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=> Establishing Christianity

Establishing Christianity
Posted by pancho (Moderator) - Friday, January 23 2009, 19:51:20 (CET)
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Establishing Christianity

Taken from Durant’s “Caesar and Christ”, pp 646-656

“In pre-Christian days the Roman government had for the most part allowed to the rivals of orthodox paganism a tolerance which they in turn had shown to the official imperial cults; nothing was demanded from the adherents of new faiths except an occasional gesture of adoration to the gods and head of state.”

“Before Nero the two forces (Christianity and Paganism, mine) had found it possible to live together without blows. The law had exempted the Jews from emperor-worship, and the Christians, at first confused with the Jews, were granted the same privilege.”


“Pagan civilization was founded upon the state, Christian civilization upon religion. To a Roman his religion was part of the structure and ceremony of government. And his morality culminated in patriotism; to a Christian his religion was something apart from and superior to political society; his highest allegiance belonged not to Caesar but to Christ.”

“The detachment of the Christian from earthly affairs seemed to the pagan a flight from civic duty, a weakening of the national fiber and will. Tertullian advised Christians to refuse military service...”

“Marriage with a non-Christian was forbidden. Christian slaves were accused of introducing discord into the family by converting their master’s children or wives; Christianity was charged with breaking up the home.”

The opposition to the new religion came rather from the people than from the state. The magistrates were often men of culture and tolerance; but the mass of the pagan population resented the aloofness, superiority and certainty of the Christians, and called upon the authorities to punish these ‘atheists’ for insulting the gods.”

“From the time of Nero Roman law seems to have branded the profession of Christianity as a capital offense; but under most of the emperors this ordinance was enforced with deliberate negligence. If accused, a Christian could usually free himself by offering incense to a statue of the emperor; thereafter he was apparently allowed to resume the quiet practice of his faith. Christians who refused this obeisance might be imprisoned, or flogged, exiled or condemned to the mines, or, rarely, put to death.”

“Hadrian”, a skeptic open to all ideas, instructed his appointees to give the Christians the benefit of every doubt. Being more religious, Antoninus allowed more persecution. At Smyrna the populace demanded of the ‘Asiarch’ Philip that he enforce the law; he complied by having eleven Christians executed in the ampitheater.”

“The persecutions were renewed under the saintly Aurelius. When famine, flood, pestilence, and war overwhelmed a once happy reign, the conviction spread that these evils were due to neglect and denial of the Roman gods. Aurelius shared the public terror, or yielded to it. In 177 he issued a rescript ordering the punishment of sects that caused disturbances by ‘exciting the ill-balanced minds of men’ with new winds of doctrine. In that same year at Vienne and Lyons, the pagan populace rose in fury against the Christians, and stoned them whenever they dared to stir from their homes.”

“Under Commodus the persecutions waned. Septimus Severus renewed them, even to the point of making baptism a crime. In 203 many Christians suffered martyrdom in Carthage.”

“The Syrian empresses who followed Septimus had little concern for the Roman gods, and gave Christianity a careless toleration. Under Alexander Severus peace seemed established among all rival faiths.”

“To understand the persecution under Decius (or Aurelius) we must imagine a nation in the full excitement of war, frightened by serious defeats, and expecting hostile invasion. In 249 a wave of religious emotion swept the Empire; men and women flocked to the temples and besieged the gods with prayers. Amid this fever of patriotism and fear the Christians stood apart, still resenting and discouraging military service, scorning the gods, and interpreting the collapse of the Empire as the prophesied prelude to the destruction of ‘Babylon’ and the return of Christ.”

“Six years later Valerian, in another crisis of invasion and terror, ordered that ‘all persons must conform to the Roman ceremonials’, and forbade any Christian assemblage. In 261...Gallienus published the first edict of toleration, recognizing Christianity as a permitted religion, and ordering that property taken from Christians should be restored to them. Minor persecutions occurred in the next forty years, but for the most part these were for Christianity decades of unprecedented calm and rapid growth. In the chaos and terror of the third century men fled from the weakened state to the consolations of religion, and found them more abundantly in Christianity than in its rivals. The Church made rich converts now, built costly cathedrals, and allowed its adherents to share in the joys of this world. The ‘odium theologicum’ subsided among the people; Christians intermingled more freely with pagans, even married them. The Oriental monarchy of Diocletian seemed destined to consolidate religion as well as security and peace.”

“Galerius, however, saw in Christianity the last obstacle to absolute rule, and urged his chief to complete the Roman restoration by restoring the Roman gods.”

“Galerius at every opportunity argued the need of religious unity as a support to the new monarchy; and at last Diocletian yielded. In February, 303, the four rulers(The Empire was now split between two Augusti each of whom had a Caesar, mine) decreed the destruction of all Christian churches, the burning of Christian books, the dissolution of Christian congregations, the confiscation of their property, the exclusion of Christians from public office, and the punishment of death for Christians detected in religious assembly.”

“In September Diocletian ordered that imprisoned Christians who would worship the Roman gods should be freed, but that those who refused should be subjected to every torture known to Rome.”

“Maximian carried out the edict with military thoroughness in Italy. Galerius, become Augustus, gave every encouragement to the persecution in the East. The roll of martyrs was increased in every part of the Empire except Gaul and Britain, where Constantius (father of Constantine, mine) contended himself with burning a few churches.”

“The persecution continued for eight years, and brought death to approximately 1500 Christians, orthodox or heretic, and diverse suffering to countless more. Thousands of Christians recanted.”

“As the brutalities multiplied, the sympathy of the pagan population was stirred; the opinion of good citizens found courage to express itself against the most ferocious oppression in Roman history. Once the people had urged the state to destroy Christianity; now the people stood aloof from the government, and many pagans risked death to hide or protect Christians until the storm should pass.”

“Christ and Caesar had met in the arena, and Christ had won”.

“Constantine recalled the Christian exiles, and restored to all ‘confessors’ their lost privileges and property. While still proclaiming liberty of worship for all, he now definitely declared himself a Christian, and invited his subjects to join him in embracing the new faith.”

“Was his conversion sincere...was it an act of religious belief, or a consummate stroke of political wisdom? Probably the latter.”

“His letters to Christian bishops make it clear that he cared little for the theological differences that agitated Christendom...though he was willing to suppress dissent in the interests of imperial unity...Christianity was to him a means, not an end.”

“Christians were especially numerous in Rome under Maxentius, and in the East under Licinius; Constantine’s support of Christianity was worth a dozen legions to him in his wars against these men. He was impressed by the comparative order and morality of Christian conduct...the Christians, despite bitter oppression, had rarely revolted against the state; their teachers had inculcated submission to the civil powers, and had taught the divine right of kings. Constantine aspired to an absolute monarchy; such a government would profit from religious support; the hierarchical discipline and ecumenical authority of the Church seemed to offer a spiritual correlate for monarchy. Perhaps the marvelous organization of bishops and priests could become an instrument of pacification, unification, and rule?”



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