The Rise of the Christian Priesthood

Author(s): B. Le Roy Burkhart

Source: The Journal of Religion, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Apr., 1942), pp. 187-204
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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 THE RISE OF THE CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD
B. LE ROY BURKHART

HRISTIANITY began its career without an official

ministry,but by the middleof the thirdcenturyit had
a priesthoodwhich correspondedfairly well with the
definitiongiven by Origenin one of his sermonson Leviticus:
"And who is priest? He .... who offers to God gifts and re-
deemingsacrifices,who intervenesbetween God and men as a
propitiator."' When, how, and why did this developmentoc-
cur? Was it an imitation of Judaismor of one of the contem-
porary gentile cults? Was it an indigenousgrowth? Or was it
a responseto several influences?
The riseof the Christianpriesthoodwas only one aspectof the
rise of the Christiancult with its priests, altars, and sacrifices.
One might characterizeit as part of the "materialization"of
worship. The most practicableapproachto the problem,then,
seems to be a study of two tendenciespresent in the Mediter-
raneanworld at the beginningof our era. One of them was the
spiritualizingtrend toward the use of "temple," "priest,"and
"sacrifice"in transferredsenses:
Let my prayerrise like incensebeforethee,
The liftingof my handslike the eveningoffering!2
The sacrificeof Godis a brokenspirit;
A brokenand a contriteheart,
0 God,thou wilt not despise.3
The second tendency was the conservative, cultic interest which
insisted, in the words of Cotta the Academic, "I .... am a
priest, and .... think that religions and ceremonies ought sa-
credly to be maintained."4
1In Le. horm.ii. 3. 3 Ps. 5I: 7.
2
Ps. I4I: 2. 4 Cic. De nat. deor. i. 22.

I87

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i88 THE JOURNALOF RELIGION

I
The spiritualizationof cult concepts in Judaism had begun
with the condemnationof mere ritual piety by the eighth-cen-
tury prophets. In the two centuriesbeforeand the first century
after Christwe find equally vigorouscriticismof the abuses of
the priestlyestablishmentand similardefinitionsof truereligion
as consistingin repentance,the confessionof sin, prayer,atone-
ment by fasting, the singingof psalms, the giving of thanks,the
keeping of the Law, and in general the honoringof God with
"purityof soul and holy conviction"ratherthan with gifts and
sacrifices.5At least two organizedgroupsin Judaismhad little
to do with the temple: the Communityof the New Covenant
in Damascus and the Essenes. None of the Zadokite priests
werepermittedto serve in the temple unless they had kept the
whole law;6and, although the Essenes brought incense offer-
ings, their rites of purificationwhen sacrificingwereso peculiar
that even these were excludedfrom the shrine.7
The obvious backgroundfor this spiritualizingtendencywas
the national cult itself. Until the destructionof the temple by
Titus the whole sacrificialinstitution continuedto function. It
survived because, in spite of its defects, the great majority of
people saw in it the divinely ordainedreligionof Israel.8 For
some this meant no more than acquiescencein the cult as an
inheritancefromthe past or as part of the structureof the Jew-
ish state.9 Others were highly enthusiastic about the temple
and sacrifices.?1It was the Aaronic priest who bestowed the
s Pss. Sol. 8: I-14; 9:II-15; 15:3-6; Test. Levi 3:4-8; I4:5-8; I6:1-5; Zad. Frag.
7:8-18; I Enoch 40:3-9; Wisd. of Sol. 18:20-25; Sir. 34:I8 ff.; 35: I-3; Jub. 30: 13-22;
Aristeas I70, 234; Sib. Or. iv. 24-30, 165-70; II Bar. 85:3; Philo De plant. I07 f.; De
spec. leg. i. 80-97, I66-76; ii. I45 ff., I93-203.
6Zad. Frag. 8:II-20; 14:1-4.
7
Jos. B.J. ii. 8. 5, 8; Ant. xviii. I. 5; Philo Quod omn. prob. lib. 75.
8 Sir.
7:29 ff.; 35: -Io; Test. Reub. 6:8-12.
9 I Macc.; Ass. Mos.; Wisd. of Sol.; Philo De migr. Abr. 89-93.
0
Jub.; Sib. Or. iii. 573-95, 624-31; III Macc. I:6-2:24; II Enoch 59:1 f.; Jos.
C. A pion. ii. 22 f.

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 THE RISE OF THE CHRISTIANPRIESTHOOD I89

blessing of the Lord and secured atonement for the sins both
of the individual and of the world." More than one man ex-
perienceda kind of ecstasy as he watched the high priest offici-
ate or thoughtof the magnificenceof Aaronat his inauguration.'2
It is not surprising, then, that in A.D. 70, when there were no
moreanimalsavailablefor sacrificesthis lack was felt to be the
greatest calamity that could have befallenIsrael.13
The naturaland immediatereactionto the destructionof the
temple and city was to lament the loss of the place of atone-
ment and to bewail the separationof Israel from the Father in
Heaven.'4 Despairwas soon followedby a lively hopeof restora-
tion. God wouldnot permit the sacrificialsystem whichhe had
ordainedto be utterly destroyedby the lawlessheathen.15This
hope appearsto have been vital duringthe first third of the sec-
ond century and then to have faded. Thereafterthe rabbisbe-
came the active spiritualizersof cult conceptsand elaborateda
theory of substitutes for the traditionalsacrifices. As early as
the destructionby Titus it was taught by R. Jochananb. Zak-
kai that kindnessand charity make atonement,I6while R. Ish-
mael of the next generationassignedthe same powerto repent-
ance.17 One of Akiba's pupils added bodily sufferingto this
list,'8 and others describedthe entertainmentof a scholar in
"Sir. 45:15-23; Jub. 34:I8 f.; Test. Reub. 6:8-12; II Macc. 3; 12:39-45; Sib. Or.
iii. 772, 808.
2
Sir. 45:6-22; 49:15-50:24; Aristeas 84-99.
I3Jos. B.J. vi. 2. i; Taan. 4:6.
"4IV Ezra 3:24-28; 5:23-28; II Bar. 35:2-5; Ber. 32b; Aboth de R. Nathan 4,
der KultusbegriffeTempel,Priester,
cited by H. Wenschkewitz,"Die Spiritualisierung
und Opfer im N.T.," AyyeXos,I (1932), 95.
's Apoc. Abr. 25-29; Yoma 38a; Shab. 12b. Cf. also Shem8neh'Esrek and the careful
editingof sacrificiallaws in the MishnaicSederKodashim.
'6 Aboth de R. Nathan 4; B. B. iob; Sukka 49b.

I7 Yoma 86a; Aboth de R. Nathan 29, cited by Wenschkewitz,op. cit., p. 97. Cf.
Jos. C. Apion. ii. 22; Ant. vi. 7. 4; II Enoch 45: ff.
x8Mekilta to Exod. 20:20.

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I90 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION

one's home,'9 humbleness of spirit, the recitation of payers,20

the reading of the rules for sacrifice,21 and the study of Torah22
as the equivalent of many sacrifices.

II
The process of spiritualizing worship in the pagan world be-
gan with the earliest of the Greek philosophers.23 Empedocles
and Heraclitus both ridiculed those who sought to purify them-
selves by shedding the blood of animals. Empedocles24 could
see the rationale of offering myrrh and incense, but Heraclitus25
commended only complete inward purity. These became the
general attitudes of those philosophers of the first Christian
centuries who carried their message to the people of the Empire.
They poured contempt on popular religion and the worship of
images; such worship should be recognized as based on custom
only, not on any reality.26 The best way to honor the gods is
first of all to search for truth and to believe in the true nature
of the gods, then to acknowledge them as commanders of the
universe and to seek to imitate their goodness.27 A pure heart
and a virtuous life are the true sacrifices;28 true worship con-
I9 Ber. Iob.
20
Sanh. 43b; Sotah 5b; Ber. 26b.
2 Taan. 27b.
22
Erub. 63b; Makk. ioa; Meg. I6b.
23 Cf.
O. Casel, "Die Aoy,KI)UOvala der antikenMystik in christlich-liturgischer
Um-
deutung," Jahrbuchfuer Liturgiewissenschaft, IV (1924), 37 ff.; and Die Liturgie als
Mysterienfeier (rev. ed.; Freiburg. i. Br.: Herder, 1923), pp. I05-I2.
24 H. Diels, Die Fragmente der Vorsakratiker (2. Auf.; Berlin: Weidmann, I906),

frag. 128.
25
Ibid., frags. 5 and 69.
26Lucian Demonax i , 63-67; Seneca apud Aug. De civ. dei vi. io; Dio Chrys. x. 27 f.
27 Seneca Ep. xcv. 50; Epictetus Ench. 3I; Disc. ii. I6. 42; Dio Chrys, xii. 27; Plu-
tarch De Is. et. Os. 2, 1; Maximus of Tyre Or. 5, 8, cited by P. E. More, The Religion of
Plato (Princeton: Princeton University Press, I92I), p. 294; and G. Murray, Five
Stages of GreekReligion (New York: Columbia University Press, I925), p. 0oo, n. i.
28Lucian Dem. ii, 63-67; Seneca Epp. xli. I; cxv. 48; apud Lact. Div. inst. vi. 25;
De benef. iv. 25. I; i. 6. 3.

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 THE RISE OF THE CHRISTIANPRIESTHOOD I9I

sists in pure rational sacrifices of thanksgiving, praise, and

silent contemplation.29
The pagan world, however, was just as conservativeas the
Jewish. The philosophersmight reinterpretor allegorize the
rites of the cults at will, but comparativelyfew were willing to
neglect or radicallyto change the rites themselves. Lucian of
Samosata stood almost alone in despising all worship of the
gods, even men'sprayers.30The Stoics as a groupregardedit as
"always appropriateto make libations and sacrifices,and to
give of the first fruits after the mannerof our fathers."31Even
Seneca, the most radical,admitted that sacrifice,when offered
by good men, was pleasingto the gods and that in certaincases
prayers,vows, and expiations affected the course of history.32
Plutarch was priest of the Pythian Apollo for many years and
could not conceive that anyone would ever have "sufficiently
sacrificed,gone in procession,and led dances in honor of the
gods."33Religion,the observanceof the ancestralcustoms,was
very generallyregardedas the foundationof the state and the
guaranty of its stability.34It was this faith which inspiredthe
punctiliousritual performedby Vespasianat the restorationof
the Capitol,35the recitationof the archaicSalian litany by the
young MarcusAurelius,and the offeringof countlessvictims to
the guardiangods of Rome by the same emperor in days of
pestilenceor war.36
29
Corp. Herm. i. 22, 31; v. IO f.; xiii. 17-2I; Asclepius 41; Epictetus Disc. i. I6. I5-2I;
4. 28-32; iv. 4. I8; Apoll. Tyan. Epp. 26 f.; apud Eus. Praep. evan. iv. I3; Numenius,
bid., xi. 22.
30 De
sacrificio.
31 Epictetus Ench. 31; Disc. ii. 20. 23-27; iii. 2I. I2-16; Dio Chrys. xiii. 85; Min.
Felix Oct. 6; Cornutus Summary of Greek Theology35, cited by A. D. Nock, Conversion
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933), p. 120.
32 De
benef. i. 6. 3; Quaestionesnaturales ii. 37 f.
33 An seni resp. ger. sit I7; Maximus of Tyre Or. 8.
34 Cic. De nat. deor. iii. 5; i. 22.
35 Tac. Hist. iv. 53.
36Jul. Capitolinus Marc. Ant. iv. I-4; xiii. I ff.; cf. also Tac. Ann. xii.
8; Suet. Dom.
5, 8; Ael. Spartianus Hadrian xxii. io; Jup. Capit. Ant. Pius xi. 5; xiii. 4.

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I92 THE JOURNALOF RELIGION

Among the many religions and priesthoods of the Empire

there were two sacramentalcults which are of particularinter-
est in a study of the Christian priesthood because both of
them were very active in the period of its rise, namely, the
century from A.D. I50 to 250. These were the mysteries of
Mithra and of Isis. The early ChurchFathers knew them to
have rites of baptism and a commonmeal so like the Christian
that they could be explainedonly as demonicimitationsof the
Christianceremonies.37That Christiansalso had contact with
some of the other mysteriesis proved conclusivelyby the fres-
coes and inscription in the catacomb of Praetextatus, which
were placed there in the middle of the third century in honor
of "Vincentius,the high-priestof the god Sabazios."38Unfor-
tunately, there are not enough data to interpret the term an-
tistes.
The fragmentaryevidence indicates that the Mithraic cult
had a priesthoodof men who had passed through all or many
of the severaldegreesof initiation.39Each Mithraiccommunity
perhaps had at its head a pater or pater patrumwho was the
summuspontifexand the patersacrorummentionedby Tertul-
lian.40 The priest, sacerdosor antistes,was often, but not al-
ways, a member of the patres.4' According to one inscription,
a man who was pater patrumwas also magisterof the ordo
sacerdotum.42 M. Cumont,in the first enthusiasmof his recon-
structionof Mithraicritual, doubtlessdrewan exaggeratedpic-
ture of the role of the priesthood. But it is quite probablethat
37 Justin Apol. i. 66; Tert. De praescr. haer. 40; De bapt. 5.
38 W. O. E. Oesterley,"The Cult of Sabazios,"in TheLabyrinth,ed. S. H. Hooke
(London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, I935), pp. I5 iff.
39 Cf. F. Cumont, Textes et monumentsfigures
relatifs aux mysteresde Mithra (2 vols.;
Bruxelles: H. Lamertin, I896-99); J. Toutain, Les Cultes paiens dans l'Empire romain
(Paris: Leroux, I9II), II, I21-77; and F. Legge, Forerunnersand Rivals of Christianity
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, I915), II, 224-76.
40 De praescr. haer. 40; Apol. 8; cf. CIL vi. 749-53; 1778 f.
41 CIL vi. 2271, 3727; xiv. 66, 403.
42 CIL vi. 215I.

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 THE RISE OF THE CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD I93

the man who officiatedat the seven sacramentsof initiation,

who celebratedthe rites of baptism and the sacred meal, and
who presidedat dedicationswas the priest who offeredthe sac-
rificesand libations to the higherand lower gods
The Isiac priesthoodis much better known than the Mith-
raic. At various places there were permanent professional
priesthoodspresided over by a chief priest, but we are told
nothing more about the hierarchy.All the priests lived in the
temple, were markedoff by the tonsure and the Isiac robes,43
and abstainedfrom woolen garments,wine, pork,fish, and cer-
tain vegetables.44Chastity was essentialin the celebrantof the
holy mysteries, and Tertullian held up the priests of Isis as
reproachfulexamples of continence to professingfollowersof
Christ.45These priests served at three types of public ceremo-
nies. At the daily servicesof matins and nones their duties in-
cluded the preparationof the altar, the libation of holy water,
and the offeringof incense;46at the springfestival of the Ploia-
phesia they bore the relics and mysteriesof the most powerful
gods and consecratedthe ship;47theirpart in the annualfestival
of the passion and resurrectionof Osirisis not clearlydefined.48
In additionto officiatingat these public ceremonies,the priests
had the duty of advising people who desiredinitiation and of
administeringthe initiationitself. The latter was a long process
involving sacrifices,baptism, instruction,enactmentof a ritual
death and resurrection,and a final banquet.49Thus the Isiac
43 Apuleius Metamorphosesxi; cf. Tibullus i.
3. 30; Martial xii. 29. I9; Juvenal vi.
534; Suet. Otho I2; CIG 6006; CIL X, 6445; Or. Henz. I878, 6666; cf. also frescoes at
Pompeii and Herculaneum, J. Leipoldt, Die Religionen in der Umweltdes Urchristentums
(Leipzig: A. Deichert, 1926), Figs. 44, 53-57.
44 Plutarch De Is. et Os. 4-8, 32.
45De exh. cast. I3.
46Tib. i. 3. 31 ; Mart. x. 48. I; Plut. De Is. et Os. 52,
79 f.; Apul. Meta. xi. 20; Arnobius
vii. 32.
47 Apul. Meta. xi. 7-17.
48 Cf. Juvenal viii.
29; vi. 533 f.; Lucan viii. 83I ff.; Min. Felix. Oct. 2I; Lact. Div.
inst. i. 21; Firm. Maturnus De err. prof. re. 2: I-4; Plutarch De Is. et Os. 39.
49Apul. Meta. xi. I9-24.

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I94 THE JOURNALOF RELIGION

priest was an intermediarybetween God and man who had the

powerof revealingthe mystery of eternity and preparingsouls
to meet their gods.
III
Jesus and his disciples were Jews and attended both the
templeand the synagogue.50It is true that Jesus'majorinterest.
was in the Kingdomand its righteousness,but that interestdid
not cause him to abandonthe cult. It did mean that persons
making sacrificesshould come in the proper spirit and that
abuses of the cult should be corrected.51
The first Christiansin JerusalemremainedJews. They regu-
larly attended worshipin the temple and made Solomon'scol-
onnadea frequentmeetingplace.52They werefaithfulto Torah
and insisted that Jesus had not come to put an end to the Law
but to fulfil it.53 The only Christianrite which they seem to
have observed was a common meal; "they broke their bread
together."54Although Peter was the leading spirit in the be-
ginning,the legalist Jamessoon came to be the recognizedhead
of the society.55Under his guidance, and that of his succes-
sors,56the communityremainedlittle more than a sect of Ju-
daism.
In addition to this Jewish, Aramaic-speakingchurch there
was also very early in Christian history a Greek-speaking
church. This was the group to which Stephen, Philip, and the
other evangelists belonged. These Hellenists, it would seem,
had no high regardfor the temple worshipand neglected the
0sMatt. 21:23 and par.; 26:55 and par,; 2I:I4 f.; Mark 12:35; Luke I9:47; 21:37;
John 2:14 ff.; 5:14; 7:28; 8:20, 59; I0:23; 18:20.
sIMatt. 5:23 f.; 8:4 and par.; I2:12 f. and par.; I5:I-2o and par.; Luke I7:I4;
John 2:I3-22; Mark I2:32 ff.
S2Acts 2:46 f.; 3: I-II; 5:I2, 20,42.
53 Acts 21: 20-26; Matt.5:17 f.
4 Acts 2:46.
"sActs 12: 7; 15:1-29; 2i:I8; Gal. i:i8f.; 2:9-12; Eus. H.E. ii. 23. 4-18; iv. 5. 3;
vii. 19; Epiphanius Adv. haer. lxvi. 20.
56Eus. H.E. iv. 22. 4; iii. II; 20. i-6; 32. i-6.

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 THE RISE OF THE CHRISTIANPRIESTHOOD I95

ritual requirements,thus laying themselves open to the perse-

cution in which Stephen was martyredand the rest scattered
throughPalestine and beyond it.57To this groupof Hellenistic
Christians,perhaps, we should credit the earliest form of the
traditionof the Lord'sSupperas Lietzmann58 has reconstructed
it from the Gospelsand Paul: "He took bread, blessed, broke
it and said: This is my body. And he took a cup and said: This
is my blood of the covenant [or, the covenant through my
blood]." The Christianswho believed this thought of Jesus as
a sacrificialvictim whose body was slain for the believersand
whose blood was shed to establish a new covenant between
God and man. Consequently,there was no need for any fur-
ther sacrificeon the great altar.in the temple.
For a century after this, from Paul to Justin, and in certain
areas for a longer period, Christianityclearly belonged in the
"spiritualizing"trend which has been noted in both Judaism
and paganism. Christ was said to be the Passover lamb who
gave himself as a "fragrantofferingand sacrifice to God."59
He was himselfthe apostle and high priest of the new religion,
and his priesthood was unique and untransferable.60Some-
times it was said that the redeemedhad become a "kingdom
of priests" and those who sufferedmartyrdomserved in the
heavenly temple;6'more frequently the Christiancommunity
was the templeof Godand the individualmembersthe dwelling-
places of the Spiritof God.62Since they held suchbeliefs,it was
naturalthat the early Christiansshouldofferonly spiritualsac-
rificesof helpfulness,generosity,righteousness,purity of heart
s7Acts 6-8.
58H. Lietzmann, Messe und Herrenmahl: Eine Studie zur Geschichte der Liturgie
(Bonn: A. Marcus and E. Weber, I926), pp. 218-21.
59I Cor. 5:7; Rom. 3:25; 8:3; Col. I:20; Eph. 5:2; Heb. Io:I0o-4; Rev. 5:6-12;
I Pet. I:18-2I; 2:24f.; John 1:29, 36; I John 2:2; 4:I0; Barn. 7:3, 5.
60
Heb., passim.; Ign. Phila. 9; Polyc. Phil. 12:2; I Clem. 61:3.
6I
Rev., passim.; I Pet. 2:9; cf. Rom. I5: i6.
62Eph. 2:19-22; I Cor. 3:i6f.; 6:I9f.; I Pet. 2:5; Barn. 4:II; 6:I5; I6:6-Io;
II Clem. 9:3, Io.

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I96 THE JOURNALOF RELIGION

and lips, prayer, praise, and mystical communion.63Even

though Paul emphasizedthe reception of the very body and
blood of the Redeemerwho was sacrificedfor men's deliverance
he did not regardthe offeringof the Eucharistas a repetition
of that sacrifice.64To one looking back over the development
of Christianityit appears as if the new religion had been en-
gaged for the first centuryin differentiatingitself fromJudaism
and the pagan cults, in practicallyall of which material sacri-
fices were offered.
During the century before Justin Martyr there was no uni-
formity in ecclesiasticalorganization.The leaders were called
variouslyapostles, inspiredpreachers,prophets,teachers,won-
der-workers,missionaries,pastors,elders,bishops,and deacons.
With the growth of the movementand the appearanceof sects
it becamenecessaryto developa strongleadershipwhichwould
look after the internalgovernmentof the churches,preachand
exemplifythe true faith, and deal with heresy. Sometimesthe
power of disciplinewas assumed by the congregation,65 some-
times by the whole group of presbyters,66 but most frequently
by the bishop.67 It is significant,however, that the power to
forgive sins was not claimed by these officialsuntil the end of
the second century. The Johanninetradition that Christ had
given such power to all the apostles was taken to mean that
everyonemight approachGod to ask for his own or another's
forgiveness;68only the martyrswere recognizedto have special
in
privileges accordinggrace to those who had lapsed during
the persecutions.69
63 Phil. 2:I7; 4:18; Rom. 12:I; I Cor. I4:26-33; Heb. I3:I5 f.; I Pet. 2:5; I John;
4f.; Odes Sol. xx. I-4; Barn. 2:4, Io; II Clem. 3:I-4:3; 9:3, Io; Polyc. Phil. 4:3;
Ign. Smyr. 6, 8; Eph. 13, 20; Phila. 4; Magn. 7.
64 Cf. I Cor. 5:7;
10:14-22; II:17-34; Phil. 2:I7; 4:18; Rom. I2:I; I5:I6.
65Matt. I8:I5-I8. 661 Clem. 57:I.
I6: 7 ff.; II John Io; Ign. Phila. 8; Polyc.;EpiphaniusAdv.haer.xlii. i. 3-6
67 Matt.
and Pseudo-Tert.Adv.omn.haer.6.
68John 20: f.; I John 5:I3-17; Ign. Phila. 8; Hermas Sim. ii. 5 f.; viii.
22 1; Man.
xii. 6; Polyc. Phil. 4:3; II. Clem16: , 4; JustinApol.i. 6i, 65 f.
69Eus.H.E.v. I.

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 THE RISE OF THE CHRISTIANPRIESTHOOD I97

The rapid expansionof Christianityand its developmentas

a distinct religionclaimingto worshipthe only true God and re-
fusing to bring any sacrificesin honor of the gods of the cities
and empireinvited oppositionfrom the more conservativepa-
gans.70Christianswere accusedof being atheists.71The apolo-
gists met the chargeby adducingthe same argumentsas many
of the philosophershad used and wereusing, namely, that God,
the Creatorand Father of this universe, does not need blood,
burnt-offerings,or incense, for he is perfectand needsnothing;
the noblest sacrificeis for us to know him as the Creatorand to
offer him bloodlessand rationalsacrifices.72With the comingof
Christall bloody offeringshad been superseded.Those who re-
pented now cleansedthemselves"by faith throughthe blood of
Christ and his death,"73and brought pure sacrificesof prayer
and thanksgivingand the imitation of the virtues of God him-
self.74Justin Martyr, writing at Rome in the middle of the
second century, was the first to specify the prayersat the Eu-
charist as the primary Christian sacrifice;75but in the next
thirty years the identificationof the Eucharistas the Christian
sacrifice seems to have been established.76Irenaeus claimed
that only the species of sacrificehad been changed at Christ's
coming; bloody sacrificehad been abolished in favor of "the
new oblationof the new covenant," an offeringto God of "the
first fruits of his createdthings."77Thus underthe necessity of
meeting pagan criticism Christian leaders brought back into
use the ancient terminologyof religion.
7? Cf. Pliny Ep. x. 96; I Tim. 3: -7.
7ICf. M. H. Shepherd,Jr., "TheEarly Apologistsand ChristianWorship,"Journal
of Religion, XVIII (1938), 60-75.
72Athenagoras Suppl. pro Christ. I3; Aristides Apol. I: Io; I3:4; Justin Apol. i. io,
13; Diognetus 3:4 f.; Clem. Alex. Stromata vi. 5. 39.
73Justin Dial. 13: ; cf. 23:3; 43: .
74Ibid. 86:6; I6:3; I7: 2; Apol. i. 10, I3; Acta Apollonii 8 f., 44.
7 Dial. II7:1; 41:2 Apol. i. I3.
f.; 28:5-29:I;
76Didache I4; Iren. Adv. haer. iv. I7. 4 f.; Acta Petri iii. 2 (M. R. James, The Apoc-
ryphal New Testament[Oxford: Oxford University Press, I924], p. 304).
77Adv. haer. iv. I7. I-5; i8. i-6.

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I98 THE JOURNALOF RELIGION

The second century seems also to have witnessed the trans-

formationof the communiontable into an altar. When sacri-
ficial terminologywas appliedto the Eucharist,it wasnaturalto
speak of the communicantsas coming to "the altar of God"or
"sharingin the altar."78Irenaeus believed that it was God's
will that Christiansshould "offera gift at the altar." Never-
theless, he located the altar "in heaven (for toward that place
are our prayers and oblations directed)."79 He was reluctant to
leave the ancient concepts that the real temple and altar are in
heaven and that all disciples of the Lord are priests.8? In A.D.
i80, then, Christianity regarded the Eucharist as a bloodless
and rational sacrifice and had begun to refer to the communion
table as an altar; but there is no evidence8' that the officiants
at the Eucharist were called "priests" in any sense that would
distinguish them from other Christians.
In the West the Christian priesthood appeared suddenly both
in Rome and in Africa only twenty years after Irenaeus. The
schismatic Hippolytus wrote in his prayer for the consecration
of a bishop:
Thouwhoknowestthe heartsof all, grantto this thy servant,whom
thou hast chosen to be bishop, [to feed thy holy flock],and to serve as thy
high priestwithoutblame,ministeringnight and day, to propitiatethy
countenancewithout ceasing and to offer thee the gifts of thy holy
church.And by the Spiritof high-priesthood to have authorityto remit
sins accordingto thy commandment, to assignthe lots accordingto thy
precept,to looseeverybondaccordingto the authoritywhichthougavest
to thy disciples,and to pleasetheein meeknessandpurityof heart,offer-
ing to thee an odourof sweet savor.82
That so strict a traditionalist as Hippolytus could refer to the
bishop so unqualifiedly as a high priest indicates that the use
of sacerdotal terminology had been well established at Rome.
78Acta Petri iii. 2; Acta Joh. xvi (James, op. cit. p. 260).
79 Adv. haer.iv. i8. 4-6.
8 Ibid. 8. 2
f.; 20. II;v. 34. 3. So also Ep. Apost.13, 5I.
81 in
"High priests" Did. 13 is suggested by gifts to be given to the prophets and
seems not to apply to the local bishops.
82
Ap. Trad. 3:4 ff.; cf. 9:1; 30; Philosophumena Prooem.

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 THE RISE OF THE CHRISTIANPRIESTHOOD I99

For there can be little doubt that the duties of officialsas he

set them forth in the Apostolic Tradition were those of the
Roman church before any rift had appearedin that church.
Perhaps the priestly bishop had appearedbefore the,ascent of
Zephyrinusto the episcopacyin circaA.D.I98. FromTertullian
we gain the impressionthat in North Africa the use of sacer-
dotal terminologywas a recentdevelopment,becausehe had to
explain that the summussacerdoswas the bishop.83
Both in Rome and in North Africa the high-priestlybishop
was recognizedto have the power to forgive venial sins. Cal-
listus' claim to forgive the deadly sins of adulteryand fornica-
tion was one of the factors which led to the schism at Rome,
and there is some evidence that he or his successor soon ex-
tended the claim to includeidolatry.84While the evidencedoes
not permitus to see how the extensionwas effectedat Rome, we
are able to follow it at Carthage.
The early churchhad thought of idolatryas one of the deadly
sins which only God himself could forgive. This, too, had been
the attitude of Hippolytus and Tertullian. Nevertheless, the
martyrshad arrogatedto themselvesthe powerto accordgrace
to those who had lapsed in the persecutions.Feeling his own
responsibilityfor the churchas keenly as he did, Cyprianwas
not satisfiedto leave the martyrsof Carthagea free field. They
had been too prodigalwith their certificates. Yet he refusedto
make a general rule and insisted that a council must decide
what should be done. Meanwhile,he directed that only peni-
tent apostates who held certificatesfrom the martyrsand who
were on the point of death were to be received back into the
church.85This was a practicewhich the Roman churchhad ini-
tiated in the hope that thus the penitents might be strength-
ened for the next persecution.86Cyprian held his position in
83 De bapt. 17; De exh. cast. 7.
84 Philos.ix. ii f.; Tert. De pud. i, 5, 18-22; Origen De orat. xxviii. io. Cf. L.
Duchesne, Early History of the Christian Church (New York: Longmans, Green & Co.,
1915), I, 212-30; B. S. Easton, The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (New York:
Macmillan Co., I934), pp. I6-22.
8sEpp. 8-20 (I2-I4). 86Ep. 8 (2).

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200 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION

spite of an insolent letter from the confessorsand some insub-

ordination among his clergy from January, A.D. 250, until early
in A.D. 251, when it was possible for the First Council of Car-
thage to meet.87After long deliberationon the problemand on
the Novatian schism, which had occurredat Rome over this
very same problem, the council decided that the lapsed who
had not actually offeredthe sacrificeshould be restoredby the
bishopafter a considerableterm of penance,but that those who
had sacrificedshouldbe receivedonly at the hour of death pro-
vided they had continued penitent until that time. Although
this was not what Cyprian had recommendedin his tractate
De lapsis, he acceptedthe decision. Henceforththe certificates
of the martyrswere of no value in securingrestorationfromthe
bishop. A year later, when anotherpersecutionwas threatened,
the Second Council of Carthagemet and decided that all the
apostates who had repentedshould be admitted to immediate
reconciliationso that the churchmight be strengthenedfor the
trial.88In a few short years, therefore,circumstancesforced a
drasticchangein the attitude of the churchtowardthe absolu-
tion of the idolaters.
The chief duties of the sacerdotalorderwere the ancientones
of baptizingand offeringthe church'sgifts. Hippolytuslet the
sacrificialimagery run riot. Not only the Eucharist of bread
and wine but the additional offeringsof oil, cheese, and olives
made at certainEucharists,the agape, and the offeringsof first
fruits were all sacrificesat which the bishop,or someonewhom
he had designated,shouldpreside.89Tertullian90and Cyprian9'
7 Epp. 23 (I6), 34 (28).
88
Ep. 57 (54), I f.
89Ap. Trad. 4:2, II f.; 23:1; 28:3 ff.; 26. Cf. In Dan. comm. iv. 35; Ethiopic Stat-
ute 26 (R. A. Connolly,TheSo-calledEgyptianChurchOrderand DerivedDocuments
[Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press, I9I6], p. I80).
90 Cf. De exh. cast.
7, iI; De orat. I9; De cultu fem. ii. II; Ad uxor. ii. 8; De monog.
o0;De cor. mil. 3; De praescr. haer. 40; De spect. 13.
9I Cf. Epp. I (66). I; 5 (4); I6 (9). 4; 57 (54). 3; 58 (56). I; 67 (68). I; 72 (72). 2;
De dom.orat.4, I8; cf. alsoDe rebapt.4 f., Io.

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 THE RISE OF THE CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD 201

limited the church'ssacrificeto the Eucharist, but they bear

witness to very importantdevelopmentsin the concept. Tertul-
lian tells of some people who believed that when "sacrificial
prayers" were said over the elements the bread became the
Lord'sbody and the real sacrificewhich might be reservedfor
later use. Thus the corpusdominiitself had become the sacri-
fice.92A few years later Cyprian defined the sacrificeof the
Eucharistas "the Lord'spassion." Since Christofferedhimself
to the Father and commandedthe Eucharist to be made in
commemorationof himself, the priest truly celebratesthe rite
when his "oblationand sacrificerespondto His passion."93The
increasinglyrealistic definitionof the sacrificewas part of the
"materialization"of Christianworshipreferredto above.
Although both Hippolytus and Tertullian referred to the
bishop as high priest and the presbyters as priests,94and al-
though the presbyterswere subordinateto the bishop, the dis-
tinction of title was not established. Both were called simply
sacerdos.Tertullian in his last book, De pudicitia, thus refers
to the bishop who claims the powerto forgivesins;95and Cyp-
rian, even though he recognized the rights of the presbyters
to offerand sometimesindicatedtheir sacerdotalrank,96usually
meant the bishop.97
As a priest the bishop,to Cyprian'smind,was God'ssteward;
he was for the time being judge in the stead of Christ.98The
Decian persecution,with its problem of the lapsed, and the
heresies, with the problem of admitting into the Catholic
churchthose baptizedin heresy,requireda strongleader. Good
scripturalvalidation for the bishop's power to deal with these
problemswas found in Deuteronomy: "And the man that will
92De orat. I9; De pud. 9. 94De exh. cast. 7; Ap. Trad. 9: -4.
93Ep. 63 (63. 9, i7. 95Chap. 21.
96Epp. 6i (58). 3; 5 (4); 40 (35); 67 (68). 4; 72 (72). 2.
97Epp. 55 (52). 8; 57 (54). 3; 67 (68). I. 4; 43 (40). 4; cf. Pontius Diaconus
Life and
Passion of Cyprian I. I f.; 3. 3; 5.I; II. i, 7; I4. i.
98E. 59 (55). 5.

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202 THE JOURNALOF RELIGION

do presumptuously,and will not hearken unto the priest or

judge, whoeverhe shall be in those days, that man shall die."
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram,and two hundredand fifty com-
panionsperishedbecause they opposedAaron. Solomon,Paul,
and Jesus all commanded reverence for the priest.9" The
bishop, therefore,is to be obeyed. If people set themselvesup
in opposition to him, they begin heresy and schism; they are
first to be rebukedand exhortedto turn from this wickedness;
but, if they persist, they are to be excommunicatedby the
priestly power.'0?If they repent and confesshumbly and sim-
ply, the priestmay grant absolution.101 Strangelyenough,Cyp-
rian did not cite Matt. i6: 8 f. in supportof the bishop'sright
to pardon;he used it only as a supportfor his generalauthor-
ity.102
EasternChristianitywas much slowerto adopt sacrificialand
sacerdotalterminologythan was Western Christianity. While
in the West the Eucharist had become a sacrificeas early as
A.D. I50, in the East only the Syrian author of the Didache
made that identification.The great theologiansof Alexandria
eitherwerenot awareof or did not accept the idea until almost
a century later, when Origenindicated that the Eucharistwas
the Christian equivalent of pagan sacrificialmeals.103In the
West the Christianpriesthoodmade its appearanceat the very
beginning of the third century. In the East it was not until
Origenhad been in Caesareaa good many years and long after
he had visited Rome that he applied sacerdotalterms to the
bishops and presbyters.104Some of Origen'sdisciples, them-
99Epp. 3 (65); 59 (55). 4; 66 (69). 3; 4 (62). 4; 43 (40). 7; 67 (68). 3.
100De
lapsis I4; Epp. 4 (62). 4; 68 (67). 2.
101
Delapsis I6-I9, 28 f., 36; Epp. 55 (52). I7 ff., 29; 57 (54). 2; 5 '(io). I; 64 (59). I;
59 (55). i6.
I02 Ep. 33 (26). I; De unit. ecc. 4.

103 Contra Celsum viii.

33, 57.
o04In Num. horn.ii. I; ix. I; x. 2; xi. 2; In Jer. hor. xii. 3; In Lev. hor. ii. 3 f.; v. 4,
8, i2; vi. 3, 6; vii. i; In Gen. hor. xvi. 5; In lib. Jesu Nave horn.x. 3; In lib. I Reg. horn.
i. 7; In Ps. xxxvii horn.ii. 6; De orat. xxviii. 9.

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 THE RISEOF THE CHRISTIAN
PRIESTHOOD 203

selves bishops, laid more stress on their rights as priests. Fir-

milian of Caesareain Cappadocia,for example, claimed the
powerof remittingsins throughhis successionto the apostles.105
But it is only in Syria that the priestly powersof the bishopare
fully describedin the middle of the third century. There the
bishop and he alone is the priest. "The Levite and high priest
is the bishop. He is the minister of the word and mediator."
It is throughhim that the oblationsare offeredto God.106The
bishop has been "set in the place of God Almighty" and "has
put on the person of Christ";therefore,he must conduct him-
self as one who has authority to judge sinnersand to grant for-
giveness of sin to the repentant. "For to you bishopsit is said
in the gospel: That whichye shallbind on earth,shallbe bound
in heaven."'07
IV
The survey of the evidence has made it possible to answer
some of the questions which promptedthis study. The Chris-
tian priesthoodappearedsimultaneouslyin Rome and in North
AfricacircaA.D.200. There seems to be no evidencefor its ex-
istence in the East until late in Origen'slife. The fact that
Origen and Firmilian, both of whom are known to have had
contact with the West, are the first to mention the priestly
powersof the bishopmay indicatethat the conceptspreadfrom
the West to the East.
The priesthoodwas only one aspect of the rise of the Chris-
tian cult. Sacrificialand sacerdotalimageryhad neverbeen ab-
sent from the Christianmovement, but in the beginningthese
terms were used in a spiritualizedsense. Christ'sdeath on the
crosswas the great sacrificethat broughtto an end the ancient
worship. A humblespirit,prayer,andpraisewerethe truesacri-
fices of the believers. Christwas the great high priest and medi-
ator; the Christians,a priestly race. Between A.D.I50 and 200
pagan criticismof the Christiansfor their atheism,theirneglect
'os Cyprian Ep. 75 (75). i6.
06 Didasc. Apost. 8 f. (ii. 25-28, 35). 107 Ibid. 4-7 (ii. 6-24).

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204 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION

of the recognizedgods of the state, forced Christianapologists

to rethink their teachings on God and worshipand led Justin
Martyrto identify the prayerof thanksgivingover the eucharis-
tic elements as the Christian sacrifice par excellence. Once
made, this identificationwas generallyadopted becauseit met
pagan criticismso neatly and, we may suspect, because it an-
swered a vaguely felt desire of the Christians,who could not
rid themselves entirely of the attitudes they had held as pa-
gans.
The identificationof the Eucharistas the sacrificemeant that
sooner or later the officiant at that rite should be called a
"priest." The two ideas are correlative,and to that extent we
may say the priesthoodwas an indigenousdevelopment. The
consciousnessthat the sacramentalcults of Isis and Mithra,
whichmade the same claimsas Christianityto wash away their
devotees' guilt and assure them of immortality,had priests to
administertheir rites may have eased the way for the rise of
the Christianpriesthood. Certainly it was not an imitation of
the Jewishinstitution. Oncethe idea was introduced,however,
abundant biblical validation was found for the powers which
the bishophad come to possess. The usefulnessof the new title
assuredits permanence.

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