In the rough-hewn verses of Commodian—North African clergyman, converted pagan, and poet of the common tongue—the voice of a fervent yet untutored faith speaks across the centuries. His lines lack the polish of classical form, yet they throb with moral urgency, apocalyptic expectation, and an unvarnished zeal for the conversion of Jew and Gentile alike. In his hands, Latin is already bending toward the Romance vernaculars, and Christian poetry is clothed in the homely garb of the marketplace.
Works and Editions
The two surviving works of Commodian are the Instructiones adversus Gentium Deos pro Christiana Disciplina and the Carmen Apologeticum adversus Judaeos et Gentes. The Instructiones were rediscovered by Sirmond and first edited by Rigault at Toul in 1650, later by Fr. Oehler in Gersdorf’s Bibliotheca Patrum Latinorum (vol. XVIII, Leipzig, 1847) and in Migne’s Patrologia Latina (vol. V, cols. 201–262). The Carmen Apologeticum was unearthed and published by Cardinal Pitra in the Spicilegium Solesmense (Paris, 1852; revised ed. 1858), with an improved text offered by Rönsch in the Zeitschrift für historische Theologie (1872). E. Ludwig’s Commodiani Carmina (Leipzig, 1877–1878) and B. Dombart’s Vienna edition brought both poems together. An English prose translation of the Instructiones was made by R. E. Wallis for the Edinburgh Ante-Nicene Library (vol. III, 1870).
Life and Character
Commodian was likely a clergyman in North Africa, converted from paganism through study of the Scriptures—especially the Old Testament. Some have speculated that he was a Jewish proselyte, but in his own prologue he confesses to former worship of the “vain gods” of heathendom. His learning and the clerical tone of his writings suggest ecclesiastical office, though he gives no direct claim to it. In the manuscripts of his second poem, he is called “bishop,” and in its closing section he names himself “Gazaeus”—perhaps figuratively, from gaza (treasure), signifying possession of the treasure of divine truth or dependence on the Church’s treasury.
Language, Style, and Theology
Writing about the middle of the third century, Commodian employed the vulgar African Latin of his day, crafting ungainly hexameters with little regard for classical quantity or euphony. Theologically, he was a Patripassian in Christology and a Chiliast in eschatology—positions that later led Pope Gelasius to relegate him to the apocryphal writers. Yet, under the superstitious elements and rough diction lies a devout, urgent, and pastorally concerned Christian spirit. His works are important both for the history of popular Christianity and for the development of post-classical Latin toward the vernacular idioms of medieval Europe.
The Instructiones
Composed around A.D. 240 or earlier, the Instructiones contain over twelve hundred verses divided into eighty strophes, each an acrostic whose initial letters spell the section’s title or theme. The first forty-five are apologetic, aimed at converting heathens (and Jews) through warnings of the imminent end of the world and descriptions of the Antichrist, the return of the Twelve Tribes, the first resurrection, the millennium, and the final judgment. The remaining thirty-five are parenetic, exhorting catechumens, believers, and penitents to steadfastness and repentance. The final acrostic, entitled “Nomen Gazaei,” when read backward, yields the author’s self-designation: Commodianus mendicus Christi—“Commodian, beggar of Christ.”
The Carmen Apologeticum
This second work, only recovered in the nineteenth century, was written around 249 and mirrors the first poem’s opening half in its urgent appeal for conversion before the swiftly approaching end. It consists of forty-seven sections in crude hexameter, discussing:
– The doctrine of God, humanity, and the Redeemer (vv. 89–275)
– The salvific meaning of the names “Son” and “Father” (vv. 276–573)
– The hindrances to Christianity’s spread (vv. 574–611)
– Warnings to Jews and Gentiles to abandon their religions (vv. 612–783)
– Eschatological visions of the last things (vv. 784–1053)
Eschatology and the Double Antichrist
The conclusion of the Carmen offers an expanded vision of the Antichrist. Commodian anticipates that the seventh persecution will usher in the end: the Goths will conquer Rome and deliver the Christians; then Nero will reappear as the heathen Antichrist, reclaim Rome, and persecute believers for three and a half years. He will in turn be defeated by a Jewish Antichrist from the East, who will burn Rome, return to Judea, work false miracles, and be worshipped by the Jews. Finally, Christ—whom Commodian identifies with God Himself, in line with his Monarchianism—will come with the lost Twelve Tribes from beyond Persia, overthrow Antichrist, convert the nations, and reign in Jerusalem. This concept of a dual Antichrist, drawn from the two beasts of Revelation and blending Jewish and pagan expectations, reappears later in Lactantius.
Significance
Although poetically unrefined and theologically eccentric, Commodian’s writings preserve a vivid portrait of third-century Christian imagination at the popular level. They reveal how apocalyptic expectation, moral exhortation, and the pastoral call to repentance could find voice in the idiom of the common people—marking a turning point in the long journey from classical to medieval Christian Latin.
