Who Said That?

"They were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so.  When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food--but ordinary and innocent food."

Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches or cheating.  Answer to follow next week.

Update on Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 12:46PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This is a letter from Pliny the Younger, who was governor of Pontus/Bithynia from 111-113 AD, to the emperor Trajan.  Pliny discusses the practices of Christians, including clarifying that they are not cannibals.

Comments

[John Yeazel]

I have read this one somewhere before but I cannot remember where or who it is. I think it is a famous ancient historian or philosopher describing to some dignitary what it is that these Christians do.

[Ryan Stoddard]

Was that Pliny the Younger?

["lee n. field"]

Pliny the Younger.

[Jim Vellenga]

I'm going to guess Pliny as well although it could be someone else contemporary with him. It has been a long time since I read that so this is really a guess.

[Coyle]

It's Pliny the Younger (the Elder ended up in a volcano) writing to the Emperor (Trajan, I think) asking for advice about what to do with Christians he'd caught, who technically hadn't broken any law, but seemed to deserve to be punished just because they were so stubborn...

[alan platt]

I know this. Definitely Pliny the younger in a report to the emperor Trajan. cats rule.

[RobertW]

Not sure about Pliny the Younger, but this sounds a lot like Bell the Dumber in a weird little summary of the gospel he did this past summer.

[pb]

What makes this fun reading is he refers to the Christians as atheists all through the piece: translation required!

[Coyle]

pb:
Christians were considered "atheists" by the Romans because they 1) didn't believe in the gods, and 2) didn't participate in the festivals and social events dedicated to the gods (which also got them labeled "anti-social', since those were basically the only public and political events going at the time). So the Jews for the most part escaped being called atheists because they had their own public religious ceremonies, and were willing to perform the same general functions at them that the Romans did at theirs (pray for the state and the emperor, sacrifice, gather the community together in celebration, etc).

[Ken Rapoza]

Pliny the Younger!

[Timimator]

not sure but had to be thesomeone from early church years

[pb]

Yeah, Coyle, I know that background, it just makes for interesting reading.

[Steven Carr]

This is from Pliny's letter to Trajan. In this letter, Pliny is writing to Trajan for advice on how to deal with Christians. It's an interesting letter for several reasons. First, it shows that at the time of writing persecution of the Church was not wide spread. Wide spread persecution happened at a later time. Second, one of the biggest reasons why Pliny thought Christians should be given capital punishment was because of obstinacy (contumacia), which was a legal term for those who would stubbornly refuse to cease from their criminal behavior. He even states that a true Christian would never recant nor curse Christ. Third, it gives us a glimspe into the worship practices of the early Church. One sentence in the quote provided, for example, suggests that the early Christians worshipped twice on Sunday.