* Subsequently, from Origen onwards, upon the ascetics as the real soldiers of God, and later still upon the monks. Pacho- mius, one of the founders of Egyptian monasticism. had been a soldier under Constantine, just as Loyola had been a Spanish officer before he founded the Jesuit order in the 16th century.
WAR
WAR
G57
surjgestiveness of ahsolute devotion that certuinly helped to popularize it {of., e.ff,, Tertnlliim, Je Spcct(frvlis-j 24). Tlie troops swore individually to ooey their jreneral's orders to the letter, never to desert, and always to he ready to face death un- Hinoliinj^Iy for the Konmn State. When tlie Christian answered the questions put at baptism, he assumed as real resjmnsihilities and pledged himself to an equally heroic allej^iance (see E. De- backer, in Mvsf^c Uclgique, 1909, pp. 147-155). So with statiOy which meant outpost or picket duty, when soldiers had to keep awake and do witliout food, a more dangerous, trying, and responsible ]HJsition than that of the ordinary sentries of the camp. Stat'wnarii was one of tiie military mela- l)liors adojited by Judaism even. But hy the middle of the 2nd cent. (Herm. Sim. v. \)stafio had begun its long career in the Christian vocabulary as a technical term for fasting and vigils, since fasts, as Ambrose {Sertn. 25) afterwards explained, * protect us from attacks of the devil ; in fact, they are called staiioncs because by standing {stantcs) and staj'ing in tiiem we repel the foes who plot against lis.' In Tertullian this niilitary vocabu- lary * is already rooted and thriving; in Cyi)rian it is full-blown — especially the idea (see above, p. 656) that Christians are fighting for their faitli \inder the General's eye {e.g.^ Kp. x. 2, Iviii. 4, Ix. 2, Ixxvi. 4). The bishops and clergy are the officers, the laity are tlie rank and file of the Ciiristian army. On stado, Cyprian observes {de (/rat. 19) that the term *is derived from the model of war — for we are God's army (nam et militia Dei sumiis),' and {de Jepiniv^, 10) ' sohliers, though ever mindful of their military oath {sacra- 7nejifi), are still more true to their outpost duties (stationibus).*
How far the term * soldier of Christ' had become current even before Tertullian may be fathered from the Acta PnuH {DAC\. 32). The presbv-ter of Asia Minor who composed this religious historical novel tells, in the section of the ' Mart\ rdoni ' (cf. L; Vouaux, Les Actes de Paul, Paris, 1913, p. 278 L). how Nero's cupbearer Patroclus confessed that he liad been raised from the dead by * Christ Jesus, the king of ages,' after fallint,' hke Eutychus (Ac 20^"-) from a height. ' The CEesar answered (Ta/>a\0ei9) wocfully, "Then he is to rule the ages and destroy all kingdoms?'* Patroclus tells him, "Yes, he destroys all kingdoms and he will live alone for ever, and not a kingdom will escape him." Nero then struck him on the face and said, *'Soyou fight for (o-rpaTeuTj) this king, Patroclus, even you?" "Yes, lord Ca;sar," he replied, "he raised me from the dead." Then Barsabas Justus the flat-footed, and Urion the fapjia- docian, and Festns of Galatia, Nero's chief men, said, " We tight also for him, for the king of ages." So Nero imprisoned them, inflicting fearful torture on them of whom he had been extremely fond, and ordered the soldiers of the great King to be sought out' (2). When St. Paul appears, he declares, 'Caesar, we gain recruits not only from your command but from the whole world. Our orders are to refuse no one who will fight for my king.' wiien the guard offers lo let St. Paul go, instead of killing him, he declines: ' I ant not a run-away (SpaneTT)^) from Christ, but a loyal (twofio^) soldier of the living God * (4). Finally St. Paul aiil>ears after death ((i) to Nero, saying, ' Ciesar, here is I'aul the .soldier of God. I am not dead but alive,' and threatening the emperor with doom. This illustrates the semi-political tinge of eschatology (see above, p. 653) and it brings out afresli the martyr-application to which reference has been already made. 'The noble army of martyrs* is an English misrepresentation of the original 'martyrum candidatus exercitus ' in the 4th cent, liymn of praise, but ' noble ' answers to the feelings of the early Church towards those faithful sokiiers of Christ. A &th cent. hymn, attributed to Ambrose, hails them as ' Ecclesiarum prinoipes.
Belli triumphalesducea,
Coelestis aulae militeB.*
* The figurative element in the 2nd cent. Odes of Solomon (cf. E. A. Abbott, Lifjht on the Gospel from an Ancient Poet, Cambridge, 1912. p. :i819 f.), so far as it is really figurative, is for the most part messianic and moulded upon OT patterns. It should not he forgotten that militia had been already used melTiphoricallv of sports and exercises which involved exposure and hard work, as in Hor. Sat. n. 2. 10. But even here it retained its military associations of severity and discipline ; it was the antithesis of all that was soft and effeminate. Later on, the term lost even this connotation and was ajiplied gener- ally to the imperial service, civil as well as military. Hence the metaphorical use of * secular militia ' (Vincent of Lerins, Common, i. ; Jer. Ep. lii. 1). VOL. 11. — 42