| By what action you can then help matters, and how you are to show sympathy for the afflicted, you do not want to be told by us; the Holy Ghost will suggest to you. But unquestionably, if the survivors are to be saved, there is need of prompt action, and of the arrival of a considerable number of brethren, that those who visit us may complete the number of the synod, in order that they may have weight in effecting a reform, not merely from the dignity of those whose emissaries they are, but also from their own number: thus they will restore the creed drawn up by our fathers at Nicæa, proscribe the heresy, and, by bringing into agreement all who are of one mind, speak peace to the Churches. For the saddest thing about it all is that the sound part is divided against itself, and the troubles we are suffering are like those which once befell Jerusalem when Vespasian was besieging it. The Jews of that time were at once beset by foes without and consumed by the internal sedition of their own people. In our case, too, in addition to the open attack of the heretics, the Churches are reduced to utter helplessness by the war raging among those who are supposed to be orthodox. For all these reasons we do indeed desire your help, that, for the future all who confess the apostolic faith may put an end to the schisms which they have unhappily devised, and be reduced for the future to the authority of the Church; that so, once more, the body of Christ may be complete, restored to integrity with all its members. Thus we shall not only praise the blessings of others, which is all we can do now, but see our own Churches once more restored to their pristine boast of orthodoxy. For, truly, the boon given you by the Lord is fit subject for the highest congratulation, your power of discernment between the spurious and the genuine and pure, and your preaching the faith of the Fathers without any dissimulation. That faith we have received; that faith we know is stamped with the marks of the Apostles; to that faith we assent, as well as to all that was canonically and lawfully promulgated in the Synodical Letter. To the Patrician Cæsaria, concerning Communion |
| Some set down the dates of the Roman emperors thus:– Caius Julius Cæsar, three years, four months, five days; after him Augustus reigned forty-six years, four months, one day. Then Tiberius, twenty-six years, six months, nineteen days. He was succeeded by Caius Cæsar, who reigned three years, ten months, eight days; and he by Claudius for thirteen years, eight months, twenty-eight days. Nero reigned thirteen years, eight months, twenty-eight days; Galba, seven months and six days; Otho, five months, one day; Vitellius, seven months, one day; Vespasian, eleven years, eleven months, twenty-two days; Titus, two years, two months; Domitian, fifteen years, eight months, five days; Nerva, one year, four months, ten days; Trajan, nineteen years, seven months, ten days; Adrian, twenty years, ten months, twenty-eight days. Antoninus, twenty-two years, three months, and seven days; Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, nineteen years, eleven days; Commodus, twelve years, nine months, fourteen days. From Julius Cæsar, therefore, to the death of Commodus, are two hundred and thirty-six years, six months. And the whole from Romulus, who founded Rome, till the death of Commodus, amounts to nine hundred and fifty-three years, six months. And our Lord was born in the twenty-eighth year, when first the census was ordered to be taken in the reign of Augustus. And to prove that this is true, it is written in the Gospel by Luke as follows: And in the fifteenth year, in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias. And again in the same book: And Jesus was coming to His baptism, being about thirty years old, and so on. And that it was necessary for Him to preach only a year, this also is written: He has sent Me to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord . This both the prophet spoke, and the Gospel. Accordingly, in fifteen years of Tiberius and fifteen years of Augustus; so were completed the thirty years till the time He suffered. And from the time that He suffered till the destruction of Jerusalem are forty-two years and three months; and from the destruction of Jerusalem to the death of Commodus, a hundred and twenty-eight years, ten months, and three days. From the birth of Christ, therefore, to the death of Commodus are, in all, a hundred and ninety-four years, one month, thirteen days. And there are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord " s birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus, and in the twenty-fifth day of Pachon. And the followers of Basilides hold the day of his baptism as a festival, spending the night before in readings. |
| The Greeks say, that among them are five dialects – the Attic, Ionic, Doric, Æolic, and the fifth the Common; and that the languages of the barbarians, which are innumerable, are not called dialects, but tongues. Plato attributes a dialect also to the gods, forming this conjecture mainly from dreams and oracles, and especially from demoniacs, who do not speak their own language or dialect, but that of the demons who have taken possession of them. He thinks also that the irrational creatures have dialects, which those that belong to the same genus understand. Accordingly, when an elephant falls into the mud and bellows out any other one that is at hand, on seeing what has happened, shortly turns, and brings with him a herd of elephants, and saves the one that has fallen in. It is said also in Libya, that a scorpion, if it does not succeed in stinging a man, goes away and returns with several more; and that, hanging on one to the other like a chain they make in this way the attempt to succeed in their cunning design. The irrational creatures do not make use of an obscure intimation, or hint their meaning by assuming a particular attitude, but, as I think, by a dialect of their own. And some others say, that if a fish which has been taken escape by breaking the line, no fish of the same kind will be caught in the same place that day. But the first and generic barbarous dialects have terms by nature, since also men confess that prayers uttered in a barbarian tongue are more powerful. And Plato, in the Cratylus, when wishing to interpret πρ (fire), says that it is a barbaric term. He testifies, accordingly, that the Phrygians use this term with a slight deviation. And nothing, in my opinion, after these details, need stand in the way of stating the periods of the Roman emperors, in order to the demonstration of the Saviour " s birth. Augustus, forty-three years; Tiberius, twenty-two years; Caius, four years; Claudius, fourteen years; Nero, fourteen years; Galba, one year; Vespasian, ten years; Titus, three years; Domitian, fifteen years; Nerva, one year; Trajan, nineteen years; Adrian, twenty-one years; Antoninus, twenty-one years; likewise again, Antoninus and Commodus, thirty-two. In all, from Augustus to Commodus, are two hundred and twenty-two years; and from Adam to the death of Commodus, five thousand seven hundred and eighty-four years, two months, twelve days. |
| From the captivity at Babylon, which took place in the time of Jeremiah the prophet, was fulfilled what was spoken by Daniel the prophet as follows: Seventy weeks are determined upon your people, and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to seal sins, and to wipe out and make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal the vision and the prophet, and to anoint the Holy of Holies. Know therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the word commanding an answer to be given, and Jerusalem to be built, to Christ the Prince, are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; and the street shall be again built, and the wall; and the times shall be expended. And after the sixty-two weeks the anointing shall be overthrown, and judgment shall not be in him; and he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary along with the coming Prince. And they shall be destroyed in a flood, and to the end of the war shall be cut off by desolations. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the middle of the week the sacrifice and oblation shall be taken away; and in the holy place shall be the abomination of desolations, and until the consummation of time shall the consummation be assigned for desolation. And in the midst of the week shall he make the incense of sacrifice cease, and of the wing of destruction, even till the consummation, like the destruction of the oblation. That the temple accordingly was built in seven weeks, is evident; for it is written in Esdras. And thus Christ became King of the Jews, reigning in Jerusalem in the fulfilment of the seven weeks. And in the sixty and two weeks the whole of Judæa was quiet, and without wars. And Christ our Lord, the Holy of Holies, having come and fulfilled the vision and the prophecy, was anointed in His flesh by the Holy Spirit of His Father. In those sixty and two weeks, as the prophet said, and in the one week, was He Lord. The half of the week Nero held sway, and in the holy city Jerusalem placed the abomination; and in the half of the week he was taken away, and Otho, and Galba, and Vitellius. And Vespasian rose to the supreme power, and destroyed Jerusalem, and desolated the holy place. And that such are the facts of the case, is clear to him that is able to understand, as the prophet said. |
| Así está sucediendo, pues por haberse ellos sublevado, fue derribado el templo por sus enemigos, y ahora los mismos siervos de sus enemigos lo van a reconstruir.» La frase que empieza con las palabras «y ahora» nos lleva a concluir que ya había transcurrido algún tiempo desde la destrucción del templo. En lo que se dice sobre la planeada reconstrucción le parece ver a Harnack una alusión a la construcción del templo de Júpiter en Jerusalén durante el reinado de Adriano (117–138). Basándose en esto, Harnack fecha la composición de la epístola en el año 130 ó 131. Funk opina que este pasaje se refiere a la erección del templo sobrenatural de Dios, la Iglesia; pero su teoría no es nada convincente. Menos satisfactoria es aún la conclusión que respecto a la fecha de composición saca del capítulo 4,4–5, donde se cita a Daniel 7,24 y 7,7–8. El pasaje dice: «Además, el profeta dice así: Diez reinos reinarán sobre la tierra, y tras ellos se levantará un rey pequeño que humillará de un golpe a tres reyes. Igualmente Daniel dice sobre lo mismo: Y vi la cuarta bestia, mala y fuerte, y más fiera que todas las otras bestias de la tierra, y cómo de ella brotaban diez cuernos, y de ellos un cuerno pequeño como un retoño, y cómo éste humilló de un golpe a tres de los cuernos mayores.» Funk identifica al emperador romano Nerva (96–98) con el undécimo pequeño rey de esta profecía. Según él, Nerva «humilló de un golpe a tres revés,» por cuanto que alcanzó el trono después de asesinar a Domiciano, en quien se extinguió la dinastía de los Flavianos, compuesta de tres miembros, los emperadores Vespasiano, Tito y el propio Domiciano. Pero únicamente mediante una interpretación tan arbitraria pueden aplicarse a Nerva las palabras de Daniel. Por otra parte, el método adoptado por Harnack para fechar la carta tiene también dificultades. Todo depende de qué destrucción y de qué reconstrucción del templo se trate en la epístola. Lietzmann cree que el autor se refiérela la segunda destrucción del templo en la guerra de Barcochba. |
| Aunque el cónsul Flavio no es el Clemente citado por San Pablo en su Carta a los Romanos, fue ciertamente un ilustre mártir del que se honra la Iglesia primitiva del siglo I. Clemente, cuyo nombre era Tito Flavio Clemente, pertenecía a la familia imperial Flavia y era sobrino del emperador Vespasiano, y se casó con Flavia Domitila, de la que tuvo seis hijos. Domitila era sobrina del emperador Domiciano, quien condenó a ambos por ser cristianos. Clemente fue decapitado, y Domitila también murió así, tras un período de destierro en la isla Pandataria (situada en la costa del Lacio), lugar de destierro de los patricios romanos ilustres. Viaje de Pablo a España Una vez que Pablo salió de su prisión o «custodia militar,» se abre un nuevo período de su vida del que poseemos algunas informaciones, aunque resulte difícil ordenarlas en una sucesión cronológica. Y la primera de todas es su viaje a España. El viaje de Pablo a España no es una piadosa tradición desprovista de fundamento, sino un hecho bien documentado, aunque queden numerosas lagunas y dudas en cuanto a los detalles. La primera mención que San Pablo hace de España se encuentra en la carta que escribe el año 58 desde la ciudad de Corinto, dirigida a los cristianos de Roma. En ella dice: «Cuando me dirija a España, espero pasar por Roma y-veros a vosotros, y que me encaminéis hacia allí» ( Rom 15:24 ). Y más abajo, en la misma carta, se refiere a una colecta de limosnas hecha entre los fieles de Macedonia y Acaya en favor de la Iglesia de Jerusalén, y añade: «Cuando haya llevado a Jerusalén esta colecta, me iré a España, pasando por vosotros» ( Rom 15:29 ). Es decir, pasando por Roma. ¿Por qué San Pablo deseaba ir a España? Hemos de evitar los españoles todo nacionalismo injustificado y fijar la atención en sus justos límites. Pablo sentía una especial vocación universal para predicar el evangelio a los gentiles , especialmente en aquellos lugares donde no se había escuchado el nombre de Cristo. Ahora bien, hemos seguido a Pablo en sus viajes en los que ha predicado por toda Asia Menor, Macedonia, Grecia y algunas islas del Mediterráneo, y es lógico que en su afán apostólico desease encaminarse a los más remotos confines occidentales del mundo romano, que eran precisamente España. |
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