Christianity descends from heaven as a supernatural fact that has long been foretold, awaited, and which contains the answer to the deepest needs of human nature. His coming into the world of sin is accompanied by signs, wonders and extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit for the conversion of unbelieving Jews and Gentiles. Christianity settled forever among our sinful race, in order to gradually make it the kingdom of truth and truth - without wars and bloodshed, acting quietly and calmly, like leaven. Modest and humble, outwardly unpretentious and unattractive, but invariably conscious of its divine origin and its eternal destiny, having no silver and gold, but rich in supernatural gifts and powers, possessing strong faith, fiery love and joyful hope, bearing in earthen vessels lasting heavenly treasures , Christianity enters the stage of history as the only true, perfect religion for all peoples of the world.

Apostolic Christianity contains the living seeds of all subsequent periods, characters and trends of history. It establishes the highest standard of learning and discipline; it is the inspiration for all true progress; before each epoch it poses a special problem and gives strength to solve this problem.

History of the Christian Church
I. Apostolic Christianity (AD 1-100)

Edition 2

Preface to the third, revised English edition, 1890

The constant demand enjoyed by The History of the Christian Church imposes on me a grateful obligation not to let it fall behind the times. Thus, I have subjected this and other volumes (especially the second) to another revision and updated the list of references as much as possible, as the reader can verify by glancing at pages 2, 35, 45, 51-53, 193, 411, 484, 569, 570 etc. of this edition. All changes were made by shortening and condensing the text so as not to increase the volume of the book. The second volume is now in its fifth edition, and more volumes will soon follow.

This revision of the text will be the last. If any further amendments need to be made in my lifetime, I will add them as a separate appendix.

I feel deeply indebted to the reading public, and this gives me the strength to improve my book. Interest in church history in our theological schools and among the new generation of scholars is steadily growing and promises to bear fruit in the field of our common Christian faith.

New York, January 1890

Preface to the revised edition

In presenting to the public the new edition of my Church History, I feel more than ever the difficulty and responsibility of a task which is well worth devoting to it the time and energy of a lifetime, and which in itself is a great reward. The true historian of Christianity has not yet been born. But however far from my own ideal I may be, I have done my best, and I will be glad if my efforts inspire others to create a better and more lasting work.

History should be written on the basis of primary sources created by both friends and enemies, in the spirit of truth and love, sine ira et studio,"without malice towards anyone and with love for all", in a clear, fresh, energetic style, guided by the twin parables of the mustard seed and leaven, as a book of life for instruction, correction, inspiration, as the best exposition and defense of the Christian faith . For the great and gracious Neander, "the father of church history," at first an unsophisticated Israeli who trusted in the Messiah, then a Platonist who longed for the realization of his ideal of righteousness, and, finally, a Christian in mind and heart - such history became a matter of life, but before he managed to get to the Reformation, his work was interrupted by illness, and he said to his devoted sister: "Hannchen, I'm tired; let's go home; good night!" And with these words, he fell asleep calmly, like a child, in order to wake up in a country where all historical problems have already been resolved.

Returning to the favorite explorations of my youth, after a long hiatus, caused by a change of professional duties and literary works, before continuing the story to more recent times, I found it necessary to carefully rework the first volume in order to bring it into line with the present state of scientific research. We live in a hectic, eventful age of discovery, criticism, and reorganization. During the thirty years that have elapsed since my History of the Apostolic Church appeared as a separate book, there has been incessant activity in this field - and not only in Germany, that great laboratory of critical studies, but in all other Protestant countries. . Almost every inch of land was attacked and defended with such erudition, insight and skill as had never before been applied to the solution of historical problems.

In the process of revision, the first volume more than doubled in volume and resulted in two volumes. The first covers apostolic, and the second - post-apostolic, or ante-Nicene Christianity. The first volume is longer than my separate "History of the Apostolic Church" and, unlike it, is devoted to theology and literature, while the History of the Apostolic Church deals with the missionary activity and spiritual life of that period. I have carefully avoided repetition and rarely looked at the first edition. On two points I have changed my mind - about the Roman imprisonment of Paul (which I am inclined to admit for the sake of the pastoral epistles) and about the dating of Revelation (which I now place - like most modern critics - in 68 or 69, and not in 68 or 69). 95, as before).

I want to express my deep gratitude to my friend, Dr. Ezra Abbott - a scientist of rare erudition and meticulousness in the smallest matters - for his kind and valuable assistance in proof proofing and corrections.

The second volume, just as carefully revised and partly rewritten, is in the publishing house; the third one needs a few changes. Work on two new volumes, one on the history of medieval Christianity and the other on the Reformation (before the Treaty of Westphalia and the Assembly of Westminster in 1648), has been going on for a long time.

May my work in its present revised form find a reader as benevolent and indulgent as its first edition. In this age of skepticism, I strive above all else to secure the unshakable historical foundation of Christianity and its victory over the world.

Philip Schaff

Union Theological Seminary,

New York, October 1882

1. Canonical books of the New Testament. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament, better than any ancient classical work, are supported both by a chain of external evidence, stretching almost to the end of the age of the apostles, and by internal evidence of spiritual depth and piety, and therefore stand immeasurably higher than any works of the second century. Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit guided the church as it drew up and finalized the Christian canon. But this, of course, does not abolish the need for critical examination of the text, especially since the evidence for the seven antilegomena Eusebius are less weighty. Initially, the Tübingen and Leiden schools recognized only five books of the New Testament as reliable, namely: the four letters of Paul - the Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, as well as the Galatians - and the Revelation of John. But progress in research is bearing more and more positive results, and now there are adherents among liberal critics for almost all of Paul's epistles. (Gilgenfeld and Lipsius recognize seven: in addition to those already named, 1 Thessalonians, Philippians, and Philemon; Renan also admits that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians and Colossians, thereby increasing the number of authentic epistles to nine.) The main events and teachings of apostolic Christianity are confirmed even in these five documents, which have received recognition from the extreme left wing of modern critics.

The Acts of the Apostles set forth the external, and the Epistles, the internal history of primitive Christianity. These are independent works, written at the same time, and there is not a single reference to each other in them; probably Luke never read the epistles of Paul, and Paul never read the Acts of Luke, although he no doubt gave Luke a lot of valuable information. But indirectly, they explain and confirm each other thanks to a whole series of very convincing coincidences, especially since these coincidences are unintentional and accidental. If these books had been compiled after the death of the apostles, the agreement between them would have been more complete, there would have been no minor differences at all, and the gaps in Acts would have been filled - especially regarding the last years of the ministry and the death of Peter and Paul.

In Acts, all the distinctive features of an original, lively and reliable narration about the author's contemporary events, based on reliable sources of information and, to a large extent, on personal observations and experiences, are clearly manifested. The authorship of Luke, a companion of Paul, is recognized by most of the best scholars of our time, even Ewald. And this fact alone inspires our confidence. Renan (in his book "The Apostle Paul", ch. 1) excellently describes Acts as follows: "A book of joy, fervent and clear faith. After Homer's poems, we do not know a work imbued with such freshness of sensations. The morning breeze breathes in this book, it is all saturated with the smell of the sea, cheerfully invigorating, which makes it an excellent companion, a lovely breviary for one who, step by step, is looking for traces of antiquity in the southern seas. This was the second poetic period of Christianity. The first was experienced on Lake Tiberias and on fishing boats. Then a more powerful wind, a desire for more distant lands, carried the apostles to the open sea.

2. The writings of the disciples of the apostles and the fathers of the church abound with allusions and references to the writings of the apostles and are as dependent on them as a river is on its source.

3. Apocryphal and heretical literature. The same reasons, curiosity and interest in dogma, which gave rise to the apocryphal gospel, spawned a number of apocryphal deeds, messages And apocalypses. The latter have apologetic value, but their historical value is minimal. However, heretical features in them are more noticeable. These writings have not yet been studied to a sufficient extent. Lipsius (Smith and Wace, Diet, of Christ. biog., vol. I, p. 27) divides apocryphal acts into four categories: 1) Ebionite; 2) gnostic; 3) originally Catholic; 4) catholic adaptations or redactions of heretical documents. The last category is the most numerous, only a few of these writings were written before the 5th century, but for the most part they are based on documents of the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

a) Apocryphal deeds: Acts of Peter and Paul(Ebionite origin, but reworked), Acts of Paul and Thecla(mentioned by Tertullian at the end of the 2nd century, Gnostic origin), Acts of Thomas(gnostic), Acts of Matthew, Acts of Thaddeus, Martyrdom of Bartholomew, Acts of Barnabas, Acts of Andrew, Acts of Andrew and Matthew, Acts of Philip, Acts of John, Acts of Simon and Judas, Acts of Thaddeus, Teachings of Addai, Apostle(ed. in Syriac and English by Dr. J. Phillips, London, 1876).

b) Apocryphal epistles: correspondence Paul And Seneca(six letters of Paul and eight - Seneca, mentioned by Jerome and Augustine), The third epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, the Epistle of Mary, the Epistle of Peter to James.

c) Apocryphal apocalypses: Apocalypse of John, Apocalypse of Peter, Apocalypse of Paul(or ?????????? ??????, based on the account of Paul's rapture into Paradise, 2 Cor. 12:2–4), Apocalypse of Thomas, Apocalypse of Stephen, Apocalypse of Mary, Apocalypse of Moses, Apocalypse of Ezra.

Individual editions and collections

fabricius: Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti. Hamburg, 1703, 2d ed. 1719, 1743, 3 parts in 2 volumes (vol. II).

grab: Spicilegium Patrum et H?reticorum. Oxford, 1698, ed. II. 1714.

Birch: Auctarium Cod. Apoc. N. Ti Fabrician. Copenh. 1804 (Fase. I). Includes pseudo-apocalypse of John.

Thilo: Acta Apostle. Petri et Pauli. Halis, 1838. Acta Thom?. lips. 1823.

Tischendorf: Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha. lips. 1851.

Tischendorf: Apocalypse Apocryph? Mosis, Esdr?, Pauli, Joannis, item Mari? Dormitio. lips. 1866.

R. A. Lipsius: Die apocryph. Apostel geschickten und Apostel legenden. Leipz. 1883 sq. 2 vols.

4. Jewish sources: Philo and Josephus, see §14, p. 70. The writings of Josephus are essential to the history of the Jewish war and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, which marked a complete break between the Christian church and the Jewish synagogue and temple. In the Jewish apocrypha and Talmudic literature, we draw information about the education received by the apostles, about how they taught, about discipline and worship in the early church. Lightfoot, Schöttgen, Castelli, Dilic, Wünsche, Siegfried, Schürer, and a few others have made these sources available to the exegete and historian. See also the Jewish writings of Jost, Graetz, and Geiger, mentioned in §9, and Hamburger, Real–Encyclopadie des Judenthums (fur Bibel und Talmud), which is currently in the process of being published.

5. Pagan writers: Tacitus, Pliny, Suetonius, Lucian, Celsus, Porfiry, Julian. Their information is fragmentary, for the most part secondary, unreliable and tainted with hostility, but has no small apologetic value.

See Hat. Lardner (d. 1768): "A collection of ancient Jewish and pagan testimonies in favor of the truth of the Christian religion" (Nath. Lardner, Collection of Ancient Jewish and Heathen Testimonies to the Truth of the Christian Religion, 4 vols., Lond. 1764 - 1767). Subsequently reprinted in several editions of his "Works" (Works, vol. VI. 365-649, ed. Kippis).

Works on the history of the age of the apostles

William Cave (Anglican, d. 1713): Lives of the Apostles, and the two Evangelists, St. Mark and St. Luke. Lond. 1675, new revised ed., H. Cary, Oxford, 1840 (reprinted in New York, 1857). See also Cave, Primitive Christianity, 4th ed. Lond. 1862.

Joh. fr. Buddeus (Lutheran, d. Jena, 1729): Ecclesia Apostolica. Jen. 1729.

George Benson (d. 1763): History of the First Planting of the Christian Religion. Lond. 1756, 3 vols, quarto (translated into German) Bamberger, Halle, 1768).

J. J. Hess (d. Zurich, 1828): Geschichte der Apostel Jesu. Zur. 1788; 4th ed. 1820.

Gottl. Jac. Planck (d. in Göttingen, 1833): Geschichte des Christenthums in der Periode seiner Einfuhrung in die Welt durch Jesum und die Apostel. Gottingen, 1818, 2 vols.

*Aug. Neander (d. in Berlin, 1850): Geschichte der Pflanzung und Leitung der Christlichen Kirche durch die Apostel. Hamb. 1832. 2 vols.; 4th ed. revised 1847. English translation. language (History of the Planting and Training of the Christ. Church), J. E. Ryland, Edinb. 1842, and in the Bonn's Standard Library series, Lond. 1851; reprinted by Philad. 1844; revised by E. G. Robinson, N. York, 1865. This landmark book has not lost its value to this day.

F. C. Albert Schwegler (d. Tübingen, 1857): Das nachapostolische Zeitalter in den Hauptmomenten seiner Entwicklung. Tubingen, 1845, 1846, 2 vols. An immoderately critical attempt to transfer the apostolic writings (with the exception of five books) into the post-apostolic era.

* Ferd. Christ. Baur (d. 1860): Das Christenthum und die christliche Kirche der drei ersten Jahrhunderte. Tubingen, 1853, 2nd rev., ed. 1860 (536 pp.). The third edition is only a reprint or titular edition of the second, it constitutes the first volume of Baur's General Church History, published under the editorship of his son, in 5 volumes, 1863. This is the last and most talented exposition of the Tübingen version of the history of the apostles, created by the hand of the master of this school . See Volume I, p. 1–174. English translation Allen Menzies, in 2 vols. Lond. 1878, 1879. See also Baur, paul, second ed. by Ed. Zeller, 1866.1867; translation A menzies, 2 vols. 1873.1875. Baur's critical studies have forced scholars to carefully reconsider traditional ideas about the age of the apostles and have so far been very useful, despite the presence of fundamental errors.

A. P. Stanley (Dean of Westminster): Sermons and Essays on the Apostolic Age. Oxford, 1847. 3d ed. 1874.

*Heinrich W. J. Thiersch (follower of E. Irving, died in 1885 in Basel): Die Kirche im apostolischen Zeitalter. Francf. a. M. 1852; 3d ed. Augsburg, 1879, "improved" but not much. (Translation into English of the first edition, th. Carlyle. Lond. 1852.)

*J. P. Lange (d. 1884): Das apostolische Zeitalter. Braunschw. 1854. 2 vols.

Philip Schaff: History of the Apostolic Church, originally in German, Mercersburg, Penns. 1851; 2nd ed. enlarged, Leipzig, 1854; English translation by Dr. E.D. Yeomans, N. York, 1853, in 1 vol.; Edinb. 1854, in 2 vols.; several of the same publications. (Translated into Dutch of the second German edition, J. W. Th. Lublink Weddik, Tiel, 1857.)

*G. V. Lechler (prof. in Leipzig): Das apostolische und das nachapostolische Zeitalter. 2nd ed. 1857; 3rd ed., revised, Leipzig, 1885. Eng. miss translation davidson, Edinb. 1887. Conservative labor.

* Albrecht Ritschl (died in Göttingen, 1889): Die Entstehung der Altkatholischen Kirche. 2nd ed. Bonn, 1857. The first edition followed the Tübingen school, but the second edition was greatly improved and laid the foundation for the Ritschl school.

*Heinrich Ewald (died in Göttingen, 1874): Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vols. VI and VII. 2nd ed. Gottingen, 1858 and 1859. Vol. 6 of this great work contains the history of the apostolic age before the destruction of Jerusalem; vol. 7 - the history of the post-apostolic era until the reign of Hadrian. English translation of "History of Israel", R. Martineau, J.?. carpenter. Lond. 1869 sqq. Translation of the 6th and 7th volumes is not expected. Ewald ("Urvogel von Gottingen") followed an independent path, opposing it both to traditional orthodoxy and to the Tübingen school, which, in his opinion, was worse than paganism. See the preface to vol. 7.

*E. de Pressense: Histoire des trois premiers siecles de l "eglise chretienne. Par. 1858 sqq. 4 vols. German translation E. Fabarius(Leipz. 1862 - 1865); English translation Annie Harwood–Holmden(Lond. and N. York, 1870, new ed. Lond. 1879). The first volume includes a history of the first century called Le siecle apostolique; transfer, ed. 1887.

*Joh. Jos. IGN. von Dollinger (Roman Catholic, since 1870 - Old Catholic): Christenthum und Kirche in der Zeit der Grundung. Regensburg, 1860. 2d ed. 1868. English. translation H. N. Oxenham. London, 1867.

S. S. Vaughan: The Church of the First Days. Lond. 1864 - 1865. 3 vols. Lectures on the Acts of the Apostles.

J. N. Sepp (Catholic): Geschichte der Apostel Jesu bis zur Zerstorung Jerusalems. Schaffhausen, 1866.

C. Holsten: Zum Evangelium des Paulus und des Petrus. Rostock, 1868 (447 pp.).

Paul Wilh. Schmidt and Franz v. Holtzendorf: Protestanten-Bibel Neuen Testaments. Zweite, revid. Auflage. Leipzig, 1874. A popular exegetical summary of the Tübingen notions, written with contributions from Bruch, Gilgenfeld, Holsten, Lipsius, Pfleiderer, and others.

A. W. Bruce (Professor at Glasgow): The Training of the Twelve. Edinburgh, 1871, 2nd ed. 1877.

* Ernest Renan (de l "Academie Francaise): Histoire des origines du Christianisme. Paris, 1863 sqq. Vol. 1, Life of Jesus, 1863, cited in $14 (p. 73); followed by vol. 2, The Apostles, 1866; v. 3, "The Apostle Paul", 1869; v. 4, Antichrist, 1873; v. 5, The Gospels and the Second Generation of Christianity, 1877; vol. 6, The Christian Church, 1879, and the last, vol. 7, Marcus Aurelius, 1882. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th volumes cover the era of the apostles, and the last two - the next . The work of a skeptic outside of Christianity, possessing excellent talent, eloquence and a secular education. Its value is constantly increasing. The Life of Jesus is the most interesting and popular, but also the most controversial volume, since it deals with the most holy theme in an almost blasphemous way.

Emily Ferriere: Les Apotres. Paris, 1875.

Supernatural Religion. An Inquiry into the Reality of Divine Revelation. Lond. 1873, (7th), "complete edition carefully revised", 1879, 3 vols. This anonymous work is a reproduction and repository of the critical theories of the Tübingen school of Baur, Strauss, Zeller, Schwegler, Gilgenfeld, Volkmar, etc. It can be called an extended version Nachapostolisches Zeitalter Shwegler. Vol. 1 is for the most part occupied with a philosophical discussion of the question of miracles; the remainder of volume 1 (pp. 212-485) and vol. 2 contain historical studies of the question of the apostolic origin of the canonical gospels, and the author comes to a negative conclusion. Vol. 3 deals with Acts, Epistles, and Revelation, as well as evidence for resurrection and rapture. The last two events are explained as hallucinations or myth. Starting with the statement about the initial improbability of miracles, the author comes to the conclusion about their impossibility, and this philosophical conclusion determines the entire course of his historical reasoning. Dr. Schürer in Theol. Literaturzeitung, 1879, no. 26 (p. 622), says that this publication has no scientific significance for Germany, but notes the author's excellent knowledge of modern German literature and his conscientiousness in collecting historical details. Drs. Lightfoot, Sunday, Ezra Abbott, and others have pointed out the lack of science and the falsity of the author's assumptions. The speed with which this edition is being sold indicates the widespread skepticism and the need to return, already on Anglo-American territory, to the theological battles that took place in Germany and Holland - hopefully with great success.

*J. B. Lightfoot (since 1879 Bishop of Durham): a series of carefully crafted critiques of the book Supernatural Religion in the almanac "Contemporary Review" for 1875 - 1877. A reprint in book form is expected. See also the anonymous author's reply in the lengthy preface to the sixth edition. Lightfoot's commentaries on the Pauline epistles contain valuable insights into some of the historical aspects of the apostolic era, especially the relationship between Paul and the three apostles in Com. on the Galatians, pp. 283–355.

W. Sunday: The Gospels in the Second Century. London, 1876. This work is directed against the critical part of the book Supernational Religion. Its eighth chapter (pp. 204 sqq.), on the Gnostic distortions and alterations introduced into the Gospel of Luke by Marcion, had previously been published in the Fortnightly Review of June 1875 and is now well known to English scholars - an echo of the controversy which already resounded in Germany, within the walls of the Tübingen school. The absurd hypothesis of the priority of the gospel of Marcion was defended by Ritschl, Baur and Schwegler, but it was refuted by Volkmar and Hilgenfeld, adherents of the same school, as a result of which Baur and Ritschl, to their credit, abandoned this error. Anonymous author Supernatural Religion followed suit in the seventh edition. The Germans argued mainly about historical and dogmatic points, and Sandey, drawing on Holtzmann's analysis of Luke's style and vocabulary, added philological and textual arguments.

A. Hausrath (Prof. in Heidelberg): Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte. Heidelberg, 1873 sqq. 2nd and 3rd parts (2nd ed., 1875) cover the time of the apostles, 4th part (1877) - the period after their death. English translation: Poynting, Quenzer. Lond. 1878 sqq. Hausrath is a follower of the Tübingen school.

Dan. Schenkel (professor in Heidelberg): Das Christusbild der Apostel und der nachapostolischen Zeit. Leipz. 1879. See G. Holzmann's review in Gilgenfeld's Zeitschrift fur wissensch. Theob, 1879, p. 392.

H. Oort and I. Hooykaas: The Bible for Learners, translation from Dutch: Philip H Wicksteed, vol. III (New Testament, Hoykaas), Book II, p. 463–693 in the Boston edition of 1879 (in the English edition it is vol. VI). A popular review of the rationalist critique of Tübingen and Leiden, inspired by Dr. A. Künen, professor of theology at Leiden. Basically, this work is consistent with the above Protestanten-Bibel.

* George R. Fisher (professor at Yale College, New Haven): The Beginnings of Christianity. N. York, 1877. See this author's previous work: Essays on the Supernatural Origin of Christianity, with special reference to the Theories of Renan, Strauss, and the Tubingen School. New York, 1865. New, revised edition 1877.

*FROM. Weizsacker (came to Baur's place in Tübingen): Das Apostolische Zeitalter. Freiburg, 1886. A critical and highly competent work.

*O. Pfleiderer (Prof. in Berlin): Das Urchristenthum, seine Schriften und Lehren. Berlin, 1887. (Tübingen school.)

Works on the chronology of the era of the apostles

Rudolph Anger: De temporum in Actis Apostolorum ratione. lips. 1833 (208 pp.).

Henry Brown: Ordo S?clorum. A Treatise on the Chronology of the Holy Scriptures. Lond. 1844, pp. 95–163.

*Karl Wieseler: Chronologie des apostolischen Zeitalters. Gottingen, 1848 (606 pp.).

Older writings and writings on special issues are listed in Wieseler, p. 6–9. See also a detailed overview of the dates of the apostolic era: Lechler, Acts(in the American edition of Lange's Commentary, translated by Schaeffer); Henry W. Smith, Chronological Tables of Church History(1860); weingarten, Zeittafeln zur K-Gesch. 3d ed. 1888.

§ 21. General features of the era of the apostles

Duration and historical background of the era of the apostles

The apostolic age begins on the day of Pentecost and ends with the death of the apostle John, it lasts about seventy years, from 30 to 100 A.D. Events unfold in Palestine and gradually cover Syria, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. The most famous centers are Jerusalem, Antioch and Rome, which housed the "mother" churches, respectively, of Jewish, pagan and united catholic, catholic Christianity. Almost as famous are Ephesus and Corinth. Ephesus acquired special importance because John lived and worked in this city, whose influence was felt in the 2nd century thanks to Polycarp and Irenaeus. Samaria, Damascus, Joppa, Caesarea, Tire, Cyprus, the provinces of Asia Minor, Troad, Philippi, Thessaloniki, Berea, Athens, Crete, Patmos, Malta, Puteoli also fall into our field of vision, since the Christian faith took root there too. Through the eunuch converted by Philip, Christianity reached Candace, queen of Ethiopia. Already in 58 A.D. Paul could say, "I have spread the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside to Illyricum." Subsequently, the apostle brought the Good News to Rome, where it had already been heard before, and, perhaps, reached as far as Spain, the western tip of the empire.

In the first century, the gospel spread to Jews, Greeks, and Romans. The population of the eastern part of the empire spoke Hebrew or Aramaic, but Greek played a special role there, since at that time in the Roman Empire it was an instrument of civilization and supported interethnic relations. The secular history of the time includes the reigns of Roman emperors from Tiberius to Nero and Domitian, who either ignored or persecuted Christianity. Here we will meet King Herod Agrippa I (grandson of Herod the Great), the murderer of the Apostle James; with his son King Agrippa II (the last of the Herod dynasty), who, together with his sister Verenice (an extremely depraved woman), listened to Paul's defense speech; with two Roman procurators, Felix and Festus; with the Pharisees and Sadducees; with the Stoics and the Epicureans; we will visit the temple and theater in Ephesus, the courtyard of the Areopagus in Athens and the palace of Caesar in Rome.

The author of Acts describes the heroic procession of Christianity from the capital of Judaism to the capital of paganism with the same unsophisticated simplicity and serene faith with which the evangelists narrate about Jesus - he knows well that Christianity needs neither embellishments, nor justifications, nor subjective opinions and that it will surely triumph because of its inherent spiritual power.

The book of Acts and Paul's epistles provide us with reliable information up to 63 AD. Peter and Paul disappear from sight among the ominous fires of Nero's persecution, in which Christianity itself seemed to be burned. We do not find any reliable information about this satanic spectacle in any authoritative source, except for the reports of pagan historians. A few years later Jerusalem was destroyed, and this must have made an indelible impression on the believers and severed the last thread that connected Jewish Christianity with the former theocracy. We learn about this event from the prophecy of Christ, reflected in the gospels, but the description of the terrible fulfillment of the prophecy was preserved for us by an unbelieving Jew, whose words, being the testimony of the enemy, make the greater impression.

The remaining thirty years of the first century are shrouded in the darkness of mystery, on which only the writings of John shed light. With all our desire to learn as much as possible about this period of church history, almost nothing is known about it. It is with this period that many unreliable church traditions and hypotheses of critics are associated. With what gratitude historians will meet any new reliable documents of the period between the martyrdom of Peter and Paul and the death of John, and also between the death of John and the era of Justin Martyr and Irenaeus!

Reasons for success

Regarding the number of Christians at the end of the 1st century, we have absolutely no information. In those days, people had no idea about statistical reports. To speak of half a million Christians among a hundred or more million inhabitants of the Roman Empire is probably an exaggeration. The conversion of three thousand people in one day in Jerusalem and the "vast multitude" of martyrs during the persecutions of Nero give rise to overestimations. In addition, the churches in Antioch, Ephesus, and Corinth were large enough to bear the weight of division and division. But in most localities the congregations were no doubt small, and often only a handful of the poor. In remote areas, paganism survived the longest, even surviving the reign of Constantine. Newly converted Christians mainly belonged to the middle and lower strata of society, such as fishermen, peasants, artisans, merchants, freedmen, slaves. The apostle Paul writes: “There are not many among you who are wise according to the flesh, not many who are strong, not many who are noble; but God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong; and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the lowly and meaningless things, to abolish the things that are significant, so that no flesh can boast before God.” Yet it was these poor, illiterate churches that were recipients of the most glorious gifts, and their minds were open to the greatest problems and loftiest thoughts that could attract the attention of an immortal mind. Future leaders emerge from the lower strata, constantly giving new strength to the higher strata and preventing the decay of the latter.

By the time of Constantine's conversion, at the beginning of the 4th century, the number of Christians may have reached 10 to 12 million, which was one tenth of the entire population of the Roman Empire. Some call higher numbers.

Christianity prospered surprisingly quickly under the most adverse conditions, and this success speaks for itself. It was achieved in full view of the entire indifferent or hostile world, exclusively by spiritual or moral means, and not a single drop of blood was shed, except for the blood of the Christian martyrs themselves. Gibbon, in the famous 15th chapter of his History, explains the rapid spread of Christianity by five causes: 1) the fanatical but unprejudiced religious zeal of Christians inherited from the Jews; 2) the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, about which the philosophers of antiquity had a vague and vague idea; 3) miraculous abilities attributed to the early church; 4) chaste, ascetic morality of the first Christians; 5) unity and discipline within the church, which was a gradually growing community of people at the very heart of the empire. However, each of these reasons, if properly understood, points to the superiority and divine origin of the Christian religion, and this is the main reason that the deist historian is silent about.

The Significance of the Age of the Apostles

The life of Christ is the divine-human origin of the Christian religion; the age of the apostles is the origin of the Christian church as an organized community separate and distinct from the Jewish synagogue. This is the era of the Holy Spirit, the era of inspiration and guidance for all subsequent ages.

Here, in all its original freshness and purity, the living water of the new creation flows. Christianity descends from heaven as a supernatural fact that has long been foretold, awaited, and which contains the answer to the deepest needs of human nature. His coming into the world of sin is accompanied by signs, wonders and extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit for the conversion of unbelieving Jews and Gentiles. Christianity settled forever among our sinful race, in order to gradually make it the kingdom of truth and truth - without wars and bloodshed, acting quietly and calmly, like leaven. Modest and humble, outwardly unpretentious and unattractive, but invariably conscious of its divine origin and its eternal destiny, having no silver and gold, but rich in supernatural gifts and powers, possessing strong faith, fiery love and joyful hope, bearing in earthen vessels lasting heavenly treasures , Christianity enters the stage of history as the only true, perfect religion for all peoples of the world. At first glance, seeming to the carnal mind as an insignificant and even contemptible sect, hated and persecuted by Jews and pagans, it shames the wisdom of Greece and the power of Rome, after a short time raises the banner of the cross in the great cities of Asia, Africa and Europe and shows everyone what is the hope of the world.

By virtue of the primordial purity, strength and beauty, and also by the unfailing success of early Christianity, by the canonical authority of its sole but inexhaustible literary work, and by the personal qualities of the apostles, those inspired instruments of the Holy Spirit, those uneducated teachers of mankind, the age of the apostles stands out in the history of the church with incomparable attraction and significance. This is the indestructible foundation of the entire building of Christianity. This epoch is such a measure for all subsequent events in the life of the church, as the inspired Scriptures of the apostles are for the writings of all subsequent Christian authors.

Moreover, apostolic Christianity contains the living seeds of all subsequent periods, characters and trends of history. It establishes the highest standard of learning and discipline; it is the inspiration for all true progress; before each epoch it poses a special problem and gives strength to solve this problem. Christianity will never outgrow Christ, but it grows in Christ; theology cannot go beyond God's Word, but it must continually grow in understanding and application of Scripture. The three main apostles embody not only the three stages of the development of the apostolic church, but also as many epochs and types of Christianity, and yet all of them are present in every epoch and in every type.

Major Apostles

Peter, Paul, and John stand out prominently from among the apostles as the three chosen ones who accomplished the great work of the apostolic era and exerted, through their writings and their example, a decisive influence on all subsequent times. They correspond to three centers of influence: Jerusalem, Antioch and Rome.

Our Lord personally chose from among the twelve three of His closest comrades - only they were witnesses of His transfiguration and agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. They lived up to all expectations, Peter and John by their long and successful labors, and James by drinking early the bitter cup of their Lord as the first martyr of the Twelve. He was killed in A.D. 44, and his place as one of the "pillars" of the circumcised church was probably taken by another James, "the brother of the Lord", although he did not belong to the number of apostles in the strict sense of the word, but his influence as leader of the Jerusalem church was more local than universal.

Paul was the last to be called, and contrary to the usual order, the ascended Lord personally appeared to him already from heaven. Paul was equal in authority and influence to any of the three "pillars," yet he held his special place as an apostle to the Gentiles. He was surrounded by a small group of co-workers and disciples, such as Barnabas, Silas, Titus, Timothy, Luke.

There is no doubt that the nine apostles from the original composition of the Twelve, including Matthias, who was chosen to replace Judas, worked faithfully and fruitfully, preaching the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire and to the very borders of the barbarian tribes, but they occupied a more modest position and we know only about their labors according to vague and dubious traditions.

From the book of Acts we can follow the ministry of James and Peter to the Council of Jerusalem, that is, to A.D. 50, or a little longer; in Paul's ministry until his first imprisonment in Rome, which took place in A.D. 61-63; John lived to the end of the first century. As for the last period of the life of the apostles, the New Testament does not give us reliable information, but, according to the unanimous testimony of the ancients, Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome during the Nero persecutions or after them, and John died a natural death in Ephesus. The Acts narrative abruptly breaks off at the moment when Paul is still alive and working, in a Roman prison, "preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness without restraint." Significant ending.

It would be difficult to find three other equally great and virtuous people, equally endowed with genius, sanctified by grace, united by a deep and intense love for their Lord, working for the same goal, and yet so different from each other in their temperament and mentality, like Peter, Paul and John. Peter went down in history as the main pillar of the early church, as the apostle-stone, the main of the twelve stones laid in the foundation of the New Jerusalem; John - as a close friend of the Savior, the son of thunder, the soaring eagle, the apostle of love; Paul - as a champion of Christian freedom and development, the greatest missionary, on whose heart lay the burden of "taking care of all the churches", an interpreter of Christian doctrine and the father of Christian theology. Peter was a man of action, he was always in a hurry and was ready to lead any business, he was the first to confess Christ and the first to begin to preach Him on the day of Pentecost; Paul was a man equally skilled in word and deed; John was inclined towards mystical contemplation. Peter was uneducated and pragmatic; Paul was not only a worker, but also a scholar and thinker; John was a theosophist and seer. Peter was sanguine - hot, impulsive, optimistic, good-hearted, prone to sudden mood swings, "successively inconsistent" (to use Aristotle's definition); Pavel was a choleric - strong, courageous, noble, independent, uncompromising; John was somewhat melancholic - a restrained introvert, burning inside with love for Christ and hatred for the Antichrist. The epistles of Peter are full of grace and consolation, the consequence of his deep humiliation and rich experience; Paul's epistles abound in strict conclusions and logical conclusions, but at times soar to the heights of heavenly eloquence - for example, in an unearthly description of love and in a triumphant hymn of praise from Rom. 8; John's writings are simple, serene, profound, intuitive, sublime, and inexhaustible.

We would like to know more about the personal relationships of these pillars-apostles, but we have to be content with a few hints. Peter, Paul, and John worked in different fields and rarely met face to face in their busy lives. Time was too precious and their ministry too important to indulge in the sentimental pleasures of friendship. In A.D. 40, three years after his conversion, Paul went to Jerusalem, apparently to get to know Peter personally, and spent two weeks with him; he did not see any of the other apostles, with the exception of James, the brother of the Lord. Paul met with the pillars of the apostles at a conference in Jerusalem in A.D. 50, and made a peace agreement with them on the division of the provinces for the gospel and on the subject of circumcision; the senior apostles gave him and Barnabas a "hand of communion" as a sign of brotherhood and fidelity. A short time later, Paul met Peter a third time at Antioch, but came into open conflict with him over the great question of Christian freedom and the unity of Jewish and Gentile converts. This clash was temporary, but it perfectly reflects the deep unrest and unrest of the age of the apostles and foreshadows future conflicts and reconciliations in the church. A few years later (A.D. 57), Paul makes his last mention of Cephas and the brothers of the Lord when he speaks of his right to marry and take his wife with him on missionary journeys. Peter, in his first epistle to the Pauline churches, confirms them in the faith of Paul, and in his second epistle, his testament, he speaks fondly of "beloved brother Paul", although he accompanies these words with a characteristic remark, the validity of which all interpreters are forced to admit - that ( apart from the description of the events in Antioch) there is "something unintelligible" in Paul's letters. According to tradition (the versions of which differ considerably in detail), the great leaders of Jewish and pagan Christianity met in Rome, were tried together, and were condemned together: Paul, as a Roman citizen, to death by the sword on the Appian Way near the "Three Springs"; Peter, an apostle from Galilee, to a more humiliating death on the cross on Janiculum Hill. John often mentions Peter in his gospel, especially at the end, but he never mentions the name of Paul, whom he seems to have met only once - in Jerusalem, where he gave him the hand of fellowship. Subsequently, John became the successor of Paul in the fertile territory of Asia Minor and the successor of his labors.

Peter was the protagonist of the first stage in the history of apostolic Christianity and fulfilled the prophecy hidden in his name, laying the foundation of the church among both Jews and Gentiles. In the second stage, he finds himself in the shadow of the great works of Paul, but after the end of the era of the apostles, he again occupies the most prominent place in the memory of the church. The Roman community chose him as their special patron saint and first pope. His name is always given before the name of Paul. Most temples are dedicated to him. In the name of this poor fisherman of Galilee, who had neither gold nor silver and was crucified like a villain and a slave, popes in triple tiaras deposed kings, shook empires, dispensed blessings and curses on earth and in purgatory, and even still claim the ability to speak infallibly on all matters of doctrine and order in the Catholic world.

Paul was the protagonist of the second stage in the history of the apostolic church, the apostle of the Gentiles, the founder of Christianity in Asia Minor and Greece, the liberator of the new religion from the yoke of Judaism, the herald of evangelical freedom, the standard-bearer of reforms and progress. His authority and influence were felt in Rome, and their echo is clearly heard in the original Epistle of Clement, which gives more attention to Paul than to Peter. But soon almost everything is forgotten about Paul, except for his name. He is mentioned along with Peter as one of the founders of the Roman Church, but in the second place; the inhabitants of Rome to this day seldom read and hardly understand his Epistle to the Romans; his temple stands outside the walls of the eternal city, the main decoration and glory of which remains the apostle Peter. It was only in Africa that Paul was properly respected, first by the stern and energetic Tertullian, and then, to an even greater extent, by the wise Augustine, whose religious experience had equally sharp turns. However, Paul's teachings on sin and grace, as expounded by Augustine, did not have the slightest influence on the Eastern Church, and in the Western Church they were practically superseded by Pelagian tendencies. For a long time, the name of Paul lived outside the dominant orthodoxy and hierarchy - it was used and abused by anti-Catholic heretics and schismatics who resisted the new yoke of traditions and rituals. But in the 16th century, the personality of Paul took on a new life and became the driving force behind the Protestant Reformation. It was then that Luther and Calvin anew and publicly proclaimed, interpreted, and put into practice his epistles to the Galatians and Romans. Then Paul's objections to Judaizing fanatics and the bonds of the law took on new life, and the right of Christians to freedom was widely recognized. Of all the characters in the history of the church, including St. Augustine, the greatest resemblance to the apostle of the Gentiles in word and deed is shown by Martin Luther, once a monk surrounded by walls of prohibitions, and later a prophet of freedom. Since then Paul's genius has dominated the theology and religion of Protestantism. As the gospel of Christ was once banished from Jerusalem for the blessing of the Gentiles, so Paul's epistle to the Romans was banished from Rome to enlighten and liberate the Protestant peoples of the far North and far West.

The Apostle John, the closest companion of Jesus, the apostle of love, the seer who discerned the premortal existence, foresaw the timeless fate of creation, and who was destined to see the return of the Lord, kept aloof from disputes between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, not taking an active part in them. . He, one of the pillar apostles, is given an important role in Acts and the Epistle to the Galatians, but not one of his sayings is recorded there. He waited in mysterious silence and held back his power until his time came, and his time came only after Peter and Paul had completed their mission. After their death, John revealed hitherto unknown depths of his genius in amazing writings, which became the end and crown of the works of the apostolic church. No one has yet been able to fully comprehend John, but throughout the history of the Church, Christians believed that he was the best able to understand and portray his Teacher, and that he may still have to say the last word in the clash of epochs and herald the beginning of an era of harmony and peace. . Paul is the heroic leader of the militant church, while John is the inscrutable prophet of the triumphant church.

But above all of them in the era of the apostles and subsequent times rises the one and only great Teacher, from whom Peter, Paul and John drew their inspiration, before whom they bowed in holy reverence, whom they undividedly served and whom they glorified by life and death, whom they and to this day in their writings they represent the perfect image of God, the Savior from sin and death, the Giver of eternal life, the Divine harmonization of conflicting creeds and theological schools, the Alpha and Omega of the Christian faith.

§ 22. Critical reconstruction of the history of the apostolic era

Never before in the history of the Church have the origins of Christianity and its principal documentary sources been so scrutinized from such completely opposite points of view as in the present generation. This problem takes the time and energy of many of the most talented scientists and critics. The importance and influence of the little book in which “the wisdom of the whole world is contained” is such that it requires more and more research and sets in motion serious minds of all varieties of belief and unbelief, as if their very existence depended on whether they accepted it or rejected it. . There is not a single fact, not a single teaching that has not been subjected to careful examination. Scientists, on the basis of factual material, reproduced and examined from all possible sides the life of Christ, as well as the ministry and writings of the apostles with all their aspirations, disagreements and reconciliations. The era that began after the death of the apostles, due to its inseparable connection with the previous one, was also studied and considered in a new light.

The great Bible scholars of the Church Fathers sought to extract from the sacred books chiefly the orthodox doctrine of salvation and the principles of holy living. Reformers and early Protestant theologians took up the study of the Scriptures again, looking with particular enthusiasm for evangelical principles that distinguished Protestants from the Church of Rome. However, they all stood on a firm foundation of reverent faith in the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures. The current century is distinguished by a special interest in history and criticism. The Scriptures are subjected to the same examination and analysis as any other literary work of antiquity, for the sole purpose of establishing the true state of things. We want to know for certain how Christianity appeared, developed, and what finally came to Christianity as a historical phenomenon, organically connected with the events and peculiarities of thinking of that time. The entire path traversed by Christianity from the Bethlehem manger to the Calvary cross and from the chamber in Jerusalem to the throne of Caesar must be restored, explained and understood in accordance with the laws of normal historical development. But in the course of these critical investigations, the very foundation of the Christian faith was called into question, so that now we are faced with the question: "To be or not to be." Goethe's remark is as wise as it is true: "The struggle of faith and unbelief remains the true, single and deepest leitmotif of the history of the world and of mankind, to which all others are subordinate."

It can be said that the modern critical movement began around 1830, it is still at its peak and most likely will last until the end of the 19th century, since it took the apostolic church itself as much as seventy years to reach its full potential. At first, the critical movement was limited to the territory of Germany (Strauss, Baur and the Tübingen school), then it swept France (Renan), Holland (Scholten, Künen) and finally England (Supernatural Religion) and America, so that battles are now going on along the entire defensive line of Protestantism.

There are two types of biblical criticism: textual and historical.

Text criticism

Textual or textual criticism aims to restore, as far as possible, the original text of the Greek Scriptures on the basis of the oldest and most reliable sources, namely uncial manuscripts (especially the Vatican and Sinaiticus codes), translations made before the Council of Nicaea, and quotations from the writings of the fathers. churches. Our contemporaries were quite successful in this, aided by the discovery of very important ancient manuscripts. Thanks to the invaluable work of Lachmann, who cleared the way for a correct theory (Novum Testament. Gr., 1831; large Greek-Latin edition, 1842 - 1850, in two volumes), Tischendorf (8th critical edition, 1869 - 1872, in two volumes), Tregelles (1857, completed in 1879), Westcott and Hort (1881, 2 volumes .), instead of the comparatively late and distorted textus receptus Erasmus and his followers (Stevens, Beza and Elsevier), which formed the basis of all generally accepted Protestant translations, we now have a much more ancient and correct text, which from now on and henceforth should serve as the basis for all revised translations. Today, after bitter disputes between representatives of traditional and progressive schools, a striking agreement has been reached between critics in this fundamental area of ​​biblical knowledge. The new text is, in fact, an older text, and the reformers act as restorers. The results of this work not only did not undermine faith in the New Testament, but also confirmed that its text, in the main, is trustworthy, despite one hundred and fifty thousand discrepancies, purposefully collected from all available sources. It is noteworthy that the greatest textual critics of the nineteenth century do not recognize mechanical or magical inspiration—this point of view is untenable and unworthy of defense—but the divine origin and authority of the canonical Scriptures, and this doctrine stands on a much stronger foundation than any single human theory of inspiration.

Historical criticism

Historical or internal criticism (the Germans call it "high criticism", hohere Kritik) examines the origin, spirit, and purpose of the New Testament Scriptures, their historical setting, and their place in the great intellectual and religious process that culminated in the triumphant establishment of the unified church in the 2nd century AD Two distinct strands of historical criticism emerged, led by Dr. Neander in Berlin (d. 1850) and Dr. Baur in Tübingen (d. 1860), who labored in the field of church history at a respectful distance from each other and never met in person. Neander and Baur were colossi, equal in genius and knowledge, honesty and seriousness, but completely different in spirit. They gave a powerful impetus to historical research and left behind a huge galaxy of disciples and independent followers who are engaged in the historical-critical reconstruction of early Christianity. Their influence is felt in France, Holland and England. Neander published the first edition of his "Apostolic Age" in 1832, and "The Life of Jesus Christ" (with criticism of the views of Strauss) - in 1837 (the 1st volume of his "General History of the Church" was published as early as 1825. and reprinted in a revised form in 1842); Baur wrote his essay on divisions in the Corinthian church in 1831, a critical study of the canonical gospels in 1844 and 1847, "Paul" in 1845 (republished by Zeller, 1867), and an "Ecclesiastical History of the First Three Centuries" - in 1853 (revised edition, 1860). Baur's student Strauss was ahead of his teacher by publishing the first version of his work Leben Jesu(1835), which made a bigger splash than all the listed works - it was surpassed in popularity only by Renan's Life of Jesus, which was published almost thirty years later (1863). Renan repeats and popularizes the ideas of Strauss and Baur for French readers, enriching them with his own knowledge and brilliant talent, while in the English publication Supernatural Religion there is an echo of the Tübingen and Leiden theories. On the other hand, Bishop Lightfoot, the leader of conservative critics, claims that he learned more from the German Neander than from any of the earlier theologians (Contemp. Review*, 1875, p. 866). Matthew Arnold writes (Literature and Dogma, Preface, p. xix): “In order to collect facts, data on all questions of science, but especially theology and biblical studies, they go to Germany. Germany, to its greatest credit, found the facts and published them. And without knowledge of the facts in the study, it is impossible to achieve results by any clarity and purity of thinking; there can be no two opinions on this issue. Nevertheless, Arnold refuses the Germans "speed and subtlety of perception." In order to draw correct conclusions from the facts, something more than education and sharpness of thinking is required: common sense and prudence. And when we are dealing with sacred and supernatural facts, we cannot do without a reverent spirit and the very faith that is the organ of perception of the supernatural. It is in this that the two schools diverge from each other, regardless of the nationality of their representatives, for faith is bestowed not on the people, but on specific people.

Two rival schools

The principles and goals of the two theories of church history proposed by Neander and Baur are opposite - they are united only by the moral ties of an honest pursuit of truth. One theory is conservative, it restores, the other is radical, it destroys. The first theory regards the canonical gospels and Acts as honest, truthful, and trustworthy recollections of the life of Christ and the ministry of the apostles; the latter dismisses most of their content as fiction having nothing to do with history, or as legends that arose after the death of the apostles, and at the same time puts too much faith in the ridiculous heretical conjectures of the second century. One draws an important line between the truth advocated by the orthodox church and the error held by heretical groups; the other erases all boundaries and ascribes heretical views to the inner circle of the apostolic church itself. One rests on the foundation of faith in God and Christ, which implies faith in the supernatural and miraculous when there is reliable evidence for it; the other proceeds from the fact that the supernatural and miraculous are philosophically impossible, and tries to explain the gospel history and the history of the apostles, like any other history, by natural causes alone. The first is interested in the New Testament from a moral, spiritual, as well as from an intellectual point of view; the interest of the second theory is purely intellectual and critical. Proponents of the conservative theory approach historical research keeping in their soul and consciousness the subjective experience of divine truth, and therefore they know and feel that Christianity is a power that saves from sin and error. Proponents of the radical theory see in Christianity only the best of a series of religions that must eventually give way to the undivided reign of logic and philosophy. Disputes between these theories raise the question of whether God is present in history, just as modern natural science disputes raise the question of whether God exists in nature. Belief in a personal God, omnipotent and omnipresent in history and nature, implies the possibility of supernatural and miraculous revelation. Absolute freedom from prejudice (Voraussetzungslosigkeit, as Strauss insisted) is absolutely impossible, " ex nihilo nihil fit." Philosophy must obey the facts, and not the facts - philosophy. If we can show that the life of Christ and the apostolic church can only be explained psychologically and historically if we accept the reality of supernatural events connected with it, while any other explanation only complicates the problem and replaces supernatural miracles with unnatural ones, then the historian will win the argument, and the philosopher will only have to bring his theory into line with history. The historian's duty is not to create facts, but to find them, and then construct a sufficiently constructive version of history so that all the facts found have a place in it.

Hypothetical feud within the apostolic church

The starting point of the theory of the Tübingen school is the assumption of a fundamental enmity between Jewish or original Christianity in the person of Peter and pagan or progressive Christianity in the person of Paul. According to this theory, the New Testament writings are tendentious ( Tendenzschriften) and do not tell a simple and pure story, but adjust it to theological or practical purposes in the interests of either one of the factions or a compromise point of view. Paul's letters to the Galatians and Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians (their authenticity is considered doubtless) are all examples of world Christianity hostile to Judaism, the main founder of which, probably, should be considered Paul himself. The book of Revelation, written by the apostle John in 69, is an example of the original Jewish, limited Christianity (which is consistent with the position of John as one of the "pillars", apostles for the circumcised - Gal. 2:9) and the only authentic writing of the "old" apostles .

Baur (Gesch. der christl. Kirche, I, 80 sqq.) and Renan (Life of Jesus, ch. 10) even suggest that the real John crosses Paul out of the list of apostles (Rev. 21:14, where there is room for only twelve names) and alludes to him in his denunciations, calling him a false Jew (Rev. 2:9; 3:9), a false prophet (Rev. 2:20) and comparing him with Balaam (Rev. 2:2,6,14-15; cf. Jude 11 ; 2 Pet. 2:15). Clement, in his Sermons, allegedly also criticizes Paul, calling him Simon Magus and a heresiarch. In addition, Renan believes that the entire Epistle of Jude, the brother of James, was written as a refutation of the teachings of Paul and came into being in Jerusalem due to the fact that James rallied Jewish Christians to oppose Paul and his supporters - and this opposition allegedly almost ruined all of Paul's work.

According to the Tübingen school, the other New Testament books were written after the death of the apostles and reflect the various stages of the reunification process that led to the establishment of the orthodox church in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The book of the Acts of the Apostles is a church-wide message of peace that reconciles Jewish and pagan Christianity by depicting the teachings of Peter as more liberal, shortening and bringing Paul's teachings closer to Judaism, and is silent about their mutual differences. It is likely that this book is indeed based on an earlier work by Luke, but it did not acquire its present form until the end of the 1st century. The canonical gospels, whatever prior documents they may have been based on, also came into being after the death of the apostles, and are therefore not credible as historical accounts. The Gospel of John is a purely artistic work of some obscure gnostic or mystic, a religious genius, who treated the historical person of Jesus as freely as Plato in his Dialogues - with the image of Socrates, and who, with his work, written in excellent literary style, completed the process of reunification during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, but not earlier than the 20s of the 2nd century. Baur dated this gospel to 170; Gilgenfeld - 140, Keim - 130, and Renan - attributed it to the reign of Hadrian.

Thus, all the New Testament books are considered a reflection of a century of development, a collection of polemical and pacifying treatises written during the life of the apostles and after their death. A reliable, coherent history breaks up into a heap of opposing currents and artistic conjectures. Divine revelation gives way to subjective visions and delusions, inspiration is replaced by development, truth is replaced by a mixture of truth and falsehood. The literature of the apostolic era is placed on a par with the polemical writings of the Nicene era, which gave birth to Nicene orthodoxy, or the writings of the Reformation, which led to the creation of the Protestant creed.

History never repeats itself, but the same laws and tendencies appear in continuously changing forms. In the modern criticism of which we speak, the views held by heretics in the second century have taken on a striking new life. The unknown Ebionite, the real author of the Sermons attributed to Clement, and the Gnostic Marcion also spoke of the irreconcilable enmity between Jewish and pagan Christianity - with the only difference that the former opposed Paul, whom he considered a heresiarch who defamed Peter, while Marcion (c. 140) considered Paul the only true apostle, and the "old" apostles, in his opinion, distorted Christianity, mixing it with Judaism; accordingly, Marcion rejected the entire Old Testament and those New Testament books that he considered corrupt, and retained in his canon only the mutilated Gospel of Luke and the ten epistles of Paul (with the exception of the Pastoral Epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews). From the point of view of modern critics, these violent heretics were better chroniclers of the era of the apostles than the author of the Book of Acts.

The Gnostic heresy, for all its perniciousness, became an important driving force in the ancient church and left its mark on patristic theology. It must be admitted that modern Gnosticism has also rendered biblical and historical science a great service in removing old prejudices, pointing out new lines of inquiry, shedding light on the ferment of minds in the first century, giving a new impetus to research, and prompting us to engage in a complete scientific reconstruction of the history of the origin of Christianity and the Church. The result of these investigations will be deeper and more complete knowledge, which will not weaken, but only strengthen our faith.

There are significant disagreements among scientists - representatives of the most radical critical direction: while some of Baur's students (for example, Strauss, Volkmar) surpassed their teacher in radical views, others make concessions to traditional beliefs. The most important change took place in Baur's own idea of ​​Paul's conversion, which, as Baur confessed shortly before his death (1860), remained for him an insoluble psychological riddle bordering on a miracle. Ritschl, Holtzmann, Lipsius, Pfleiderer, and especially Reuss, Weizsacker and Keim (as free from orthodox prejudice as the most progressive critics) modified and corrected many extremes in the views of the Tübingen school. Even Hilgenfeld, with all his passionate love for the "Fortschrittstheologie" and dislike for the "Ruckschrittstheologie", recognizes not four, but seven Pauline epistles as authentic, gives an earlier date for the writing of the synoptic gospels and the Epistle to the Hebrews (which, in his opinion, was written by Apollos no later than 70) and says: "It is impossible to deny that Baur's criticism went beyond moderation and inflicted too deep wounds on the faith of the church" ( Hist. Knt. Einleitung in das N.T. 1875, p. 197). Renan acknowledges the authenticity of the nine epistles of Paul, Acts, and even the descriptive parts of the Gospel of John, although he dismisses the statements contained there as pretentious, pompous, metaphysical, incomprehensible, and tiresome. (See his last speech on this subject in The Christian Church, ch. IV.) Matthew Arnold and other critics express the exact opposite view, calling the gospel statements the most perfect of human writings, filled with "heavenly glory" (himmlische Herrlichkeiten, in the words of Keim, who nevertheless utterly rejects the fourth gospel). Schenkel (Christusbild der Apostel, 1879) sees much less contradiction between the teachings of Peter and Paul and admits (Foreword, p. xi): in the process of research, he "unwittingly became convinced that the Book of the Acts of the Apostles deserves more credit as a source of information than modern critics usually believe that in it contains other reliable ancient documents besides the well-known text "We" (Wirquelle) and that the follower of Paul who compiled it did not deliberately distort the facts, but only stated them as they seemed to him and as he saw them, taking into account the time and circumstances of writing. In my opinion, he did not aim to create an artificial image of Peter like Paul or Paul like Peter in order to mislead the reader, but depicted both apostles exactly as he actually represented them, based on incomplete information. Keim came to a similar conclusion in his latest monograph (Aus dem Urchristenthum, 1878), which he wrote a year before his death. Refuting Baur, Schwegler, and Zeller, but remaining true to the same critical direction and allowing for the possibility of later insertions, Keim argues (in a critical essay Apostelconvent, pp. 64-89) that the descriptions of the council of the apostles and the Jerusalem covenant in Acts and Galatians are quite compatible with each other. As for Ewald, he always went his own way and could be compared with Baur in boldness and controversial critical judgments, but he was his ardent opponent and defended the authenticity of Acts and the Gospel of John.

To the voices of German thinkers we may add the testimony of Matthew Arnold, one of the most courageous and open-minded theologians and critics of the free school, who admires Baur but still calls him "an unreliable adviser" and speaks out against his suggestion of deep enmity between Paul and the apostles— pillars, believing that it is completely inconsistent with the generally recognized religious greatness of Paul and the proximity of the apostles-pillars to Jesus (God and the Bible, 1875, Preface, vii–xii). Concerning the fourth gospel, the most acute issue in this stormy debate, Arnold analyzes its form and content and concludes that it is "not fiction, but a serious and priceless document, full of events reported by tradition and genuine "sayings of the Lord" "(p. 370), and also that "after he was impartially and mercilessly subjected to the most versatile criticism ... a reliable remnant has been preserved, which contains all the deepest, most important, most beautiful that only exists in the fourth gospel" ( R. 372 sq.).

positive school

While significant disagreements are observed in the ranks of supporters of destructive criticism, new educated and talented defenders of the historical truth and authenticity of the New Testament books appear who approach the issue from different angles: Neander, Ullmann, K. F. Schmid (Baur's colleague in Tübingen ), Roth, Dorner, Ebrard, Lechler, Lange, Thiersch, Wieseler, Hoffman (from Erlangen), Luthardt, Christlieb, Beishlag, Ullhorn, Weisse, Gode, Edm. de Pressence.

English and American scientists actively and successfully participate in the discussion of these issues: Lightfoot, Plumptre, Westcott, Sunday, Farrar, J.P. Fisher, Ezra Abbott (Authorship of the Fourth Gospel, 1880). The immoderately critical theories from the Continent are unlikely to have a significant impact on English and American theology. He has a more reliable support in the form of an active church life, as well as the beliefs and traditions of the people. The mind of the Germans and the French, like that of the Athenians, has always been inclined to search for the new, while the Anglo-American mind is more interested in truth, be it old or new. And truth must eventually prevail.

Apostle Paul's Testimony of Historical Christianity

Fortunately, even the most exacting school of modern criticism leaves us with some solid foundation on which we can prove the truth of Christianity. Four Pauline epistles (Galatians, Romans, and 1 and 2 Corinthians) are declared unquestionably authentic and turned into an Archimedean point of attack on the rest of the New Testament books. We suggest limiting them. These four books are important both historically and theologically; they reflect the views of the first generation of Christians and were written between 54 and 58, that is, no more than a quarter of a century after the crucifixion, when the "old" apostles and most of the main eyewitnesses of the life of Christ were still alive. Their creator was himself a contemporary of Christ; he lived in Jerusalem during the great events that formed the basis of Christianity; he closely associated with the members of the Sanhedrin and the murderers of Christ; he was not blinded by sympathy for Christians, but was their cruel persecutor and had every reason to hate them; and after his conversion (A.D. 37) he radically changed his views and was able to hear about many of the most important events in the history of Christianity directly from the lips of their eyewitnesses and participants, the apostles (Gal. 1:18; 2:1-11).

So, in these generally accepted writings of the most learned of the apostles, we find a clear confirmation of all the great events and truths of early Christianity, as well as satisfactory answers to the main objections and doubts of modern skeptics.

The named epistles of Paul confirm:

1. The main circumstances of the life of Christ: that He was sent to earth by God; that He was born of a woman belonging to the royal family of David; that His life was an example of holiness; that he was betrayed; that He suffered and died for the sins of the world; that he rose on the third day; that He repeatedly appeared to the disciples; that He ascended and sat at the right hand of God, whence He would come to judge mankind; that He was revered as the Messiah, Lord and Savior from sins, as the eternal Son of God. Paul's epistles also confirm the election of the Twelve, the establishment of baptism and the Lord's Supper, the sending of the Holy Spirit, the foundation of the Church. Paul often refers to these events, especially the crucifixion and resurrection, without going into details, but mentioning them when necessary in connection with theological explanations and exhortations, since the people to whom he addressed already knew about these events from oral sermons. and instructions. (See Gal. 3:13; 4:4-6; 6:14; Rom. 1:3; 4:24-25; 5:8-21; 6:3-10; 8:3,11,26 ,39; 9:5; 10:6-7; 14:15; 15:3; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 2:2,12; 5:7; 6:14; 10:16; 11:23- 26; 15:3-8,45-49; 2 Corinthians 5:21.)

2. The conversion of Paul and his call to the apostolic ministry after the Lord Himself ascended from heaven appeared to him. (Gal. 1:1,15-16; 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:8.)

3. The origin of the Christian Church and its rapid growth in all parts of the Roman Empire, from Jerusalem to Antioch and Rome, Judea, Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia and Achaia. The faith of the Roman church, writes Paul, was known "in all the world" and "in every place" where people worshiped Jesus as their Lord. The small local churches maintained a lively and close communion with one another, and although they were founded by different teachers and embarrassed by differences of opinion and customs, they worshiped the same divine Lord and constituted a single brotherhood of believers. (See Gal. 1:2; 2:1,11; Rom. 1:8; 10:18; 14:25; 1 Cor. 1:2; 16:19 etc.)

4. The presence of miraculous gifts in the church of that time. Paul himself showed himself as an apostle in signs and great works. Rome. 15:18–19; 1 Cor. 2:4; 9:2; 2 Cor. 12:12. However, he does not pay much attention to external visible miracles and emphasizes internal moral miracles and the constant manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit in the regeneration and sanctification of sinful people living in a highly corrupt world. (1 Cor. 12-14; 6:9-11; Gal. 5:16-26; Rom. 6:8.)

5. The existence between these young churches of sincere disagreements concerning certain theological and ceremonial conclusions, especially the question of the need for circumcision, the law of Moses, and the particular question of the apostolic authority of Paul - but not affecting the foundations of faith, in which all the participants in the disputes were in complete agreement with each other. with a friend. The Judaizers insisted on the superiority of the "old" apostles and accused Paul of complete apostasy from the time-honored religion of the forefathers; Paul responded by pointing out that if justification could be obtained by the fulfillment of the law, Christ's atoning death and resurrection would be unnecessary and useless. (Gal. 2:21; 5:2-4.)

6. Although the starting points of Paul and the elder apostles were different and they worked in different territories, they had a fundamental unanimity in theological and spiritual matters. In this case, the evidence of Galatians (Gal. 2:1-10), which is considered the main support of skeptics, turns against them. For Paul emphatically declares that the "pillars," the apostles of the circumcision, James, Peter, and John, at the Jerusalem council in A.D. 50 approved the Good News which he had preached during the previous fourteen years; that they “laid no more upon him,” that is, they gave him no new instructions, placed no new conditions before him, placed no new burden on him, but, on the contrary, agreed that he had been given the grace of God and entrusted with a special serving the Gentiles, and gave him and Barnabas a "hand of fellowship" as a sign of brotherly fidelity. Paul draws a sharp and clear line between the apostles and "the false brethren who crept in, who secretly came to spy on our freedom, which we have in Christ Jesus, to enslave us," to whom he did not yield "not for an hour." The most "harsh" words he addresses to the Jewish apostles are honorary epithets; he calls them "most famous" and "pillars" of the church (?? ??????, ?? ?????????, Gal. 2:6,9); he, with sincere humility, calls himself, as a persecutor of the church of God, "the least of the apostles" (1 Cor. 15:9).

In the light of this statement by Paul, it is impossible and absurd to assume (as Baur, Schwegler, Zeller and Renan do) that John disproved himself and proved his own insanity when, in the Book of Revelation, he posthumously branded as a false apostle and the head of the satanic synagogue the same Paul whom life considered a brother. Such a reckless and monstrous assumption is tantamount to accusing either Paul or John of lying. The heretics-antinomists and opponents of Christianity mentioned in Revelation, who are unclean both from a moral and ritual point of view (Rev. 2:14-15), Paul would condemn in the same way as John; By the way, Paul himself, in a farewell conversation with the Ephesian elders, prophetically foreshadowed the appearance of such false teachers and called them "fierce wolves" who, after his departure, will enter into them or rise from among themselves, not sparing the flock (Acts 20:29– thirty). On the issue of defilement, Paul was in complete agreement with the teaching of Revelation (1 Cor. 3:15-16; 6:15-20); As for the eating of meat offered to idols (?? ??????????), he himself did not attach much importance to this problem, understanding the vanity of idols, but condemned those who eat meat offered to idols, if by their actions they wounded the conscience of more scrupulous converts Jews (1 Cor. 8:7-13; 10:23-33; Rom. 14:2,21); and in this he followed the decree of the Apostolic Council (Acts 15:29).

7. The collision of Paul and Peter in Antioch (Gal. 2:11-14), which is considered the true stronghold of the Tübingen theory, actually proves the opposite. For their disagreements did not concern matters of principle or theology; on the contrary, Paul makes it clear that at first, Peter casually and habitually (note the imperfect form ?????????, Gal. 2:12) associated with converted Gentiles as brothers in Christ, but he was intimidated by messengers of fanatical converts Jews from Jerusalem, and then Peter acted contrary to his true convictions, which he had unfailingly followed since he received the vision in Jaffa (Acts 10:10-16), which he so boldly defended in the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:7- 11) and followed at Antioch. In this scene, we are presented with the same impetuous, impressionable, fickle disciple, the first to confess faith in Christ and the first to renounce Him, but soon returned to his Lord with bitter repentance and sincere humility. It was precisely for this inconstancy of character, which Paul unceremoniously called "hypocrisy," that he, as an uncompromising adherent of Christian freedom, rebuked Peter publicly before the whole church.

An open transgression must be openly corrected. According to the Tübingen hypothesis, Peter's hypocrisy consisted in the fact that he acted in exactly the opposite way. Peter's silent submission in this situation shows his respect for his junior colleague and deserves praise as much as his weakness is blameworthy. The estrangement that arose between the apostles was temporary and did not destroy their brotherly relationship, which is obvious from how respectfully and at the same time sincerely they spoke of each other a few years after the quarrel in Antioch (Gal. 1:18-19). ; 2:8-9; 1 Cor. 9:5; 2 Pet. 3:15-16), and also from the fact that Mark and Silas were links between Peter and Paul and helped both in turn.

Further, Galatians offers a proper way out of this difficulty and, in fact, confirms what is stated in the Book of Acts. It proves that there were certain disagreements between Paul and the "senior" apostles, but on a number of points they were in complete agreement with each other. It leaves no stone unturned in suggesting that the relationship between these people resembled the relationship between Marcionites and Ebionites in the 2nd century. The latter were descendants heretics apostolic era, "crept in false brothers» (??????????? ?????????????, Gal. 2:4); but the true apostles knew and continued to know the grace of God, which worked successfully through Peter for the conversion of the Jews and through Paul for the conversion of the Gentiles. The fact that the Judaizers relied on the authority of the Jewish apostles, and the antinomian Gnostics on the authority of Paul, is no more surprising than the references of modern rationalists to Luther and the Reformers.

Thus, we have, from the outset, examined in some detail the fundamental differences between the two modern views on the history of the apostolic church, and explained the reasons for the principled position we take on this issue.

It should not be assumed that all obscure points have already been given an exhaustive explanation, or that such an indisputable explanation will ever be found. There must be some place left for faith in that God who has made himself clear enough in nature and history to strengthen our faith, and who is hidden enough to test our faith. Some gaps between the stars in the sky of the apostolic age will forever remain unoccupied, but with all the more attention people will begin to peer into the bright stars, in the light of which the post-apostolic books grow dim, like a candle flame. A careful study of the works of church writers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and in particular of a whole series of apocryphal acts, epistles and apocalypses, leaves a strong impression of the immeasurable superiority of the New Testament in purity and truth, simplicity and greatness; and this excellence testifies to the special work of the Spirit of God, without which this Book of books would remain an inexplicable mystery.

§ 23. Chronology of the era of the apostles

See the writings listed in § 20, especially those of Wieseler. See also Hackett's commentary on the Book of Acts (3rd ed., pp. 22-30).

The chronology of the apostolic era is partly accurate - at least for a certain period - and partly hypothetical: accurate in relation to the main events that occurred from 30 to 70 AD. e., and hypothetical in relation to intermediate moments and the last thirty years of the 1st century. This chronology is based on the text of the New Testament (especially the Acts and Epistles of Paul), the writings of Josephus and Roman historians. The writings of Josephus Flavius ​​(37 - 103) are especially valuable because he compiled the history of the Jewish people up to the destruction of Jerusalem.

The dates listed below are more or less reliable and accepted by most historians:

1. The founding of the Christian Church on the day of Pentecost in May A.D. 30. This date is based on the assumption that Christ was born in 4-5 B.C. and was crucified in April A.D. 30 at the age of thirty-three.

2. Death of King Herod Agrippa I, 44 A.D. (according to Josephus). On this basis, one can determine the date of the martyrdom of Jacob, who was killed earlier, as well as the dates of the arrest and release of Peter (Acts 12:2,23).

3. Council of the Apostles at Jerusalem, A.D. 50 (Acts 15; Gal. 2:1-10). This date can be checked against the earlier date of Paul's conversion and the later date of his imprisonment in Caesarea. Paul probably converted at the age of 37, and "fourteen years" elapsed from that moment to the council. However, historians are not unanimous in determining the year of Paul's conversion and fluctuate between the 31st and 40th.

4. The date of writing of the Epistle to the Galatians, Corinthians and Romans is between 56 and 58 AD. The date of writing of the Epistle to the Romans can be established with an accuracy of almost a month based on the clues that it contains and information from the Book of Acts. This epistle was written before the apostle was in Rome, at the moment when he had finished collecting offerings in Macedonia and Achaia for the distressed brethren in Judea, and was about to visit Jerusalem and Rome on his way to Spain. Paul delivered it with Thebe, a deaconess from the congregation in the eastern harbor of Corinth, where he himself was at that moment. The circumstances listed point to the spring of 58, because in that year Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and sent to Caesarea.

5. The imprisonment of Paul in Caesarea, between A.D. 58 and 60, under the procurators Felix and Festus, who were replaced in A.D. 60 or 61, most likely in A.D. 60. We can verify the correctness of this important date , comparing several passages from the writings of Josephus Flavius ​​and Tacitus. In addition, it allows us, by counting back, to date some earlier events in the life of the apostle.

6. Paul's first imprisonment in Rome, A.D. 61-63. This follows from the previous date, combined with the statement in Acts 28:30.

7. Epistles written in a Roman prison: Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, A.D. 61-63.

8. Nero's persecution, A.D. 64 (Nero's tenth year, according to Tacitus). The martyrdom of Paul and Peter occurred either at this time, or (according to tradition) several years later. The exact answer to this question depends on the timing of Paul's second imprisonment in Rome.

9. Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, A.D. 70 (according to Josephus Flavius ​​and Tacitus).

10. The death of John after the accession to the throne of Trajan, A.D. 98 (according to common church tradition).

The dates of the writing of the synoptic gospels, Acts, pastoral epistles, the Epistle to the Hebrews and the epistles of Peter, James and Jude cannot be precisely established, it can only be stated with certainty that they were written before the destruction of Jerusalem - mainly in the 60s of the Book of John were written later, towards the end of the 1st century, with the exception of Revelation - some of the best experts, on the basis of internal data, date this book to 68 or 69, that is, it was written between the death of Nero and the destruction of Jerusalem.

Details can be found in the following table.

Chronological table of the era of the apostles

* Those who deny Paul's second imprisonment date these epistles to Paul's time in Ephesus, A.D. 54-57, and 2 Timothy to A.D. 63 or 64.

Notes:

Catholic in the original meaning of the word, i.e. universal. - Approx. ed. (Hereinafter, the notes to the Russian edition of this book are marked with the abbreviation "Ed. Note" or enclosed in curly brackets.)

Handbuch der Universal–Kirchengeschichte(9th ed., Mainz, 1872, 2 vols.; 10th ed., 1882). In terms of brevity and conciseness of presentation, Alzog claims Haze's laurels among Catholics. A French translation based on the 5th edition was made by Göschler and Audley in 1849 (4th ed. by Abbe Sabatier, 1874); English translation - ?. J. Pabisch and T. Byrne (Cincinnati, O., 1874 sqq., 3 vols.). American translators condemn the French for taking liberties with Alzog's text, but they also showed bias and, through various additions to the text, exposed the author as more Catholic than he really was.

Vorlesungen uber die Apocalypse,

Apocryphal tradition of the 2nd and later centuries asserts that Peter, Andrew, Matthew, and Bartholomew were entrusted with missionary service north and northwest of Palestine (in Syria, Galatia, Pontus, Scythia, and on the coast of the Black Sea); Thaddeus, Thomas and Simon the Canaanite - in the eastern countries (Mesopotamia, Parthia, especially in Edessa and Babylon, and further up to India); John and Philip - in Asia Minor (in Ephesus and Hierapolis). Cm. Acta Sanctorum; Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha Tischendorf (1851); and a brief summary in my work History of the Apostle. church,§97, pp. 385 sqq.

Gal. 1:18–19. turnover?? ?? in this combination rather excludes James from the Twelve, but implies that he was an apostle in a broader sense and had apostolic dignity and authority. Cm. ?? ?? (sed tantum) OK. 4:26–27; Rome. 14:14; Gal 2:16.

Acts. 15; Gal. 2:1-10.

Gal 2:11-21.

1 Cor. 9:5; cf. Matt. 8:14.

2 Pet. 3:15–16 ?? ??. The meaning of this passage and another important remark of Peter (2 Pet. 1:20) that “no prophecy in Scripture can be resolved [understood] himself", the popes have often distorted, using these texts as an excuse to withhold the Scriptures from the people and insist on the need for official interpretation. This passage deals with the prophecies of the Old Testament, which are not generated by the human mind, but inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21) and cannot be properly understood without inspiration from above.

In. 21:15–23. The last words of the Lord about Peter and John are very mysterious.

In this regard, Baur disagrees with the point of view of Strauss, who, in the first version of his monograph Leben Jesu(1835) spoke of the gospel story as an innocent and unprejudiced myth or epic born of the religious imagination of the second generation of Christians; however, in the second version of the same work (1864), Strauss somewhat changed his position, and then completely abandoned attempts to solve this hopeless problem. The biased presentation implies a more or less conscious falsification of history. However, the Tübingen critics deny that the evangelists' fiction had any reprehensible motives, and in justification refer to the fact that the authorship of the Jewish and Christian apocrypha was falsely attributed to respected people, but this did not offend anyone.

See the helpful article by J. Oswald Dykes in Brit. and For. Evang. Review, London, 1880, pp. 51 sqq.

In the presentation of Renan, this story sounds very entertaining ("The Apostle Paul", ch. x). His sympathies are rather on the side of Peter, whom he calls "a man of extraordinary kindness and righteousness, who above all desired peace," although he admits that in this and other cases Peter showed compliance and inconsistency; The author accuses Paul of stubbornness and rudeness; but, most importantly, Renan abandons the Tübingen exegesis, arguing: “Modern critics who, on the basis of certain passages in Galatians, conclude that the break between Peter and Paul was complete, are not only in conflict with the Book of Acts, but and with other passages from Galatians (Gal. 1:18:2:2). Hot people spend their lives in continuous arguments with each other. We should not judge these biblical heroes according to the rules that today's well-bred and resentful people govern in matters of honor. The Jews have never attached undue importance to this last word!

§ 20. Sources and literature about the era of the apostles Sources

1. Canonical books of the New Testament. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament, better than any ancient classic, are backed up both by a chain of external evidence, stretching almost to the end of the age of the apostles, and by internal evidence of spiritual depth and piety, and therefore stand immeasurably higher than any works of the second century. Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit guided the church as it drew up and finalized the Christian canon. But this, of course, does not eliminate the need for critical studies of the text, especially since the evidence regarding the seven antilegomena of Eusebius is less weighty. Initially, the Tübingen and Leiden schools recognized only five books of the New Testament as reliable, namely: the four letters of Paul - the Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, as well as the Galatians - and the Revelation of John. But progress in research is bearing more and more positive results, and now there are adherents among liberal critics for almost all of Paul's epistles. (Gilgenfeld and Lipsius recognize seven: in addition to those already mentioned, 1 Thessalonians, Philippians, and Philemon; Renan also admits that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians and Colossians, thereby increasing the number of authentic epistles to nine.) The main events and teachings of apostolic Christianity are confirmed even in these five documents, which have received recognition from the extreme left wing of modern critics.

The Acts of the Apostles set forth the external, and the epistles, the internal history of primitive Christianity. These are independent works, written at the same time, and there is not a single reference to each other in them; Luke probably never read Paul's epistles, and Paul never read Luke's Acts, although he no doubt gave Luke a lot of valuable information. But indirectly, they explain and confirm each other thanks to a whole series of very convincing coincidences, especially since these coincidences are unintentional and accidental. If these books had been compiled after the death of the apostles, the agreement between them would have been more complete, there would have been no minor differences at all, and the gaps in Acts would have been filled - especially regarding the last years of the ministry and the death of Peter and Paul.

In Acts, all the distinctive features of an original, lively and reliable narration about the author's contemporary events, based on reliable sources of information and, to a large extent, on personal observations and experiences, are clearly manifested. The authorship of Luke, a companion of Paul, is recognized by most of the best scholars of our time, even Ewald. And this fact alone inspires our confidence. Renan (in his book The Apostle Paul, ch. 1) excellently describes Acts as follows: “A book of joy, fervent and clear faith. After Homer's poems, we do not know a work imbued with such freshness of sensations. The morning breeze breathes in this book, it is all saturated with the smell of the sea, cheerfully invigorating, which makes it an excellent companion, a lovely breviary for one who, step by step, is looking for traces of antiquity in the southern seas. This was the second poetic period of Christianity. The first was experienced on Lake Tiberias and on fishing boats. Then a more powerful wind, a desire for more distant lands, carried the apostles to the open sea.

2. The writings of the disciples of the apostles and the fathers of the church abound with allusions and references to the writings of the apostles and are as dependent on them as a river is on its source.

3. A pocryphal and heretical literature. The same reasons, curiosity and interest in dogma that gave rise to the apocryphal gospels, gave rise to a whole series of apocryphal deeds, epistles and apocalypses. The latter have apologetic value, but their historical value is minimal. However, the heretical traits are more noticeable in nnx. These writings have not yet been studied to a sufficient extent. Lipsius (Smith and Wace, Diet, of Christ. Biog., vol. I, p. 27) divides apocryphal acts into four categories: 1) Ebionite; 2) gnostic; 3) originally Catholic; 4) catholic adaptations or redactions of heretical documents. The last category is the most numerous, only a few of these writings were written before the 5th century, but for the most part they are based on documents of the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

a) Apocryphal Acts: Acts of Peter and Paul (of Ebionite origin, but revised), Acts of Paul and Thecla (mentioned by Tertullian at the end of the 2nd century, Gnostic origin), Acts of Thomas (gnostic), Acts of Matthew, Acts of Thaddeus, Martyrdom of Bartholomew, Acts of Barnabas, Acts of Andrew, Acts of Andrew and Matthew, Acts of Philip, Acts of John, Acts of Simon and Judas, Acts of Thaddeus, Teachings of Addai, Apostle (Syriac and English ed. by Dr. J. Phillips, London, 1876) .

b) Apocryphal epistles: the correspondence of Paul and Seneca (six letters of Paul and eight -

Seneca, mentioned by Jerome and Augustine), the Third Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, the Epistle of Mary, the Epistle of Peter to James.

c) Apocryphal Apocalypses: Apocalypse of John, Apocalypse of Peter, Apocalypse of Paul Mary, Apocalypse of Moses, Apocalypse of Ezra.

Individual editions and collections

Fabricius: Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti. Hamburg, 1703, 2d ed. 1719, 1743, 3 parts in 2 volumes (vol. II).

G rabe: Spicilegium Patrum et Hatreticorum. Oxford, 1698, ed. II. 1714.

B irch: Auctarium Cod. Apoc. N. Ti Fabrician. Copenh. 1804 (Fasc. I). Includes pseudo-apocalypse of John.

Thilo: Acta Apost. Petri et Pauli. Halis, 1838. Acta Thomce. lips. 1823. Tischendorf: Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha. lips. 1851.

T ischendorf: Apocalypses Apocrypha 1 Mosis, Esdra, Pauli, Joannis. item Maria: Dormitio. lips. 1866.

R. A. L ipsius: Die apokryph. Apostel geschichten und Apostel legenden. Leipz. 1883 sq. 2vols.

4. And Jewish sources: Philo and Josef Flavius, see §14, p. 70. The writings of Josephus are essential for the history of the Jewish war and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, which marked a complete break between the Christian church and the Jewish synagogue and temple. In the Jewish apocrypha and Talmudic literature, we draw information about the education received by the apostles, about how they taught, about discipline and worship in the early church. Lightfoot, Schöttgen, Castelli, Dnlich, Wünsche, Siegfried, Schurer, and a few others have made these sources available to the exegete and historian. See also the Jewish writings of Jost, Graetz, and Geiger, mentioned in §9, and Hamburger, Real - Encyclopadie des Judenthums (fiir Bibel und Talmud), now in the process of being published.

5. Pagan writers: Tacitus, Pliny, Suetonius, Lucian, Celsus, Porfiry, Yulnan. Their information is fragmentary, for the most part secondary, unreliable and tainted with hostility, but has no small apologetic value. See hat. Lardner (d. 1768): Nath . Lardner, Collection of Ancient Jewish and Heathen Testimonies to the Truth of the Christian Religion, 4 vols., Lond. 1764 - 1767 ). Subsequently reprinted in several editions of his Works [Works, vol. VI. 365-649, ed. Kippis).

Works on the history of the age of the apostles

William C ave (Anglican, d. 1713): Lives of the Apostles, and the two Evangelists, St. Mark and St. Luke. London. 1675, new revised ed., H. Sagu, Oxford, 1840 (reprinted in New York, 1857). See also Cave, Primitive Christianity, 4 no. ed. Lond. 1862.

Joh. F r . B uddeus (Lutheran, d. Jena, 1729): Ecclesia Apostolica. Jen. 1729.

George Benson (d. 1763): History of the First Planting of the Christian Religion. London. 1756

3 vols, quarto (translated into German by Bamberger, Halle, 1768).

§ 20. Sources and literature about the age of the apostles > 133

J. J. Hess (d. Zurich, 1828): Geschichte derApostel Jesu. Zur. 1788; 4th ed. 1820.

Gotl. Jac. Planck (d. Göttingen, 1833): Geschichte des Christenthums in derPeriode seiner Einfiihrung in die Welt durch Jesum und dieApostel. Gottingen, 1818, 2 vols.

*Auc N eander (d. Berlin, 1850): Geschichte der Pflanzung und Leitung der Christlichen Kirche durch die Apostel. Hamb. 1832. 2 vols.; 4th ed. revised 1847. English translation. language (History of the Planting and Training of the Christ. Church), J. E. Ryland, Edinb. 1842, and in the series Bonn's Standard Library, Lond. 1851; republished by Philad. 1844; revised by E. G. Robinson, N. York, 1865. This landmark book has not lost its value to this day.

F. C. Albert Schwegler (d. Tübingen, 1857): Das nachapostolische Zeitalter in den Haupt- momenten seiner Entwicklung. Tubingen, 1845, 1846, 2 vols. An immoderately critical attempt to transfer the apostolic writings (with the exception of five books) into the post-apostolic era.

*Ferd. Christ. B aur (d. 1860): Das Christenthum und die christliche Kirche der drei ersten Jahrhunderte. Tubingen, 1853, 2nd move, ed. 1860 (536 pp.). The third edition is only a reprint or title edition of the second, it constitutes the first volume of Baur's General Church History, published under the editorship of his son, in 5 volumes, 1863. This is the last and most talented exposition of the Tübingen version of the history of the apostles, created by the hand of the magician - the guardian of this school. See Volume I, p. 1-174. English translated by Allen Menzies, in 2 vols. Lond. 1878, 1879. See also Baur, Paul, second ed. by Ed. Zeller, 1866, 1867; translated by A. Menzies, 2 vols. 1873.1875. Baur's critical studies have forced scholars to carefully reconsider traditional ideas about the era of the apostles and have so far been very useful, despite the presence of fundamental errors.

A. P. Stanley (Dean of Westminster): Sermons and Essays on the Apostolic Age. Oxford, 1847. 3d ed. 1874.

*H einrich W. J. T hiersch (follower of E. Irving, died in 1885 in Basel): Die Kirche im apostolischen Zeitalter. Francf. a. M. 1852; 3d ed . Augsburg, 1879, "improved", but not much. (Translated into English of the first edition, Th. Carlyle. Lond. 1852.)

*J. P. Lange (d. 1884): Das apostolische Zeitalter. Braunschw. 1854. 2 vols.

P hilip Schaff: History of the Apostolic Church, originally in German, Mercersburg, Penns. 1851; 2A ed. enlarged, Leipzig, 1854; English translation by Dr. E. D. Yeomans, N. York, 1853, in 1 vol.; Edinb. 1854, in 2 vols.; several of the same publications. (Translated into Dutch of the second German edition, J. W. Th. Lublink Weddik, Tiel, 1857.)

*G. V. Lechler (prof. in Leipzig): Das apostolische und das nachapostolische Zeitalter. 2nd ed. 1857; 3rd ed., revised, Leipzig, 1885. Eng. translated by miss Davidson, Edinb. 1887. Conservative labor.

*A lbrecht R itschl (d. Göttingen, 1889): Die Entstehung der altkatholischen Kirche. 2d ed . Bonn, 1857. The first edition followed the Tübingen school, but the second edition was greatly improved and laid the foundation for the Ritschl school.

*H einrich E wald (d. in Göttingen, 1874): Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vols. VI and VII. 2d ed . Gottingen, 1858 and 1859. T . 6 of this great work contains the history of the apostolic age before the destruction of Jerusalem; vol. 7 - the history of the post-apostolic era until the reign of Hadrian. English translation of "History of Israel", R. Martineau, J. E. Carpenter. London. 1869 sqq. Translation of the 6th and 7th volumes is not expected. Ewald (Urvogel von Giittingene) followed an independent path, opposing it both to traditional orthodoxy and to the Tübingen school, which, in his opinion, was worse than paganism. See the preface to vol. 7.

* E. de P ressense: Histoire des trois premiers slecles de I "eglise chretienne. Par. 1858 sqq. 4 vols. German translation by E. Fabarius (Leipz. 1862 - 1865); English translation by Annie Harwood-Holmden (Lond. and N. York, 1870, new ed. Lond, 1879. The first volume includes a history of the first century, entitled Le siecle apostolique, ed., 1887.

*J oh . Jos. I gn. von D ullinger (Roman Catholic, from 1870 Old Catholic): Christenthum und Kirche in der Zeit der Grundung. Regensburg, 1860.2d ed. 1868. English. translated by H.N.Oxenham. London, 1867.

C. S. Vaughan: The Church of the First Days. London. 1864 - 1865. 3 vols. Lectures on the Acts of the Apostles.

J. N. Sepp (Catholic): Geschichte der Apostel Jesu bis zur Zerstorung Jerusalems. Schaffhausen, 1866.

C. Holsten: Zum Evangelium des Paulus und des Petrus. Rostock, 1868 (447 pp.). Paul Wilh. Schmidt and Franz v. H oltzendorf: Protestanten-Bibel Neuen Testaments. Zweite, revid. Auflage. Leipzig, 1874. A popular exegetical generalization of the Tübinge pre-

statements, written with the participation of V Rukh, Hilgenfeld, Holsten, L ipsius, P Fliderer and others.

A. W. Bruce (Professor at Glasgow): The Training of the Twelve. Edinburgh, 1871, 2nd ed. 1877.

* E rnest R enan (de I "Academie Francaise): Histoire des origines du Christianisme. Paris, 1863 sqq. T. 1, Life of Jesus, 1863, mentioned in § 14 (p. 73); then followed vol. 2 , The Apostles, 1866; vol. 3, The Apostle Paul, 1869; vol. 4, Antichrist, 1873; vol. 5, The Gospels and the Second Generation of Christianity, 1877; vol. 6, The Christian Church 1879; of great talent, eloquence, and secular education, and his value is constantly increasing.The Life of Jesus is the most interesting and popular, but also the most controversial volume, since it deals with the most sacred topic in an almost blasphemous way.

E mil F erriere: Les Apotres. Paris, 1875.

Supernatural Religion. An Inquiry into the Reality of Divine Revelation. London. 1873, (7th), ¦ complete edition carefully revised, 1879, 3 vols. This anonymous work is a reproduction and repository of the critical theories of the Tübingen school of Baur, Strauss, Zeller, Schwegler, Gilgenfeld, Volkmar, etc. It can be called an extended version of Schwegler's Nachapostolisches Zeitalter. Vol. 1 is for the most part occupied with a philosophical discussion of the question of miracles; the remainder of volume 1 (pp. 212-485) and vol. 2 contain historical studies of the question of the apostolic origin of the canonical gospels, and the author comes to a negative conclusion. Volume 3 deals with Acts, Epistles, and Revelation, as well as evidence for resurrection and rapture. The last two events are explained as hallucinations or myth. Starting with the statement about the initial improbability of miracles, the author comes to the conclusion about their impossibility, and this philosophical conclusion determines the entire course of his historical reasoning. Dr. Schürer in Theol. Literaturzeitung » for 1879, no. 26 (p. 622), says that this publication has no scientific value for Germany, but notes the author's excellent knowledge of modern German literature and his conscientiousness in collecting historical details. Drs. Lightfoot, Sunday, Ezra Abbott and others have pointed out the lack of scientific approach and the falsity of the premises from which the author proceeds. The speed with which this edition is being sold indicates the widespread skepticism and the need to return again, already on Anglo-American territory, to the theological battles that took place in Germany and Holland - hopefully with great success.

*J. B. LlGHTFOOT (since 1879 Bishop of Durham): A series of carefully crafted critiques of the book Supernatural Religion in the almanac Contemporary Review*, 1875-1877. Reprint in book form awaited. See also the anonymous author's reply in the lengthy preface to the sixth edition. Lightfoot's commentaries on the Pauline epistles contain valuable insights into some of the historical aspects of the apostolic age, especially the relationship between Paul and the three apostles in Com. on the Galatians, pp. 283-355.

W. Sanday: The Gospels in the Second Century. London, 1876. This work is directed against the critical part of Supernational Religion. Its eighth chapter (pp. 204 sqq.), on the Gnostic distortions and alterations introduced into the Gospel of Luke by Marcion, had previously been published in the almanac Fortnightly Review * of June 1875 and is now well known to English scholars - an echo of the dispute, which has already resounded in Germany, within the walls of the Tübinge school. The absurd hypothesis of the priority of the gospel of Marcion was defended by Ritschl, Baur and Schwegler, but it was refuted by Volkmar and Hilgenfeld, adherents of the same school, as a result of which Baur and Ritschl, to their credit, abandoned this error. The unnamed author of Supernatural Religion followed suit in the seventh edition. The Germans argued mainly about historical and dogmatic points, and Sandey, drawing on Holtzmann's analysis of Luke's style and vocabulary, added philological and textual arguments.

A. H ausrath (prof. in Heidelberg): Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte. Heidelberg, 1873 sqq. 2nd and 3rd parts (2nd ed., 1875) cover the time of the apostles, 4th part (1877) - the period after their death. English translation: Poynting, Quenzer. London. 1878 sqq. Hausrath is a follower of the Tübingen school.

Dan. Schenkel (prof. in Heidelberg): Das Christusbild derApostel und der nachapostolischen Zeit. Leipz. 1879. See G. Holzmann's review in Gilgenfeld's collection ¦Zeitschrift fiir wissensch. Theob, 1879, p. 392.

H. Oort and I. H ooykaas: The Bible for Learners, translated from Dutch by Philip H. Wichsteed, vol. Ill (New Testament, Hoykaas), book I, p. 463-693 in the 1879 Boston edition (Vol. VI in the English edition). A popular review of the rationalist critique of Tübingen and Leiden, inspired by Dr. A. Künen, professor of theology at Leiden. Basically this work is consistent with the above mentioned Protestanten-Bibel.

* George P. Fisher (Professor at Yale College, New Havey): The Beginnings of Christianity. N. York, 1877. See this author's previous work: Essays on the Supernatural Origin of Christianity, with special reference to the Theories of Renan, Strauss, and the Tubingen School. New York, 1865. New, revised edition 1877.

* C. W eizsacker (came to replace Baur in Tübingen): Das Apostolische Zeitalter. freiburg,

1886. A critical and highly competent work.

*0. Pfleiderer (prof. in Berlin): Das Urchristenthum, seine Schriften und Lehren. berlin,

1887. (Tübingen school.)

Rudolph Anger: De temporum in Actis Apostolorum ratione. lips. 1833 (208 pp.). H enry Browne: Ordo Sieclorum.A Treatise on the Chronology of the Holy Scriptures. Lond. 1844, pp. 95-163.

*K arl W ieseler: Chronologie des apostolischen Zeitalters. Gottingen, 1848 (606 pp.).

Older works and essays on special issues are listed in Wieseler, p. 6-9. See also a detailed survey of the dates of the apostolic era: Lechler, Acts (in the American edition of Lange's Commentary, translated by Schaeffer); Henry B. Smith, Chronological Tables of Church History (1860); Weingarten , Zeittafeln zurK - Gesch . 3d ed . 1888.

§ 21. General features of the era of the apostles

Duration and historical background of the era of the apostles

^Acts. 8:27. 229 Rom. 15:19.

230 Rom. 15:24. See Clement of Rome, Corinthians, ch. 5, eni to teria tg]<; бйсеах; ёлбшу. Однако в этом отрывке речь не обязательно идет об Испании. Теория о путешествии Павла в Испанию всецело зависит от справедливости гипотезы о его втором тюремном заключении в Риме.

The apostolic period begins on the day of Pentecost and ends with the death of the apostle John, it lasts about seventy years, from 30 to 100 AD. X. Events unfold in Palestine and gradually cover Syria, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. The most famous centers are Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome, which housed the "mother" churches, respectively, of Jewish, pagan and united catholic, catholic Christianity. Almost as famous are Ephesus and Corinth. Ephesus acquired special importance because John lived and worked in this city, whose influence was felt in the 2nd century thanks to Polycarp and Irenaeus. Samaria, Damascus, Joppa, Caesarea, Tyre, Cyprus, the provinces of Asia Minor, Troad, Philippi, Thessaloniki, Berea, Athens, Crete, Patmos, Malta, Puteoli also fall into our field of vision, since the Christian faith took root there too. Through the eunuch converted by Philip, Christianity reached Candace, queen of Ethiopia. 228 As early as A.D. 58 Paul could say, "I have spread the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem and its environs to Illyricum." 229 Subsequently, the apostle brought the gospel to Rome, where it had been heard before, and perhaps as far as Spain, the western tip of the empire. 230

In the first century, the gospel reached Jews, Greeks, and Romans. The population of the eastern part of the empire spoke Hebrew or Aramaic, but Greek played a special role there, since at that time in the Roman Empire it was an instrument of civilization and supported interethnic relations. The secular history of the time includes the reigns of Roman emperors from Tiberius to Nero and Domitian, who either ignored or persecuted Christianity. Here we will meet King Herod Agrippa I (grandson of Herod the Great), the murderer of the Apostle James; with his son King Agrippa P (the last of the Herod dynasty), who, together with his sister Verenice (an extremely depraved woman), listened to Paul's defensive speech; with two Roman procurators, Felix and Festus; with the Pharisees and Sadducees; with the Stoics and the Epicureans; we will visit the temple and theater in Ephesus, the courtyard of the Areopagus in Athens and the palace of Caesar in Rome.

Sources of information

The author of Acts describes the heroic procession of Christianity from the capital of Judaism to the capital of paganism with the same unsophisticated simplicity and serene faith with which the evangelists narrate about Jesus - he knows well that Christianity needs neither embellishments, nor justifications, nor in subjective opinions and that it will surely triumph due to its inherent spiritual power.

The book of Acts and Paul's epistles provide us with reliable information up to the year 63. Peter and Paul disappear from sight among the ominous fires of Nero's persecution, in which Christianity itself seemed to be burned. We do not find any reliable information about this satanic spectacle in any authoritative source, except for the reports of pagan historians. 231 A few years later Jerusalem was destroyed, and this must have made an indelible impression on the believers and severed the last thread that connected Jewish Christianity with the former theocracy. We learn about this event from the prophecy of Christ, reflected in the gospels, but the description of the terrible fulfillment of the prophecy was preserved for us by an unbelieving Jew, whose words, being the testimony of the enemy, make the greater impression.

The remaining thirty years of the first century are shrouded in the darkness of mystery, on which only the writings of John shed light. With all our desire to learn as much as possible about this period of church history, almost nothing is known about it. It is with this period that many unreliable church traditions and hypotheses of critics are associated. With what gratitude historians will meet any new reliable documents of the period between the martyrdom of Peter and Paul and the death of John, and also between the death of John and the era of Justin Martyr and Irenaeus!

Reasons for success

Allusions to these events are found in the Revelation of John, Rev. 6:9-11; 17:6; 18:24, Wed. Rev. 18:20 ("the holy apostles and prophets"). See Bleek, Vorlesungen iiber die Apocalypse, Berlin, 1862, p. 120.

Regarding the number of Christians at the end of the 1st century, we have absolutely no information. In those days, people had no idea about statistical reports. To speak of half a million Christians among a hundred or more million inhabitants of the Roman Empire is probably an exaggeration. The conversion of three thousand people in one day in Jerusalem 232 and the "vast multitude" of martyrs during the persecution of Nero 233 give rise to overestimations. In addition, the churches in Antioch, Ephesus, and Corinth were large enough to bear the weight of division and division. 234 But in most localities the congregations were no doubt small, and often only a handful of the poor. In remote areas, paganism survived the longest, even surviving the reign of Constantine. Newly converted Christians mainly belonged to the middle and lower strata of society, such as fishermen, peasants, artisans, merchants, freedmen, and slaves. The apostle Paul writes: “There are not many among you who are wise according to the flesh, not many who are strong, not many who are noble; but God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong; and the humble of the world, and lowly and meaningless, was chosen by God to abolish what is significant, so that no flesh could boast before God.” 235 Yet it was these poor, illiterate churches that were recipients of the most glorious gifts, and their minds were open to the greatest problems and loftiest thoughts that could attract the attention of an immortal mind. Future leaders emerge from the lower layers, constantly giving new strength to the higher layers and preventing the decay of the latter.

By the time of Constantine's conversion, at the beginning of the 4th century, the number of Christians may have reached 10 to 12 million, which was one tenth of the entire population of the Roman Empire. Some call higher numbers.

Christianity prospered surprisingly quickly under the most adverse conditions, and this success speaks for itself. It was achieved in full view of the whole indifferent or hostile world, exclusively by spiritual or moral means, and not a single drop of blood was shed, except for the blood of the Christian martyrs themselves. Gibbon, in the famous 15th chapter of his History, attributes the rapid spread of Christianity to five causes: 1) the fanatical but unprejudiced religious zeal of Christians inherited from the Jews; 2) the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, about which the philosophers of antiquity had a vague and vague idea; 3) miraculous powers attributed to the early church; 4) chaste, ascetic morality of the first Christians; 5) unity and discipline within the church, which was a gradually growing community of people at the very heart of the empire. However, each of these reasons, if properly understood, points to the superiority and divine origin of the Christian religion, and this is the main reason that the deist historian is silent about.

The Significance of the Age of the Apostles

232 Acts. 2:41.

233 Tacitus writes about tmultitudo ingense, accused of todium generis humani, that is, of Christianity (which was considered a Jewish sect), and brutally executed in the reign of Nero in 64 (Annals, XV. 44).

235 1 Cor. 1:26-29.

The life of Christ is the divine-human origin of the Christian religion; the age of the apostles is the origin of the Christian church as an organized community separate and distinct from the Jewish synagogue. This is the era of the Holy Spirit, the era of inspiration and guidance for all subsequent ages.

Here, in all its original freshness and purity, the living water of the new creation flows. Christianity descends from heaven as a supernatural fact that has long been foretold, awaited, and which contains the answer to the deepest needs of human nature. His coming into the world of sin is accompanied by signs, wonders and extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit for the conversion of unbelieving Jews and Gentiles. Christianity settled forever among our sinful race, in order to gradually make it the kingdom of truth and truth - without wars and bloodshed, acting quietly and calmly, like leaven. Modest and humble, outwardly unpretentious and unattractive, but invariably conscious of its divine origin and its eternal destiny, having no silver and gold, but rich in supernatural gifts and powers, possessing strong faith, fiery love and joyful hope, bearing in earthen vessels lasting heavenly treasures , Christianity enters the stage of history as the only true, perfect religion for all peoples of the world. At first glance, seeming to the carnal mind as an insignificant and even contemptible sect, hated and persecuted by Jews and pagans, it shames the wisdom of Greece and the power of Rome, after a short time raises the banner of the cross in the great cities of Asia, Africa and Europe and shows everyone what is the hope of the world.

By virtue of the primordial purity, strength, and beauty, and also by the unfailing success of early Christianity, by the canonical authority of its sole but inexhaustible literary work, and by the personal qualities of the apostles, those divinely inspired instruments of the Holy Spirit, those uneducated teachers of mankind, the age of the apostles stands out. in the history of the church with incomparable attraction and significance. This is the indestructible foundation of the entire building of Christianity. This era is such a measure for all subsequent events in the life of the church, as the inspired Scriptures of the apostles are for the writings of all subsequent Christian authors.

Moreover, apostolic Christianity contains the living seeds of all subsequent periods, characters and trends of history. It establishes the highest standard of learning and discipline; it is the inspiration for all true progress; before each epoch it poses a special problem and gives strength to solve this problem. Christianity will never outgrow Christ, but it grows in Christ; theology cannot go beyond God's Word, but it must continually grow in understanding and application of Scripture. The three main apostles embody not only the three stages of the development of the apostolic church, but the same number of epochs and types of Christianity, and yet all of them are present in every epoch and in every type. 236

Major Apostles

Peter, Paul, and John stand out prominently from among the apostles as the three chosen ones who accomplished the great work of the apostolic era and who, through their writings and their example, had a decisive influence on all subsequent times. They correspond to three centers of influence: Jerusalem, Antioch and Rome.

For the symbolic meaning of apostolic Christianity, see the final section of my History of the Apostolic Church, pp. 674 sqq.

Our Lord personally chose from among the twelve three of His closest comrades - only they were witnesses of His transfiguration and agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. They justified all expectations, Peter and John - with their long and

successful labors, and Jacob - because he early drank the bitter cup of his Lord as the first martyr of the Twelve. 237 He was killed in A.D. 44, and his place as one of the "pillars" of the church of the circumcised was probably taken by another James, "the brother of the Lord," though he was not strictly an apostle. words, and his influence as the leader of the Jerusalem church was more local than universal. 238

Paul was the last to be called, and contrary to the usual order, the ascended Lord personally appeared to him already from heaven. Paul was equal in authority and influence to any of the three “pillars,” yet he held his special place as an apostle to the Gentiles. He was surrounded by a small group of co-workers and disciples, such as Barnabas, Silas, Titus, Timothy, Luke.

There is no doubt that nine of the original Twelve, including Matthias, who was chosen to replace Judas, worked faithfully and fruitfully, preaching the gospel throughout the Roman Empire and to the very borders of the barbarian tribes, but they occupied a more modest position and about their labors we we know only from vague and dubious traditions. 239

From the Book of Acts we can follow the ministry of James and Peter up to the Jerusalem Council, that is, until A.D. 50. X. or a little longer; in Paul's ministry until his first imprisonment in Rome, which took place in A.D. 61-63; John lived to the end of the first century. Concerning the last period of the life of the apostles. The New Testament does not give us reliable information, but, according to the unanimous testimony of the ancients, Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome during or after the Nero persecutions, and John died a natural death in Ephesus. The Acts narrative abruptly breaks off at the moment when Paul is still alive and working, in a Roman prison, “preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness without restraint.” Significant ending.

237 Matt. 20:23; Acts. 12:2.

238 Gal. 2:9. The name of James is even mentioned before the names of Cephas and John, and throughout the Acts from the Council of Jerusalem, where he presided, James is the most famous person in the Palestinian churches. Ebionite tradition calls him the first ecumenical bishop or pope.

239 Apocryphal tradition of the 2nd and later centuries states that Peter, Andrew, Matthew and Bartholomew were entrusted with missionary service north and northwest of Palestine (in Syria, Galatia, Pontus, Scythia and on the coast of the Black Sea); Thaddeus, Thomas and Simon the Canaanite - in the eastern countries (Mesopotamia, Parthia, especially in Edessa and Babylon, and further up to India); John and Philip - in Asia Minor (in Ephesus and Hierapolis). See Acta Sanctorum; Tischendorf's Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha (1851); and a brief summary in my work History of theApost. Church, §97, pp. 385 sqq.

It would be difficult to find three other equally great and virtuous people, equally endowed with genius, sanctified by grace, united by a deep and intense love for their Lord, working for the same goal and yet so different from each other. friend with their temperament and mindset, like Peter, Paul and John. Peter went down in history as the main pillar of the early church, as the apostle-stone, the main of the twelve stones laid in the foundation of the New Jerusalem; John - as a close friend of the Savior, the son of thunder, the soaring eagle, the apostle of love; Paul - as a champion of Christian freedom and development, the greatest missionary, on whose heart lay the burden of "care for all the churches", an interpreter of Christian doctrine and the father of Christian theology. Peter was a man of action, he was always in a hurry and was ready to lead any business, he was the first to confess Christ and the first to begin to preach Him on the day of Pentecost; Paul was a man equally skilled in word and deed; John was inclined towards mystical contemplation. Peter was uneducated and pragmatic; Paul was not only a worker, but also a scholar and thinker; John was a theosophist and seer. Peter was sanguine—ardent, impetuous, optimistic, good-hearted, prone to sudden mood swings, "successively inconsistent" (to use Aristotle's definition); Pavel was a choleric - strong, courageous, noble, independent, uncompromising; John was somewhat melancholic - a restrained introvert, burning inside with love for Christ and hatred for the Antichrist. The epistles of Peter are full of grace and consolation, the consequence of his deep humiliation and rich experience; Paul's epistles abound in strict conclusions and logical conclusions, but at times soar to the heights of heavenly eloquence - for example, in an unearthly description of love and in a triumphant hymn of praise from Rom. 8; John's writings are simple, serene, profound, intuitive, sublime, and inexhaustible.

240 Gal. 1:18-19. The phrase ei ufj in this combination rather excludes James from the Twelve, but implies that he was an apostle in a broader sense and had apostolic dignity and authority. See ei tsg) (serf tantum) Lk. 4:26-27; Rome. 14:14; Gal 2:16.

241 Acts. 15; Gal. 2:1-10.

242 Gal 2:11-21.

243 1 Cor. 9:5; cf. Matt. 8:14.

244 2 Pet. 3:15-16, Byauopta xiva. The meaning of this passage and another important remark of Peter (2 Pet. 1:20) that “no prophecy in Scripture can be resolved [understood] by oneself”, the popes have often distorted, using these texts as an excuse to hide the Scriptures from the people and insist on the need for official interpretation. This passage deals with the prophecies of the Old Testament, which are not generated by the human mind, but inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21) and cannot be properly understood without inspiration from above.

245 Jn. 21:15-23. The last words of the Lord about Peter and John are very mysterious.

We would like to know more about the personal relationships of these pillar-apostles, but we have to be content with a few hints. Peter, Paul, and John worked in different fields and rarely met face to face in their busy lives. Time was too precious and their ministry too important to indulge in the sentimental pleasures of friendship. In 40 according to P. X., three years after his conversion, Paul went to Jerusalem, apparently to get to know Peter personally, and spent two weeks with him; he did not see any of the other apostles, with the exception of James, the brother of the Lord. 240 Paul met with the pillars of the apostles at a conference in Jerusalem in A.D. 50. X. and concluded with them a peace agreement on the division of areas for the gospel and on the issue of circumcision; the senior apostles gave him and Barnabas the “hand of communion” as a sign of brotherhood and fidelity. 241 A short time later, Paul met Peter for the third time at Antioch, but came into open conflict with him over the great question of Christian freedom and the unity of Jewish and Gentile converts. 242 This clash was temporary, but it perfectly reflects the deep unrest and unrest of the apostolic age and foreshadows future conflicts and reconciliations in the church. A few years later (A.D. 57) Paul makes his last mention of Cephas and the brothers of the Lord when he speaks of his right to marry and take his wife with him on missionary journeys. 243 Peter, in his first epistle to the Pauline churches, confirms them in Paul's faith, and in his second epistle, his testament, he speaks fondly of "beloved brother Paul," although he accompanies these words with a characteristic remark, the justice of which all interpreters are forced to admit, - that (even apart from the description of events in Antioch) in Paul's letters "there is something incomprehensible." 244 According to tradition (the versions of which vary greatly in detail), the great leaders of Jewish and pagan Christianity met in Rome, were tried together, and were condemned together: Paul, as a Roman citizen, to death by the sword on the Appian Way near the "Three Springs"; Peter, an apostle from Galilee, to a more humiliating death on the cross on Janiculum Hill. John often mentions Peter in his gospel, especially at the end, 245 but he never mentions the name of Paul, whom he seems to have met only once - in Jerusalem, where he gave him the hand of fellowship. Subsequently, John became the successor of Paul in the fertile territory of Asia Minor and the successor of his labors.

Peter was the protagonist of the first stage in the history of apostolic Christianity and fulfilled the prophecy hidden in his name, laying the foundation of the church among both Jews and Gentiles. In the second stage, he finds himself in the shadow of the great works of Paul, but after the end of the era of the apostles, he again occupies the most prominent place in the memory of the church. The Roman community chose him as their special patron saint and first pope. His name is always given before the name of Paul. Most temples are dedicated to him. In the name of this poor Galilean fisherman who had neither gold nor silver and was crucified like a villain and a slave, popes in triple tiaras deposed kings, shook empires, dispensed blessings and curses on earth and in purgatory, and even still claim on the ability to speak infallibly on all questions of doctrine and order in the Catholic world.

Paul was the protagonist of the second stage in the history of the apostolic church, the apostle of the Gentiles, the founder of Christianity in Asia Minor and Greece, the liberator of the new religion from the yoke of Judaism, the herald of evangelical freedom, the standard-bearer of reforms and progress. His authority and influence were felt in Rome, and their echo is clearly heard in the original Epistle of Clement, which gives more attention to Paul than to Peter. But soon almost everything is forgotten about Paul, except for his name. He is mentioned along with Peter as one of the founders of the Roman Church, but in the second place; the inhabitants of Rome to this day seldom read and hardly understand his Epistle to the Romans; his temple stands outside the walls of the eternal city, the main decoration and glory of which remains the apostle Peter. It was only in Africa that Paul was treated with due reverence, first by the stern and vigorous Tertullian, and then, to an even greater extent, by the wise Augustine, whose religious experience had equally sharp turns. However, Paul's teachings on sin and grace, as expounded by Augustine, did not have the slightest influence on the Eastern Church, and in the Western Church they were practically superseded by Pelagian tendencies. For a long time, the name of Paul lived outside the dominant orthodoxy and hierarchy - it was used and abused by anti-Catholic heretics and schismatics who resisted the new yoke of traditions and rituals. But in the sixteenth century Paul's personality took on new life and became the driving force behind the Protestant Reformation. It was then that Luther and Calvin anew and publicly proclaimed, interpreted, and put into practice his epistles to the Galatians and Romans. Then Paul's objections to Judaizing fanatics and the bonds of the law took on new life, and the right of Christians to freedom was widely recognized. Of all the characters in the history of the church, including St. Augustine, the greatest resemblance to the apostle of the Gentiles in word and deed is shown by Martin Luther, once a monk surrounded by walls of prohibitions, and later a prophet of freedom. Since then Paul's genius has dominated the theology and religion of Protestantism. As the gospel of Christ was once banished from Jerusalem for the blessing of the Gentiles, so Paul's epistle to the Romans was banished from Rome to enlighten and liberate the Protestant peoples of the far North and far West.

The Apostle John, the closest companion of Jesus, the apostle of love, the seer who discerned the premortal existence, foresaw the timeless fate of creation and who was destined to see the return of the Lord, kept aloof from disputes between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, not accepting active participation in them. He, one of the pillar apostles, is given an important role in Acts and the Epistle to the Galatians, but not one of his sayings is recorded there. He waited in mysterious silence and held back his power until his time came, and his time came only after Peter and Paul had completed their mission. After their death, John revealed hitherto unknown depths of his genius in amazing writings, which became the end and crown of the works of the apostolic church. No one has yet been able to fully comprehend John, but throughout the history of the Church, Christians believed that he was the best able to understand and portray his Master, and that he, perhaps, had yet to say the last word in the clash of epochs and herald the beginning of era of harmony and peace. Paul is the heroic leader of the militant church, while John is the inscrutable prophet of the triumphant church.

But above all of them in the era of the apostles and subsequent times rises the one and only great Teacher, from whom Peter, Paul and John drew their inspiration, before whom they bowed in holy reverence, whom they undividedly served and whom they glorified by life and death. whom to this day they present in their writings as the perfect image of God, the Savior from sin and death, the Giver of eternal life, the divine reconciliation of conflicting creeds and theological schools, the Alpha and Omega of the Christian faith.

§ 22. Critical reconstruction of the history of the apostolic era

Never before in the history of the Church have the origins of Christianity and its principal documentary sources been so scrutinized from such completely opposite points of view as in the present generation. This problem takes the time and energy of many of the most talented scientists and critics. The importance and influence of the little book in which “the wisdom of the whole world is contained” is such that it requires more and more research and sets in motion serious minds of all varieties of belief and unbelief, as if their very existence depended on whether they accepted it or rejected it. . There is not a single fact, not a single teaching that has not been subjected to careful examination. Scientists, on the basis of factual material, reproduced and examined from all possible sides the life of Christ, as well as the ministry and writings of the apostles with all their aspirations, disagreements and reconciliations. The era that began after the death of the apostles, due to its inseparable connection with the previous one, was also studied and considered in a new light.

The great Bible scholars of the Church Fathers strove to extract from the sacred books “the principally orthodox doctrine of salvation and the principles of holy living. Reformers and early Protestant theologians again took up the study of the Scriptures, looking with particular enthusiasm for the evangelical principles that distinguish Protestants from the Church of Rome. Yet they all stood on a firm foundation of reverent faith in the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures.The present age is marked by a special interest in history and criticism.The Scriptures are subjected to the same examination and analysis as any other literary work of antiquity, for the sole purpose of establishing the true state of things. We want to know for certain how Christianity appeared, developed, and what finally came to Christianity as a historical phenomenon, organically connected with the events and peculiarities of thinking of that time. Jerusalem to the throne of Caesar, must be restored, explained and understood in accordance with the laws of normal historical development. But in the course of these critical investigations, the very foundation of the Christian faith was called into question, so that now we are faced with the question: "To be or not to be." Goethe's remark is as wise as it is true: "The struggle of faith and unbelief remains the true, single and deepest leitmotif of the history of the world and of mankind, to which all others are subordinate."

It can be said that the modern critical movement began around 1830, it is still at its peak and most likely will last until the end of the 19th century, because the apostolic church itself took seventy years to develop its capabilities. At first the critical movement was limited to Germany (Strauss, Baur and the Tübingen school), then to France (Renan), Holland (Scholten, Künen) and finally England (Supernatural Religion) and America, so that the battles are now going on all over defensive line of Protestantism.

There are two types of biblical criticism: textual and historical.

Text criticism

Textual or textual criticism aims to restore, as far as possible, the original text of the Greek Scriptures on the basis of the oldest and most reliable sources, namely uncial manuscripts (especially the Vatican and Sinaiticus codes), translations made before the Council of Nicaea, and quotes from the writings of the Church Fathers. Our contemporaries were very successful in this, which was facilitated by the finds of very important ancient manuscripts. Thanks to the invaluable works of Lachmann, who cleared the way for a correct theory (Novum Testa - ment. Gr., 1831; large Greek-Latin edition, 1842 - 1850, in two volumes), Tischendorf (8th critical ed., 1869 - 1872, in two volumes), Tregelles (1857, completed in 1879), Westcott and Hort (1881, 2 volumes), instead of the relatively late and distorted textus receptus of Erasmus and his followers (Stevens, Beza and Elsevier), which is the basis of all generally recognized Protestant translations, we now have a much older and more accurate text, which from now on must serve as the basis for all revised translations. Today, after bitter disputes between representatives of traditional and progressive schools, a striking agreement has been reached between critics in this fundamental area of ​​biblical knowledge. The new text is, in fact, an older text, and the reformers act as restorers. The results of this work not only did not undermine faith in the New Testament, but also confirmed that its text, in the main, is trustworthy, despite one hundred and fifty thousand discrepancies, purposefully collected from all available sources. It is noteworthy that the greatest textual critics of the 19th century do not recognize mechanical or magical inspiration - this point of view is untenable and does not deserve to be defended - but the divine origin and authority of the canonical Scriptures, and this doctrine stands on a much stronger foundation. than any single human theory of inspiration.

Historical criticism

Historical or internal criticism (the Germans call it "high criticism", hbhere Kritik) examines the origin, spirit and purpose of the New Testament Scriptures, their historical environment and place in the great intellectual and religious process that culminated in the triumphant creation of a single church in the 2nd century AD. .X. Within the framework of historical criticism, two quite distinct trends emerged, headed by Dr. Neander in Berlin (d. 1850) and Dr. Baur in Tübingen (d. 1860), who worked in the field of church history at a respectful distance from each other. and never met in person. Neander and Baur were colossi, equal in genius and knowledge, honesty and seriousness, but completely different in spirit. They gave a powerful impetus to historical research and left behind a huge constellation of students and independent followers who are engaged in the historical-critical reconstruction of early Christianity. Their influence is felt in France, Holland and England. Neander published the first edition of his "Apostolic Age" in 1832, and "The Life of Jesus Christ" (criticizing the views of Strauss) -

in 1837 (the 1st vol. of his "General History of the Church" was published as early as 1825 and reprinted in a corrected form in 1842); Vaur wrote his essay on divisions in the Corinthian church in 1831, a critical study of the canonical gospels in 1844 and 1847, "Paul" in 1845 (reprinted by Zeller, 1867), and "The Church History of the First Three centuries" - in 1853 (revised edition, 1860). Baur's student Strauss was ahead of his teacher by publishing the first version of his work Leben Jesu (1835), which caused more sensation than all the works listed - it was surpassed in popularity only by Renan's Life of Jesus, which was published almost thirty years later (1863). Renan repeats and popularizes the ideas of Strauss and Baur for French readers, enriching them with his own knowledge and brilliant talent, while the English publication of Supernatural Religion echoes Tübingen and Leiden theories. On the other hand, Bishop Lightfoot, the leader of conservative critics, claims that he learned more from the German Neander than from any of the earlier theologians (*Contemp. Review*, 1875, p. 866). Matthew Arnold writes [Literature and Dogma, Preface, p. xix): “In order to collect facts, data on all questions of science, but especially theology and biblical studies, they go to Germany. Germany, to its greatest credit, found the facts and published them. And without knowledge of the facts in the study, it is impossible to achieve results by any clarity and purity of thinking, there can be no two opinions on this issue. Nevertheless, Arnold refuses the Germans "speed and subtlety of perception." In order to draw correct conclusions from the facts, something more than education and sharpness of thinking is required: common sense and prudence. And when we are dealing with sacred and supernatural facts, we cannot do without a reverent spirit and the very faith that is the organ of perception of the supernatural. It is in this that the two schools diverge from each other, regardless of the nationality of their representatives, for faith is bestowed not on the people, but on specific people.

Two rival schools

The principles and goals of the two theories of church history, proposed by Neander and Baur, are opposite - they are united only by the moral ties of honest striving for the truth. One theory is conservative, it restores, the other is radical, it destroys. The first theory regards the canonical gospels and Acts as honest, truthful, and trustworthy recollections of the life of Christ and the ministry of the apostles; the latter dismisses most of their content as fiction having nothing to do with history, or as legends that arose after the death of the apostles, and at the same time puts too much faith in the ridiculous heretical conjectures of the second century. One draws an important line between the truth advocated by the orthodox church and the error held by heretical groups; the other erases all boundaries and ascribes heretical views to the inner circle of the apostolic church itself. One rests on the foundation of faith in God and Christ, which implies faith in the supernatural and miraculous when there is reliable evidence for it; the other assumes that the supernatural and miraculous are philosophically impossible and tries to explain the gospel story and the story of the apostles, like any other story, by natural causes alone. The first is interested in the New Testament from a moral, spiritual, as well as from an intellectual point of view; the interest of the second theory is purely intellectual and critical. Proponents of the conservative theory approach historical research keeping in their soul and consciousness the subjective experience of divine truth, and therefore they know and feel that Christianity is a power that saves from sin and error. Proponents of the radical theory see in Christianity only the best of a series of religions that must eventually give way to the undivided reign of logic and philosophy. Disputes between these theories raise the question of whether God is present in history, just as modern natural science disputes raise the question of whether God exists in nature. Belief in a personal God, omnipotent and omnipresent in history and nature, implies the possibility of supernatural and miraculous revelation. Absolute freedom from prejudice (Voraussetzun - gslosigkeit, as Strauss insisted) is absolutely impossible, *ex nihilo nihil fit. Philosophy must obey the facts, and not the facts - philosophy. If we can show that the life of Christ and the apostolic church can only be explained psychologically and historically if we accept the reality of supernatural events connected with it, while any other explanation only complicates the problem and replaces supernatural miracles with unnatural ones, then the historian will win the argument, and the philosopher will only have to bring his theory into line with history. The historian's duty is not to create facts, but to find them, and then construct a sufficiently constructive version of history so that all the facts found have a place in it.

Hypothetical feud within the apostolic church

The starting point of the theory of the Tübingen school is the assumption of a fundamental enmity between Jewish or original Christianity in the person of Peter and pagan or progressive Christianity in the person of Paul. According to this theory, the New Testament writings are tendentious (Tepdenzschriften) and do not present a simple and pure history, but adjust it to theological or practical purposes in the interests of either one of the factions or a compromise point of view. 246 Paul's letters to the Galatians and Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians (their authenticity is considered beyond doubt) are all examples of world Christianity hostile to Judaism, the main founder of which, probably, should be considered Paul himself. The book of Revelation, written by the apostle John in 69, is an example of original Jewish, limited Christianity (which is consistent with the position of John as one of the “pillars”, apostles for the circumcised - Gal. 2:9) and the only authentic writing of the “old » apostles.

Baur (Gesch. derchristl. Kirche, 1.80 sqq.) and Renan (Life of Jesus, ch. 10) even allow themselves to suggest that the real John crosses Paul out of the list of apostles (Rev. 21:14, where there is only for twelve names) and alludes to him in his denunciations, calling him a false Jew (Rev. 2:9; 3:9), a false prophet (Rev. 2:20) and comparing him with Balaam (Rev. 2:2,6,14 -15; compare Jude 11; 2 Pet. 2:15). Clement, in his Sermons, allegedly also criticizes Paul, calling him Simon Magus and a heresiarch. In addition, Renan believes that the entire Epistle of Jude, the brother of James, was written as a refutation of the teachings of Paul and came into being in Jerusalem due to the fact that James rallied Jewish Christians to oppose Paul and his supporters - and this opposition is supposedly nearly ruined Paul's entire work.

According to the Tübingen school, the other New Testament books were written after the death of the apostles and reflect the various stages of the reunification process that led to the establishment of the orthodox church in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The book of the Acts of the Apostles is a church-wide message of peace that reconciles Jewish and pagan Christianity by depicting the teachings of Peter as more liberal, shortening and bringing Paul's teachings closer to Judaism, and is silent about their mutual differences. It is likely that this book is indeed based on an earlier work by Luke, but it did not acquire its present form until the end of the 1st century. The canonical gospels, whatever prior documents they may have been based on, also came into being after the death of the apostles, and are therefore not credible as historical narratives. The Gospel of John is a purely artistic work of some obscure gnostic or mystic, a religious genius, who treated the historical person of Jesus as freely as Plato in his Dialogues - with the image of Socrates, and who, with his work, written in excellent literary style , completed the process of reunification during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, but not earlier than the 20s of the 2nd century. Baur dated this gospel to 170; Gilgenfeld - 140, Keim - 130, and Renan - attributed it to the reign of Hadrian.

Thus, all the New Testament books are considered a reflection of a century of development, a collection of polemical and pacifying treatises written during the life of the apostles and after their death. A reliable, coherent history breaks up into a heap of opposing currents and artistic conjectures. Divine revelation gives way to subjective visions and delusions, inspiration is replaced by development, truth is replaced by a mixture of truth and falsehood. The literature of the apostolic era is placed on a par with the polemical writings of the Nicene era, which gave birth to Nicene orthodoxy, or the writings of the Reformation, which led to the creation of the Protestant creed.

In this respect, Baur disagrees with the point of view of Strauss, who, in the first version of his monograph Leben Jesu (1835), referred to the gospel story as an innocent and unprejudiced myth or epic generated by the religious imagination of the second generation of Christians; however, in the second version of the same work (1864), Strauss somewhat changed his position, and then completely abandoned attempts to solve this hopeless problem. The biased presentation implies a more or less conscious falsification of history. However, the Tübingen critics deny that the evangelists' fiction had any reprehensible motives, and in justification refer to the fact that the authorship of the Jewish and Christian Apocrypha was falsely attributed to respected people, but this did not offend anyone.

History never repeats itself, but the same laws and tendencies appear in continuously changing forms. In the modern criticism of which we speak, the views held by heretics in the second century have taken on a striking new life. The unknown Ebionite, the real author of the Sermons attributed to Clement, and the Gnostic Marcion also spoke of the irreconcilable enmity between Jewish and pagan Christianity - with the only difference that the former opposed Paul, whom he considered a heresiarch who denigrated Peter, while Marcion ( 140) considered Paul the only true apostle, and the "old" apostles, in his opinion, distorted Christianity by mixing it with Judaism; accordingly, Marcion rejected the entire Old Testament and those New Testament books that he considered corrupt, and retained in his canon only the mutilated Gospel of Luke and the ten epistles of Paul (with the exception of the Pastoral Epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews). From the point of view of modern critics, these violent heretics were better chroniclers of the era of the apostles than the author of the Book of Acts.

The Gnostic heresy, for all its perniciousness, became an important driving force in the ancient church and left its mark on patristic theology. It must be admitted that modern Gnosticism has also rendered biblical and historical science a great service in removing old prejudices, pointing out new lines of inquiry, shedding light on the ferment of minds in the first century, giving a new impetus to research, and prompting us to engage in a complete scientific reconstruction of the history of the origins of Christianity and churches. The result of these investigations will be deeper and more complete knowledge, which will not weaken, but only strengthen our faith.

There are significant disagreements among scientists representing the most radical critical trend: while some students of Baur (for example, Strauss, Volkmar) surpassed their teacher in radical views, others make concessions to traditional beliefs. The most important change occurred in Baur's own understanding of Paul's conversion, which, as Baur confessed shortly before his death (1860), remained for him an unsolvable psychological riddle bordering on a miracle. Ritschl, Holtzmann, Lipsius, Pfleiderer, and especially Reuss, Weizsacker and Keim (as free from orthodox prejudices as the most progressive critics) modified and corrected many extremes in the views of the Tübingen school. Even Hilgenfeld, with all his passionate love for "Fortschrittstheologie" and dislike for "Ruckschrittstheologie", recognizes not four, but seven Pauline epistles as authentic, gives an earlier date for the writing of the synoptic gospels and the Epistle to the Hebrews (which, in his opinion, was written by Apollos not later than 70) and says: "It is impossible to deny that Baur's criticism went beyond moderation and inflicted too deep wounds on the faith of the church" (Hist. Krit. Einlei - tung in das N. T. 1875, p. 197). Renan acknowledges the authenticity of the nine epistles of Paul, Acts, and even the descriptive parts of the Gospel of John, although he dismisses the statements contained there as pretentious, pompous, metaphysical, incomprehensible, and tiresome. (See his last speech on this subject in The Christian Church, ch. IV.) Matthew Arnold and other critics express the exact opposite view, calling the gospel sayings the most perfect of human writings, filled with "heavenly glory" (himmlische Herrlichkeiten, in the words of Keim, who, however, completely rejects the fourth gospel). Schenkel (Christusbild der Apostel, 1879) sees much less contradiction between the teachings of Peter and Paul and admits (Preface, p. xi): in the process of research, he “involuntarily became convinced that the Book of the Acts of the Apostles deserves more trust as a source of information, than modern critics usually believe, that it contains other reliable ancient documents besides the well-known text "We" (Wirquelle) and that the follower of Paul who compiled it did not deliberately distort the facts, but only stated them as they appeared to him. as he saw them, taking into account the time and circumstances of writing. In my opinion, he did not aim to create an artificial image of Peter like Paul or Paul like Peter in order to mislead the reader, but depicted both apostles exactly as he actually represented them, based on incomplete information. Keim reached a similar conclusion in his last monograph (Aus dem Urchristenthum, 1878), which he wrote a year before his death. Refuting Baur, Schwegler, and Zeller, but remaining true to the same critical direction and allowing for the possibility of later interpolations, Keim argues (in the critical essay Apostelkonvent, pp. 64-89) that the descriptions of the council of the apostles and the Jerusalem agreement in Acts and Galatians fit perfectly. with each other. As for Ewald, he always went his own way and could be compared with Baur in boldness and controversial critical judgments, but he was his ardent opponent and defended the authenticity of Acts and the Gospel of John.

To the voices of German thinkers, we can add the testimony of Matthew Arnold, one of the most courageous and open-minded theologians and critics of the free school, who admires Baur, but still calls him "an unreliable adviser" and speaks out against his suggestion of deep enmity between Paul and the apostles-pillars, believing that it is completely inconsistent with the generally recognized religious greatness of Paul and the closeness of the apostles-pillars to Jesus (God and the Bible, 1875, Preface, vii - xii). With regard to the fourth gospel, the most acute issue in these stormy debates, Arnold analyzes its form and content and comes to the conclusion that it *is not fiction, but a serious and priceless document, full of events reported by traditions and genuine "sayings of the Lord" ” (p. 370), and also that “after being impartially and mercilessly subjected to the most versatile criticism ... a reliable remnant has been preserved, which contains all the deepest, most important, most beautiful that only exists in the fourth gospel” (p. 372 sq.).

positive school

While significant disagreements are observed in the ranks of supporters of destructive criticism, new educated and talented defenders of the historical truth and authenticity of the New Testament books appear who approach the issue from different angles: Neander, Ullman, K. F. Schmid (Baur’s colleague according to Tübingen), Roth, Dorner, Ebrard, Lechler, Lange, Thiersch, Wieseler, Hoffman (from Erlangen), Luthardt, Christlieb, Beishlag, Ullhorn, Weisse, Gode, Edm. de Pressence.

English and American scientists actively and successfully participate in the discussion of these issues: Lightfoot, Plumptre, Westcott, Sunday, Farrar, J. P. Fisher, Ezra Abbott (Authorship of the Fourth Gospel, 1880). The immoderately critical theories from the Continent are unlikely to have a significant impact on English and American theology. He has a more reliable support in the form of an active church life, as well as the beliefs and traditions of the people. The mind of the Germans and the French, like that of the Athenians, has always been inclined to search for the new, while the Anglo-American mind is more interested in the truth, be it old or new. And truth must eventually prevail.

Apostle Paul's Testimony of Historical Christianity

Fortunately, even the most exacting school of modern criticism leaves us with some solid foundation on which we can prove the truth of Christianity. Four Pauline epistles (Galatians, Romans, and 1 and 2 Corinthians) are declared unquestionably authentic and turned into an Archimedean point of attack on the rest of the New Testament books. We propose to confine ourselves to their framework. These four books are important both historically and theologically; they reflect the views of the first generation of Christians and were written between 54 and 58, that is, no more than a quarter of a century after the crucifixion, when the "old" apostles and most of the main eyewitnesses of the life of Christ were still alive. Their creator was himself a contemporary of Christ; he lived in Jerusalem during the great events that formed the basis of Christianity; he closely associated with the members of the Sanhedrin and the murderers of Christ; he was not blinded by sympathy for Christians, but was their cruel persecutor and had every reason to hate them; and after his conversion (A.D. 37) he radically changed his views and was able to hear about many of the most important events in the history of Christianity directly from the lips of their eyewitnesses and participants, the apostles (Gal. 1:18; 2:1- eleven).

So, in these generally accepted writings of the most learned of the apostles, we find a clear confirmation of all the great events and truths of early Christianity, as well as satisfactory answers to the main objections and doubts of modern skeptics. 247

The named epistles of Paul confirm:

See the helpful article by J. Oswald Dykes in *Brit. and For . Evang. Review, London, 1880, pp. 51 sqq.

• The main circumstances of the life of Christ: that He was sent to earth by God; that He was born of a woman of the royal line of David; that His life was an example of holiness; that he was betrayed; that He suffered and died for the sins of the world; that he rose on the third day; that He repeatedly appeared to the disciples; that He ascended and sat down at the right hand of God, whence He will come to judge mankind; that He was revered as the Messiah, Lord and Savior from sins, as the eternal Son of God. Paul's epistles also confirm the election of the Twelve, the establishment of baptism and the Lord's Supper, the sending of the Holy Spirit, the foundation of the Church. Paul often refers to these events, especially the crucifixion and resurrection, without going into details, but mentioning them when necessary in connection with theological explanations and exhortations, since the people he addressed were already aware of these events. events from oral sermons and instructions. (See Gal. 3:13; 4:4-6; 6:14; Rom. 1:3; 4:24-25; 5:8-21; 6:3-10; 8:3,11,26 ,39; 9:5; 10:6-7; 14:15; 15:3; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 2:2,12; 5:7; 6:14; 10:16; 11:23- 26; 15:3-8,45-49; 2 Corinthians 5:21.)

• Paul's conversion and call to the apostolic ministry after the Lord Himself ascended from heaven appeared to him. (Gal. 1:1,15-16; 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:8.)

• The origin of the Christian Church and its rapid growth in all parts of the Roman Empire, from Jerusalem to Antioch and Rome, Judea, Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia and Achaia. The faith of the Roman church, Paul writes, was known "in all the world" and "in every place" where people worshiped Jesus as their Lord. The small local churches maintained a lively and close communion with one another, and although they were founded by different teachers and embarrassed by differences of opinion and customs, they worshiped the same divine Lord and constituted a single brotherhood of believers. (See Gal. 1:2; 2:1,11; Rom. 1:8; 10:18; 14:25; 1 Cor. 1:2; 16:19 etc.)

• The presence of miraculous gifts in the church of that time. Paul himself showed himself as an apostle in signs and great works. Rome. 15:18-19; 1 Cor. 2:4; 9:2; 2 Cor. 12:12. However, he does not pay much attention to external visible miracles and emphasizes internal moral miracles and the constant manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit in the regeneration and sanctification of sinful people living in a highly corrupt world. (1 Cor. 12-14; 6:9-11; Gal. 5:16-26; Rom. 6:8.)

• The presence of sincere disagreements among these young churches concerning certain theological and ceremonial conclusions, in particular the need for circumcision, the law of Moses, and the particular question of Paul's apostolic authority, but not affecting the foundations of the faith, on which all participants in the disputes were in full agreement. together. The Judaizers insisted on the superiority of the "old" apostles and accused Paul of complete apostasy from the time-honored religion of the forefathers; Paul responded by pleading that if justification could be obtained by keeping the law, Christ's atoning death and resurrection would be unnecessary and useless. (Gal. 2:21; 5:2-4.)

• Although Paul and the elder apostles had different starting points and worked in different territories, they were in principle unanimous in theological and spiritual matters. In this case, the testimony of Galatians (Gal. 2:1-10), which is considered the main support of skeptics, turns against them. For Paul emphatically declares that the "pillars," the apostles of the circumcision, James, Peter, and John, at the Jerusalem Council in A.D. 50 approved the Good News he had preached for the previous fourteen years; that they “laid no more upon him,” that is, they gave him no new instructions, placed no new conditions before him, placed no new burden on him, but, on the contrary, agreed that he had been given the grace of God and entrusted with a special serving the Gentiles, and gave him and Barnabas a "hand of fellowship" as a sign of brotherly fidelity. Paul draws a sharp and clear line between the apostles and the “false brethren who crept in, who secretly came to spy on our freedom, which we have in Christ Jesus, to enslave us,” to whom he did not yield “not for an hour.” The most "harsh" words he addresses to the Jewish apostles are honorifics; he calls them "most famous" and "pillars" of the church (ol ot O aoi, oi 6 oko 0 vtec, Gal. 2:6,9); he calls himself, as a persecutor of the church of God, with sincere humility “the least of the apostles” (1 Cor. 15:9).

In the light of this statement by Paul, it is impossible and absurd to assume (as Baur, Schwegler, Zeller and Renan do) that John disproved himself and proved his own insanity when, in the Book of Revelation, he posthumously branded as a false apostle and head of the satanic synagogue that same Paul, whom he considered a brother during his lifetime. Such a rash and monstrous assumption is tantamount to accusing either Paul or John of lying. The heretics-antinomists and opponents of Christianity mentioned in Revelation, who are unclean both from a moral and ritual point of view (Rev. 2:14-15), Paul would condemn in the same way as John; By the way, Paul himself, in his farewell conversation with the Ephesian elders, prophetically foreshadowed the appearance of such false teachers and called them "fierce wolves" who, after his departure, will enter into them or rise from among themselves, not sparing the flock (Acts 20: 29-30). On the issue of defilement, Paul was in complete agreement with the teaching of Revelation (1 Cor. 3:15-16; 6:15-20); As for eating meat offered to idols (ta e16a) A.66 "ita), he himself did not attach much importance to this problem, understanding the vanity of idols, but he condemned those who eat meat offered to idols if by their actions they wounded the conscience of more scrupulous converted Jews ( 1 Cor. 8:7-13; 10:23-33; Rom. 14:2,21); and in this he followed the decree of the Apostolic Council (Acts 15:29).

7. The clash between Paul and Peter at Antioch (Gal. 2:11-14), which is considered the true stronghold of the Tübingen theory, actually proves the exact opposite. For their disagreements did not concern matters of principle or theology; on the contrary, Paul clearly states that at first Peter casually and habitually (note the imperfect form owrjoeiev, Gal. 2:12) associated with converted Gentiles as brothers in Christ, but he was intimidated by messengers of fanatical converted Jews from Jerusalem, and then Peter acted contrary to his true convictions, which he had consistently followed since he received the vision in Jaffa (Acts 10:10-16), which he so boldly defended in the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:7-11) and which he followed. doval in Antioch. In this scene, we are presented with the same impetuous, impressionable, fickle disciple, the first to confess faith in Christ and the first to renounce Him, but soon returned to his Lord with bitter repentance and sincere humility. It was precisely for this inconstancy of character, which Paul unceremoniously called "hypocrisy," that he, as an uncompromising adherent of Christian freedom, rebuked Peter publicly before the whole church.

An open transgression must be openly corrected. According to the Tübingen hypothesis, Peter's hypocrisy consisted in the fact that he acted in exactly the opposite way. Peter's silent submission in this situation shows his respect for his junior colleague and deserves praise as much as his weakness is blameworthy. The estrangement that arose between the apostles was temporary and did not destroy their brotherly relationship, which is evident from how respectfully and at the same time sincerely they spoke of each other several years after the quarrel in Antioch (Gal. 1:18). -19; 2:8-9; 1 Cor. 9:5; 2 Pet. 3:15-16), and also from the fact that Mark and Silas were the links between Peter and Paul and helped both in turn. 248

Further, Galatians offers a proper way out of this difficulty and, in fact, confirms what is stated in the Book of Acts. It proves that there were certain disagreements between Paul and the "senior" apostles, but on a number of points they were in complete agreement with each other. It leaves no stone unturned in suggesting that the relationship between these people resembled the relationship between Marcionites and Ebionites in the 2nd century. The latter were the descendants of the heretics of the apostolic era, "false brothers who crept in" (x |/eu6a5elf01 napeioaKTOi, Gal. 2:4); but the true apostles knew and continued to know the grace of God, which worked successfully through Peter for the conversion of the Jews, and through Paul for the conversion of the Gentiles. The fact that the Judaizers invoked the authority of the Jewish Apostles, and the antinomian Gnostics the authority of Paul, is no more surprising than the references of modern rationalists to Luther and the Reformers.

We have thus, from the outset, examined in some detail the fundamental differences between the two modern points of view on the history of the apostolic church, and explained the reasons for the principled position we take on this issue.

It should not be assumed that all obscure points have already been given an exhaustive explanation, or that such an indisputable explanation will ever be found. There must be some room left for faith in that God who has made himself clear enough in nature and history to strengthen our faith, and who is hidden enough to test our faith. Some gaps between the stars in the sky of the apostolic era will forever remain unoccupied, but with all the more attention people will begin to peer into the bright stars, in the light of which the post-apostolic books grow dim, like a candle flame. A careful study of the works of church writers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and in particular of a whole series of apocryphal acts, epistles and apocalypses, leaves a strong impression of the immeasurable superiority of the New Testament in purity and truth, simplicity and greatness; and this excellence testifies to the special work of the Spirit of God, without which this Book of books would remain an inexplicable mystery.

§ 23. Chronology of the era of the apostles

See the writings listed in § 20, especially those of Wieseler. See also Hackett's commentary on the Book of Acts (3rd ed., pp. 22-30).

In the presentation of Renan, this story sounds very entertaining ("The Apostle Paul", ch. x). His sympathies are rather on the side of Peter, whom he calls “a man of extraordinary kindness and righteousness, who above all desired peace,” although he admits that on this and other occasions Peter showed compliance and inconsistency; The author accuses Paul of stubbornness and rudeness; but, most importantly, Renan abandons the Tübingen exegesis, arguing: “Modern critics who, on the basis of certain passages in Galatians, conclude that the break between Peter and Paul was complete, are not only in conflict with the Book of Acts, but and with other passages from Galatians (Gal. 1:18:2:2). Hot people spend their lives in continuous arguments with each other. We should not judge these biblical heroes according to the rules that today's well-bred and resentful people govern in matters of honor. In general, the Jews never attached excessive importance to this last word!

The chronology of the apostolic era is partly accurate - at least for a certain period - and partly hypothetical: accurate in relation to the main events that occurred from 30 to 70 AD. e., and hypothetical in relation to intermediate moments and the last thirty years of the 1st century. This chronology is based on the text of the New Testament (especially the Acts and Epistles of Paul), the writings of Josephus and Roman historians. Joseph's writings

Flavius ​​(37 - 103) are especially valuable because he compiled the history of the Jewish people up to the destruction of Jerusalem.

The dates listed below are more or less reliable and accepted by most historians:

249 See Hist. Apostle. Ch. Section 63, p. 235; § 67, p. 265. The mention of the regional ruler of King Arete in Damascus (2 Cor. 11:32-33) does not give us any specific clue, since we do not know enough about this time; however, other data collectively point to 37 AD. Wieseler dates Paul's conversion to 40 AD, but this date is based on an erroneous interpretation of the journey mentioned in Gal. 2:1, Wieseler identifies it with Paul's fourth journey to Jerusalem in AD 54, and not with the third journey to participate in the Council, which took place four years earlier.

250 Rom. 15:25-27; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; 2 Cor. 8 - 9; Acts. 24:17.

251 Rom. 1:13, 15; 15:22-28; see also Acts. 19:21; 20:16; 23:11; 1 Cor. 16:3.

252 Rom. 16:1.23; see also Acts. 19:22; 2 Tim. 4:20; 1 Cor. 1:14.

253 See Wieseler, ch. 1, pp. 67 sqq.

• Founding of the Christian Church on the day of Pentecost in May 30 AD. X. This date is based on the assumption that Christ was born in 4-5 BC. X. and was crucified in April 30 AD. X. at the age of thirty-three.

• Death of King Herod Agrippa I, 44 AD. X. (according to Josephus). On this basis, it is possible to determine the date of the martyrdom of Jacob, who was killed earlier, as well as the dates of the arrest and release of Peter (Acts 12:2,23).

• Apostolic council in Jerusalem, 50 AD. X. (Acts 15; Gal. 2:1-10). This date can be checked against the earlier date of Paul's conversion and the later date of his imprisonment in Caesarea. Paul probably converted at the age of 37, and "fourteen years" elapsed from that moment to the council. However, historians are not unanimous in determining the year of Paul's conversion and fluctuate between the 31st and 40th. 249

• The writing of the letters to the Galatians, Corinthians, and Romans is between 56 and 58 AD. The date of the writing of the letter to the Romans can be determined with an accuracy of almost a month, based on the clues that it contains, and information from the Book of Acts. This epistle was written before the apostle was in Rome, at the moment when he had finished collecting offerings in Macedonia and Achaia for the needy brethren in Judea 250 and was about to visit Jerusalem and Rome on his way to Spain. 251 Paul delivered it with Thebe, a deaconess from the congregation in the eastern harbor of Corinth, where he himself was at that moment. 252 The circumstances listed point to the spring of 58, because in that year Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and sent to Caesarea.

• Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea, between A.D. 58 and 60, under the procurators Felix and Festus, who were replaced in A.D. 60 or 61, most likely in A.D. 60. We can verify the correctness of this important dates by comparing several passages from the writings of Josephus and Tacitus. 253 It also allows us, by counting back, to date certain earlier events in the life of the apostle.

• Paul's first imprisonment in Rome, A.D. 61-63. X. This follows from the previous date, combined with the statement in Acts 28:30.

• Epistles written in a Roman prison: Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, A.D. 61-63. x.

• Nero's persecution, A.D. 64. X. (the tenth year of the reign of Nero, according to Tacitus). The martyrdom of Paul and Peter occurred either at this time, or (according to tradition) several years later. The exact answer to this question depends on the timing of Paul's second imprisonment in Rome.

9. Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, A.D. 70. X. (according to Josephus Flavius ​​and Tacitus).

10. The death of John after the accession to the throne of Trajan, 98 AD. X. (according to popular church tradition).

The dates of the writing of the synoptic gospels, Acts, pastoral epistles, the Epistle to the Hebrews and the epistles of Peter, James and Jude cannot be precisely established, it can only be stated with certainty that they were written before the destruction of Jerusalem - mainly in the 60s. The books of John were written later, towards the end of the first century, with the exception of Revelation - some of the best specialists, on the basis of internal data, date this book to 68 or 69, that is, it was written between the death of Nero and the destruction of Jerusalem.

Details can be found in the following table.

Chronological table of the era of the apostles

	BIBLICAL HISTORY	EVENTS IN PALESTINE	EVENTS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
	Birth of Christ Christ at the age of twelve visits the temple. Baptism of Christ. His three-year ministry. His crucifixion, resurrection (April) and ascension (May).	Death of Herod I the Great, 750 A. U ., 4 B.C. Archelaus rules in Judea, Samaria and Idumea; Herod Antipas - in Galilee and Perea; Philip - in Avrantida (Gavlanitida, Golan), the Trachonite region, Panea and Bataney. Archelaus is deposed, Judea becomes a Roman province. Kyrenia (Quirinius), governor in Syria (second term). Census, Acts. 5:37. Rise of Judas the Galilean. Procurator of Judea of ​​the Colonies. Procurator Mark Ambiviy. Procurator Aiyei Ruf. Procurator Valery Grat. Pontius Pilate - procurator from 26 A.D. Caiaphas becomes high priest from A.D. 25. X	Augustus - emperor of Rome, 27 BC - 14 AD Tiberius is the co-ruler of Augustus. Emperor Augustus dies. Tiberius is an autocratic ruler (14 - 37).

	BIBLICAL HISTORY	EVENTS IN PALESTINE	EVENTS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
	The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Birth of the Church (May). Acts. 2. Martyrdom of Stephen. Acts. 7. Peter and John in Samaria. Acts. 8. Conversion of Paul. Acts. 9. Wed. Acts. 22; 26; Gal. 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:8. Paul's escape from Damascus and first visit to Jerusalem (after conversion). Gal. 1:18. Acceptance of Cornelius into the Church. Acts. 10; eleven. The persecution of the church in Jerusalem. James Zebedee is beheaded. Peter is arrested and rescued. He leaves Palestine. Acts. 12:2-23. Paul's second visit to Jerusalem with donations from the Aitiochian church. Acts. 11:30. Paul is called to the apostolic ministry. Acts. 13:2. Paul's first missionary journey with Barnabas and Mark. Cyprus, Pisidia, Lystra, Dervia. Return to Antioch. Acts. 13.14. The Epistle of James (written between 44 and 62). Apostolic Cathedral. Conflict between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. Paul's third journey to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus. Peaceful solution to the issue of circumcision. Acts. 15; Gal. 2:1-10. Temporary quarrel between Paul and Peter and Barnabas in Antioch. Gal. 2:11-14. Paul sets out on his second missionary journey from Antioch to Asia Minor (Cilicia, Lycaonia, Galatia, Troas) and Greece (Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth). Planting Christianity in Europe. Acts. 15:36 - 18:22.	Marcellus procurator. Pilate is sent to Rome as governor of Syria. Marullus is appointed hipparchus. Herod Agrippa 1 - King of Judea and Samaria. Herod Agrippa I dies in Caesarea. Kuspi Fad - procurator of Judea. Procurator Tiberius Alexander. Procurator Veitidy Kuman. Procurator Anthony Felix.	Caligula becomes emperor (37 - 41). Philo in Rome. Claudius becomes emperor (41 - 54). Conquest of Britain (43 - 51).

	BIBLICAL HISTORY	EVENTS IN PALESTINE	EVENTS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
	Paul spends a year and a half in Corinth. Writes 1 and 2 Epistles to the Thessalonians from Corinth. Fourth journey of Paul to Jerusalem (spring). He makes a short stop in Antioch, then departs (autumn 54) on his fourth missionary journey, which will last four years. Paul in Ephesus, 54 - 57 Acts. 19. Paul writes to the Galatians from Ephesus or somewhere in Greece on the road to Corinth (57). Acts. twenty. Paul writes 1 Corinthians from Ephesus, travels to Macedonia, and from there writes 2 Corinthians. He writes the Epistle to the Romans from Corinth, where he spent three months. For the fifth time he comes to Jerusalem. He is arrested, brought to trial by Felix, and imprisoned for two years in Caesarea. Acts. 21:17 - 26:32. Paul appears before the court of Festus, demands the court of Caesar. He is sent to Italy (autumn), but in Malta (Melit) he gets into a shipwreck. Acts. 27 - 28. Arrives in Rome as a prisoner (spring). From a Roman prison, Paul writes letters to the Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. The martyrdom of James, the brother of the Lord, in Jerusalem (according to Josephus Flavius, or, according to Hegesippus, in 69). Presumably, Paul was released. Acts. 28:30. Hebrews was written from Italy, after the release of Timothy (Heb. 13:23). First Epistle of Peter. The Epistle of Jude (?). Second Epistle of Peter (?).	Herod Agrippa II (the last of the family of Herod) becomes the tetrarch in Trachonitida. Revolt of the Sicarii led by an Egyptian (Acts 21:38). Procurator Portius Festus. Embassy from Jerusalem to Rome on the issue of the wall. Procurator Albin. Procurator Gessy Flor.	Decree of Claudius for the expulsion of the Jews from Rome. Nero becomes emperor (54 - 68). War with Queen Boadicea in Britain. Apollonius of Tyana at the Olympic Games. Josephus Flavius ​​in Rome. Great fire in Rome (July); the first persecution of Christians throughout the empire (the martyrdom of Peter and Paul).

	BIBLICAL HISTORY	EVENTS IN PALESTINE	EVENTS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
	Synoptic Gospels and Acts. Paul visits Crete and Macedonia, writes 1 Timothy and Titus (?).* Paul writes 2 Timothy (?). Martyrdom of Peter and Paul in Rome (?). Revelation of John (?). John writes his gospel and epistles (?). John writes Revelation (?). Death of John.	The beginning of a great war between the Romans and the Jews. Vespasian in Palestine. Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. (Josephus released.)	Nero kills Seneca and Lucan. Emperor Galba. Emperors Ston and Vntellius. Emperor Vespasian. Opening of the Colosseum. The destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Emperor Titus. Emperor Domitian. Persecution of Christians. Emperor Nerva. Death of Apollonius. Emperor Trajan.

* Those who deny Paul's second imprisonment date these epistles to Paul's time in Ephesus, 54-57 AD. X., and 2 Timothy - 63 or 64 A.D.

Early Christianity

Early Christianity is a period in the history of Christianity from the death of Jesus in the early 30s of the 1st century until the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (325). Sometimes the term "early Christianity" is used in the narrower sense of the Christianity of the apostolic age.

Rise of Christianity

Christianity originated in Palestine in the 1st century AD. as one of the apocalyptic messianic movements within Judaism, which was based on the teachings of Jesus and the belief in his resurrection from the dead. The singling out of Christianity as a special religion distinct from Judaism, accompanied by conflicts both with traditional Judaism of that time and within the Christian community itself, has been going on for several decades. There is no doubt the similarity of some ideas, beliefs and cult practices of early Christianity and contemporary apocalyptic movements in Palestinian Judaism, such as the Essenes. However, a direct link between early Christians and communities like Qumran remains unproven. There is also no single point of view among researchers as to the extent to which the early Christian preaching (the kerygma, or, more precisely, the kerygmas of different groups of early Christians at different times) reproduces the kerygma of Jesus himself. In the history of early Christianity, a number of key moments can be identified, such as the appearance of the "Hellenists", the beginning of preaching among the Gentiles and the Council of Jerusalem in 49, each of which made Christianity more and more incompatible with Judaism. At the same time, in its development, Christianity to a very large extent relied on the ideas of modern rabbinical Judaism.

Apostolic age

At the request of the Pharisees, the scribes, and (this time united with their bitterest opponents) the Sadducees-high priests, Jesus Christ was put to death, and with His death His enemies calmed down, believing at first that all the dangerous Galilean movement raised by Him would now die of itself .

However, not even two months had passed since that Pascha, on the eve of which the “deceiver” was buried, when his disciples, with boldness incomprehensible to His enemies, in the same Jerusalem, in the neighborhood of Golgotha ​​and the Sepulcher, began to preach that the Crucified One was really the Messiah; that for forty days after his death, starting from the third, he repeatedly appeared to them in Galilee, and mainly in Jerusalem, in a true but glorified body, ate, drank and talked with them; that on the 40th day He ascended to heaven before their eyes, promising to return with glory as the Messiah-Judge of the living and the dead, and ordered them to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God in the intervening time.

The first century is usually called the Apostolic. According to legend, for 12 years after Pentecost, the apostles remained in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and then went on a worldwide sermon.

The mission of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas showed that in order for preaching to be successful, converted Gentiles should not be bound by outdated Jewish law. The Apostolic Council in 49 in Jerusalem approved this practice. But not everyone agreed with his decision. T. n. "Jewish" formed a schism between the Ebionites and Nazirites. These first decades are sometimes called the time of "Judeo-Christianity", when the New Testament Church still existed within the Old Testament Church, Christians visited the Temple in Jerusalem, etc. The Jewish War of 66-70 AD. put an end to this symbiosis. It began with an uprising of Jerusalem nationalists against Roman power. Nero sent the provinces of Vespasian and Titus to pacify. As a result, Jerusalem was completely destroyed, and the temple was burned. The Christians, warned by a revelation, left the doomed city in advance. So there was a final break between Christianity and Judaism.

After the destruction of Jerusalem, the significance of the church center passes to the capital of the empire - Rome, consecrated by the martyrdom of App. Peter and Paul. From the reign of Nero begins a period of persecution. The last apostle, John the Evangelist, dies c. 100 years, and with it the apostolic age ends.

Approximate chronology of the apostolic age

Pentecost (Acts 2:14)

c. 33-34 Conversion of Paul (Acts 9:1-19)

circa 34-35 Paul's 1st missionary journey (Acts 13-14)

48 or 49 Paul's 2nd missionary journey (Acts 15:36-18:23)

between 49-53 years. Paul's 3rd missionary journey (Acts 18:23-21:17)

between 54-58 years. Paul's arrest in Jerusalem (Acts 21:27-33)

58 Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea (Acts 24:27)

58-60 years Paul's Journey to Rome (Acts 27-28)

autumn 60 - spring 61 Paul under house arrest (Acts 28:30)

61-63 years Release of Paul from the 1st imprisonment in Rome (patristic sources of the 2nd-3rd centuries)

63 Paul's subsequent missionary journeys (patristic sources)

64-67 years 2nd imprisonment and death of Paul in Rome (patristic sources)

67-68 years Death of John at Ephesus (patristic sources)

after 98 Apostolic men

Time of early Christianity II - III centuries. marked by the activity of the so-called. "apostolic men", that is, early Christian writers who were disciples of the apostles themselves. The most famous of them include Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer, condemned to death during the persecution of Emperor Trajan, and Hieromartyr Polycarp of Smyrna, who was burned at the stake during the persecution of Emperor Marcus Aurelius († 167).

In the West, the initial stage of the Church was associated with the two main cultural centers of Europe: Athens and Rome. The most famous "apostolic men" of the Western Church are considered schmch. Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of the Apostle Paul, the first bishop of Athens, to whom several letters and treatises on Christian mysticism (the so-called "Areopagitics") are attributed, and an outstanding preacher of St. Clement, Pope of Rome, of whose writings only his epistle to the Corinthians survives. According to legend, in 95 Dionysius the Areopagite was sent to St. Pope Clement at the head of a mission to preach in Gaul, where he died in the persecution of Domitian c. 96 St. himself. Clement was persecuted by the imp. Trajan was exiled to the Crimean quarries and c. 101 drowned.

Apologists

Apostolic men were a transitional group from the apostles themselves to the so-called. apologists. Apology (Greek "justification") is a word about intercession directed to persecuting emperors. Justifying Christianity as a just and reasonable religion, the apologists voluntarily or involuntarily translated the truths of faith into the language of reason, and thus Christian theology was born. The first of these apologists-theologians was Martyr. Justin The Philosopher of Samaria, a Platonic philosopher, after his conversion (c. 133) arrived in Rome, where he founded a theological school to combat Gnostic heretics. Justin the Philosopher died in the persecution of the imp. Marcus Aurelius in 166

In 170 the Council of Laodicea was convened, the first major council after the apostolic age. It decided the question of the day of the celebration of Easter.

OK. In 179, the African Stoic philosopher Panten transformed the Alexandrian catechumenical school (according to legend, founded by the apostle and evangelist Mark) into a theological school. Here was born the oldest tradition of Alexandrian theology, at the origins of which stood:

* St. Clement of Alexandria († 215) - student of Panten, author of the famous trilogy "Protreptik" - "Teacher" - "Stromaty";

* St. Origen of Alexandria († 253), an encyclopedically educated and very prolific author, the greatest exegete who tried to harmonize Christianity with the highest achievements of Hellenic thought. The teaching of Origen was subsequently rejected by the Church because of the bias towards Neoplatonism;

* Saint Athanasius the Great;

* Saint Cyril of Alexandria;

* St. Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria († 265) - disciple of Origen, c. 232 heading the Alexandrian school, author of the first Paschalia, known for his extensive correspondence, as well as polemics with heretics monarchists;

* St. Gregory the Wonderworker († 270) - a disciple of Origen, an outstanding ascetic, author of the first Creed, bishop of Neocaesarea, a profound preacher, a fighter against the heresy of Paul of Samosata.

The Western theologian Schmch is considered the father of Christian dogma. Irenaeus of Lyons († c. 202). He was a student of ssmch. Polycarp of Smyrna, and c. 180 became bishop of the Lyon Church in Gaul, where he wrote an extensive work "Five books against heresies." Martyred in the persecution of the imp. Septimius Severus.

One of the later Latin apologists was Quintus Tertullian, who lived in Carthage (North Africa), where he became a presbyter around 195. A brilliant antinomian and author of many political treatises, he is famous for his rigorism and paradoxical opposition of faith to reason (“I believe because it is absurd”). This militant irrationalism led him away from the Church into the Montanist sect (from about 200).

Another apologist for the Western Church, schmch. Hippolytus of Rome († c. 235), Bishop of Rome, was a student of schmch. Irenaeus of Lyons became famous as a philosopher, exegete, hereseologist and church writer. His main work "The Refutation of All Heresies" (in 10 books) is directed against the Gnostics. He also fought against the antitrinitarian teachings of Sabellius. Martyred in the persecution of the imp. Maximin the Thracian.

In 251, the anti-Christian persecution of the imp. Decia is one of the most bloody and devastating. Pope Fabian died in Rome and his pulpit was empty for 14 months. The remarkable theologian Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, was forced to flee and hide. Not all Christians could endure cruel torture - some renounced Christ and fell away from the Church. At the end of the persecution, the question arose: is it possible to take them back?

Saint Cyprian of Carthage and the new pope Cornelius believed that this was possible (under certain conditions). The rigorous Roman presbyter Novatian believed that the Church should not forgive sinners who renounced Christ during the time of persecution. He accused Cornelius of unacceptable concessions, and proclaimed himself the true successor of Fabian (the so-called antipope) and the head of the so-called. "Churches of the Pure" ("Kafar"). Saints Cyprian and Cornelius at the Council of 251 excommunicated the Novatians from the Church for mercilessness and violation of canonical discipline. During the next persecution ssmch. Cyprian voluntarily accepted death for Christ. Such is the history of one of the first disciplinary schisms (the so-called Novatian).

It had great consequences, because the end of the ante-Nicene period was marked by the greatest persecution of the emperors Diocletian and Galerius (302-311). There were a huge number of Sts. martyrs, but also many who have fallen away. The devastation was supplemented by political turmoil, which ended only with the accession of Constantine the Great. In 313, Constantine granted freedom of religion to the Church (the so-called "Edict of Milan"). But some of the African bishops, led by Donatus (a rival of the legitimate Bishop Caecilian), caused a new schism, proclaiming themselves the "Church of the Martyrs", and the rest - traitors and compromisers with the godless state power (St. Emperor Constantine was baptized only before his death). Subjectively, this was a movement against the stateization of the Church in order to preserve its freedom. But objectively, it destroyed the African (Carthaginian) Church and became the main reason for its subsequent disappearance.

The Novatian and Donatist temptation of schismatic "purity" later echoed in the West with the heresies of the Cathars and Waldensians, and in the East with the movement of the Bogomils and Strigolniks.

The ante-Nicene period ended with the largest "Diocletian persecution" (302-311) in the history of Christianity, the goal of which was the complete destruction of the Church. But, as always happens, the persecution only contributed to the establishment and spread of Christianity.

Philosophy

From the theological side, ancient Christianity was characterized by:

* the idea that the Holy Spirit has been at work in the church at all times, and

* right faith is necessary for spiritual salvation;

Therefore, to think that this or that dogma did not exist in content before such and such a council, or was understood by the church differently than it was determined at the council, means to think that the Holy Spirit allowed Christians to ignorance or delusion, in which salvation itself is impossible.

Historically, the church justifies its view by pointing out:

* to the fact that the ancient Church did not recognize the strength and the right to develop dogmas in essence and

* always considered herself in the right to anathematize the heretics of bygone times, even if during their lifetime they were not judged or condemned for some reason;

* to the fact that not all dogmas in general were subjected to the obligatory formulation of the ecumenical council, which, however, did not and does not prevent them from existing (the number of sacraments was determined in the East and in the West in the XII century equally and independently).

culture

Early Christian literature

In the first century of the existence of the Christian church, almost all of its written activity was aimed at:

* fix the tradition about the history and teachings of the first preachers of Christianity,

* to state and interpret this doctrine in application to particular questions as life put them,

* through written acts to maintain moral and doctrinal unity between scattered communities.

Catholic Encyclopedia. EdwART. 2011 .

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The constant demand enjoyed by The History of the Christian Church imposes on me a grateful duty not to let it fall behind the times. Thus, I have subjected this and other volumes (especially the second) to another revision and updated the list of references as much as possible, as the reader can verify by glancing at pages 2, 35, 45, 51-53, 193, 411, 484, 569, 570 etc. of this edition. All changes were made by shortening and condensing the text so as not to increase the volume of the book. The second volume is now in its fifth edition, and more volumes will soon follow.

This revision of the text will be the last. If any further amendments need to be made in my lifetime, I will add them as a separate appendix.

I feel deeply indebted to the reading public, and this gives me the strength to improve my book. Interest in church history in our theological schools and among the new generation of scholars is steadily growing and promises to bear fruit in the field of our common Christian faith.

New York, January 1890

Preface to the revised edition

In presenting to the public the new edition of my Church History, I feel more than ever the difficulty and responsibility of a task that is quite worthy of devoting to it the time and energy of a lifetime, and which in itself is a great reward. The true historian of Christianity has not yet been born. But however far from my own ideal I may be, I have done my best, and I will be glad if my efforts inspire others to create a better and more lasting work.

History should be written on the basis of primary sources created by both friends and enemies, in the spirit of truth and love, sine ira et studio,“without malice towards anyone and with love for all”, a clear, fresh, energetic style, guided by the twin parables of the mustard seed and leaven, as a book of life for instruction, correction, inspiration, as the best exposition and defense of the Christian faith . For the great and gracious Neander, "the father of church history," at first a simple-minded Israeli who trusted in the Messiah, then a Platonist who craved the realization of his ideal of righteousness, and, finally, a Christian in mind and heart - such a story became a matter of life, but before he managed to get to the Reformation, his work was interrupted by illness, and he said to his devoted sister: “Hannchen, I am tired; go home; Good night!" And with these words, he fell asleep calmly, like a child, in order to wake up in a country where all historical problems have already been resolved.

Returning to the favorite explorations of my youth, after a long hiatus, caused by a change of professional duties and literary works, before continuing the story to more recent times, I found it necessary to carefully rework the first volume in order to bring it into line with the present state of scientific research. We live in a hectic, eventful age of discovery, criticism, and reorganization. During the thirty years that have elapsed since my History of the Apostolic Church appeared as a separate book, there has been incessant activity in this field - and not only in Germany, that great laboratory of critical studies, but in all other Protestant countries. . Almost every inch of land was attacked and defended with such erudition, insight and skill as had never before been applied to the solution of historical problems.

In the process of revision, the first volume more than doubled in volume and resulted in two volumes. The first covers apostolic, and the second - post-apostolic, or ante-Nicene Christianity. The first volume is larger than my separate History of the Apostolic Church and, unlike it, is devoted to theology and literature, while the History of the Apostolic Church deals with the missionary activity and spiritual life of that period. I have carefully avoided repetition and rarely looked at the first edition. On two points I have changed my mind - about the Roman imprisonment of Paul (which I am inclined to admit for the sake of the pastoral epistles) and about the dating of Revelation (which I now place - like most modern critics - in 68 or 69, and not in 68 or 69). 95, as before).

I want to express my deep gratitude to my friend, Dr. Ezra Abbott - a scientist of rare erudition and meticulousness in the smallest matters - for his kind and valuable assistance in proof proofing and corrections.

The second volume, just as carefully revised and partly rewritten, is in the publishing house; the third one needs a few changes. Work on two new volumes, one on the history of medieval Christianity and the other on the Reformation (before the Treaty of Westphalia and the Assembly of Westminster in 1648), has been going on for a long time.

May my work in its present revised form find a reader as benevolent and indulgent as its first edition. In this age of skepticism, I strive above all else to secure the unshakable historical foundation of Christianity and its victory over the world.

Philip Schaff

Union Theological Seminary,

New York, October 1882

From the preface to the first edition

Inspired by the favorable reception given to my History of the Apostolic Church, I now offer to the attention of the public the history of the first church from the Nativity of Christ to the reign of Constantine, in the form of an independent and completed work, and at the same time as the first volume of a general history of Christianity, which I hope with God's help bring to our days.

The church of the first three centuries, that is, the pre-Nicene era, is of particular interest to Christians of all denominations, and it was very often considered separately - Eusebius, Mosheim, Milman, Kay, Baur, Hagenbach and other prominent historians. The church of that time was the daughter of apostolic Christianity, which represented the first and undoubtedly the most important chapter in the history of the church, and was the common mother of Catholicism and Protestantism, although very different from both. In the church of the first three centuries we see the primordial simplicity and purity, it is not tainted by association with secular authorities, but at the same time, the fundamental forms of heresy and corruption are already present in it, which from time to time are rediscovered under new names and from new sides, however, according to the ruling providence of God, they serve for the benefit of truth and righteousness. This is a heroic age in the history of the church; it reveals to us the majestic spectacle of our holy religion, waging an intellectual and moral battle against the fusion of prejudice, politics, and wisdom of ancient Judaism and paganism, growing despite persecution, triumphing in death, and giving birth, in the midst of the most difficult trials, to those principles and institutions that to this day, already in a more developed form, govern the main part of Christendom.

I do not in any way wish to belittle the merits of my numerous predecessors and consider myself deeply indebted to some of them, but I have reason to hope that this new attempt at the historical reconstruction of ancient Christianity will fill in the gaps in our theological literature and will give a good account of itself - both thanks to its spirit and methodology, and due to the fact that, along with the author's own works, it presents the most recent achievements of German and English researchers to the respectable attention of scientists. Not serving the interests of any sect, I strictly adhered to the duties of a witness: to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; but always remember that history has not only a body, but also a soul, and that the prevailing ideas and fundamental principles must be represented no less than external facts and dates. Church history, through the pages of which the life of Christ does not shine, can at best show us only a temple - majestic and impressive from the outside, but empty and frightening from the inside; a mummy—perhaps frozen in a pose of prayer and hung with regalia, but dilapidated and untidy: such a story is not worth writing or reading. Let the dead bury their dead; but we prefer to live among the living and keep a record of the immortal deeds of Christ done in His people and by the hands of His people, but not fix our eyes on the outer shell, trifling incidents and temporary stages of history and not attach too much importance to Satan and his devilish offspring, whose works Christ came to destroy.