Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

MrMacSon wrote:This suggests a pre-Christian use of Chrestus, & possibly a pre Jesus-the-Christ use.

Clive wrote:There seem to be huge reactions to the heresy of asking how many christs. I might have worked out why!

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Based on a reassessment of primary documents from the beginning of Judaism through to the Reformation, The Great Leap-Fraud evaluates the Judaic scriptures of the Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims for their potential to stir hatred, violence, and terrorism. It searches for messages in the scriptures that may alter the economic behavior of societies.

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Chrestos in Pagan Antiquity

In reality, the term "Chrestos" or χρηστὸς has been used in association with a plethora of people and gods, beginning centuries before the common era. Chrestos and its plural chrestoi were utilized to describe deities, oracles, philosophers, priests, oligarchs, "valuable citizens," slaves, heroes, the deceased and others. Importantly, chrestos appears to have been the title of "perfected saints" in various mystery schools or brotherhoods, associated with oracular activity in particular.

This word χρηστός or chrestos appears in ancient Greek sources such as those of playwright Sophocles (497/6-406/5 BCE), who discusses ὁ χρηστὸς, "the good man," in Antigone (520). Also composed during the fifth century BCE and containing numerous instances of chrestos are playwright Euripides's works Heraclidae, Hecuba, Troiades and Iphigenia. Other ancient writers such as Herodotus, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Xenophon, Pseudo-Xenophon, Plato, Isocrates, Aeschines, Demosthenes, Plutarch and Appian likewise use this term chrestos or "good," sometimes quite often. In an anonymous tract discovered among the possessions of historian Xenophon (c. 430–354), the "Old Oligarch," modernly styled Pseudo-Xenophon (fl. c. 425), contrasts "the good man" (chrestos) with "the wicked man" (poneros), a common juxtaposition throughout classical antiquity that found its way into the New Testament as well (e.g., Lk 6:35).

Socrates the Chrestos

The fact that Plato (424/423-348/347 BCE) frequently mentions "the good" (χρηστὸς) when discussing various figures (e.g., Plat. Rep. 5.479a) serves as an indication of the word's importance among philosophers and religionists. This association is especially germane considering the exalted place afforded Plato among spiritual seekers for centuries into the common era, including many Christians and assorted "Neoplatonists." Indeed, Plato (Theaetetus 166.a.2) uses the word to describe famed philosopher Socrates: ὁ Σωκράτης ὁ χρηστός - "Socrates the Christ / the Good."


The term continued to be used throughout classical antiquity, into the common era. Indeed, the Greek historian Plutarch (c. 46-120 AD/CE), writing precisely at the time when the Christian effort begins to become noticeable, uses the word χρηστός chrestos numerous times, including to describe Alexander the Great (Alex. 30.3), illustrating the term's ongoing or increased currency at this time.

There are also many uses of the plural word χρηστοί or chrestoi in ancient writings, such as in Euripides, Aristophanes, Thucydides, Isocrates, Plato and numerous times in Xenophon. What we discover, then, is a slew of chrests in ancient, pre-Christian literature, including as concerns the biblical god, as we will see below. We also find repeated references to chrests in the writings of early Church fathers, such as Clement Alexandrinus (Strom. 2), Gregorius Nazianzenus, Athanasius, and especially Cyrillus Alexandrinus and Joannes Chrysostomus.

Chrestos in Religion and Spirituality

The term χρηστός (chrestos) was utilized not only in secular situations but also within ancient religion, philosophy, spirituality and the all-important mysteries, which concerned life and death, including near-death experiences and afterlife traditions. "Chrestos" was one of the titles for the dead in tomb writings "of the Greeks in all ages, pre-Christian as well as post-Christian.1" Examples of these epithets can be studied in August Boeckh's Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum. We read elsewhere that the epithet "Chrestos" appears commonly on the epitaphs of most citizens of Larissa, Greece, specifically in the form of chrestos heros , this latter term meaning "hero" and "demigod." The Greek word chrestos was popular also as an epithet or on epitaphs at various Egyptian funerary sites as at Alexandria and elsewhere.

Chrestos heros in an inscription from Delphi, Greece.

http://www.truthbeknown.com/suetoniuschresto.html

1 James Barr Mitchell Chrestos: a religious epithet; its import and influence. Williams and Norgate, 1880

Clive wrote:This raises an interesting question, what precisely might all the references to chrest, christ, christian, chrestian actually be referring to?

• We have now seen what events transpired in the churches during the reign of Constantine.
  On his death the doctrine which had been set forth at Nicæa, was subjected to renewed examination.
  Although this doctrine was not universally approved, no one, during the life of Constantine, had dared to reject it openly.
  At his death, however, many renounced this opinion, especially those who had previously been suspected of treachery.
  

Leucius Charinus wrote:

MrMacSon wrote:This suggests a pre-Christian use of Chrestus, & possibly a pre Jesus-the-Christ use.

Pre-Christian evidence of the chi-rho on coins appears for the first time in the third century BCE on a Greek bronze of Ptolemy III (246–222 BCE).

von Reden 2007, p. 69: "The chi-rho series of Euergetes' reign had been the most extensive series of bronze coins ever minted, comprising eight denominations from 1 chalkous to 4 obols."

Clive wrote:

von Reden 2007, p. 69: "The chi-rho series of Euergetes' reign had been the most extensive series of bronze coins ever minted, comprising eight denominations from 1 chalkous to 4 obols."

From the wiki article