Part 1: Apostles to Apostates
Peter, James and John were called as the first presidency of Christ’s church in the meridian of time. Evidence of them receiving the keys for such is recorded in Matt 16: 19. Following this event, we have several accounts of these same brethren accompanying Christ on His various special moments and miraculous events (Mark 5: 37-42, Matt 26: 37–39, John 20: 1-10). How did it happen that within a few short centuries the Church of Jesus Christ, laid with a foundation of Apostles, 70’s , Bishops, Elders, Teachers and Priests, had all but disappeared? While persecution from without was a ever deadly and constant danger, it was not the determining factor. The real threat was discord and contention and came from within.
As the center core of priesthood leaders began their solemn mandate to bring Christ’s message to the world, they immediately drew the attention of the political authorities, both Jewish and Roman.
The Romans generally were tolerant of diverse religions, but Palestinian Jews were in constant rebellion. Nero is rumored to have been responsible for the burning of Rome. He found it was convenient for his own future to blame the Christians. This started a new round of serious Christian persecution. The brutal attacks on these newly converted Jews brought imprisonment and execution of some of their leaders. James, brother of John, (both sons of Zebedee), was slain by the sword of Herod. Peter was imprisoned and later disappeared under the decree of Nero. He is believed to have been crucified in Rome, nailed to the cross, upside down. The first James was replaced by James the Brother of Jesus. It is his book (Epistle of James) we have in the New Testament. This James was brought up on the walls of the City by the Jews and commanded to deny Christ in front of the congregation. Instead he bore his testimony of Christ’s Messiahship. He was cast down off the walls and stoned to death. John the Beloved (the same John also known as the son of Zebedee) was promised to remain on Earth until the second coming of Christ, but we lose track of him for almost half a century. In his later years, John was banished to the Isle of Patmos where he received a vision which now forms the basis of the Book of Revelation. Meanwhile he wrote three other letters that we are aware of (1st, 2nd and 3rd John), then disappeared after 98 A.D. By that time, tradition records the deaths of the other Apostles as follows:
Judas Iscariot, Suicide 33. A D
Jude (Judas, brother of James), Martyred in Egypt
Simon the Zealot, Killed by sword in Persia
Thomas, Speared in India
Matthew, Martyred in Ethiopia
Bartholomew, Flayed and beheaded in Arabia for refusing to honour Pagan God
Phillip, Died in Phrygia by a Roman Proconsul
Andrew, Crucified in Greece
Paul, Beheaded by Nero in Rome
With no Prophets or Apostles to guide them,the Church lost its Priesthood channel to Christ, the source of revelation. The most senior Priesthood authority was that of a Bishop. But which one should lead and by what authority? There had been many called and set apart through-out the Middle East. However, it was not in the mandate of any Bishop to receive revelation and speak for the entire Church.
When Paul (formerly Saul) was converted and commenced his major missionary efforts,they extended far beyond the boundaries of Jerusalem, Syria or Palestine. His success resulted in a sudden wave of untrained members, most without any in-depth knowledge of their newly found religion. Many spoke foreign languages. Even more still clung to old beliefs and practices. As fast as they established branches and appointed local Bishops, the Jewish, the Gnostics, the Pagans and the Romans pressured the new converts to abandon their faith. Paul spent most of his time and energies correcting and decrying the false doctrines of the rebellious and floundering factions within the Church. Paul’s warnings were numerous, but in general they were ineffective as the swarms of opponents overwhelm the capabilities and resources of the new members. Paul specifically warns of the impending disintegration:
Acts
20:28 -29
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the
Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers to feed the church of
God, which he hath purchased with his own Blood. For I know this that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock. Also
of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away
disciples after them.”
Paul’s words to Timothy were accurate and ominous:
2 Timothy 4: 3
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine: but after their own lusts shall they heap themselves teachers having itching ears.”
After the death of Paul, his influence all but ceased and the hearts of the disbelievers and total membership began to shrivel. The Old Testament Prophet, Amos had cautioned this would happen.
Amos
8: 11-12
“Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in
the land, not a famine of bread nor of the thirst for water, but of hearing the
word of God. And they shall wander from sea to sea and from the North even to
the East they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not
find it”.
Among the Bishops who wrote letters of concern were, Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna. These men however recognized they did not have the authority to receive revelation regarding the affairs of the overall Church as did the Apostles or Paul. They recorded their concerns regarding the apostate affairs of the various branches but could not do anything more to change them.
It was a period of extreme confusion of which we have the least amount of documentation in all of church history. Charismatic and popular members in some branches were appointed as Bishops, while other already appointed were dismissed. Where no authority existed, members contested for Priesthood positions. This led to competitions within branches for authority over other branches whose geographical boundaries and membership was smaller. Writings from other concerned Bishops indicate the level of chaos that existed from the early second to the early fourth centuries A.D.
Author, Location, Date, Concerns
Herman: Rome 150 AD
– Stresses righteousness in the face of apostasy.
– Emphasizes baptism for living and dead.
Justin Martyr: Rome 150 AD
– Presents Christ as second to God. It was He(Christ) who revealed early Christian doctrines and worship.
Irenaeus: Lyons 200 AD
– Against heresies.
– Opposes Gnostic views and the Rationalization of the teachings of Christ.
Clement: Alexandria 190- 215 AD
– Opposes paganism but is personally influenced Greek philosophers.
Tertullian: Carthage 195-220 AD
– Left Church to support a growing movement away from floundering Saints to the primitive purity thought only to exist in the breakaway sects in the Dessert
Origen: Alexandria 203-253 AD
– Most influential theologian of his day.
– Author of first systematic attempt in Christian theology.
– Heavily influenced by Greek philosophers
Cyprian: Carthage 249 AD
– Wrote 65 letters regarding doctrinal and administrative concerns.
– Insisted on his Bishopric being independent of Rome.
– Held strict views regarding lapsing Christians.
Eusebius: Caesarea 325 AD
– Attempted to show apostolic continuity, thereby preserving valuable quotations from early writings from the Pre-Nicene Christian beliefs.
As the Church spiraled downward, none of them could have imagined that they and their entire squabbling, disorganized, Church would be saved by a brutal, savage Warlord. He had already had his wife and son executed .His bloodied hands held the only power strong enough to force the contentious Church leaders together. He was to become the longest ruling Emperor of Rome. His titles would include, Augustus Constantine, Emperor Constantine, Constantine the Great and finally, Saint Constantine. All titles, he bestowed upon himself because there was no other that he, with power to do so.
The Head of the Church moves from being “Christ Directed” to “Roman Emperor Directed”
This is the defining moment in time when the Church, established by Christ Himself, lost all recognition and pretense of being “From God”. The Head of the Church, while clothed in the Bishop’s religious finery and augmented by scriptures, now was no more than a puppet, a tool under the of control of the firm hand of the most powerful, undisputed ruler of the Western Empire.
After securing this grip and bringing a brief, rare degree of stability to the Roman Empire, Constantine focused on halting the practice of persecuting Christians and the almost impossible task of bringing peace and order among the Bishops. Until then, these two problems had been the major threats both to the Church and to the Emperor.
Through the Edict of Milan, Constantine dealt with the first threat from the outside. Under the leadership of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, the fiercest persecution ever launched against the Christians was resulting in the deaths of thousands. Constantine ordered that Christianity be legalized, their scriptures deemed sacrosanct and that their property returned. In 305 A.D. Constantine was victorious. Christianity was proclaimed as the State Religion.
The second threat was much more difficult. Not only was there major geographic, political and language differences between the Bishops, but the misunderstandings and the quarreling had now threatened to split the West and Eastern Empires. Their reasoning and differences, which had formerly been somewhat modified by the influence of the Holy Ghost, had produced a degree of moderation and cooperation. But with the power of the Holy Ghost long departed, everything of a spiritual nature was now resolved by theologians or philosophers over whom the Emperor exercised total and complete control. In contrast to the former Bishops and other spiritually minded Church leaders who still possessed a degree of conviction of the Gospel truths. Now in control of the Church were educators, philosophers, who required only that they were adequately and formally educated in he traditional schools of Rhetorical principles, available in Troy and Alexandria
Constantine’s main concern was to quell the religious dissent and turmoil that threatened the unity of his Empire. He already had total control of his subjects while they were alive. What more could he ask for than to gain complete power over men’s lives even after they were dead? Was not the Church, with its promise to grant men their salvation, just the means whereby he could achieve such a goal?
Constantine’s resolve to save the Church and grant himself the supreme and ultimate power that it alone held, could do just that. He did just that. Such a bold move gave him what previous Emperors could not even have dreamed of. He succeeded but the price to the Church of Jesus Christ was the total spiritual bankruptcy of Christianity. The Church was now effectively hijacked by the State through a merger of the two most powerful bodies in the Empire., the Church and the State.
In a first attempt to consolidate, Constantine convened a conference to be held in Nicaea in 325.A.D. Between 250 to 318 Bishops from all of the Christian world attended. Constantine presided over the council. His presence, while certainly intimidating, did not necessarily influence the outcome of the theological conclusions reached. But with the specific goals which he was determined to have resolved, he was resolute.
Here are some of the goals and topics on the agenda:
1/ To establish a common uniform doctrine and creed, acceptable to everyone and which would become compulsory for all citizens.
2/ To agree upon which books would be included as cannon (accepted scriptures and writings.)
3/ No council had been held since the one in Jerusalem (which had convened to set conditions so Gentiles could join the Church). This Council was to be recognize as the precedent for all future councils.
4/ The Council would resolve disagreements regarding the understanding of the nature of God, his Son and the Holy Ghost.
5/ To establish when holy celebrations, such as Easter and Christmas, would be held.
6/ To establish a system whereby consensus would be reached on issues, now and in the future.
7/ To find a solution to the Arian Controversy. (Arius led a group, deemed to be heretical, that believed the nature of Christ was different from that accepted by the other Bishops).
8/ To establish procedure to ordain future clergy.
9/ To agree upon a system for the construction of Church buildings.
10/ To establishing norms for public repentance and punishments.
11/ To agree upon how to admit repentant heretics.
12/ Find clarification for the role of Deacons.
Two of these agreements drastically reduced the authority previously held by the Church:
1/ The Bishop’s role became inferior to the Emperor’s and in some cases, no power existent beyond the Bishop’s own parish.
2/ It opened the door wide for the academics, (appointed by Rome), to tinker, revise, replace or otherwise transform the basic core doctrines of the Church as they pleased
Upon the death of Constantine in 337 A.D. the civilized Christian Church of the world waited to see how all that Constantine had wrought would work out. Waiting in the wings was the perfect candidate to take advantage of this transformation. His name was Aurelius Augustine.
St. Augustine.
Augustine was born 354 A D in Tagaste, North Africa. Not for better, but for worse, he took the lead to further complicate what Constantine had started.
He is a window to everything that was wrong with the Greek society of his day. Having spent his early youth in a wild orgy of living, Augustine reasoned that man had not the power by himself to change his own behavior from sinful to righteous. His father was a pagan and his mother a Christian. She deterred him from being baptized until, as she put it, “The irregularities and excesses of youth were passed”. Augustine expressed his attitude in his own words: “Give me chastity, but give it not yet.”
He rejected the religion of his mother (Christian) because he thought the Bible was “barbarous and incomprehensible”. He practiced the Manichean lifestyle, a Persian religion popular in his day that proposed that there were two opposing powers in the world: good and evil. Unfortunately, they were out of balance and nothing but living an ascetic lifestyle of complete self-discipline and denial would bring the two into a balanced position again. All these experiences and influences early in his life reflected themselves in Augustine’s prolific writings later. Naturally, these strong-held personal beliefs surfaced thereafter as the foundational principles of the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church.
The victory of the philosophical conclusions of the purpose of man’s existence over the recorded scriptures of Christ and the inspired Apostolic teachings, was completed by the hand and mind of Augustine. Tutored in the sciences, rhetoric, mathematics and philosophy, the antithesis of the simple soul-teachings of Christ, he was perfectly positioned to become the greatest influence on the thinking and doctrine of the Catholic Church since Paul.