apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

THE GENUINENESS. 371
classes in the direction of
widely spread movement among the upper
Christianity, In his last year Domitian stretched out his hand to
vex the Church. Flavins Clemens was executed ; others, including
Domitilla, suffered banishment for their faith. Further persecutions
were prevented by his death. On the accession of Nerva (a.d. 96)
the victims of Domitian's cruelty were restored and their penalties
remitted. Nerva himself only reigned sixteen months, and was succeeded
by Trajan (a. d. 98). Thus in the early years of Trajan's reign
there was a certain number of Christians moving in the highest circles
of society at Rome ; and, if they chose to bestir themselves,
it would
not be a very difficult matter to rescue one poor victim from the tortures
of the arena. We do not again hear of Christians in such high places
till the reign of Commodus (a.d. 180— 192), when the influence of
Marcia with the emperor was exerted to alleviate the sufferings of
certain Christian confessors (Hippol. Haer. ix. 12).
But this is not the only point. There are also incidental allusions
to the previous history of the Roman Church, which deserve notice.
'When our author writes 'I
do not command you like Peter and Paul'
(§ 4), the words become full of meaning, if we suppose him to be
alluding to personal relations of the two Apostles with the Roman
Church. In fact the back-ground of this language is the recognition
of the visit of S. Peter as well as S. Paul to Rome, which is persistently
maintained in early tradition ;
and thus it is a parallel to the joint
mention of the two Apostles in Clement of Rome (§ 5), as the chief
examples among the worthies of his time. The point to be observed
however is not that the writer believed in the personal connexion of
S. Peter and S. Paul with the Roman Church (this he might do, whether
a genuine writer or not), but that in a perfectly natural way this belief
is made the basis of an appeal, being indirectly assumed but not
definitely stated.
'
Again ;
he writes to the Romans (§ 3),
Ye never grudged any one,
•
ye instructed others' where the context shows that the 'grudging' and
'
the instruction ' refer to their attitude towards Christian athletes
striving for the crown of martyrdom. The bearing of the passage however
is at first sight obscure, and certainly does not explain itself But
a clear light is thrown upon it by the Epistle of Clement, written in the
name of the Roman Church, which appears to have been in the writer's
mind when he speaks of the Romans as ' instructors of others.' More
will be found on this subject in the note on the passage (11. p. 203).
Again ;
the writer evidently assumes throughout that the Roman
Christians are aware of his present condition, and might already be
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