Antoninus Pius, Sixteenth Emperor of Rome. A.D. 138. PIUS. 90. Hadrian died at Baiæ, A.D. ANTONINUS 138, and was succeeded by Antoninus, afterwards surnamed Pius, on account of his many virtues, whom Hadrian had adopted some time before. Under his government it is most probable that the Christians enjoyed considerable repose; and as to the Jews, he relaxed the severity of two edicts of Hadrian which forbade them to practice circumcision as a distinctive mark of nationality. Yet the heathen, who generally ascribed public calamities to the Christians, did not want pretences for afflicting them, so that this reign was not without martyrs. We read in particular that Telesphorus, seventh Bishop of Rome, suffered in the first year of Antoninus and if one so eminent fell, we may infer that others of less note shared the same fate. It is supposed by some that Telesphorus was the first Bishop of Rome who met with a violent death, because Irenæus mentions them all in order, yet does not advert to the martydom of any before Telesphorus. Valentinus. } 91. The Valentinian heresy holds the most distinguished rank among those which prevailed in the second century. Its founder, Valentinus, an Egyptian, disappointed of a bishopric, quitted his faith and his country, and taught A.D. 142. his doctrines at Rome, about the year 142, whence they were diffused through Europe, Africa, and Asia. His heresy was a branch of Gnosticism. Refining 90. What was the state of the Christians and of the Jews under Antoninus Pius ? What eminent martyr suffered in his reign? Which was the first Bishop of Rome who met with a violent death? 91. When did the Valentinian heresy prevail? Give an account of its PIUS. ANTONINUS upon the established genealogies of the Eons, he arranged and named them according to his own inventive imagination, making the number of them thirty, fifteen male and fifteen female, by whose united agency Jesus was mysteriously produced. He held that Jesus Christ's bodily appearance descended with Him from Heaven, and that He received nothing corporeal from His mother; denied the resurrection; and believed in the transmigration of souls. Tertullian (Liber contra Valentinianos), Irenæus (contra Hæres), and Clemens Alexandrinus (passim) wrote against the Valentinian Gnostics. Cerdon and A.D. 144. 92. About the time that Valentinus broached his heresy, Cerdon and Marcion erected on the foundation of the Gnostics a structure of considerable extent, and taught their doctrines jointly at Rome. Cerdon was a native of Syria, and probably a follower of Saturninus, who taught at Antioch. Marcion is reputed to have been the son of the Bishop of Sinope, in Pontus, excommunicated by his father on account of gross immorality. To the two principles already admitted by the Gnostics, one good and the other evil, they added an intermediate Deity, whom they conceived to be the creator of the world and the God of the Jews, and asserted that he was in a state of continual hostility with the evil principle, but desirous of usurping the place of the Supreme Being. Mankind, they asserted, was governed despotically by the two former of these beings; but they added founder. What were his tenets? Who were the principal writers against his heresy? 92. What noted heretics were contemporary with Valentinns at Rome? What was the nature of their heresy? By what name were they distin PIUS. that the Supreme had sent down his own son, clothed ANTONINUS with a shadowy resemblance of a body, for the deliverance of all, who, by self-denial and austerity, sought to obtain that happiness. The followers of Cerdon and Marcion were distinguished by the name of the latter. They entirely rejected the Old Testament, and the whole of the New, except ten Epistles of St. Paul, which however were greatly interpolated.* Justin Martyr. 93. Justin Martyr, one of the most eminent persons whose pens were engaged in the cause of Christianity in its early days, was born of Gentile parents at Neapolis, the ancient Sychem, in Samaria. After wandering in pursuit of truth throngh every known philosophical system, and being greatly moved by the patient sufferings of the Christians for their faith [see note, par. 64], he at length embraced Christianity in the reign of Hadrian, and without laying aside his philosopher's habit, taught the doctrines of the Gospel at Rome. Here he had frequent contests with Crescens, a noted Cynic philosopher, at whose instigation, it is supposed, he was beheaded at Rome, about the year 165. The Christians were suffering greatly from the Pagans about the year 148; whereupon A.D. 148. Justin wrote his First Apology, whch he addressed to the Emperor, his adopted sons M. Aurelius *There are various other sects, all more or less partaking of the Gnostic errors, about this time, namely, Ophite or Serpentinians, | Cainites, Sethians, Adamites, guished? [Note.] Name some other sects which flourished about this time. 93. Give an account of the life and writings of Justin Martyr. To whom are his most important treatises addressed? To whom was his first Apology ANTONINUS and L. Verus, the Senate, and the people of Rome. In PIUS. it he vindicates the Christians from the aspersions cast upon them; shows the injustice of proceeding against them without form of law; makes known the innocent usages of their assemblies;* and exposes the absurdity of idolatry. Subsequently Justin visited the East, and at Ephesus held a disputation for two days with a learned Jew named Trypho, an account of which he has given us in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew. He proves by the Old Testament that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. Justin's Second Apology was presented either to Antoninus Pius or to Marcus Aurelius, most likely to the latter, between the years 161 and 165: he addresses it to the Roman Senate, and remonstrates against the cruelty of putting persons to death merely for the name of Christians, without even accusing them of crime. His voluminous writings are especially valuable, in affording evidence of the truth of the canon of Scripture. In addition to the works mentioned above, he composed two learned treatises against the Pagans, Cohortatio ad Græcos, and Oratio ad Græcos; also several books which are lost, against Marcion, against all the heresies, on the Soul, (in which he collects the opinions of the philosophers upon that subject,) &c. We also find in it the doctrine of the Church concerning the Trinity, the Incarnation, and eternal life. + Parts of the conclusion of the first and beginning of the second days' dialogue are lost. addressed? State briefly the nature of its contents. With whom did he dispute at Ephesus? In that disputation, what did he prove with regard to our Saviour? To whom did he present his second Apology? What was the object of it? Is the genuineness of any of the works ascribed to him doubtful? Several other works extant under his name are now denied ANTONINUS to be his.* Edict of Antoninus Pius.j } 94. Justin's first Apology is presumed to have had some effect upon the mind seutation he wrote to all Greece in favour of the Christians. A.D. 152. The Paschal 95. In the reign of Antoninus Pius, and while Anicetus was Bishop of Rome, a controversy arose between the Eastern and Western Churches, concerning the time of the celebration of Easter, the festival in commemoration of our Lord's resurrection. Both fasted during "the great week" in which Christ died, and in remembrance of his last supper ate a paschal lamb, just as the Jews did at their Passover. Now, the Eastern or Asiatic Christians, upon the alleged authority of John and Philip, held their feast on the 14th day of the first Jewish month (Nisan, or See Some Account of the Martyr, by Bishop Kaye, Writings and Opinions of Justin Prus. 94. What is supposed to have been the effect of Justin Martyr's First Apology? What was the nature of the decree of Antoninus Pius, and why was it issued? 95. What noted controversy arose in the reign of Antoninus Pius? Who was Bishop of Rome at that time? State the difference between the Eastern |