w between the ^vears c. 212-216 A.D. we find Alexander, bishop tt Jerusalem, wnting to the Antinoites and exhorting them to
I
the Great — has given in his letters a vivid picture of the Alexandrian Church of his time, but has told us little of the rest of Egypt. In his day no imperial edict was needed to start a persecution of Christians (A.D. 21'J). A large part of the popula- tion of Alexandria was still pagan, and only needed a leader to revive ' their native superstition ' (ttjk iirix^piov Sadioaiixoviav). When the Decian persecu- tion (A.D. 250) broke out, he specially mentions four 'Egyptians' as among the sull'erers.a The persecution was not confined to Alexandria, but many others ' in cities and villages ' were martyred, and the bishop of Nilus (in Middle Egj'pt) fled from his see.;3 Coptic traditions of this persecu- tion are scanty, 7 and we do not precisely know how far it extended. We find the same bishop WTiting letters to the brethren in Egypt S and to Egyptian bishops.e He also went to the FayHni district. Here the teaching of Nepos, an Egyp- tian bishop (^Trifl-KOTTos ruv kclt AtyvTrrov), had for a long time prevailed, so that ' schisms and defec- tions of whole churches had taken place.' Diony- sius therefore called together ' the presbyters and teachers of the brethren in the villages,' and discussed their dilliculties with them for three successive days.f We cannot gather, from any letters of his which have come down to us, in- formation regarding Christianity farther south. We have to wait for such information till the beginning of the next cent. In the latter part of the Diocletian persecution Eusebius in person visited the Thebaid. He was an eye-witne.ss of the massacres, and of the fanatical enthusiasm of many of the martyrs. The persecution continued, ' not for a few days or for a short time, but for a long period of whole years ' {ivl ixaKpbv 5\av H-Civ SiddT-qiia). Most of the sufferers apparently be- longed to the lower classes of society, but there were some of high birth and distinction.?; Many bisliops suffered for the faith, 0 but Eusebius does not s;iy whether any of them came from the south. He has described the .suflerings of the rest of the Egyptian Church in Egypt itself 1 and elsewhere ;« and lias preserved an account by an eyewitness of the persecution in Alexandria.X But when we bring together all the historian's statements, it is singularly difiicult to determine how far they imply the existence of a widespread native Chris- tianity. We can only conjecture that amongst the numerous martyrs some of those in a lower station of life were natives. A century had pa.ssed since the bishop of Jerusalem wrote to the Greek- speaking population of the capital of the Thebaid.^ In the meantime the Christians in that town may have done good work amongst the ' barbarians,' even if they had not attempted such work at first, be of one mind (i/xe^ptt^rat). See Kus. II E, vi. 11, In the next century a bishop of Antlnoe was present at the Council of Nicsa (Zoega, op. cit. p. 244).
« Dion. ap. Eus. Z/c, vi. 41. Their names were Heron, Ater, Isidore, ana Nemcsion. Dlon.vsius seems to imply that most of the others at Alexandria were Greeks. Argiinients cannot l>e safely based on the absence of EgjTitian names. Thus we have in tlie FayOm a son of Satabus bearing a I.atin and Greek name * Aurelius Diogenes.' See Benson, Cyprian, Appendix B, p. 542.
0 IMon. ap. Ens. HE, vi. 42.
>• Sec Am61. Actee dee if. pp. 14-17. 'Matm'(p. IS) is prob- ably the same as 'Metros,' who sudered the yeiir liefore the Dei-ian pcrtiecution (Eus. HE, vi. 41). See also Malan, Calentiar Qjf the Coptic Church, p. 10.
) Eus. HE, vi. 46, vii. 22.
■ The bishop of UermopoUs (tL 46), BieiKZ, an Egyptian blshoj)(vii. 21).
C 11 E, vii. 24.
^ HE, viii. 9.
e HE, viil. 9, 13, Ix. 8 ; De Mart. Pal. 13. We gatlier from Epiphanius, H<rr. Ixviil. 8 {PO, xlii. 197), that I'otamo of tier- aclea lost an eye in the persenitinn.
. ///•;. viii. 8. 8, 13, ix. 11 ; Dc Mart. Pal. 8, IS.
* HE, viii. 6f.; De Marl. Pal. 8, in, 13.
X I'hileas, an. Eus. HE, viil. 10. The occount of Phileas' OWB trial is given by Kuinart, Ad. Sine. 2ud ud. p. 494 fl.
ft Eus. HE, vi. 11.
672
EGYPTIAN VERSIONS
EGYPTIAN VERSIONS
The Oojitic accounts of this persecution were writtfn at a later date, and are disfigured by legendary additions. Yet the traditions of mar- tyrdoms having taken place in the towns lying between Antinoe and Latopoliso must have some historical foundation. They point to the fact that the persecution was particularly severe in the south. Many of the martyrs bear Greek names, and are connected with the army.jS Com- paratively few bishops are mentioned. 7 Diocle- tian is hated with a wild, unreasoning hatred, due no doubt in part to political considerations. A religion must nave gained in popularity among the fanatical, disorderly natives of Upper Egypt, simply because Diocletian and the Government were opposed to it. In fact we find, as we study these Coptic traditions, that however much the new religion had already appealed to the natives, a fresh era began with Diocletian, 5 and Chris- tianity became, in a fuller sense than ever before, the reli^ou of the people. Hatred of Dio- cletian, the faith of the martyrs, the sufferings which they endured, all contributed to this result. The consequence was that, when the persecution was over, ' the repentance of the heathen [tuv i0yQi/) was multiplied in the Church, the bishops leading the way unto God, according to the teaching of the apostles.' t