apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

2 EPISTLES OF S. IGNATIUS.
fervid zeal and self-devotion), are impressed on every sentence in the
Epistles of Ignatius. He is
by his very nature an ifnpeller of men.
Both are intense, though in different ways. In Clement the ' intensity
of moderation '— to adopt his own paradox of language twice-repeated'
—
dominates and guides his conduct. In Ignatius
it is the intensity of
passion" — passion for doing and suffering — which drives him onward.
Not less striking is the change which has passed over the imperial
government meanwhile. The letter of Clement synchronizes with the
persecution of Domitian the letters of
; Ignatius were evoked by the
persecution of Trajan. The transition from Domitian to Trajan is a
stride in the social and constitutional life of Rome, of which the mere
lapse of time affords no adequate measurement. Centuries, rather than
decades of years, seem to have intervened between the one and the
other.
The attitude of Trajan towards the Christians has been represented
in directly opposite lights
in ancient and modern times. To the fathers
who wrote during the latter half of the second century, as to Christian
writers of subsequent ages generally, Trajan appears as anything rather
than a relentless persecutor. His lenity is contrasted with the wanton
cruelty of a Nero and the malignant caprice of a Domitian. He interposes
to modify the laws and so to assuage the sufferings of the persecuted
sect. If he does not altogether revoke the persecuting edicts of
his predecessors, he at least works them in such a spirit that they shall
press as lightly as possible on the unoffending people
of God^
^
Clem. Rom. 58, 62, /uera eKTci'oOs aov, koX ...Tdv Kad' which could not have been made without
ijfxas iv diapoXrj Karaarriaai \6yov 7)di- qualifications and explanations. Ter-
\7]