Logos

latter half of the second century, Irenaeus could tell often. Early church historians record one instance inhis students, "I knew Polycarp, who knew John, who which John, entering a public bath house to cleanseknew Jesus" kept the direct experience of Christ and himself, encountered by chance a notorous rabblehisteaching alive, rouser and gnostic faker, Cerinthus. According toUpon arriving In Ephesus about 70 A.D., John Polycarp, upon seeing Cerinthus John leapt up andwas confronted with a major problem. For centuries, fled in mock terror from the house, exclaiming: "LetEphesus had been the headquarters for the cult of the us flee, lest the bathhouse fall in; for Cerinthus, thegoddess Artemis. Together with its sister city, Cor- enemy of truth, is within. ''Tsinth, Ephesus was one of the leading pagan centers in Toward the end of the first century, as Johnthe world. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was neared his death, renewed persecutions broke out inone of the seven "wonders of the world." It was various parts of the empire. Again arrested, John washuge, more than 400 feet long and 200 feet wide, 60 transported back to Patmos where he finally died.feet high at its tallest point. (And as a pagan historian But just before his death, John reworked his Revelawroteyears later, "By the tion and Gospel, sent letters tograce of God and St. John theseveral local churchs, and con-Divine, it became the most tinued teaching until the end.devastated and desolate of With his death, the era ofall.")7_ "Apostolic Christianity"The cult of Artemis was a came to an end. The lastwidespread infection, with Christian father to have acbranchtemples ranging clown tually seen and worked withinto Rhodes and Egypt. At theJesus had passed away.enormous temple, the many As Eusebius writes, 76"Butpriestesses were called "bees," when the sacred band of theand the priests of the cult wereeunuchs referred to asApostles and the generation ofthose to whom it had been"drones." In nearby Corinth, vouchsafed to hear with theiranother temple contained own ears the divine wisdommore than 1000 temple prosti- had reached the several endstutes, who were referred to byof their lives, then the federathecult priestesses as "girls of tion of godless error took itshospitality." Not suprisingly, beginning through the deceitmen would often travel of false teachers who, seeinghundreds of miles to worship that none of the Apostles stillin the Temple of Artemis at remained, barefacedly triedCorinth. The Baptism of the Eunuch against the preaching of theDuring his 30 years at truth the counter-proclama-Ephesus, John's Christian academy produced count- tion of'knowledge (gnosis)falsely so-called.' " At theless organizers and priests who would then emigrate same, the persecution was renewed with even greaterto the Near East, North Africa, and southern Europe, intensity.including Rome itself, to establish churches of the Much of the persecution that the Christians facednew faith, at the time was in the' form of what the earlyThe enemies of the Christians, as already noted, Christians called "popular risings, ''7_With the officialtook the form of both internal and external foes. government either not willing or not able to takeAmong the former, the gnostics were the most viru- direct actions against the now increasingly powerfullent. The death of Simon Magus years earlier merely Christian movement, the priests and priestesses of theserved to spawn other gnostic viruses in other parts of cults would instead whip their followers into a frenzythe empire. The successor to Simon Magus was and send them off in militia formation to attack theMenander, also a Samaritan and a disciple of Simon, Christian churches and to murder the leaders of thewho appeared in Antioch where, as Eusebius reports, faith.he "deceived many by the magical arts." Eusebius There is little recorded concerning the period ofnotes also "the name of Christian was adopted by the early part of the first century. We know that itsuch sorcerers to calumniate by magic the great was a period of rapid and immense growth for themystery of religion."74 movement of Christianity, but there is precious littleAgainst such charlatans St. John polemicized written evidence of the activities of the ChristiansCAMPAIGNER / August 1980 63