The Apostolic Fathers · AD 70–130 · External witness

Pliny the Younger

c. 61 – c. 113 · Governor of Bithynia · Correspondent of Trajan on the Christians · Bithynia-Pontus

External witness

Pliny the Younger — historical depiction 1 — Pliny the YoungerDaniela Manili Pessina · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons

Who Pliny the Younger was

Imperial legate of Bithynia-Pontus, whose letter to Trajan around 112 is the earliest surviving pagan administrative account of dealing with Christians. Uncertain how to proceed, he described his procedure — executing the obstinate, releasing those who cursed Christ and worshipped the emperor’s image — and reported what he had learned under torture from two deaconesses: that the Christians met before dawn “to sing a hymn to Christ as to a god,” and bound themselves by oath not to theft, adultery, or breach of faith. Tertullian and later Eusebius seized on the exchange; it remains the state’s first written notice of the church as a problem of governance rather than a rumour.

Also listed in non-christian witnesses.

Common questions

When did Pliny live?

Pliny the Younger is dated c. 61 – c. 113 in the archive, which places Pliny in the Apostolic Fathers (AD 70–130). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

What did Pliny write?

Pliny the Younger has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Letter X.96 — the file on the Christians.

Which early sources mention Pliny?

Pliny the Younger is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Pliny the Younger and Tertullian of Carthage. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Pliny from?

The archive associates Pliny the Younger with Bithynia-Pontus.

Writings (1)

Letter X.96 — the file on the Christians

c. AD 112

They affirmed the whole of their guilt was that they met on a stated day before it was light, and sang responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god… I therefore postponed the trials and hastened to consult you.

Earliest witness · Book X tradition (from the lost Parisinus) (ancient codex, lost after 1508)

Read the interlinear source text →

Primary-source mentions (2)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Letters X.96 (to Trajan)

c. AD 112

They were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by an oath, not for any crime, but to commit no theft, robbery, or adultery.

Pliny the Younger · X.96 · source text

Apology 2 (his letter turned against the persecutors)

c. AD 197

Plinius Secundus, when governing his province, having condemned certain Christians and driven some from their post, was still annoyed by their great numbers, and at last consulted Trajan the emperor what he was to do.