The Roman Menace

The Romans had their own spiritual gods long before they came into contact with the Greeks and adopted their gods. Then beginning with Augustus, Romans had to see the Emperor as a god as well. At about the same time as Augustus, a new religion appeared.

What came to be known as Christianity, began as a cult religion in the eastern Mediterranean among a small group of Jews. They began as a small sect (group) but its numbers quickly grew. As the movement began to engulf non-Jewish people, it strayed farther and farther away from its Jewish roots. Eventually it became a religion of its own.

The reign of Augustus was very cruel toward people of the Jewish religion. Many Jews then began to pray for a messiah –savior- to come and save them and restore the dynasty of David.

In the year 66, the Jews rebelled against the Roman Empire and easily overpowered the small garrison of soldiers in Jerusalem. It took the Romans less than four years to return to Jerusalem and destroy the temple there. In the year 132 the Jews rebelled and were again put down by the mighty Roman Legions.

In 132 the Romans banned Jew from living in Jerusalem. Even though it was illegal, many Jews continued to study the Torah the book containing the entire body of Jewish religious law and learning.

A few decades before the rise of the Jewish revolts, a Jew named Jesus grew up in a town called Nazareth. He traveled through Judea from 26 to 30, preaching a new message to his disciples – followers.

Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom of God was close at hand and he urged people to repent their mistakes and change their behavior. He preached that God was loving and forgiving toward those that repented. Jesus’ disciples began to believe that he was the long-awaited messiah.

Another group of Jews did not believe he was the messiah and they began calling Jesus an impostor. Roman officials were also interested in Jesus. They believed that anyone who could arouse such emotions among the people was a big threat to Roman authority.

In the year 33 Roman officials arrested him and ordered that he be crucified, hung upon the cross. This was the customary way of punishing criminals in Rome.

After his death, many of Jesus’ followers claimed that he was resurrected, risen from the dead. Many claimed he appeared to them. They began preaching that he was the Son of God and that he was they way to salvation.

People who followed Jesus became known as Christians (Greek for Messiah). A convert named Paul was a great contributor to the Christian religion. He traveled the country and spread the word of Jesus.

His epistles from various churches combined with the Gospels (stories about Jesus) and together these stories made up a book called the New Testament of the Bible. Quickly new churches spread throughout the Western World.

The problem was that these Christians taught that their religion was the only true faith. That did not set well with the officials in Rome. They refused to recognize the emperor as a God, they rejected military service, and they criticized Roman holidays and games.

Roman soldiers began showing up in Christian towns and killing all of the inhabitants. People who were given a choice as to whether give up Christianity or die which chose death became Martyrs – people whgo choose to die rather than give up their religious beliefs.

Christians were taken into stadiums where they were torn to shreds by vicious animals in front of thousands of cheering spectators. Such persecution many people from becoming Christians. Yet many joined because they found the principles of the religion appealing – salvation for all and doing good for others.

According to legend, in the year 32 the Roman general Constantine led his army into battle after seeing a fiery cross in the sky. Beneath the cross were the words “With this as your standard you will have victory.”

Because of this vision, Constantine had his soldiers paint the Christian cross on their swords before they marched into battle. His army was greatly outnumbered, but they won a splendid victory. Constantine credited the victory to the God of the Christsians.

That same year, Constantine was named the emperor of Rome and he was a staunch supporter of the Christian religion. He gave Christians the right to worship as they pleased. He also ordered churches and shrines to be built in Rome and Jerusalem.

During the 300’s Christianity spread throughout the Roman world. Then in 392 a Roman emperor named Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of Rome. He outlawed all of the old religions of Rome and he created the holiday of Christmas to promote his religion. He just picked the 25th of December and claimed it was Jesus’ birthday.

St. Augustine was born in a town called Hippo in North Africa. In his autobiography called Confessions he described how when he read a chapter form the Bible in changed his life. Within 10 years of this event he became the leading church official in Hippo.

He then continued to write and his works spread throughout the Christian world. Another book called – The City of God – was a history of the world from the Christian point of view. Centuries after his death, the Catholic Church declared him a saint.

Soon the church was designed into a hierarchy – levels of authority. Each level of power was stronger than the one below it. The lowest level was called parishes, each was led by a priest. Several parishes would then be cluped together and they would be overseen by a bishop.

The more powerful bishops were called archbishops. The archbishops of the 5 leading Christian cities were called patriarchs.

Around the year 400, the bishop in Rome claimed to have authority over all of the other bishops. He was originally called the papa, but it was for some reason later changed to the English language term of Pope.

The Pope was later recognized as being the head of all Christian churches. Later in history the Catholic Church split when the Roman Empire split. The Latin churches became known as the Roman Catholic Church. The Greek Churches came to be known as the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Before we go on to tomorrow I have to tell you about one other thing-- Islam. Now, Obviously, I don’t understand everything about Islam myself, but hopefully, I can help you understand it a little better.

First, a follower of Islam is called a Muslim. A Muslim is anyone who accepts the two basic premises of the “First Pillar of Islam,” Which says, There is no God but Allah, and Mohammad was his last and final prophet. On top of believing that, a Muslim will also TRY to obey the four other pillars of Islam, which are:

--Offering prayer five times a day. To do this they must be facing the city of Mecca when they pray. In most Muslim cities, there is a call to prayer, with some guy making these weird wailing sounds.

--Fasting during Ramadan, an Islamic holiday.

--Giving Alms to the poor (alms is a word for donations- money).

--And they must make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives.

Their Prophet, Muhammed, died in 632 AD. After his death, the Muslim world went through a serious dispute over who should be the next leader. A majority of the Muslims accepted the new leader, Abu Bakr, these Muslims became known as the Sunni Muslims.

However, there was a small vocal minority who wanted someone else as the new leader- Ali- they broke away from the main group, and from that point on they have been known as the Shi’ite Muslims. The two factions still exist today. One reason why I point this difference out, is because our topic for the next few days is will be the Crusades, a series of unholy Holy wars between these two groups.