The
Church as a Trans-National Nation*
(a selection of early Christian texts)
*Resident aliens, exiles at home in every nation, a
pilgrim people, a “third race,” etc.
Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus
Chapter V: The
Manners of the Christians
For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country,
nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit
cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life
which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow
has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor
do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human
doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the
lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in
respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display
to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in
their own countries, but simply as sojourners [or resident aliens]. As
citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if
foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every
land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others];
they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a
common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live
after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of
heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by
their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and
condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make
many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are
dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil
spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are
insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as
evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are
assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those
who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.
Chapter VI: The
Relation of Christians to the World.
To sum up all in one word—what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.
Similitude 1: Live as Resident Aliens
He [my angelic visitor or “shepherd”] says to me, “You know that you who are the servants of God dwell in a strange land; for your city is far away from this one. If, then,” he continues, “you know your city in which you are to dwell, why do ye here provide lands, and make expensive preparations, and accumulate dwellings and useless buildings? He who makes such preparations for this city cannot return again to his own. Oh foolish, and unstable, and miserable man! Dost thou not understand that all these things belong to another, and are under the power of another? For the lord of this city will say, ‘I do not wish thee to dwell in my city; but depart from this city, because thou obeyest not my laws.’ Thou, therefore, although having fields and houses, and many other things, when cast out by him, what wilt thou do with thy land, and house, and other possessions which thou hast gathered to thyself? For the lord of this country justly says to thee, ‘Either obey my laws or depart from my dominion.’ What, then, dost thou intend to do, having a law in thine own city, on account of thy lands, and the rest of thy possessions? Thou shalt altogether deny thy law, and walk according to the law of this city. See lest it be to thy hurt to deny thy law; for if thou shalt desire to return to thy city, thou wilt not be received, because thou hast denied the law of thy city, but wilt be excluded from it. Have a care, therefore: as one living in a foreign land, make no further preparations for thyself than such merely as may be sufficient; and be ready, when the master of this city shall come to cast thee out for disobeying his law, to leave his city, and to depart to thine own, and to obey thine own law without being exposed to annoyance, but in great joy. Have a care, then, ye who serve the Lord, and have Him in your heart, that ye work the works of God, remembering His commandments and promises which He promised, and believe that He will bring them to pass if His commandments be observed. Instead of lands, therefore, buy afflicted souls, according as each one is able, and visit widows and orphans, and do not overlook them; and spend your wealth and all your preparations, which ye received from the Lord, upon such lands and houses. For to this end did the Master make you rich, that you might perform these services unto Him; and it is much better to purchase such lands, and possessions, and houses, as you will find in your own city, when you come to reside in it. This is a noble and sacred expenditure, attended neither with sorrow nor fear, but with joy. Do not practise the expenditure of the heathen, for it is injurious to you who are the servants of God; but practise an expenditure of your own, in which ye can rejoice; and do not corrupt nor touch what is another’s nor covet it, for it is an evil thing to covet the goods of other men; but work thine own work, and thou wilt be saved.”
…Let, then, the Athenian follow the laws of Solon, and the Argive those of Phoroneus, and the Spartan those of Lycurgus: but if thou enrol thyself as one of God’s people, heaven is thy country, God thy lawgiver….
The Instructor, Book I,
Chapter XII
But let us, O children of the good Father—nurslings of the good Instructor—fulfill the Father’s will, listen to the Word, and take on the impress of the truly saving life of our Saviour; and meditating on the heavenly mode of life according to which we have been deified, let us anoint ourselves with the perennial immortal bloom of gladness—that ointment of sweet fragrance—having a clear example of immortality in the walk and conversation of the Lord; and following the footsteps of God, to whom alone it belongs to consider, and whose care it is to see to, the way and manner in which the life of men may be made more healthy. Besides, He makes preparation for a self-sufficing mode of life, for simplicity, and for girding up our loins, and for free and unimpeded readiness of our journey; in order to the attainment of an eternity of beatitude, teaching each one of us to be his own storehouse. For He says, “Take no anxious thought for tomorrow,” meaning that the man who has devoted himself to Christ ought to be sufficient to himself, and servant to himself, and moreover lead a life which provides for each day by itself. For it is not in war, but in peace, that we are trained. War needs great preparation, and luxury craves profusion; but peace and love, simple and quiet sisters, require no arms nor excessive preparation. The Word is their sustenance.
Stromata, Book VI, Chapters V-VI
…For we find in the Scriptures, as the Lord says: “Behold, I make with you a new covenant, not as I made with your fathers in Mount Horeb.” He made a new covenant with us; for what belonged to the Greeks and Jews is old. But we, who worship Him in a new way, in the third form, are Christians. For clearly, as I think, he showed that the one and only God was known by the Greeks in a Gentile way, by the Jews Judaically, and in a new and spiritual way by us.
And further, that the same God that furnished both the Covenants was the giver of Greek philosophy to the Greeks, by which the Almighty is glorified among the Greeks, he shows. And it is clear from this. Accordingly, then, from the Hellenic training, and also from that of the law are gathered into the one race of the saved people those who accept faith: not that the three peoples are separated by time, so that one might suppose three natures, but trained in different Covenants of the one Lord, by the word of the one Lord.…
The Apology, Chapter XXXVIII
… But as those in whom all ardour in the pursuit of glory and honour is
dead, we have no pressing inducement to take part in your public meetings; nor
is there aught more entirely foreign to us than affairs of state. We acknowledge
one all-embracing commonwealth—the world….
Ad Nationes, Book I, Chapter VIII
We are indeed said to be the “third race” of men. What, a dog-faced race? Or broadly shadow-footed? Or some subterranean Antipodes? If you attach any meaning to these names, pray tell us what are the first and the second race, that so we may know something of this “third.” … Granted, then, that the Phrygians were the earliest race, it does not follow that the Christians are the third. For how many other nations come regularly after the Phrygians? Take care, however, lest those whom you call the third race should obtain the first rank, since there is no nation indeed which is not Christian [i.e., which does not now include Christians].
Celsus [a pagan critic of Christianity] also urges us [Christians] to “take office in the government of the country, if that is required for the maintenance of the laws and the support of religion.” But we recognise in each state the existence of another national organization founded by the Word of God, and we exhort those who are mighty in word and of blameless life to rule over Churches. Those who are ambitious of ruling we reject; but we constrain those who, through excess of modesty, are not easily induced to take a public charge in the Church of God. And those who rule over us well are under the constraining influence of the great King, whom we believe to be the Son of God, God the Word. And if those who govern in the Church, and are called rulers of the divine nation—that is, the Church—rule well, they rule in accordance with the divine commands, and never suffer themselves to be led astray by worldly policy. And it is not for the purpose of escaping public duties that Christians decline public offices, but that they may reserve themselves for a diviner and more necessary service in the Church of God—for the salvation of men. And this service is at once necessary and right. They take charge of all—of those that are within, that they may day by day lead better lives, and of those that are without, that they may come to abound in holy words and in deeds of piety; and that, while thus worshipping God truly, and training up as many as they can in the same way, they may be filled with the word of God and the law of God, and thus be united with the Supreme God through His Son the Word, Wisdom, Truth, and Righteousness, who unites to God all who are resolved to conform their lives in all things to the law of God.
By Pontius the Deacon
11. Banishment followed [Cyprian’s] actions, so good and so benevolent…. But let the world look to this, which accounts banishment a penalty. To them [non-Christians], their country is too dear, and they have the same name as their parents; but we abhor even our parents themselves if they would persuade us against God. To them, it is a severe punishment to live outside their own city; to the Christian, the whole of this world is one home. Wherefore, though he were banished into a hidden and secret place, yet, associated with the affairs of his God, he cannot regard it as an exile. In addition, while honestly serving God, he is a stranger even in his own city. For while the continence [or discipline] of the Holy Spirit restrains him from carnal desires, he lays aside the conversation of the former man, and even among his fellow-citizens, or, I might almost say, among the parents themselves of his earthly life, he is a stranger.
Gregory Nazianzen
recounting the interrogation
of
Basil the Great
Oration XLIII
49. Then indeed the prefect [Modestus] became excited, and rose from his seat, boiling with rage, and making use of harsher language. “What?” said he, “have you no fear of my authority? “Fear of what?” said Basil, “How could it affect me? “Of what? Of any one of the resources of my power.” “What are these? “said Basil, “pray, inform me.” “Confiscation, banishment, torture, death.” “Have you no other threat?” said he, “for none of these can reach me.” “How indeed is that?” said the prefect. “Because,” he replied, “a man who has nothing, is beyond the reach of confiscation; unless you demand my tattered rags, and the few books, which are my only possessions. Banishment is impossible for me, who am confined by no limit of place, counting my own neither the land where I now dwell, nor all of that into which I may be hurled; or, rather, counting it all God’s, whose guest and dependent I am. As for tortures, what hold can they have upon one whose body has ceased to be? Unless you mean the first stroke, for this alone is in your power. Death is my benefactor, for it will send me the sooner to God, for Whom I live, and exist, and have all but died, and to Whom I have long been hastening.”
Augustine
City of God, Book XIX
What Produces Peace, and What Discord, Between
the Heavenly and Earthly Cities.
Of the peace which is enjoyed by the people that are
alienated from God, and the use made of it by the people of God in the time of
its pilgrimage.
Wherefore, as the life of the flesh
is the soul, so the blessed life of man is God, of whom the sacred writings of
the Hebrews say, "Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord."
Miserable, therefore, is the people which is alienated from God. Yet even this
people [in the “earthly city,” which is alienated from God] has a peace of its
own which is not to be lightly esteemed, though, indeed, it shall not in the end
enjoy it, because it makes no good use of it before the end. But it is our
interest that it enjoy this peace meanwhile in this life; for as long as the
two cities [earthly and heavenly] are commingled, we also enjoy the peace of
Babylon. For from Babylon the people of God is so freed that it meanwhile
sojourns in its company. And therefore the apostle also admonished the
Church to pray for kings and those in authority, assigning as the reason,
"that we may live a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and
love." And the prophet Jeremiah, when predicting the captivity that was
to befall the ancient people of God, and giving them the divine command to go
obediently to Babylonia, and thus serve their God, counselled them also to pray
for Babylonia, saying, "In the peace thereof shall ye have
peace,"--the temporal peace which the good and the wicked together enjoy.