern of the Christian Groups in the First Century [London: Tyndale Press, 1960]).
84. Recently, however, there have been several valuable comparative studies which tap into the evidence for associations to shed light on either Christian or Jewish groups. See, for example, John S. Kloppenborg, "Edwin Hatch, Churches, and Collegia," in Origins and Method: Towards a New Understanding of Judaism and Christianity, ed. B. H. Maclean (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993), 212-38;
85. Moshe Weinfeld, The Organizational Pattern and the Penal Code of the Qumran Sect: A Comparison with Guilds and Religious Associations of the Hellenistic-Roman Period (Freibourg: Editions Universitaires, 1986);
86. Thomas Schmeller, Hierarchie und Egalität: Eine sozialgeschichtliche Untersuchung paulinischer Gemeinden und griechischrömischer Vereine, SBS 162 (Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1995);
87. Wilson and Kloppenborg, Voluntary Associations;
88. Richard S. Ascough, "Translocal Relationships among Voluntary Associations and Early Christianity," JECS 5 (1997): 223-41.
89. The following designations of Jewish groups of Asia Minor and elsewhere are also well attested among other associations: "synod" (synodos), "cult-society" (thiasos), "associates" (hetairoi), "settlement" (katoikountes), "corporate-body" (politeuma), "household" (oikos), "synagogue" (synagogē) (see Josephus, Antiquities 14.215-16, 235
90. [cf. Philo, Embassy to Gaius 312, 316];
91. OGIS 573 = LSAM 80;
92. Harland, "Claiming a Place," 23-60, 201).
93. Associations could also use a favorite self-designation of some Christian groups: "assembly" (ekklésia) (see IGLAM 1381-82 [Aspendos, Pamphylia];
94. CIG 2271); in both cases, the groups were, of course, drawing on a well-known term for a gathering in the civic context.
95. Much of Philo's discourse on The Contemplative Life is spent comparing and contrasting the superior beliefs, ascetic practices and " mysteries" of the Jewish association of therapeutai to the supposed drunken confusion of other Greek or Roman associations and banquets (cf. Special Laws 2.145-46;
96. Embassy to Gaius 312-13).
97. Also see Torrey Seland, "Philo and the Clubs and Associations of Alexandria," in Wilson and Kloppenborg, Voluntary Associations, 110-27.
98. Elsewhere Philo refers to Moses as the "hierophant" who initiated the Jews into the mysteries (On Virtues 33.178).
99. Tertullian devotes considerable attention to establishing the superiority of the Christian association (factio, corpus) in relation to other "pagan" groups (Apology 38-39).
100. Eusebius speaks of the Christian churches as "our thiasos" (HE 10.1.8).
101. Often such groups met within the informal setting of a household, architecturally modified or not. See the extensive study of architectural adaptation among Jewish, Christian and other religious groups by L. Michael White, The Social Origins of Christian Architecture, HTS 42 (Valley Forge: Trinity Press, 1997).
102. Both Jews and Christians could be labeled as "atheists" on account of their monotheism. See Harland "Claiming a Place," 287-95
103. or Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations, ch. 9, where I discuss this in connection with imperial cults and the nature of persecution in Asia Minor.
104. The account of Polycarp's martyrdom provides a local example of the accusation (see Martyrdom of Polycarp 3.2; 9.2).