Pliny the Younger reports on the Christians
Within eighty years of the crucifixion, a Roman official investigating Christians as a legal problem describes worship of Christ as divine, already established across a distant province.
Außerbiblisch genanntAntiker Autorc. AD 112
A Roman provincial governor writes to the emperor Trajan asking how to handle Christians. In explaining what he has learned from interrogation, he describes their practice: meeting before dawn, singing to Christ as to a god, binding themselves by oath not to commit theft, adultery or fraud, and eating together.
They were in the habit of meeting on a fixed day before dawn and singing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and binding themselves by oath not to any wickedness…
- Gefunden
- Transmitted in medieval manuscripts
- Heute in
- Various manuscript collections
- Sprache
- Latin
- Wie es zu uns kam
- Nie begraben — von Hand abgeschrieben, Generation um Generation, bis zum Buchdruck.
Was er zeigt
The letter's authenticity is not seriously disputed. It describes practice, not the events of the Gospels.
Wie Historiker es nutzen
A primary source for Roman legal policy toward Christians, standard in secular Roman history.
In der Schrift
Quellen
- Pliny the Younger on Christians — text and discussion
- Sherwin-White, The Letters of Pliny: A Historical and Social Commentary (1966)
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