| HOME ARTICLES & COMMENTARY: TOC: The Rise of Church-State Alliances: Imperial Edicts & Church Councils between 306-565: Emperors Constantine through Justinian: The Rise of Protestant Alliances of Church and State: Martin Luther and the German Reformation The Rise of Protestant Alliances of Church and State: Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation The Constitution and the Commandments The Classical Temple Architecture of Washington, DC A History of Religious Tests: 312 to 1961 American Founders on Church-State Alliances The Bible and the Quran: A Scriptural Comparison Religion and Women's Suffrage Religious Tradition and Interracial Marriages The Slaves of Jefferson and Washington and the 1782 Virginia Law of Manumission Slavery and the Churches Gays & Social Conservatism as a Coercive Tool of the State Einstein's Religion The Changing Religious Identification of America Moral Hypocrisy in the Bible Belt Ring Species, Evolution and why Intelligent Design isn't science. Who am I : Why this project? : Contact me INFO & EYE OPENERS FROM OTHERS: Court Holdings on Church and State Historical Revisionism: On David Barton's Christian Nation Biblical Archeology Review Special: Captivity, Exodus, and Conquest Sexual Orientation in Nature The Biological Basis of Morality by Edward O. Wilson MEDUSA HEADWEAR  Buy High Quality PolarTech 200 Fleece Headwear From the Author | In February, 380, Theodosius and Gratian issued their decreed which legally sought to wipe out religious diversity and any religious liberty that remained. Recorded as Codex Theodosianus 16.1.2, the edict stated, "We desire that all peoples subject to Our benign Empire shall live under the same religion that the Divine Peter, the Apostle, gave to the Romans, and which the said religion declares was introduced by himself, and which it is well known that the Pontiff Damascus, and Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic sanctity, embraced; that is to say, in accordance with the rules of apostolic discipline and the evangelical doctrine, we should believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit constitute a single Deity, endowed with equal majesty, and united in the Holy Trinity." "We order all those who follow this law to assume the name of Catholic Christians, and considering others as demented and insane, we order that they shall bear the infamy of heresy; and when the Divine vengeance which they merit has been appeased, they shall afterwards be punished in accordance with Our resentment, which we have acquired from the judgment of Heaven. Dated at Thessalonica, on the third of the Kalends of March, during the Consulate of Gratian, Consul for the fifth time, and Theodosius. (Edict sourced from The Corpus Juris Civilis by S.P. Scott, A.M., 1932, Volume 12, p 9-12) Ten months later, in January 381, these same emperors issued another repressive decree (my italics for emphasis) in Constantinople designed to close the Arian churches and other Christian heretics and to stop their assemblies,: "Let no place be afforded to heretics for the conduct of their ceremonies, and let no occasion be offered for them to display the insanity of their obstinate minds. Let all persons know that if any privilege has been fraudulently obtained by means of any rescript whatsoever, by persons of this kind, it will not be valid. Let all bodies of heretics be prevented from holding unlawful assemblies, and let the name of the only and the greatest God be celebrated everywhere, and let the observance of the Nicene Creed, recently transmitted to Our ancestors, and firmly established by the testimony and practice of Divine Religion, always remain secure." "Moreover, he who is an adherent of the Nicene Faith, and a true believer in the Catholic religion, should be understood to be one who believes that Almighty God and Christ, the son of God, are one person, God of God, Light of Light; and let no one, by rejection, dishonor the Holy Spirit, whom we expect, and have received from the Supreme Parent of all things, in whom the sentiment of a pure and undefiled faith flourishes, as well as the belief in the undivided substance of a Holy Trinity, which true believers indicate by the Greek word These things, indeed do not require further proof, and should be respected." "Let those who do not accept those doctrines cease to apply the name of true religion to their fraudulent belief; and let them be branded with their open crimes, and, having been removed from the threshhold of all churches, be utterly excluded from them, as We forbid all heretics to hold unlawful assemblies within cities. If, however, any seditious outbreak should be attempted, We order them to be driven outside the the walls of the City, with relentless violence, and We direct that all Catholic Churches, throughout the entire world, shall be placed under the control of the orthodox bishops who have embraced the Nicene Creed." "Given at Constantinople, on the fourth of the ides of January, under the Consulate of Flavius Eucharius and Flavius Syagrius." During this time, Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, began a program of destroying all the temples and shrines in his area. The Christian clergy recruited mobs of fanatical followers who attacked the Temple of Demeter in Eleusis and attempted to murder its High Priests. It's Hierophant Nestorius proclaimed, as if predicting the coming long night, "mental darkness has now covered the human race". It is interesting that Nestorius actually predicted the so-called dark ages in his own way, seeing the end of religious diversity and open marketplaces of ideas as mental darkness. Deuteronomy 17:3-7: If anyone "...hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die." In 381, the second Ecumenical Council was convened in Constantinople (now Muslim Istanbul, Turkey). This council addressed the heresies of Appollinarianism and the Macedonian heresy. The Macedonian heresy didn't consider the Holy Spirit as part of the Godhead. The result was a rewording of the Nicene Creed that declared the Holy Spirit to be co-equal to and emanate from both the Father and the Son. In that same year, Theodosius issued an edict recorded as Codex Theodosianus 16.7.1 that made sure that if any Christian returned to being a Pagan they would pay a heavy price by losing their legal right to make a will: "The ability and right of making wills shall be taken from those who turn from Christians to pagans, and the testament of such an one, if he made any, shall be abrogated after his death." This kind of worldview is similar to that seen in radical Islam. Although nowhere in the Quran is apostacy punishable by death, Islamic clerics in Afghanistan recently (2006) called for the death of a Muslim that had converted to Christianity many years ago. Muslim conservatives use Hadiths to support their violent and intolerant attitudes much like Christian extremists have used the Old Testament to justify their draconian views regarding justice. Regardless of the Council of Nicea's attempts to wipe out Arianism, this Christian faith was still thriving in Constantinople in the 370s and 380s. Upon arriving in Constantinople, Theodosius began to persecute the Arians. The Arians, being in charge of the churches for the last forty years, were headed by the bishop Demophilus. According to Socrates in his Histories, Book 5, Chapter 7, In 380, Theodosius told Demophilus that he would be ordained in the reign of Theodosius only if he "assented to the Nicene Creed" in order to "make peace, effect a union, and enlarge the churches". Demophilus rejected the intimidation so Theodosius told him "Since you reject peace and harmony, I order you to quit the churches" . Theodosius then issued a decree in November of 380 and all Arian churches were confiscated and their meetings were banned. Gregory of Naziaznus, a leader of the Nicene community was given all the churches confiscated by Theodosius. The decree stated that the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity became the State Religion and all of his subjects must adhere to it. Sozomen in his Histories, Book 7, chapter 7, tells us that, "The emperor enacted a law, prohibiting heretics from holding churches, from giving public instructions in the faith, and from conferring ordination on bishops or others. Some of the heterodox were expelled from the cities and villages, while others were disgraced and deprived of the privileges enjoyed by other subjects of the empire. Great as were the punishments adjudged by the laws against heretics, they were not always carried into execution, for the emperor had no desire to persecute his subjects; he only desired to enforce uniformity of view about God through the medium of intimidation." The medium of intimidation! 2 Chronicles 34:24-25: "Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched." We must remember that Sozomen was not just an historian, he was also a Nicene propagandist like Eusebius was for Constantine. Eusebius favored Constantine's Godly Monarchy over the chaos of democracy. Like all journalists, regardless of their efforts to stay neutral, they tell a story according to their own viewpoints to some degree. It is difficult for any writer to avoid. As in physics talk, the observer is always a part of the experiment; how can he not be? The claim that "He only desired to enforce uniformity of view about God through the medium of intimidation" is a method of coercion and persecution by any ethical standard. In fact, Socrates Scholasticus made that point regarding Julian's intimidations. Socrates was much more balanced than either Sozomen or Eusebius. Intimidation was a habit adopted by many kings and leaders throughout Europe that converted to Christianity. Sozomen certainly had mastered the journalist's art of the spin. Sozomen also tells us of a Bishop Donatus who slays an enourmous dragon by making a sign of the cross with his finger in the air and spitting into it's mouth upon which "it [the dragon!] immediately expired". Like most religious texts, many of the early Christian writings include outlandish and impossible stories of supernatural deeds in their narratives. Socrates Scholasticus was probably the most down to earth of the Christian writers in these matters. For that reason he is my favorite of the Christian writers as far as primary sources go. He doesn't embellish nearly as much, nor is he as gullible as Sulpitius, Eusebius and Sozomen were. |
As it was done to Pagan writings, the writings of Arius were hunted down and destroyed. According to Theodosius' announcement, heretics were 'demented and insane'. Emperor Constantine too, had ordered Arian writings burned and even sought to have Arius executed. All across the empire, the orthodox church's hierarchy thought all this oppression was a great idea. Afterall, there was only one truth and that truth had to be protected and then enforced. Relentless violence was key to that enforcement.
Manicheans, who lost their civil rights and faced capital punishment in an edict of 382, disagreed of course. In this edict Theodosius also ordered the death penalty for the Encratites, who were considered Manicheans in disguise. Showing a blatant disregard for any idea of any fair rule of law, Theodosius then gave the Christian clergy immunity from trial. He also outlawed all Sunday activities of a non-religious nature. This move was also part of the Christian movement since the Council of Elvira to wipe out theaters and circuses which were weekend favorites after a week of hard work in the fields or in the trades. It is during Theodosius' reign that Christmas and Easter become legal holidays. This is the time when age old pagan traditions and festivals were outlawed and then were co-opted and renamed with Christian names in order to help facilitate conversion.
Recorded as Codex Theodosianus 11.7.13, the Christian Emperor Theodosius and Gratian decreed the mandatory observation of the first day of the week as the Lord's day.
"Let the course of all law suits and all business cease on Sunday, which our fathers have rightly called the Lord's day, and let no one try to collect either a public or a private debt; and let there be no hearing of disputes by any judges either those required to serve by law or those voluntarily chosen by disputants. And he is to be held not only infamous but sacrilegious who has turned away from the service and observance of holy religion on that day."
In 383, Theodosius contrived to again punish the lives of those that found Christianity wanting. Recorded as Codex Theodosianus 16.7.2, he promulgated a law that took away the testamentary rights of Christians who returned to paganism.
"We deny to Christians and the faithful who have adopted pagan rites and religion all power of making a will in favor of any person whatsoever, in order that they may be without the Roman law; ... even of enjoying a will with the power of acquiring an inheritance."
This decree continued in C.T. 16.7.3 by revoking these rights for any Christian that even dared to enter a pagan temple.
"The Right of Making a Will is denied Christians who enter Temples."
In 384 or 385, Theodosius ordered Cynegius, Praetorian Prefect of the East and a fierce Christian, to use his soldiers in cooperation with the Bishops of northern Greece and Asia Minor in order to destroy the temples and shrines of the pagans. Soldiers and mobs of wild monks and other fanatics perpetrated the complete destruction of pagan temples throughout the rural communities. These temples were the centers of family life and farming. With these rural people, honoring their gods was rewarded by good crop yields and healthy children.
Edward Gibbon tells us in Volume 3, Chapter 28 of his great work on the History of the Decline and Fall of Rome:
"A special commission was granted to Cynegius, the Praetorian prefect of the East, and afterwards to the counts Jovius and Gaudentius, two officers of distinguished rank in the West, by which they were directed to shut the temples, to seize or destroy the instruments of idolatry, to abolish the privileges of the priests, and to confiscate the consecrated property for the benefit of the emperor, of the church, or of the army."
In 386, the teacher and writer Libanius, who resided in Antioch, pleaded with Theodosius regarding the wild monks who attacked the temples:
"...to attack the temples with sticks and stones and bars of iron, and in some cases, disdaining these, with hands and feet. Then utter desolation follows, with the stripping of roofs, demolition of walls, the tearing down of statues and the overthrow of altars, and the priests must either keep quiet or die. After demolishing one, they scurry to another, and to a third, and trophy is piled on trophy, in contravention of the law. Such outrages occur even in the cities, but they are most common in the countryside... Temples, Sire, are the soul of the countryside: they mark the beginning of its settlement, and have been passed down through many generations to the men of today. In them the farming communities rest their hopes for husbands, wives, children, for their oxen and the soil they sow and plant. An estate that has suffered so has lost the inspiration of the peasantry together with their hopes, for they believe that their labour will be in vain once they are robbed of the gods who direct their labours to their due end. And if the land no longer enjoys the same care, neither can the yield match what it was before, and, if this be the case, the peasant is the poorer, and the revenue jeopardized."(Libanius, Pro Templis: Oration 30.8-10)
Continuing down the road of persecution and oppression, temples and libraries were being confiscated, plundered or burned down. In Constantinople, the Temple of Aphrodite was confiscated and in order to mock the pagans, became a brothel for soldiers. The Temples of the Sun and of Artemis become horse stables for the army. In the next decade, Cynegius, his zealous wife, the bishop Marcellus and gangs of Christian fanatics searched more of the rural regions, turning over every stone in search of temples and altars to destroy. They destroyed hundreds of Hellenic temples and religious monuments. They cut down the sacred groves. Not content with rooting out the rural regions, the Temple of Edessa, the Cabeireion of Imbros, the Temple of Zeus in Apamea, the Temple of Apollo in Dydima and all the Temples of Palmyra were looted and destroyed. Thousands of pagans from all parts of the Empire would sent to be tortured and die in the Christian death camps of Skythopolis. During this period Theodosius even outlawed any care of the sacked pagan temples. In 388, due to the Nicene clergy's contempt for the liberties Arians still possessed and their bold debating, Theodosius would outlaw the discussion of the nature of God in public in 16.4.2 of the Theodosian Code. This would not be the last time the church and the state conspired to shut down the people's speech. One example is that after the General Council of Chalcedon 451, Emperor Marcian did the clergy's bidding and outlawed public discussions of the nature of Christ. To the Emperor Marcian and his ally Pope Leo, the matter was settled and people were to be silent on the issue. Sozomen tells us in his Histories, Book 7 that Theodosius, in hearing an old priest exclaim that God's wrath would be poured down on those that didn't see the Son as equal to the Father "was henceforward less disposed to hold intercourse with heretics, and he prohibited contests and assemblies in the markets. By enacting a law and defining the punishments in this matter Theodosius made it dangerous to hold discussions about the substance and nature of God.
The regions of the west, Greece, and Asia Minor, were not the only place where this violent crusade transpired. In 388 Theodosius sent a prefect to destroy the temples in Egypt and Syria. In 389 and 390, angry mobs of Christian hermits and monks poured into the cities of the Middle East and Egypt. They systematicly destroyed statues, temples, altars, shrines and libraries while simultaneously murdering those they deemed unworthy of life.
Christians strongly supported Theodosius' acts of oppression and the establishment of a compulsory state religion. Zealous mobs were incited by these edicts and decrees and joined the prefects and their soldiers to rob and destroy temples and their libraries. Many beautiful buildings of classical Greek architecture were lost forever along with libraries, writings and arts. The Bible is clear in matters of religious tolerance and blesses this kind of raging jealous destruction in many places.
2 Chronicles 34:3-5: "..in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem."
In 389, Theodosius also outlawed the use of non-Christian calendars and dating methods. Of course, this was due to the religious nature of the calendars. They were based on the cycles seen in nature and in pagan religions. They contained the days and celebrations based on the cycles of nature that the people had been intimate with for ages. The pagans were the traditionalists. The pagans were the conservatives who did not abandon the religion of their fathers.
With the Emperor's decree giving him the authority, Alexandria's bishop Theophilus began a systematic campaign to destroy or confiscate all pagan temples and libraries within the See of Alexandria's jurisdiction. Theophilus initiated relentless and violent persecutions against the pagans. The Patriarch wanted to send a message to non-Christians and set a ruthless example. With the Prefect Evagrius' blessings, soldiers from the garrison and mobs of zealous Christians joined in the city wide destruction of pagan temples. With this violent mob in tow, Theophilis started to take over and renovate the famed Temple of Serapis. The Christians sought to mock and ridicule the pagan mysteries of the majority which drew a violent response. The pagan philosopher Olympius led a revolt, fighting back at the Temple of Serapis. After pitched battles and mob violence in the streets they retreated and fortified themselves inside the Temple. A siege followed and the Christians finally took the Temple, demolished it, and burned down its famous Library.
In the spin so prevalent from the Christian historians of the times, Sozomen refers to the response to the attack on the pagan people's great temple as sedition. In an ethical society what the emperor decreed and what the Bishop carried out would be considered illegal, unjust and immoral. Sozomen, in his political spin supporting the Nicene clergy's property confiscation and temple destruction refers to the pagan defense of their temples as audacity. Temples were soon destroyed in many other cities. Theophilus burned down Alexandria's Mithraeum and destroyed the Temple of Zeus. Pagan priests were paraded and mocked in the streets and then stoned to death.
Although Sozomen was only a child at the time, depending the views of others, he sought to continue Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History and its Nicene spin from the year 323 onward. In Histories Book 7, he wrote:
"About this period, the bishop of Alexandria, to whom the temple of Dionysus had, at his own request, been granted by the emperor, converted the edifice into a church. The statues were removed, the adyta were exposed; and, in order to cast contumely on the pagan mysteries, he made a procession for the display of these objects; the phalli, and whatever other object had been concealed in the adyta which really was, or seemed to be, ridiculous, he made a public exhibition of. The pagans, amazed at so unexpected an exposure, could not suffer it in silence, but conspired together to attack the Christians."
"They killed many of the Christians, wounded others, and seized the Serapion, a temple which was conspicuous for beauty and vastness and which was seated on an eminence. This they converted into a temporary citadel; and hither they conveyed many of the Christians, put them to the torture, and compelled them to offer sacrifice. Those who refused compliance were crucified, had both legs broken, or were put to death in some cruel manner. When the sedition had prevailed for some time, the rulers came and urged the people to remember the laws, to lay down their arms, and to give up the Serapion."
"...As their efforts, however, to reduce the people to submission were utterly in vain, they made known what had transpired to the emperor. ... When the emperor was informed of these occurrences, he declared that the Christians who had been slain were blessed, inasmuch as they had been admitted to the honor of martyrdom, and had suffered in defense of the faith. He offered free pardon to those who had slain them, hoping that by this act of clemency they would be the more readily induced to embrace Christianity; and he commanded the demolition of the temples in Alexandria which had been the cause of the popular sedition. It is said that, when this imperial edict was read in public, the Christians uttered loud shouts of joy, because the emperor laid the odium of what had occurred upon the pagans."
"....It was thus that the Serapion was taken, and, a little while after, converted into a church; it received the name of the Emperor Arcadius."
"There were still pagans in many cities, who contended zealously in behalf of their temples; as, for instance, the inhabitants of Petraea and of Areopolis, in Arabia; of Raphi and Gaza, in Palestine; of Heriopolis in Phoenicia; and of Apamea, on the river Axius, in Syria. I have been informed that the inhabitants of the last named city often armed the men of Galilee and the peasants of Lebanon in defense of their temples; and that at last, they even carried their audacity to such a height, as to slay a bishop named Marcellus."
"This bishop had commanded the demolition of all the temples in the city and villages, under the supposition that it would not be easy otherwise for them to be converted from their former religion. Having heard that there was a very spacious temple at Aulon, a district of Apamea, he repaired thither with a body of soldiers and gladiators. He stationed himself at a distance from the scene of conflict, beyond the reach of the arrows; for he was afflicted with the gout, and was unable to fight, to pursue, or to flee. Whilst the soldiers and gladiators were engaged in the assault against the temple, some pagans, discovering that he was alone, hastened to the place where he was separated from the combat; they arose suddenly and seized him, and burnt him alive."
Can you imagine a fanatical religious force coming to your town to destroy your houses of worship and your books. Muslims in power are coming to either burn your churches down or to turn them into Mosques. What would your response be? This scene would play over and over for centuries as the roles of the persecuted and the persecutors changed back and forth.
Wrong religion as sedition was not new. Theodosius, in the imperial decree of January of 381, shown in its totality above, labeled politically incorrect religious belief as seditious and directed relentless violence against the unbelievers. Sounds like radical Islam, doesn't it? Theodosius had promulgated:
"If, however, any seditious outbreak should be attempted, We order them to be driven outside the the walls of the City, with relentless violence, and We direct that all Catholic Churches, throughout the entire world, shall be placed under the control of the orthodox bishops who have embraced the Nicene Creed."
Socrates Scholasticus put it this way in his Histories Book 6, Chapter 16:
"Seizing this opportunity, Theophilus exerted himself to the utmost to expose the pagan mysteries to contempt."
"Thus this disturbance having been terminated, the governor of Alexandria, and the commander-in-chief of the troops in Egypt, assisted Theophilus in demolishing the heathen temples. These were therefore burned to the ground, and the images of their gods molten into pots and other convenient utensils for the use of the Alexandrian church; for the emperor had instructed Theophilus to distribute them for the relief of the poor. All the images were accordingly broken to pieces, except one statue of the god before mentioned, which Theophilus preserved and set up in a public place; `Lest,´ said he, `at a future time the heathens should deny that they had ever worshipped such gods."
Knowing how historical and political spinners of the day colored evrything in favor of their religion, it is easy to doubt the complete accuracy of their accounts. But being that the majority of pagan writings were destroyed by the Christians, we have little else. The spin machine could not have let themselves do otherwise. The winners write history and it is not always factual.
At this time, Eunomius, despite persecutions, had become a very successful Arian speaker. It was then that the Nicene Clergy wanted Theodosius to silence a voice in his usual way. Eunomus claimed, as Arian leaning Christians did, that the Father was unbegotten but the Son was begotten and had a beginning, so how could the two be equal? The trinitarians boiled over these talking points and would go to any length to have the people spreading these ideas silenced.
Sozomen reveals the Nicene problem with Eunomius' open speech in Book 7 Chapter 6:
"The Arians, who were still very strong in point of numbers, and who, through the protection formerly granted by Constantius and Valens, were still convening without fear, and discoursing publicly concerning God and the Divine nature, now determined upon making an attempt to gain over the emperor to their party, through the intervention of individuals of their sect who held appointments at court; and they entertained hopes of succeeding in this project, as well as they had succeeded in the case of Constantius. These machinations excited great anxiety and fear among the members of the Catholic Church; but the chief cause of their apprehension was the reasoning power of Eunomius."
Later in Book 7 Chapter 17. Sozomen tells us how the emperor silences Eunomius:
"The emperor, about this period, condemned Eunomius to banishment. This heretic had fixed his residence in the suburbs of Constantinople, and held frequent churches in private houses, where he read his own writings. He induced many to embrace his sentiments, so that the sectarians, who were named after him, became very numerous."
In 391, Theodosius joined with Valentinian and issued two decrees that outlawed rituals and worship and ordered the closing and eventual destruction of Pagan Temples and shrines. It was a crime to even look at the statues. The law is recorded as Codex Theodosianus 16.10.10-11 and ordered Sacrificing and Visiting Shrines Prohibited. Sacrifices Forbidden and Temples Closed. The clergy's evangelism already included the destruction of Pagan temples and now it was legal. Church and state were now partners in arson, theft, vandalism, and destruction. Nothing had not stopped zealous monks claiming a higher law in support of their crimes, but now the government supported their destructive acts. Bishop Ambrose, a powerful influence on both Theodosius and Gratian, was certainly pleased with the decree supporting the destruction of pagan buildings and outlawing of their beliefs.
According to the Christian historian Sulpitius Severus in The Life of St Martin, "he was not welcomed by some of the episcopate, being a man despicable in appearance and his hair disgusting". Evidently, he didn't bathe and took a very extreme position against worldliness and possessions. "No one there had anything which was called his own; all things were possessed in common. ...No art was practiced there,...". He and his monks were... "...clothed in garments of camel's hair. Any dress approaching softness was there deemed criminal". In these passages we see that hating this life and despising the simple pleasures of life ordered had become enthroned virtue in late antiquity's Christian culture. This cultural attitude stands in stark contrast to classical humanist traditions that emphasized hygiene, athleticism and education. They stand in stark contrast to the ideals of private property, too. Medieval Christendom was a world of filth and disease. People even thought bathing was unhealthy. Reborn in the European Renaissance, the west saw individualist and classical principles penned as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the Enlightenment. Scripture would seem to support not only the degradation of this life, but a collectivist one that sees individualism and pluralism as destructive elements of society. This philosophy was just the opposite of the paradigm that endured in Rome, however flawed, for a thousand years. There were no real religious wars until Christianity and Islam appeared on the scene.
In these scriptures below from the New testament is seen the deep contempt for this life that Martin held. It is no mystery why religious fundamentalists of all eras and religions speak of humanism and the love of life and pleasure as if it were a disease we need to be treated for. Unknown to these fundamentalists, the freedoms they enjoy are rooted in the classicist and humanist philosophies they demonize. The scriptures below incorporate the same things we now associate with extreme cults
In addressing these things Biblical (and the Quranic) scriptures imply things directly in contrast to the values of individualism and property ownership in free societies. They are more in keeping with a collectivist society of conformists that shuns these values. Communal religious cults and Marxist Socialism come to mind.
Mark 10:21 - Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Acts 2:44-45 - And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Luke 9:59-60 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
John 12:25: He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
Acts 5:1-6 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him."
Adding scare tactics to a contempt for individualism and property ownership, Acts Chapter 5:1-11 tells a story that is certainly designed to 'persuade' believers of this age into this collectivist religious society. The threat of death was placed over the heads of the primitive Christians. A religious socialism was established in the early church's policies. The punishment in this story, as is the case in most of the Bible, is barbaric and doesn't fit the offense. The scripture is designed to instill fear and a slave ideology. Most religions are slave ideology and have nothing to do with common sense. Free societies place a high value on proportionate justice but this religious society and it's texts would seem to stand for just the opposite values. In verse 11, it is made clear to us what the intent of this story was by the authors at the end of the first century: "And great fear came upon all the church and as many as heard these things."
Fearmongering is a continual theme throughout the Bible (and the Quran). When Sulpitius speaks of Martin's destruction of the temples, shrines or groves of Pagans he calls it excellences. As Bishop he would order altars to be removed and temples to be burned to the ground. He was confrontational and would actually begin destroying a people's temple with them in opposition. He was so fanatical that he just didn't care.
Sulpitius wrote in chapter 14:
"Nor did he show less eminence, much about the same time, in other transactions of a like kind. For, having in a certain village set fire to a very ancient and celebrated temple."
"But in a village which was named Leprosum, when he too wished to overthrow a temple which had acquired great wealth through the superstitious ideas entertained of its sanctity, a multitude of the heathen resisted him to such a degree that he was driven back not without bodily injury. He, therefore, withdrew to a place in the vicinity, and there for three days, clothed in sackcloth and ashes fasting and praying the whole time, he besought the Lord, that, as he had not been able to overthrow that temple by human effort, Divine power might be exerted to destroy it. Then two angels, with spears and shields after the manner of heavenly warriors, suddenly presented themselves to him, saying that they were sent by the Lord to put to flight the rustic multitude, and to furnish protection to Martin, lest, while the temple was being destroyed, any one should offer resistance.
In the modern world of health and science we now know the deprivation of food and sleep causes hallucinations and the loss of mental acuity. Being prone to certain beliefs and being compromised by deprivation has given us all manner of religious visions and auditory hallucinations. Fasting brings delusion due to biochemical and neurobiological changes. In chapter 15, Sulpitius tells us of another of Martin's violent crusades:
"I shall also relate what took place in the village of the Aedui. When Martin was there overthrowing a temple, a multitude of rustic heathen rushed upon him in a frenzy of rage. And when one of them, bolder than the rest, made an attack upon him with a drawn sword,...."
Martin's words were fighting words. After destroying a temple, Martin would claim (steal) the land for Christ and erect Christian buildings on the ruins. Earlier, Sulpitius wrote in chapter 13:
"wherever he destroyed heathan temples, there he used immediately to build either churches or monasteries".
These people thought violence and religious intolerance was a virtue. The Bible teaches religious intolerance from cover to cover. One way or else, exactly as the Quran does. Neither is rational in the slightest regarding one's religious choices. Execution in the Old Testament, eternal torments in the New Testament and hellfire with your skin being replaced for another burning in the Quran. Sulpitius contributes to the religious intolerance of the period, and those of the future, by claiming that other dieties are really the demons and the Devil's work. This near total suppression of non-Christian religions and cultures of learning in Europe was accomplished with several tools; demonizing other religions was essential to the strategy. In chapter 22, Sulpitius writes of Martin:
"Now, the devil, while he tried to impose upon the holy man by a thousand injurious arts, often thrust himself upon him in a visible form, but in very various shapes. For sometimes he presented himself to his view changed into the person of Jupiter, often into that of Mercury and Minerva."
This devil is the same Minerva that was a major symbol of the new nation of the USA during the American enlightenment. The Library of Congress has at least twenty one representations of Minerva and not one of Jesus. The allegorical and symbolic figures chosen are not Christian symbols, they are mostly pagan. The Roman Goddess of liberty, Libertas is on our first coins, and with Minerva and American Indian symbols, they are the foundational elements that created the American Goddess of liberty, Columbia. The first Statue of Liberty was a bust of Minerva with a Roman Freedom Cap between her breasts. A huge Minerva was even proposed and drawn up by one of the architects of the Capitol. It would have been on the Capitol grounds. The architects were not thinking Christianity because the founders with the greatest influence on the American spirit were classically educated and more prone to enlightenment deism. They were thinking classicism, renaissance and enlightenment. It was the American Enlightenment.
In another of Sulpitius' works, Dialogue III of The Virtues of Martin which is his recollection of a dialogue in front of an assembly of believers, Martin is said to be an exorcist of demons. In chapter 6, Sulpitius writes of the demons of the possessed:
"They revealed their names, too, of their own accord; one acknowledged that he was Jupiter, and another that he was Mercury. Finally, one could see all the servants of the devil suffering agony, along with their master, so that we could not help acknowledging that in Martin there was fulfilled that which is written that `the saints shall judge angels.´"
Holy Moly! Jupiter? In the art of Washington, DC, George Washington is associated with Jupiter more than once. In an illiterate and superstitious culture, this was a brilliant strategy to attack religious diversity throughout the Empire. Demonize them in a world where people have supernatural entities constantly swirling around their heads, inside and out. Like Bishop Ambrose of Milan and Emperor Theodosius the Great, Martin of Tours was fanaticly oppressive towards of any religion but his own, a tragic legacy of continual violence that Christianity has given to the western world. In Martin's world, superstitious fearmongering and demonization were joined with the use of fire and force to achieve his goals. In Chapter 8 of Virtues, Sulpitius wrote,
"..there is a great idol-temple built up with labor. The building had been constructed of the most polished stones and furnished with turrets; and, rising on high in the form of a cone, it preserved the superstition of the place by the majesty of the work. The blessed man [Martin] had often enjoined its destruction on Marcellus, who as there settled as presbyter. Returning after the lapse of some time, he reproved the presbyter, because the edifice of the idol-temple was still standing. He pleaded in excuse that such an immense structure could with difficulty be thrown down by a band of soldiers, or by the strength of a large body of the public,".
Ironicly, and without a single lesson about religious differences learned, this same persecutor was himself persecuted by the Arian Christians whom he "was fighting most strenuously". According to Sulpitius, also in Chapter 6, in the hands of Arian Christians, he was "subjected to many punishments for he was publicly scourged, and at last was compelled to leave the city,...."
Unfortunately, once again, the persecuted become the persecutors. How sad about blind faith. Arians persecuted Nicenes who persecuted Arians; and both versions of Christianity persecuted pagans, Jews and Hellenes. Arians and Nicenes were both Christian, claiming the sole ownership of the truth and both pledged to wipe out every other religion in order to follow the declarations of scripture. In the next millenium humanity would witness the same scenario played over and over again between Christians and Muslims and then Catholics and Protestants would slaughter each other. None could tolerate another belief. Over and over and over. Denying life and liberty to tens of millions, they claimed divine inspiration and the sole mantle of rightousness.
Richard Fletcher notes in The Barbarian Conversion regarding the treatment of pagans in Gaul at the time:
"Miracles, wonders, exorcisms, temple torching and shrine smashing were in themselves acts of evangelization.' Archeological evidence support all this: At the temple of Mercury of Avalon in Burgundy, pagan statues were smashed and piled up in a heap of rubble: the coin series at the site ends in the reign of Valentinian...."
Over and over, the new despots of the Roman Empire sought to wipe out the thousands of years of religious diversity that permeated Europe and the Empire. With the Roman Empire, religion was the least of its problems. The new fanaticism elevated religion to troublemaker and predominant concern.
In February of 391, the emperor Theodosius renewed the ban of any sacrifice, public or private, and outlawed the traditional ceremonies of state still in use in Rome. Recorded in 16.7 of the Theodosian Code, Theodosius made a bold move to eliminate more religious liberty and diversity by prohibiting access and shutting down temples and sanctuaries:
"Nobody can approach the sacrificial altars, can walk inside the temples or can worship images forged by human hands."
A part of this decree (16.7.4) dealt with backsliders, who, if they returned to their previous beliefs, lost all their inheritance and testamentary rights. OUCH! It was impossible for them to pass their estate on to their relatives or to inherit their estates. In these cases, the estates generally ended up as church property.
"Testamentary Disqualification for Christian Apostates: Those who betray the sacred faith and profane holy baptism are shut off from association of all and from giving testimony.
They may not exercise the right of making a will, nor enter upon any inheritance; they may not be made anyone's heir."
In Theodosius: Empire at Bay, historians Williams and Freil write regarding the decree of Theodosius and Gratian:
"The decree was characterized by an absolute intransigence towards local traditions that can be compared to the one of a dictatorial atheistic regime which criminalized Easter eggs, the Palm, Christmas Cards, Halloween pumpkins and even some universal habits, as a toast".
In November of 392 Theodosius issued another decree, recorded as Codex Theodosianus 16.10.12, which criminalized Paganism. Politically incorrect religion became a crime in the legal framework of the Christian Empire. This decree instituted the death penalty for carrying out pagan sacrificial rituals and it demanded the confiscation of the property used in such practices.
Of this event, Sozomen tells us in his Histories, Book 7, chapter 20:
"The emperor having observed that the practice of idolatry had been greatly promoted by the facility of constant ingress and egress to and from the temple, directed the entrances of all temples to be closed; and eventually he commanded the demolition of many of these edifices. When the pagans found themselves deprived of their own houses of prayer, they began to frequent our churches; for they did not dare to offer sacrifices after the pagan form in secret, for it was dangerous, since the sacrifice was under the penalty of death and of confiscation of property."
Now Judaism was increasingly drawing the attention and ire of Christian leaders and zealous mobs. Heretics were demented and insane, paganism was punishable by death, and Judaism was seen as the work of the Devil. Pagans were persecuted but they hadn't rejected and killed Christ. Jews were increasing portrayed as carnal, flesh loving Christ killers. By the end of the fourth century, torchlight meetings were full of slogans and propaganda regarding Jews and 'Jew lovers'. Anti-Semitism became a Christian duty for true believers. Not only would pagan temples burn and heretical churches be siezed, Jewish synagogues and writings would also suffer the consequences for rejecting Christ.
Titus 1:10-11: "For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach -- and that for the sake of dishonest gain...."
But there was a problem for these Christian zealots and it was the Roman rule of law. For a long time, Judaism had been protected as a 'legitimate' religion in the empire. Under Roman law any Jew that was a citizen was protected. Paul of the Bible was both a Jewish Pharisee and a Roman citizen and spoke highly of this dual citizenship. Therefore, under Roman law, it was unlawful to burn down a Jewish Synagogue so after a certain synagogue was burned, Theodosius required the church to pay for and rebuild that synagogue. Bishop Ambrose of Milan would have none of this. Ambrose criticized Theodosius and made it clear that he was threatening the Nicene Church's authority and prestige by protecting synagogues. Theodosius consented to Ambrose's wishes and let the destruction of the synagogue stand. This led to more and more synagogue burning across the empire. Jews in Judea saw their villages set ablaze by mobs of zealous monks who saw themselves as fulfilling scriptural sanctions against unbelievers and doing God's will. 'Tear down their holy places'. All across the empire Jewish families lost the basic rights of their citizenship. Jews were forbidden to hold public office or positions of military leadership. They were not to proselytize Christians or marry them. Jewish men could be burned at the stake for converting a Christian woman to Judaism.
In 393, after a thousand years of pagan tradition and festivals, Theodosius, with the blessing of Bishop Ambrose, banned these games simply because they had classical and pagan origins. He also banned the Roman festival of Aktia, which was the Roman version of these pan-Hellenic games. Christians then proceeded to destroy the Temples of Olympia.
Acts 19:26-29, The craftsman speaks: "..this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians."
The Temple of Diana of Ephesus was so big that almost four Parthenons of Athens would have fit into. It is better known as the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. When unearthed, a three hundred by five hundred foot foundation slab was discovered along with pieces of the statues of the temple pediment.
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