| Justin Martyr says, about the middle of the second century: There is no people, Greek or barbarian, or of any other race, by whatsoever appellation or manners they may be distinguished, however ignorant of arts or agriculture, whether they dwell in tents or wander about in covered wagons among whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered in the name of the crucified Jesus to the Father and Creator of all things. Half a century later, Tertullian addresses the heathen defiantly: We are but of yesterday, and yet we already fill your cities, islands, camps, your palace, senate and forum; we have left to you only your temples. These, and similar passages of Irenaeus and Arnobius, are evidently rhetorical exaggerations. Origen is more cautious and moderate in his statements. But it may be fairly asserted, that about the end of the third century the name of Christ was known, revered, and persecuted in every province and every city of the empire. Maximian, in one of his edicts, says that almost all had abandoned the worship of their ancestors for the new sect. | |
