by Fr. George W. Rutler
Pliny
the Younger, governor of Pontus from 111 to 113, had a problem. Growing numbers
of Christians were unsettling the pagan establishment. He wrote to the emperor
Trajan: “I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who
confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with
punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that,
whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy
surely deserve to be punished.” He
deemed them superstitious because they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day
before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god. Superstition was not a crime, as it was rife
in the Empire, but these Christians refused to worship the gods of the land and
would rather die than worship the Emperor himself. Trajan replied that the ‘spirit
of our age” required that the governor should persecute only those who refused
to cease being Christians.
Governor
Andrew Cuomo recently declared on a radio program in Albany that those who
refuse to go along with state legislation on such matters as abortion and the
redefinition of marriage, have “NO place in the State of New York.” He did not
threaten to throw Christians to wild beasts, but the tone of the governor of
the Empire State was decidedly imperious. Attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville,
but more probably the words of Joseph de Maistre, is the warning: “In a democracy,
people get the government they deserve.” Catholics fragile in spirit who
symbolically offered incense to Caesar by voting for such present leaders, were
either ignorant (and ignorance, unlike stupidity, can be cured) or selfish in
placing material considerations above moral standards. But they certainly have
got the government they deserve.
According
to tradition, when Trajan was en route to Armenia, he stopped in Antioch where
the bishop Ignatius was brought before him. The emperor was perplexed that such
a gentle man would not water down his faith in order to cooperate with the
state. Before arriving in Rome where he was tossed to the lions, Ignatius wrote
to the Christians in Ephesus: “Do not err, my brethren. Those that corrupt families
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If, then, those who do this as respects
the flesh have suffered death, how much more shall this be the case with anyone
who corrupts by wicked doctrine the faith of God, for which Jesus Christ was
crucified! Such a one becoming defiled {in this way}, shall go away into
everlasting fire and so shall every one that hearkens unto him.”
St.
Ignatius was second in succession to St. Peter as bishop of Antioch. He was a
student of Christ's most beloved apostle John. So what Ignatius wrote pulses
with the authority Christ gave to Peter and the heart John could hear beating
at the Last Supper.
Fr. George W. Rutler is pastor of the Church of St. Michael in New York City
No comments:
Post a Comment