It has been said: Ignorance of church is history is ignorance of the bible. What happened to the church after Christ left? The great persecution of the church started with the time when Paul and Peter were executed on AD 68 by Herod and continued by the Emperors of Rome until 337 when Emperor Constantine accepted the Christian religion. The persecutions and massacre which lasted for almost 300 years costs from 2,000,000 to 7,000,000 graves..Some of these Roman Emperors who persecuted the Church were: 1) Domitian, (AD 95). Persecution was short but extremely violent. Among them Flavius Clemens , cousin of the Emperor and Flavia Domitila his wife and Apostle John were banished. 2) Trajan (AD 98-117). One of the best emperors, but felt he should uphold the law of the land and since Christianity was regarded as an illegal religion for refusing to take part in the Emperor worship, Christians were punished and killed. Among who perished was Simon the brother of Jesus Christ, Bishop of Jerusalem, crucified AD 107, Ignatius, 2nd Bishop of Antioch, thrown to the wild beast (AD 110). 3) Hadrian (117-138). Persecuted the Christians but in moderation. Telesphorus, pastor of the Roman church and many others suffered martyrdom. 4) Antonius Pius (138-161). Favored Christianity but felt he has to uphold the Law. Polycarp was among those martyred. 5) Marcus Aurelius (161-180) His persecution was cruel and barbarous the severest since Nero. Thousand were beheaded or thrown to wild beast. Among them was Justine Martyr. 6) Septemius Severus (193-211). The persecution was severe but not general. Egypt and North Africa suffered most. In Alexandria many were daily burned, crucified , beheaded and torn to pieces by wild beast...Among them, Leonidas the father of Origen. 7) Maximin (235-238).Prominent Christians were put to death. Origen escaped by hiding. Decius (249-251).Was determined to exterminate Christianity. The persecution was extensive and very violent. Multitudes perished with the cruelest tortures in Rome, North Africa, Egypt and Asia Minor. Cyprian said the whole world I devastated. 9) Valerian (253-260) More severe than Decius, he aimed the utter destruction of Christianity. Many leaders were executed among them Cyprian, bishop of Carthage. 10) Diocletian (284-305). The last Imperial persecution. For 10 years Christians were hunted in Caves and Forest. They were burned, thrown to wild beast, or tortured. It was a systematic effort to abolish the Christian name. During those times, the AD 30 to AD 300, the Christians were only called "Christians". They did not give up their faith even if it means death. Silvester I(AD 314-335), was the Bishop of Rome when, under Constantine, Christianity was virtually made the state religion of the Roman Empire. The Church immediately became the Institution of vast importance in the world of Politics. Constantine regarded himself as head of the church. He called the council of Nicaea (AD 325), and presided over it, the First World Council of the Church. This council accorded the bishops of Alexandria (Egypt) and Antioch (Now Turkey), full jurisdiction of their Provinces, as the Roman Bishop had over his in Rome and Constantine over Constantinople (Greece) the central Capitol of the Roman Empire. Eusebius (AD 264-340), Bishop of Caesarea, Church Historian, was the first to recognize that there are 27 books that constitute the New Testament. Eusebius was imprisoned during Diocletian’s persecution of Christians which was Rome’s final effort to blot out the Christians Name. Their main target is the destruction of all Christian Scriptures. For ten years Bibles were hunted by agents of Rome, and burned in public market places. But Eusebius survived and lived until the reign of Constantine, who accepted Christianity. He became the Emperor’s chief religious adviser. Constantine ordered Eusebius, as his first job to prepare under his direction, FIFTY Bibles, for the churches in Constantinople; by skillful copyist, to be written on a prepared parchment, in the finest of vellum and in a portable form. Eusebius then speak of four classes of books: 1. Those Universally accepted. 2. The disputed books: James, II Peter, Jude, II and III John, which though included in the Bible is doubted by some. 3. The spurious books among them are: “Acts of Paul”,” Shepherd of Hermas”, , “Apocalypse of Peter” , “Epistle of Barnabas” and “Didache”, and 4. Forgeries of Heretics: “Gospel of Peter”, “Gospel of Thomas”, “Gospel of Matthias”, “Acts of Andrew”, “Acts of John”. In AD 397 the 27 books acknowledged by Eusebius as with the Genuine Apostolic Authority, was formally ratified as the 27 books of the New Testament by the unanimous judgment of the Churches. Emperor Theodosius (AD 378-398) made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire and made church membership compulsory. This was the worst calamity that has befallen the Christian church. Theodosius undertook the forcible suppression of all other religion and Prohibited idol worship. Under his decree heathen (Pagan) Temples were torn down by mobs of Christians and there was much bloodshed. Christ designed to conquer by the way of voluntary conversion and genuine change in heart and life. But now the Military Spirit of Imperial Rome had entered the Church .The Church had conquered the Roman Empire but in reality the Roman Empire had conquered the Church by making the church the image of the Roman Empire. A great apostasy had entered the Christian church and the church has become a Political organization of Imperial Rome. This was the start of the great apostate church - a church ruled by unregenerate leaders.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 13:44:02 +0000
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