Video Transcript: Accusation

The Trial and Testimony of the Early Church

PROGRAM 3

ACCUSATION

NIGEL as CAECILIUS: You people are happy to benefit from all that is ours, living in this greatest time of all history. But where is your gratitude? You are all anti-social snobs. You will not show proper respect for our anniversary festivals. You will not sacrifice to the genius of the emperor. You will not fight and join the empire.

STEVE: In previous programs we have seen how the early Christian church spread here in Jerusalem to the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire. But the price was repeated outbursts of horrible persecution that produced many noteworthy martyrs.

In future programs we will take a look at these persecutions in detail, but today our focus is on what was behind the persecutions. It’s important to remember that the Roman Empire tolerated many religions, almost any religion. Yet there were aspects to Christianity that the Roman world simply could not abide.

NIGEL: In today’s program we look at what made Christianity so intolerable and such a threat. What were the accusations?

STEVE: This is the only above-ground section that remains of the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem. Here Jesus was brought before Pilate, accused, and tried. Later his followers found that they too would continually be brought before the authorities and accused.

The actual charges typically brought against the Christians are fascinating and varied. Some were frivolous, others maliciously false, but still others were valid and right on target and they show just how Christianity did indeed represent a genuine threat to some of the most deeply held convictions and cherished values of the Roman world.

Some of the charges will no doubt surprise you. Among them:

Cannibalism, disruption of business, gross immorality, anti-family, poverty, atheism, novelty, lack of patriotism, anti-social behavior, cause of disasters.

Among the writings of the church fathers, there is a document written about the year 230 called the OCTAVIUS OF MINICIUS FELIX. It describes a debate between a Christian and a pagan at the Roman port of Ostia. Only one copy of this work has survived.

Minicius Felix was walking about Ostia with two friends, Octavius a Christian, and Caecilius a pagan. When Caecilius pauses to pay his respects to a pagan idol, Octavius feels obligated to object. An extended debate develops with the pagan Caecilius presenting the main arguments of the Romans against Christianity. And the Christian Octavius replies.

We now adapt and recreate the debate with arguments drawn not only from the writing of Minicius Felix but also from other sources, so we can include other accusations leveled against the Christians in the early centuries. The setting where the filming takes place is at the remains of the villa of the emperor Hadrian at Tivoli, not far from Rome. Caecilius is played by Nigel, and Octavius by Russell. Jane comes in from time to time to offer comments.

CAECILIUS: You Christians are the worst breed ever to affect the world. You deserve every punishment you can get. Nobody likes you. It would be better if you and your Jesus had never been born.

OCTAVIUS: Come, come, let’s not waste time with insults. Get to your specific complaints and I’ll show you that, in many cases, you’ve simply misunderstood us. Give us a fair trial. Who knows? You may become one of us.

CAECILIUS: You are the one who needs to change your mind. We hear that you are all cannibals—you eat the flesh of your children in your sacred meetings.

OCTAVIUS: Well, that story has certainly gone the rounds— whether through malice or misunderstanding, I don’t know. It’s probably based on reports that we share together a meal of the body and blood of Christ. Now, that we do. But it is not human flesh we eat. It is bread and wine we consecrate to commemorate our Lord’s death.

It amazes me you give credibility to these rumors of cannibalism.

You know what we’re like. Keep in mind that if you have a child and it is a girl but you wanted a boy or if the child is deformed or if you simply don’t want it, what is done? You leave the child outside, exposed to die.

CAECILIUS: You know that it is far more merciful to let the baby die than to bring it up in a home where it is not wanted.

OCATAVIUS: We do not expose our children, and I’d love to know how many of the little ones that others have left out to die have been rescued by Christians and given a home. So it’s just the opposite of what you accuse us of, Caecilius. We don’t consume human life; we rather protect and defend it.

CAECILIUS: All right. Granted, it was just a rumor, but we also hear that you meet in secret, even before sunrise, and the gross immorality that we hear goes on in those places is so disgusting I could not even describe it, except to say that it’s the incest that I find most repulsive.

OCTAVIUS: You have never been to one of our meetings.

CAECILIUS: No, and I wouldn’t be seen there.

OCTAVIUS: Well, if you did, you would find that the lovemaking and intimacy that you are so quick to imagine is of a totally different kind. We meet before sunrise because we are working people. We have jobs to go to. We do not always meet in secret, but we have no temples or synagogues, so we use somebody’s home which has enough room. We call one another brother and sister and pledge to love one another because that is what our Lord commanded us to do. And we greet one another and bless one another with a holy kiss, not out of lust but out of genuine love and concern for one another. Come and you will see that we demand the highest standards of morality among all who join us.

JANE: The charge of cannibalism and immorality did make the rounds for some time. The Christians did not have their own public festivals nor did they have any church buildings. They did often meet in secret, which caused the imaginations of their opponents to run wild. But, as the number of Christians grew, these charges began to fade away as more and more people knew about them, their faith, and their life.

CAECILIUS: Let me move on to one you will not be able to squirm out of. Whenever your sect begins to grow in number, bad things happen. Jobs are lost. Temples are deserted. The sale of animals for ceremonies is way off. The sale of sacrificial meat is down.

OCTAVIUS: Guilty.

CAECILIUS: You could hardly deny it, so you must admit that you are bad for business and disrupt the local economy.

OCTAVIUS: Yes, you are right.

CAECILUS: I will be generous here and admit that it is not unsolvable. There can be a reallocation of investment over time. But what cannot be fixed is the irreparable damage your kind is doing to the family. The family is the backbone of our society, and you are a clear danger when it comes to the family.

OCTAVIUS: Let me surprise you. I admit in one sense you are right. But overall you are wrong. Now hear me out on this one, friend.

CAECILIUS: I am not your friend. People who break up families are no friend of mine.

OCTAVIUS: Let’s get back to your point. It is true that when we become Christians, we become members of another family. Other believers are our brothers and sisters. And, yes, in some ways that does become most important. But we do not neglect our own family. If anything, we treat them far better. Let me digress for a moment and show you what I mean. Caecilius, do you ever sleep with a woman other than our wife?

CAECILIUS: What if I do? It’s none of your business.

OCTAVIUS: Do you ever compel your slave women to have sex with you?

CAECILIUS: Of course I do. That’s the right of every man. What’s your point?

OCTAVIUS: You’re the one who wanted to talk about the family. We keep to our own wives. We love them and honor them as our scriptures teach. I think it really bothers you that we don’t relieve ourselves in fornication with our slaves.  We welcome them into our churches. Maybe it really bothers you that we accept the outsider, any race, any class, even slaves. And maybe that, dear Caecilius, maybe that is your problem.

CAECILIUS: I’ve been waiting for this one. Take a look at your churches. What are they made up of?  Mostly women, gullible children, the majority are from the working classes, not well-educated, as you said yourself, even slaves. It makes me laugh when I think how poor you are, barely enough to live on.  If this God of yours is so great and so loving, why are so many of you so poor? Either he’s not that good and doesn’t care that you are poor or he is not that loving and is unable do anything about it. Some God! No wonder you’re all regarded as fools.

OCTAVIUS: Nicely done. But so wide of the mark! First of all, if you had bothered to take the time to find out, you would know that there are many from the upper classes among our number, even some of Caesar’s staff. And notable scholars, who were once pagans, have written in defense of our faith for the more educated to consider. But let’s not quibble. Many of our number-- most of our number are poor.

CAECILIUS: So you are ready to admit that you are poor wretches?

OCTAVIUS:  Put it as you wish, but what is more important is how we regard ourselves. We consider ourselves to be rich. We have that which is most valuable, the most precious gift, which cannot be lost. And for your information, there are those of us who are wealthy. We do not despise wealth; we welcome it when it comes lawfully. But we do not lust after it. And when we get more wealth, we simply give more away. Wealth can be a great burden. It weighs you down with many cares and concerns. Traveling light has its advantages.

CAECILCUS: Sorry, I haven’t noticed any. I’ll take the wealth instead any day.

OCTAVIUS: You know, Caecilius talking to you makes me realize for the first time why it is God doesn’t automatically bless us with wealth. Because if he did, people like you would rush to become Christians and miss the whole point. So don’t pity us. We have plenty, not only for ourselves but also for those in need, the ones that you walk right by.               

CAECILIUS: You’re all so pure and good. That’s another thing that bothers me: you all think you are so righteous.               

OCTAVIUS: First you accuse us of cannibalism and orgies, now you’re offended because we seek to lead a holy life. Let me assure you, we do not consider ourselves to be holy. Every Lord’s day we have a service of communion and it is a service of thanksgiving--thanksgiving because we are forgiven, not because we are holy, and if we are forgiven, then we shall seek to lead lives that are like Christ.         

CAECILIUS: What concerns me is what you really are. This is the reason that you                are hated across all the lands of this vast empire. Let’s get to the real problem. You are atheists.         

OCTAVIUS: Yes, we are atheists—if you mean that we do not pray to or believe in all of the gods that are worshiped. But these are not gods. We worship the one true God, the Lord over all.              

JANE: Now indeed they have come to a sore point. This was the most difficult thing for the Romans to understand about the Christians. You see, the Roman world had       gods aplenty. Household gods kept by each family, the local region’s gods worshiped for their past victories. An empire that looked to its patron gods that had protected it and given it victories, and even the emperor himself was seen as a god—     the embodiment of the favors and glory that the gods had bestowed upon Rome.     

Not to worship the gods, or at least show some respect, was considered atheism. To affirm the one God over all the others was looked upon as presumptuous and stupid.

CAECILIUS: You act as if you people knew more than the rest of us. This is just what I am talking about, my learned and “wealthy” Octavius. You think you know more than all of our fathers, that you alone are right. What it comes down to is that you         people are captive to novelty.  How blind of you not to see that you lack the indispensable quality that has always been revered by the wise. I speak of respect, honor for our traditions, and loyalty to the heritage that has been entrusted to us. Novelty! Novelty! That’s what titillates you.

OCTAVIUS: That is simply just not the case. Why is it you do not require the Jews             to sacrifice to your gods? They alone are given exemption. Why? Because of the antiquity of their religion. The one thing they cannot be accused of is novelty. You give them room, even though they are largely disliked, because theirs is a most           ancient religion. Well, be assured that the God that the Jews worship is the very same God that we worship. Their sacred writings, the Law and the Prophets—we revere and read aloud in our meetings. And because we worship this God of the Jews, the one thing we cannot be accused of is novelty. It is just the opposite. Our faith looks back beyond the beginning of time to the God who created all that is. What you won’t listen to and what the Jews refuse to accept is that this God has come into our world to show us what he is like in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we love and serve. Why? Because he died for us to bring us back into relationship with this one true God, to offer God’s forgiveness, new life to all who will accept him and believe him—even you, my friend.        

CAECILIUS: How you tire me with this reckless babble! I shall not take the time now to answer you, except to say, how absurd to think that even if the “one true God,” as you assert, were to come to earth, he would surely do better than to come as an unschooled, working-class carpenter in a place like Galilee in Judea. And, if forgiveness were to be found through some man, I assure you that that it would never come through the death of some convicted and crucified criminal. But let’s put aside such simplicity and naivete for now, for we are a tolerant people and you are free to believe as you wish. In many ways you do not sound all that different from some of the mystery religions and they are left alone. But what makes you people so offensive is your stubbornness. Believe what you will, but that is no excuse for the lack of patriotism.

JANE: Lack of patriotism? Yes. Remember, the whole idea of separation of religion and the state is a relatively recent one. It was the great cause of the Anabaptists in Europe in the 16th century. And it was more effectively advanced only a couple of hundred years ago with America. In all societies and countries before that time, the political and the religious were intertwined and inseparable. The connection between the two was unquestioned. It was just one of those things taken for granted. To walk through Rome was to be constantly reminded of the place of religion and gods in Roman life. The state paid due homage to the gods on behalf of the people. Not to do so was to risk incurring the gods’ displeasure and wrath. So religion was not just a personal thing. No, to deny the gods was considered atheism, but it was even more than that. It was anti-social and unpatriotic. It was considered politically subversive.

CAECILIUS: You people are happy to benefit from all that is ours living in this greatest time of all history, but where is your gratitude? You are anti-social snobs. You will not show proper respect for our anniversary festivals. You will not sacrifice to the genius of the emperor. You will not fight and join the empire. Simply put, you are disloyal, unpatriotic, and not to be trusted. As far as I am concerned, you are a danger to society.

OCTAVIUS: If you would make just one point and stick to it, I could perhaps answer you. But you are all over the place with your misrepresentations and exaggerations. We do not join the army and we do not fight because we do not believe in killing. We love our enemies and do good to them. Even though we are often hunted down and killed because of accusers like you, we do not even take up arms to defend ourselves. So, I fail to see how we are any danger to anyone. But, yes, you are right, we do not pray to the emperor or join with our neighbors in the sacrifices to the gods. But while we do not pray to the emperor, we do pray for the emperor. We recognize those in authority as appointed by God to preserve order. We seek, we pray for the peace and tranquility of the empire. God knows, if any group seeks a quiet and undisturbed life, it is us. We never know when we will be blamed for anything that is going wrong, be hunted down and arrested.

CAECILIUS: Not without cause, I assure you. Why can you not see what is so clear to everyone? Your lack of patriotism has caused us all grief and suffering. The gods have been good to Rome. They have given us great victories, good food, fertile land. That is why we must propitiate them and rid ourselves of you atheists. You are no more than criminals and must be dealt with as such.

OCTAVIUS: Oh yes, we have heard that before, too many times. As one of our fathers wrote:

If the Tiber reaches the walls, if the Nile does not rise to the fields, if the sky doesn’t move or the earth does, if there is famine, if there is plague, the cry is at once: ‘The Christian to the lion'! Let’s get to what really unsettles you. One of the accusations leveled against us which you have not yet said in so many words is that we are a superstition. Well, it is superstition that is at the heart of this matter. This is difficult, and if you give me consideration here, then I will be able to show you that much that divides us will be cleared up. You live in such fear of offending your gods. You are so careful to make your sacrifices and make your bargains with your gods to keep them happy, so they won’t send troubles upon us. What kind of gods are these anyway that you think built Rome and made her great?

CAECILIUS: What is this? What are you saying? Be careful with your mouth, for I fear that you do not know what you are saying.

OCTAVIUS: I know exactly, my dear Caecilius, for it is you and the masses that think like you that are the superstitious ones. Your gods did not build Rome. Rome was built on war, murder, violence, and greed. Go back to the very beginning, to the founders you exalt. Why, Romulus murdered his own brother Remus! Our history is not a gift from the gods. Ours is a history of conquest and destruction by violence and force. And that not of the gods but of our own greed and hate. They may be demons that have stood by Rome, but they are no gods.

CAECILIUS: Enough, enough of this, I say. I will hear no more of this. This is utter blasphemy. You and your kind are perverse and wicked. Away with you.

JANE: In the actual account of Minicius Felix, Caecilius ends up getting converted. But we leave them here in our adaptation because here they have come to the crux of it all. Two diametrically opposed views were up against each other, and there did not appear to be a way of reconciling them. Christianity was far more than a distasteful outlook to the pagan world. It was correctly perceived as a threat. The Roman world did not easily tolerate threats.

Look at this ancient wall, the Aurelian wall that stretches for miles through Rome. Even mighty Rome needed its defenses.

The Gospel with its quiet message of forgiveness, peace, and love began to undermine the walls—and it's the familiar walls that give security. When the walls are penetrated, insecurity increases, and the the tendency is to react. Strangely, even when it is a wall of confinement, there is a resistance to letting it go. For breaking down these walls, there was a price to be paid.

NIGEL: But there was more than broken walls behind the Roman accusations against the Christians. Christianity, from the very beginning, understood itself to be intrinsically offensive to most religious sentiments.

STEVE: Here are some more broken walls. They are the remains of the small Galilean city of Chorazin. Although mentioned only twice in the New Testament, we’re told that Chorazin is the very place where Jesus did some of his greatest wonders. Interestingly, we’re not told what those wonders were. But Jesus pronounced woe upon the city because its residents didn’t repent and turn their hearts to God in response to such wonders. Thus, these haunting remains are stark reminders that Jesus came and delivered His judgments and accusations before he or his believers became the accused. But it goes even deeper. It was not just that Jesus’ words were sometimes offensive, especially to the religious establishment. No, more than that, Jesus Christ himself became an offense. The major offense of Christianity has always had to do with the very person of Jesus Christ. The heart of the issue may have been stated best in a now classic BBC radio talk given more than 50 years ago by the British scholar C. S. Lewis.

C.S. LEWIS: There was a time when I believed that the universe was just an accident, that God was just a fantasy, and that Christ was just a good moral teacher. Not so now. You see, I discovered that Christ denied that there was any truth my arguments. What’s more, He said He was the Son of God. Here I was troubled. The man who was merely a man and said the sort of thing that Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher at all. He would either be a lunatic on the level with the man that says he’s a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But don’t let’s come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He hasn’t left that open to us. He didn’t intend to.

NARRATOR: It is this claim of Christ that has across the ages been both Christianity’s biggest offense and its greatest attraction.

The Roman world could see what was at stake, thus the opposition and the accusations. In our next episode, we will look at how the accusations led to wave after wave of violent persecution.