How Irenaeus Life as an Imperial Courtier Transformed the Gospel

I have a very different understanding of the way the Catholic tradition got its start than most people. Most scholars just read the book that Irenaeus puts under our nose - the Acts of the Apostles - and assume that you can draw a straight line from the 'golden age' of Christianity to Irenaeus through Polycarp and John.

Yet I am far more skeptical than most scholars that Irenaeus really knew Polycarp or was faithful to his tradition. I don't believe for a minute that Polycarp ever met John the beloved disciple of Jesus.

What I am sure however is that Polycarp initiated the art of Christian ass-kissing - i.e. the flattery, hypocrisy etc. which led Christians to make their way into the court of the wicked Emperor Commodus.

If you follow my advice and read the Martyrdom of Polycarp AND the Passing of Peregrinus as two reports on the same historical event you can see Polycarp doing his best to win the richest man in the world at that time - Herod Atticus. If you follow Charles Hill's argument then Polycarp was the author of the Epistle to Diognetus then parts of Lucian of Samosata's caricature start to even make more sense especially the development of Christianity into a philosophical 'moral teaching' perfectly suited at court.

All of which leads us to the next generation where Irenaeus and Florinus two students of Polycarp end up in the Imperial court of Commodus. I find it very peculiar that when Irenaeus remembers the 'good old days' when he and Florinus were learning from their master the context too is clearly a 'court':

These opinions, Florinus, that I may speak in mild terms, are not of sound doctrine; these opinions are not consonant to the Church, and involve their votaries in the utmost impiety; these opinions, even the heretics beyond the Church's pale have never ventured to broach; these opinions, those presbyters who preceded us, and who were conversant with the apostles, did not hand down to you. For, while I was yet a boy, I saw you in Lower Asia with Polycarp, distinguishing yourself in the royal court, and endeavouring to gain his approbation.

There has always been a question as to whether or not 'royal court' was meant to be taken in a figurative sense. I think the evidence now makes certain that Irenaeus was writing about an actual royal court that Polycarp had managed to secure a place for himself. It is difficult to say how Irenaeus and Florinus ended up there. Irenaeus only says that he was very young.

Clearly though one can see that Irenaeus is responding to an original jab by Florinus that Irenaeus is NOW a successful courtier. Irenaeus in turn says 'I saw you doing the same thing a generation ago in the presence of Polycarp.'

By the late second and early third century that the Catholic tradition actively sought out rich patrons to assist in the growth of the Church. Irenaeus' relationship with the court of Commodus was only the most successful example of a general pattern.

I just wonder whether the existing texts of Matthew were deliberately developed to encourage the courting of the best members of society. We read Jesus instruct his disciples to walk around like beggars and

And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is axios; and there abide till ye go thence.

Indeed the idea in the original Catholic gospel is that you are supposed to stay there until you are thrown out and then curse the house for throwing you on your ass:

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your sayings, when ye go out from that house, or from that village, shake off the dust that is under your feet against them for a testimony. And verily I say unto you, To the land of Sodom and Gomorrah there shall be rest in the day of judgement, rather than to that city.

The reader should compare also Luke 10:7 command "And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house."

The Marcionites of course looked just as much like Cynic philosophers as Polycarp. They were often confused for adherents of Diogenes. Yet there is no reference to this business about seeking out houses of 'rank' or 'position.'

When you look at the Pistis Sophia by contrast we see no reference at all to this sanctioning of ass kissing (my wife went to a Catholic school and tells me that the nuns always treated the rich families better than the not so rich families). We read instead:

And the Saviour answered and said unto John: "If ye come into a city or a village, where ye enter into the house and they receive you unto themselves, give them a mystery. If they are worthy, ye will win their souls and they will inherit the Light-kingdom; but if they are not worthy but are deceitful against you, and if they also make a show of the mysteries, making trial of you and also of the mysteries, then invoke. the first mystery of the First Mystery which hath mercy on every one, and say: Thou Mystery, which we have given unto these impious and iniquitous souls who have not done what is worthy of thy mystery but have made a show of us, turn back [then] the mystery unto us and make them for ever strangers to the mystery of thy kingdom. And shake ye off the dust of your feet as a witness against them, saying: May your souls be as the dust of your house. And amēn, I say unto you: In that hour all the mysteries which ye have given unto them, will return unto you, and all the words and all the mysteries of the region up to which they have received figures, will be taken from them.

A former saying explained."Concerning such men, therefore, have I aforetime spoken unto you in similitude, saying: 'Where ye enter into a house and are received, say unto them: Peace be with you. And if they are worthy, let your peace come upon them; and if they are not worthy, let your peace return unto you,'--that is: If those men do what is worthy of the mysteries and in truth long after God, give them the mysteries of the Light-kingdom; but if they play-act with you and are deceitful against you, without your having known it, and if ye give them the mysteries of the Light-kingdom, and again thereafter they make a show of the mysteries and they make also trial of you and also of the mysteries, then perform the first mystery of the First Mystery, and it will turn back unto you all the mysteries which ye have given unto them, and it will make them strangers to the mysteries of the Light for ever. [Pistis Sophia Book 3 Chapter 107]

The reader has to see now that the Pistis Sophia preserves the original gospel reading. There is no reference to seeking out notable men. There is also a clear sense that missionaries are supposed to move on before they get too familiar with their hosts. The Catholic gospel retains the original reading but surrounds it with enough bullshit that a successful courtier could support his living from the deliberate ambiguity.

So it is that I say to you my friends, the so-called heretics were closer to the original spirit of Christianity. Something sacred was compromised when the Catholoci were drinking from the trough of the Imperial treasury.

Ah but listen again to Irenaeus' attempt to excuse his Church's reaping of the benefits of generations of Imperial ass kissing:

God had not accorded this in the typical exodus, no one could now be saved in our true exodus; that is, in the faith in which we have been established, and by which we have been brought forth from among the number of the Gentiles. For in some cases there follows us a small, and in others a large amount of property, which we have acquired from the mammon of unrighteousness. For from what source do we derive the houses in which we dwell, the garments in which we are clothed, the vessels which we use, and everything else ministering to our every-day life, unless it be from those things which, when we were Gentiles, we acquired by avarice, or received them from our heathen parents, relations, or friends who unrighteously obtained them?--not to mention that even now we acquire such things when we are in the faith. For who is there that sells, and does not wish to make a profit from him who buys? Or who purchases anything, and does not wish to obtain good value from the seller? Or who is there that carries on a trade, and does not do so that he may obtain a livelihood thereby? And as to those believing ones who are in the royal palace, do they not derive the utensils they employ from the property which belongs to Caesar; and to those who have not, does not each one of these [Christians] give according to his ability? [Irenaeus Against the Heresies iv.30]

And they call me a conspiracy theorist. I am a realist. I happen to see what is written on the printed page and don't try to do everything in my power to make it go away. Apparently ignoring evidence is now accorded the status of 'good scholarship' ...