apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

IGNATIUS THE MARTYR. 21
protection which was accorded afterwards to its burial clubs. If therefore
the character of these Christian gatherings had been entirely neutral
in themselves, they
could not even then have been tolerated. But
this was far from being the case. When the individual Christian was
examined, he was found to be obstinate on points of vital importance.
He would not swear by the genius of the emperor; he vvould not offer
incense on the altar. The religious offence was bound up with the
political offence. He stood self-convicted of ' impiety,' of ' atheism,' of
high treason'.' Only by some wholly illogical decision of a magistrate
'
more humane than consistent, could he be saved from the penalties
of the law. ,
Trajan himself seems to have had no interest in the religious aspects
of Christianity. He was only anxious to suppress secret associations
which might become dangerous to the state. He would not care to
hunt down individuals. In the Bithynian persecution therefore he
took an active part ;
but in the two authentic instances of individual
martyrs, who suffered during his reign, there is no reason to think that
he manifested any personal concern.
The incidents relating to Symeon of Jerusalem
are told on the
authority, and for the most part in the very words, of the early Jewish
Christian historian Hegesippus". Symeon was the reputed cousin of
our Lord, being son of Clopas the brother of Joseph. On the death of
James the Just he had been chosen unanimously to till the vacant see.
He was now 120 years old, and Trajan was emperor. He was accused
by certain Jewish sectarians on a twofold charge : first, that he was a
descendant of David and therefore a claimant for the kingdom of
Israel ; secondly, that he was a Christian and therefore the adherent of
an unlawful religion. Atticus was then governor, and before Atticus
he was tried. For many days he was tortured, to the astonishment of
all beholders, not least of the governor himself, who marvelled at this
endurance in a man of such venerable age. Last of all he was crucified.
Whether this occurred before or after the Bithynian persecution, we
are not informed ^ There is
obviously an exaggeration in the age
assigned to Symeon ;
and the fact that he was a son of the Clopas
mentioned in the Evangelical records suggests that his death should be
placed early rather than late in the reign of Trajan.
^
The different offences, of which a 1866, p. 358 sq.
Christian might be guilty, are investi- ^
In Euseb. H. E. iii. 32.
gated by Leblant Sur Ics bases •'
jnridiipies See the introduction to the Acts of
des poicrsuttes dirigces contre les martyrs Martyrdom in vol. II, on the relative
in the Acad, des Inscr., Comptcs-rcndiis chronology of these persecutions.