Father Hegesippus - A Religion Essay Example

St. Hegesippus lived during the 2nd century. He was believed to be Jewish convert who joined the church of Jerusalem. Not much is known about the exact date of his birth and death. But much has been given about his history and works. His entire life is characterized by his will to visit essential churches as he traveled to Rome. He is then believed to have lived in Rome for more than 20 years before moving back to Jerusalem where he lived to his death in the year 180(the life of primitive fathers, 75). His know writing was the history of the church which was named memoirs.

During his time, the church in Rome was composed of pure bishops who came from the decent of the lord. Symeon was the bishop duly elected because he had descended from the lord's family. But there was already a line of people who were preaching false messages of the church because the witnesses of the lord were all dead.

During Hegesippus time, persecutions were taking place but in fewer occurrence and they only happened within the walls of Rome. Many events have taken place and led to abuse for Christian, but this is said to have mostly affected the Christian leaders and the firm believers. Emperor Diocletian is the one who recorded the highest label of persecutions. Having served during the third and the fourth century, he was responsible for multiple bloodsheds by Christians in Rome.

Hegesippus cannot be said to have died as a martyr. From several histories given about his death. Most of the writers argue that he died during the 180 (the life of primitive fathers, 75) year during Christ time. There is no claim of whether he was persecuted before his death. He lived a better part of his life visiting churches and gathering necessary information about all the churches. His primary concern was the status of the then religion and faith. Lucky enough, he never went through any brutality from the Roman emperor and completed his journey to and from successfully. His death and the cause of the same is not explained in details This, therefore, convinces me that Hegesippus never died as a martyr.

His principal contributions were the history concerning the traditions of the apostolic preaching. He was also vocal in excommunication Marcion, who was editing the Bible and developing the New Testament by publishing his list of the same and removing some books. Hegesippus was opposed to this idea and wanted the church to remain pure. He also provided a list of the early bishops. In his writings, Hegesippus affirmed that all the churches he had visited were not affected by the changes made by Marcion and he confirmed that all the traditions were followed to the later.

In conclusion, we can ascertain that St. Hegesippus had a significant contribution to the church both in his time and in the current days. Having been among the people who were against the change of the Bible by Marcion. We now enjoy the original scriptures of the bible. The information in the biblical is preserved up to date with no any attempt to change or delete some text. He also has given a clear history of the life after the death of Christ and the history of the church. The list of bishops and the succession after Christ to his time.

Work cited

Lives of the Saints. Saint Hegesippus: a primitive father of the church. Retrieved January 28, 2018, from http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_hegesippus.html

Prof. John P. Adams, Modern, and Classical Languages and Literature. EUSEBIUS AND THE EARLY CHURCH. Retrieved January 28, 2018, from https://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/euseb_ch.html

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