Dogmatic Inscriptions

DOGMATIC INSCRIPTIONS. - Epigraphic material can greatly benefit the knowledge of the life and thought of the ancient Christians, especially with regard to religious beliefs and dogmas properly so called. In this respect epigraphy is much more eloquent and explicit than the other archaeological sciences, for example, than iconography. But anyone would be mistaken who, following the idea of the old archaeologists, believed he could reconstruct a true archaeological dogmatics. Those who dictated the early Christian inscriptions had no intention at all of enclosing in them a summary of Christian doctrine, nor did they even have the occasion to do so; therefore it would be a waste of time to go looking to them for what they did not mean to give us. Nevertheless it cannot be denied that the whole of Christian epigraphy marks an entirely new world of feelings and ideas in comparison with the old pagan world, and even for the Protestants of the 16th century, especially for the harsher aspects of that movement, such as the Calvinist and the Anabaptist, contact with the world of the catacombs must have produced the confused feeling of a religious life too different from the one they claimed to establish precisely by appealing to the origins.

The unity of God was a settled belief for Christians, and it is therefore rare to see it affirmed on tombstones, as in Cassus Vitalio... qui in una Deu crededit, in pace (Diehl, no. 1596). Only in Syria and Egypt is the acclamation εἰς θεός frequent, often with the addition ὁ βοηθών, sometimes with others such as μύνος, ὁ ζῶν and the like (E. Peterson, ΕΙΣ ΘΕΟΣ, Epigraphische Untersuchungen, Göttingen 1926). The context clearly indicates its monotheistic sense, although it is an adaptation of a similar formula used by pagans, especially in honor of Serapis, with a henotheistic sense. Also not rare are professions of faith in the Most Holy Trinity, whether in the individual persons, as in all three together, for example, the inscription of the little temple of Clitunno which highlights their specific activity, sanctus deus angelorum qui fecit resurrectionem, sanctus deus profetarum qui fecit redemptionem, sanctus deus apostolorum qui fecit remissionem (Diehl, no. 1606) and that beautiful one of Emmaus ἐν ὀνόματι Πατρὸς καὶ Τίοῦ καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, καλή ἡ πόλις χριστιανῶν (Revue biblique, 10 [1913], p. 100). Of Jesus are celebrated countless times both his divinity and his messiahship and the other major attributes, as in the famous monogram Ἰησοῦς Χριστοῦς Θ(εοῦ) Τ(ιὸς) Σ(ωτὴρ) and in the beautiful inscription recently removed from the Roman catacomb of Priscilla Ἐρμάννη γλῶτι[τέστην]... ἐν Θεῷ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦς Ἰαπλε[τ] (Riv. di arch. crist., 21 [1915], p. 168). In the inscription that Pope Damasus dedicated in honor of the martyrs Felix and Philip also in Priscilla, a good part of the Christological creed recurs in verse: qui natum passumque deum repetitus paternas[ sedes atque iterum venturum ex aethere credit, iudicet ut vivos redibus pariterque sepultos, martyribus sanctis pateat quod regia caeli[ respicit interior (A. Ferrua, Epigrammata Damasiana, Rome 1942, no. 39); in an inscription from Pannonia (CIL, III, 13382) the most ancient example of Jesus proclaimed φῶς and ζωή has recently been recognized. The dogmas most frequently affirmed in the inscriptions are those concerning the last things. First of all the hope
in the Resurrection of the bodies, expressed, for example, in various epitaphs
from Vienne (in France) with the clause resurrecturus in
Christo, cum sanctis, cum dies domini advenereit (Diehl,
nos. 3468 A-4375), in that most beautiful one of the deacon Severus: corpus pace quietum/ hic est sepultum donec resurgat
ab ipso, / qui animam rapuit Spiritu Sancto suo/ quamque
iterum dominus spiritali gloria reddet (Diehl, no. 3458);
and Pope Damasus in his own epitaph does nothing but enumerate some marvels wrought by the Lord in order to conclude post cineres Damasum faciet quia surgere credo (A.
Ferrua, op. cit., no. 12). While the souls of the just
await being reunited with their bodies in the final
Resurrection, are they already admitted into Paradise or detained in a
kind of limbo? In ecclesiastical writers one notices
a grave uncertainty on this point; but epigraphy demonstrates that the mass of the faithful held to immediate
reward. They always speak of their dead as if
they were already blessed or were soon to become so in Deo,
ad Deum, in Christo, apud Deum, like Junius Bassus
prefect of Rome in 359 who neofitus iit ad Deum, and to
a certain Gentianus fidelis it is said roges pro nobis quia scimus
te in Christo (Diehl, nos. 90 and 2350). Of simple faithful
one speaks as of the martyrs, to whom all granted the immediate beatific vision, whence they are said to live with the saints, to
be in the regia caeli, to enjoy praemia lucis, to have arrived at
heaven, at the heavenly kingdoms, or, as Damasus says of his father,
non timni mortem caelos quod liber adiret (A. Ferrua, op. cit.,
no. 11), and of this sojourn such descriptions are sometimes given that they cannot apply only to limbo. On the occasion
of the dead, belief in the communion of saints and in the efficacy of intercessory prayers is repeatedly expressed. Prayers
are asked of the deceased before God and
God and the holy martyrs are prayed to for them and for oneself; for example:
Vincentia in Christo; petas pro Phoebe et pro virginio
eius (Diehl, no. 2336); domina Bassilla commendamus tibi
Crescentinus et Micina filia nostra (Diehl, no. 2379) and
a deceased woman of the cemetery of Priscilla left written: vos
precor, o fratres, orare hoc quando venitis/ et precibus
totis Patrem Natumque rogatis,/ sit vestrae mentis Agapes
carae meminisse, /ut Deus omnipotens Agapeu in succula
servet (Diehl, no. 2392). Examples of prayers to the holy mar-tyrs, of trust in their intercession, in nearness
to their relics, have been gathered in very great number by Fr. Delehaye
(Les origines du culte des martyrs, 2nd ed., Brussels 1933,
pp. 100-40; cf. also Diehl, nos. 2323-82 and 2126-87).

From these same texts and others similar there is likewise illustrated
the very lively cult shown by the faithful toward the holy mar-tyrs and their relics, and also toward the angels. In particular epigraphy also comments for us on the use of medals,
of little crosses, of reliquaries worn on the person. For the
cult of the angels, a long inscription from the theatre of Miletus
with prayers to the seven archangels and the clause ἀρχάγγελοι φυλάσσετε ἡ πόλις
Μιλισίων καὶ πάντες οἱ κατ[ο]κοντες, and the many
funerary inscriptions of the island of Thera, each dedicated to
an angel, are greatly indicative (A. Ferrua, Gli angeli di Tera, in Orient. Christ.
periodica, 13 [1943], pp. 149-67).

Innumerable texts illustrate for us the constitution of the
Church. The epitaph of Abercius (v.) attests to us its unity
in its diffusion with the same faith and the same Eucharist, and the incomparable pre-eminence of the Roman See;
the divine fruitfulness of the Ecclesia mater is thus expressed by
the inscription of the Lateran Baptistery: virgineo faetu genetrix Ecclesia natos, quos spirante Deo concipit amne parit
(Diehl, nos. 1513 and 1582); it is founded on St. Peter, to whom
dominus legem dat, as once to Moses on Sinai, and the supreme
power of the keys, thus illustrated in an epigraph by the
bishop Spes of Spoleto: solve iubente Deo terrarum
Petre catenae/ qui facis ut pateant caelestia regna beatis
(G. B. De Rossi, Inscr. Christ., II, Rome 1888, p. 80,
no. 12), and in another from the basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls:
ianitor hic caeli est, fidei petra, culmen honoris (Diehl,
no. 1761). The coming and death of St. Peter in Rome has still
been confirmed recently by the graffiti brought to light
beneath the basilica of St. Sebastian and by the Vatican discoveries.
The ecclesiastical hierarchy appears in epigraphy in all
its grades from the most ancient age, even in the lower
ones of the Minor Orders and in certain feminine offices,
such as those of deaconesses (Diehl, nos. 951-1326; C. Kaufmann, Handbuch der altchristlichen Epigraphik, Freiburg
in Br. 1917, pp. 233-94); the same may be said of monastic
institutions, male and female, and of the higher grade
of the virgines consecratae.

But perhaps the dogmas most often professed in the
inscriptions, after the last things, are the Sacraments, in
particular that of Baptism. Of the Eucharist there are
eloquent testimonies both on the epitaph of
Abercius, already cited, and in that of Pectorius of
Autun (M. Guarducci, L'iscrizione di Pettorio, in
Rend. Pont. Acc. di arch., 23 [1947-48]) and even more
in an epigraph now affixed to the ceiling of the crypt
of St. Lawrence: verus in altari cruor est vinum(que)
videtur (in Nuovo Bull. di arch. christ., 17 [1921],
p. 106). Baptism is very often mentioned with
the formulas accipere, consequi, percipere Dei gratiam
and others most varied, more proper to the ceremony.
From them one learns the custom of baptizing children
at a tender age and that of having oneself baptized as an adult on one's
deathbed, coexisting throughout antiquity. Thus
Junius Bassus in ipsa praefectura urbi neofitus iit
ad Deum, and the little boy Maurus annorum quinque...
bimus trimus consecutus est P (Diehl, nos. 9 and 1527).
Baptism was especially considered an illumination, whence those who in Latin were for the most
part called neophyti, in Greek were called νεοφώ-
τιστοι. Several inscriptions placed in the baptisteries
describe admirably the theology and the effects of
Baptism. That already cited of the Lateran Baptistery (Diehl, no. 1513) is certainly the most eloquent, and
thus it expresses itself on original sin: insons esse
volens isto mundare lavacro/seu patrio premeris crimine seu proprio. Confirmation is often mentioned
with Baptism, with which it was received, and is called
signum Christi, σφραγίς, consignaris, σφραγοθῆναι.
A certain Picentia Legitima glories in having been con-signed by Pope Liberius; of Julius Catervius ex praefecto praetorio and his wife Severina it is said quos
Dei sacerdos Probianus lavit et unxit (Diehl, nos. 965 and 98) and Marea, the vicar of Pope Vigilius, is called assertor of the initerability of the Sacrament, tuque sacerdotes docuisti crismate sancto/ tangere bis nullum
indice posse Deo (Diehl, no. 989). Of Penance
and Extreme Unction there are only rare and late ment-ions; of Order we have spoken in treating of the hierarchy;
Matrimony as a sacrament has few but interesting epigraphic
testimonies, such as that for the aforesaid spouses Catervius and Severina: « quos paribus meritis iunxit matrimonio dulci/ omnipotens dominus, tumulum custodit in aevium.

A certain dogmatic interest
is also had by the inscriptions in which a profession of heresy is made. Of these a certain
number have appeared in Africa
(Donatists and Montanists), Rome (Gnostics and Montanists),
Asia Minor (Novatianists), Syria
(Monophysites).

Antonio Ferrua