history, part II

May 31, 2005

In spite of the noisy propaganda of the Church about its "martyrs", the number

of Christians who were actually arrested and executed by the Roman government

was extremely small, and never because of their religious beliefs. In fact, in

Rome there was a great number of other religious groups who had very similar

theologies and philosophies and, as long as they kept quiet and did not disturb

society, the government allowed them to conduct all their rituals and

traditions. However, Christians were often a social nuisance, and in fact many

of them were arrested because they had committed other crimes, like arson,

social disturbance, rebellion (of slaves), insulting government authorities etc,

which they sometimes did openly and defiantly (and quite annoyingly), claiming

to be the "chosen people" and the "only depositories of salvation".

Even those emperors who are described by the Church historians as the "worst

persecutors" of Christians were actually extremely tolerant as a general policy,

a very necessary quality at the head of an empire where hundreds of different

civilizations and ethnic groups lived together, each with their own beliefs,

traditions and cults. Besides, the Romans were not sophisticated torturers as

the apologists of the "martyrs" would us believe. Most of the horrifying stories

of the "persecutions" were actually created by writers who had been trained in

the diabolical and morbid codification of torture developed by the Christian

Inquisition, unparalleled in the history of mankind. Some claiming to be

Christians may have ended up arrested for stealing, begging or other illegal

activities and the Romans didn't keep people in jails... the "antisocial

elements" were either sold into slavery, sent to dig salt, minerals and coal in

the government's mines or to row ships.

For a brief period in Roman history, criminals were used for the peculiar

entertainment enterprise called the Colosseum. However, we must note that the

overwhelming majority of the people who died in the Colosseum were professional

gladiator slaves and convicted criminals. The Church would make us think that

the Colosseum was built specifically to slaughter Christians, and "millions" of

them were killed there. This is a shameless lie. From the beginning of Christian

preaching with Paul, in 58, until the reign of Constantine in 306, the number of

Christians jailed and executed for treason, arson, mendicity, rebellion

(including the runaway slaves) and similar crimes has been estimated in not

exceeding 2,000 people, of whom only a few were killed in the Colosseum. If we

compare these numbers of people killed and methods of punishment in ancient Rome

with the numbers of people killed and the methods of punishment under the

Christian rule, we will see the extent of the impudence of the Church supporters

and the bias of their presentation.

Emperor Nero, a disciple of the philosopher Seneca, reigned from 54 to 68 CE. In

July 64 there was the famous fire in Rome, that destroyed many houses of the

common people, built in wood. The Church maintains that Nero himself had the

fire started in order to get a pretext to persecute the Christians, falsely

accusing them of arson.

Arthur Drews, in The Legend of St Peter, writes that in reality the Neronian

persecution never occurred. It is a fiction of the Church fabricated by a 5th

century disciple of Bishop Martin of Tours (The Chronicle of Sulpicius Severus).

Neither the (numerous) early Christian writers nor the Jewish historian Josephus

say nothing about any persecution of Christians under Nero, though Josephus is

not slow to describe him as "acting like a madman" who "slew his brother, and

wife, and mother."

In fact it is very likely that the followers of Paul must have had a hand in the

fire, since many Christians showed a strong inclination for arson in

"purification of the world": in his writings, Augustine boasts of having torched

a synagogue, and history records a very long list of examples of Christian

fanatics torching and destroying libraries, temples and schools of "heathens",

and later, when no more heathens could be found, burning all dissenters within

Christianity, called heretics and witches. Celsus stresses the obsession of

these Christians with the "purifying fire": "They (Christians) postulate, for

example, that their messiah will return as a conqueror on the clouds, and that

he will rain fire upon the earth in his battle with the princes of the air, and

that the whole world, with the exception of believing Christians, will be

consumed in fire."

The emperors Vespasian and Titus leave the Christians alone, but in 90 CE

Domitian, alarmed at the growing numbers of the agitators, who even converted

his cousins Flavius Clemens and Flavia Domitilla, tries to curb the problem and

has some leaders arrested and executed. The subsequent emperors seemed to show

great tolerance towards Christians, and in fact Nerva, Hadrian, Antoninus the

Pious, Caracalla, Heliogabalus, Alexander Severus, Gordian, Philip Aradius and

Maximinus of Tracia did not take any measure to condemn or repress them.

Commodus even had Christians in his court. Traianus (98-117) and Marcus Aurelius

(161-180) arrested and executed some of the leaders of the Christians, and

Settimius Severus (193-211) forbid forced conversions to Christianity. Decius

(249-251) tried to separate the simple minded from the political agitators by

requesting all Christians to swear allegiance to the government of Rome, and

punished the rebels. Lucius arrested the bishop of Rome Pius I because the

bishop had publicly insulted him, believing that the emperor was interested in a

prostitute that the bishop was attached to.

The last "persecution" of the Christians is under Diocletian (284-305) who faces

the rebellion of Christians in his own army (the Legion of Thebes) and gets

angry because they had set fire to his own palace.

However, not all Christians were like the intolerant and aggressive followers of

Paul. Many still preached and practiced Jesus' teachings, giving shelter to

runaway slaves and destitute people and welcoming women who found in their

communities extraordinary opportunities of dignity, position and service,

unparalleled in Rome's chauvinistic patristic society. Women were accepted on

the same level of men until 394 CE, with the Nimes synod, when they were

forbidden to celebrate rituals in all communities.

The number of Paul's followers grew mainly by other means. One of Paul's early

followers and successors, Anacletus, went as far as preaching that Christians

could have sex without restrictions (in the name of "brotherly love" or "love

feasts" -- called agape) in order to get more followers. Anacletus (76-88) made

himself the first "bishop" of Rome after eliminating Linus (67-76), who in turn

had eliminated Priscilla (a woman), the first leader of the earliest Christian

community in Rome.

Clemens I (88-97), the next bishop of Rome, created the "priests" by

establishing them as a special class over the common Christians, with special

privileges and position; until that time there were no priests, everyone was

living in community on the same level and everyone was celebrating all the

functions without discriminations.

Evaristus (97-105) went a step further by prescribing a distinctive shaving for

the priests, who could be recognized immediately from the mass of the people.

After Evaristus, Alexander (105-115) was elected at the age of 20, inaugurating

a long tradition of unbridled sex among bishops and popes, so much that

Telesphorus (125-136, after Sixtus I, 115-125) became famous for having raped

the seven virgin priestesses of Vesta, a roman Goddess, by breaking into that

temple at night (a feat he liked to boast about). Many stories were told about

his pride about his sexual prowess and other ruthless activities, but they do

not deserve to be told in details, just like so many other popular details about

his successors.

We will only say that among the first 30 bishops of Rome, generally called popes

like all other senior leaders of Christianity in all cities, there were many

notorious criminals, recognized as assassins and rapers even by the Church

historians. Many accumulated huge amounts of personal money and property by

exploiting converts, many were strangled or poisoned. Most of them survived in

charge only very briefly, as their position was very coveted because of its

material advantages.

Several bishops were even regular worshipers of other religions, against their

own preaching. Many kicked out their wives and children, both "legitimate" and

"illegitimate", either to take new women or homosexual lovers, all the while

condemning sex as the worst sin. To react against this blatant contradiction,

some Christians performed excesses of penance and especially denial of the body:

they declared that even taking a bath was sinful because it involved touching

one's body, so much as a common saying was created, "smelling like a saint".

Many went as far as castrating themselves (like Origenes) directly or by having

someone else perform the operation.

In the year 300 CE, Rome was so full of Christians that the emperor Constantine

decided that it was more useful for him to make friends with Christians than

trying to oppose them. Constantine found that the number of Christians in Rome

had grown in the army, too, and that the new converts were faithful only to

their religious leaders. Such leaders were aggressive, determined, and ruthless,

fighting each other for power and profit: he thought they might just be the

political allies he needed to prevail over his own rivals at the top. Probably

he was also sympathetic with them as his own methods were quite ruthless, too:

as everyone knew, he had strangled his own wife, his father in law (former

ally), his brother in law and his own son, because of political reasons.

Constantine made an agreement with the bishop Milziades, and with the edict of

Milan (313 CE) he established Christianity as an official religion and gave some

authority to the leaders of the Church. Constantine never renounced to his

traditional title of "Pontifex Maximus", or supreme head of the Roman cult

worshiping the State. Constantine actually never became a Christian (he was

never baptized), nor wanted the Roman Empire to become Christian. It is very

important to understand this point.

All Roman emperors were called Pontifex Maximus because they incarnated the

sacredness of the political power. Rome had no specific religion: the only true

religion of Romans was the worship of the State in the form of material power,

conquest, law and order. Romans also worshiped their ancestors as those who had

lived for the benefit of the State, the equivalent of the "saints" of later

Christianity.

More than a religious figure, the Pontifex Maximus was a political figure, a

supreme representative of the material mysticism of the Roman State. In the same

way, the pope in Rome was (and still is) called Pontifex, or Pontiff. His

position was (and still is) not so much a religious position, but a political

figure, a kind of "head of state" or representative (Governor) of "Christ's

kingdom" on earth. Therefore Christianity did not develop as a religion: it was

a political entity, a Nation, that had a capital city in Rome, ambassadors to

other kingdoms, enormous properties and its own independent laws, mostly

centered around the conquest or domination of the entire world. Christianity as

we know it was originated after Constantine, a duplicate of the materialistic

cult and mentality of Rome, gradually losing more and more any connection with

the original teachings of Jesus and the cultural and religious background of

Hebraism.

Constantine remained the emperor and at the same time he clarified his supreme

authority over the Christians in order to utilize them in the service of the

State and specifically in a war he was going to fight. He made clear that he was

above all the bishops and he could give them orders. In fact, the emperors were

the ones who called and presided the Church councils, and appointed and removed

bishops, for hundreds of years.

However, the emperor soon had to repent of his decision of giving so much

recognition and importance, because it became apparent that by so doing, he had

irreparably compromised the law and order of the empire, and especially in Rome.

The Christians had become totally uncontrollable and their factions multiplied,

fighting each others to get more and more power, and creating more and more

social unrest. Besides, the Christians were openly going on a rampage by killing

and destroying all the other cults, temples and worshipers. Here is the

chronological order of the events by which Christianity established itself in

the Mediterranean area:

314, Immediately after its full legalization, the Christian Church attacks the

Gentiles: the Council of Ancyra denounces the worship of Goddess Artemis as

"demoniac".

324, Emperor Constantine declares Christianism as the only official Religion of

the Roman Empire. In Dydima, Minor Asia, the Christian mob sacks the Oracle of

the God Apollo and tortures the pagan priests to death. They also evict all the

Gentiles from Mt. Athos and destroy all the local Hellenic Temples.

In 325 Constantine calls the Council of Nicea (Bitinia) to try to control the

situation, but without much result.

326, Emperor Constantine destroys the Temple of the God Asclepius in Aigeai of

Cilicia and many Temples of the Goddess Aphrodite in Jerusalem, Aphaca, Mambre,

Phoenice, Baalbek, etc.

In 330 the emperor finds that the Christians are not going to be controlled by

any means and they have turned Rome into a big mess. So he gives up Rome, moving

to Constantinoples, or Bisantium, to build a new city that may be under his

control. Rome remains under the control of the local bishop, who becomes the

highest political power.

330 to 335, Constantine sacks many pagan Temples of the Mediterranean to

decorate Nova Roma (Constantinople), the new capital of his Empire. He orders

the execution by crucifixion of "all magicians and soothsayers", including the

neoplatonist philosopher Sopatrus.

341, emperor Flavius Julius Constantius persecutes "all the soothsayers and the

Hellenists". Many Gentile Hellenes are either imprisoned or executed.

346, New large-scale persecutions against the Gentiles in Constantinople.

Banishment of the famous orator Libanius accused of being a "magician".

353, An edict of Constantius orders the death penalty for all kind of worship

through sacrifices and "idols".

In 353 CE Constant II, under the pressure and blackmailing of the Christians,

established the death penalty for all those who disobeyed the priests, and of

course this law included all those who wanted to worship according to the

ancient Religions. So all those who refused to become faithful servants of the

Christian priests or to be forcibly converted fled in the millions out from the

cities and populated areas, taking shelter in isolated places (pagis in Latin)

and became known as "pagans".

All the ancient temples, libraries, holy places were destroyed all over the

Roman empire, and millions of followers of other religions, together with

scientists, philosophers, artists, mathematicians and scholars of all kinds,

even from the Christian communities themselves (the moderate and scholarly,

called "heretics") were massacred. This edict remained valid in the Church's

laws until 1974, when Paul VI was forced to eliminate it from the legal system

of the Vatican state after a campaign of human rights activists that stirred the

public opinion.

One of the first writers of Christianity, Augustine the bishop of Hippo,

(354-430), was obsessed by lust and formulated the "doctrine of the original

sin". He speaks of a "just war" against heathens and justifies forced conversion

of heathens with violence by using Luke 14.23 "And the master said to the slave,

'Go out into the roads and the fenced-in places, and compel them to come in,

that my house may be filled.'" At the same time, he is strongly intolerant

towards "heretic Christians": "The Emperor has a duty to suppress schism &

heresy... Scripture gives no false information... Since God has spoken to us it

is no longer necessary for us to think."

354, A new edict orders the closing of all the pagan temples. Some of them are

turned into brothels or gambling rooms. Executions of pagan priests.

354, A new edict of Constantius orders the destruction of the pagan Temples and

the execution of all "idolaters". First burning of libraries in various cities

of the Empire. The first lime factories are being organized next to the closed

pagan Temples. A major part of the holy architecture of the Gentiles is turned

into lime.

357, Constantius outlaws all methods of Divination (including astrology).

359, In Skythopolis, Syria, the Christians organize the first death camps for

the torture and executions of the arrested Gentiles from all around the Empire.

361 to 363, Religious tolerance and restoration of the pagan cults are declared

in Constantinople (11th December 361) by the pagan Emperor Flavius Claudius

Julianus (called by the Church "the apostate", "one who gives up one's

religion", although Julianus never became a Christian).

363, Assassination of Emperor Julianus (26th June).

364, Emperor Flavius Jovianus orders the burning of the Library of Antioch.

364, An Imperial edict (11th September) orders the death penalty for all

Gentiles who worship their ancestral Gods or practice Divination ("sileat

omnibus perpetuo divinandi curiositas"). Three different edicts (4th February,

9th September, 23rd December) order the confiscation of all properties of the

pagan Temples and the death penalty for participation in pagan rituals, even

privately.

365, An Imperial edict (17th November) forbids the non-Christian officers of

the army to give orders to Christian soldiers.

In 366 bishop Liberius died, and two factions elected each one bishop, Ursinus

and Damasus. After heavy fighting around the streets of Rome the followers of

Ursinus are killed by the other party (the fighting claimed at least 137 lives,

with the body count in one place only, the church where they had retreated).

Ursinus (366-367) is exiled by decree of the emperor, and Damasus (366-384)

becomes the bishop of Rome.

In 370 Ambrose, bishop of Milan, declares anathema against a law of the emperor

Valentinian I that protected widows and orphans from being robbed and exploited

by the priests, so the emperor had to withdraw the law that "put lowly and

miserable people above the priests".

370, Emperor Valentinian orders a tremendous persecution of the Gentiles in all

the eastern Empire. In Antioch, among many others, the ex-governor Fidustius and

the priests Hilarius and Patricius are executed. Tons of books are burnt in the

squares of the cities of the eastern Empire. All the old friends and supporters

of Julianus (Orebasius, Sallustius, Pegasius etc.) are persecuted, the

philosopher Simonides is burned alive and the philosopher Maximus is

decapitated.

372, Emperor Valens orders the governors to exterminate all the Hellenes and all

documents of their wisdom.

373, New prohibition of all divination methods. The term "pagan" (paganos,

villagers) is introduced by the Christians to demean the non-Christians.

375, The temple of Asclepius in Epidaurus, Greece, is closed down by the

Christians.

In 377 the Church declares all the previous bishops of Rome as saints,

irrespective of their behavior. However, the mass of people vaguely felt that

some "moralization" of the Church was in order, and the "Patres" of the Church

put their brains at work. John Chrysostom and Augustine, as well as other

intellectuals of the community, found the solution: blaming women and Jews. Both

categories were still a considerable slice of the Christian community, and they

could be singled out as "evil creatures" on the basis of some fabricated

theological dogmas. The first theologians therefore proceeded to explain to the

masses that it was the Jews who had killed Jesus, therefore they were all evil

and they deserved to be persecuted. Augustine, the most famous of those early

theologians, proudly boasted that he had personally set fire to the synagogue of

Kallinikon, and all bishops encouraged the faithful to isolate, persecute, rob

and kill Jews wherever they lived. The other easy scapegoats were women. Since

one of the main problems of the Christian community was the number of sexual

scandals, Augustine cleverly deducted that the problem was in women (not in

men's lusty propensities).

In this period the Church started teaching that the sexual act is the worst of

sins, that babies who died before being christened are condemned to eternal

hell, because they were "impure due to their contact with their mothers". Still

in 1861 the Catholic theologian Beleth was forbidding Christians to take dead

pregnant (Christian) women into the church for burial: the dead baby had first

to be cut out from the dead mother's womb to be buried outside the cemetery

(i.e. thrown in the garbage dumps).

The Church prescribed first 3 days, then 30 days of sexual abstinence to laymen

after their legal marriage, plus 3 days for each festive occasion (including 20

days before Christmas, 40 days before Easter etc), with extreme penalties for

those who transgressed the law. This situation was due to worsen even more, as

we will see later on, but only to "balance" the unrestrained and shameless

sexual indulgence of priests and bishops who, on the other hand, remained "above

all criticism" as a separate and unquestionable class, although they were

actually the reason of the scandal and moral degradation, with their behavior.

380, On 27th February, Christianism becomes the exclusive Religion of the Roman

Empire by an edict of Emperor Flavius Theodosius, requiring that "all the

various nations which are subject to our clemency and moderation should continue

in the profession of that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the

divine apostle Peter". The non-Christians are called "loathsome, heretics,

stupid and blind". In another edict Theodosius calls "insane" those that do not

believe in the Christian God and outlaws all disagreements with the Church

dogmas. Ambrosius, bishop of Milan (340-397), starts destroying all the pagan

temples of his area. Ambrosius writes: "Christ ... stands at the head of the

legions... Nothing can be found in this world more exalted than priests or more

sublime than bishops." He became a bishop before becoming a Christian, then he

was baptized.

Also in 380, the Christian priests lead the angry mob against the temple of

Goddess Demeter in Eleusis and lynch the hierophants (priests) Nestorius and

Priscus. The 95 years old hierophant Nestorius stops the Eleusinian Mysteries

and announces the predominance of mental darkness over the human race.

381, On 2nd May, Theodosius deprives of all their rights the Christians that

return back to the pagan Religion. In all the eastern empire the pagan temples

and libraries are looted or burned down. On 21st December, Theodosius outlaws

even the simple visits to the temples of the Hellenes. In Constantinople, the

temple of goddess Aphrodite is turned into a brothel and the temples of Sun and

Artemis into stables.

384, Emperor Theodosius orders the Praetorian Prefect Maternus Cynegius, a

dedicated Christian, to cooperate with the local bishops and destroy the temples

of the Gentiles in northern Greece and Asia.

385 to 388, Maternus Cynegius, encouraged by bishop Marcellus sends his gangs

scour the countryside and sack and destroy hundreds of Hellenic temples, shrines

and altars. Among others they destroy 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. Thousands of innocent Gentiles from all sides of the empire

suffer martyrdom in the notorious death camps of Skythopolis.

386, Emperor Theodosius outlaws (16th June) the reconstruction of the sacked

pagan temples.

388, Public talks on religious subjects are also outlawed by Theodosius. The old

orator Libanius sends his famous letter Pro Templis to Theodosius, in the hope

that the few remaining Hellenic temples will be respected and spared.

389 to 390, All non-Christian calendar methods are outlawed. Hordes of fanatic

hermits from the desert flood the cities of the Middle East and Egypt to destroy

statues, altars, libraries and pagan temples and lynch the Gentiles. Theophilus,

Patriarch of Alexandria, starts heavy persecutions against the Gentiles, turns

the Temple of Dionysus into a Christian church, burns down the Mithraeum of the

city, destroys the temple of Zeus and burlesque the pagan priests before they

are killed by stoning. The Christian mob profanes all the cult images.

391, On 24th February, a new edict of Theodosius prohibits not only visits to

pagan temples but also looking at the vandalized statues. New heavy persecutions

all around the empire under the orders of pope Syricius (384-399), the first to

call himself "the only supreme authority of all Christians". In Alexandria,

Egypt, the Gentiles, led by the philosopher Olympius, revolt and after some

street fights they lock themselves inside the fortified temple of Serapis (the

Serapeion). After a violent attack the Christians take over the building,

demolish it, burn its famous library and profane the cult images.

This same Syricius was called to decide on a dispute between two priests over

the "possession" of two women, Paula and Melania, claimed by Rufinus against the

interest of Girolamus. He decided by chance, and he was cursed by the loser

(Girolamus), who escaped with the two women anyway. Later on, another concubine

of Girolamus, named Marcella, obtained revenge by pressing the "highest

authority of Christians" to bar all handicapped people from priesthood.

Girolamus also supported Ambrosius' wrath against the imperial law for the

protection of widows and orphans (who were left penniless when their dying

husbands and fathers were pressed to leave all their properties to the Church)

and proclaimed that priests and clergy should never pay taxes to the government,

no matter how many properties they have accumulated. The council of Carthago, in

this period, authorized priests to acquire, possess, enjoy and leave as gift any

amount of money or property. With the same council, thieves and murderers are

given full immunity and legal protection if they take shelter in a church. This

will be the beginning of the long history of the connection of the Church with

Mafia and gangsters of all kinds.

A few moral people, like Pelagius, who criticized the scandalous behavior of the

priests and questioned them on philosophical issues, were persecuted. Pelagius,

hated by Ambrose, Augustine and Girolamus, was lashed with lead-pointed flogs,

that usually tore the flesh off the body of the victim by exposing tendons and

bones, and then exiled on the barren and deserted island of Boa where he died of

starvation. Ambrose defamed him, adding insult to injury, by circulating the

false information that he had died of indigestion and indulgence in all kinds of

vices.

All over Europe, the pagan resistance against the Christian aggression was

generally led by women, who in the Ancient Religion were considered as the

empowered representatives of the Mother Goddess, healers, oracles, expert in the

secrets of herbs and plants, childbirth, etc. So women became the most dangerous

enemies of the Church, but they could not be totally eliminated from society, so

the Church concocted a "Virgin Mary" who never had any connection with sex even

before her own birth ("the Immaculate Conception" whereby the Church said she

was conceived by her mother without any sexual activity), and was totally

subjugated to male domination. Mary became "the Mother of God", and from a very

obscure position in early Christianity, she was loaded with all the symbols of

the Mother Goddess of ancient religions, as we can still see in her depictions.

However, she was offered as an example to all women who wanted to be accepted as

"virtuous", who also had to negate all respect to their bodies (called by

Augustine as "sewage pits") and renounce all sexual pleasure even within

marriage. They also had to renounce any right to speak and teach, accept total

subjugation to men and especially to priests, and in turn watch and similarly

train girls and other women. Special nunneries were created in every street of

every Christian city, where women and girls were practically jailed for life and

totally secluded in humiliation and frequent sadistic and masochistic physical

punishments called "penance". Hatred and persecution for women and sex brought

to the permanent excommunication of children born outside marriage, and

temporary excommunication of menstruated women, who had to remain standing

outside the churches during the functions, a deeply humiliating situation.

Another effect of this hatred was the development of violent and distorted

homosexuality in all groups of Christian society and especially among priests,

who also started to sexually predate on innocent male children. A third effect

was the schizophrenic behavior of priests and popes who secretly indulged in

more and more violent sex and concentration on bodily identification.

392, On 8th November, emperor Theodosius outlaws all the non-Christian rituals

and names them "superstitions of the Gentiles" (gentilicia superstitio). New

full scale persecutions against the Gentiles. The Mysteries of Samothrace are

ended and the priests slaughtered. In Cyprus the local bishop Epiphanius and

Tychon destroy almost all the temples of the island and exterminate thousands of

Gentiles. The local Mysteries of Goddess Aphrodite are ended. Theodosius' edict

declares: "the ones that won't obey pater Epiphanius have no right to keep

living in that island". The Gentiles revolt against the emperor and the Church

in Petra, Aeropolis, Rafia, Gaza, Baalbek and other cities of the Middle East.

393, The Pythian Games, the Aktia Games and the Olympic Games are outlawed as

part of the Hellenic "idolatry", and it wasn't until the year 1896 that they

actually restarted. The Christians sack the temples of Olympia. The Olympic

Games, which also originated here, were held every four years between 776 BCE to

393 CE. The games were so important in Greek life that they were used as the

basis for the calendar.

The statue of Zeus at the temple of Olympia was one of the seven wonders of the

ancient world, made by the Greek sculptor Phidias about 435 BCE. The statue, 40

feet (12 meters) high, showed Zeus on his throne, with robe and ornaments out of

gold and the body made of ivory. The religious buildings of the Olympia were

clustered in the Altis (sacred grove), which lies where the Cladeus River flows

into the Alfios River. They included the temples of Zeus and Hera, the Pelopion,

the Philippeion, and the great altars. Christian zealots looted the temples of

Zeus in Apamea and Antioch, which were destroyed and melted for their golden

worth. A fort was built in the Altis. Later, earthquakes and floods covered

Olympia 20 feet under water until 1829, when a French archeological expedition

began excavations. Between 1875 and 1879 the entire Altis and many of the

surrounding buildings were uncovered, finding fragments of sculptures, coins,

terra cottas, and bronzes have been found. The major discoveries were two

statues, the Victory of Paeonius (423 BCE) and the Hermes of Praxiteles. In the

1950s an excavation uncovered the destroyed workshop of Phidias underneath a

Church.

395, Two new edicts (22nd July and 7th August) cause new persecutions against

the Gentiles. Rufinus, the eunuch prime minister of emperor Flavius Arcadius

directs the hordes of the baptised Goths (led by Alaric) to the country of the

Hellenes. Encouraged by Christian monks, the barbarians sack and burn many

cities (Dion, Delphi, Megara, Corinth, Pheneos, Argos, Nemea, Lycosoura,

Sparta, Messene, Phigaleia, Olympia, etc.), slaughter or enslave innumerable

Gentile Hellenes and burn down all the temples. They also burn down the

Eleusinian Sanctuary and burn alive all its priests (including the hierophant of

Mithras, Hilarius).

396, On 7th December, a new edict by emperor Arcadius orders that paganism be

treated as high treason, and the imprisonment of the few remaining pagan priests

and hierophants.

397, "Demolish them!". Emperor Flavius Arcadius orders all the still standing

pagan temples to be demolished.

398, The Fourth Church Council of Carthage prohibits everybody, including the

Christian bishops, the study of the books of the Gentiles. Porphyrius, bishop of

Gaza, demolishes almost all the pagan temples of his city (except 9 of them that

remain active).

399, With a new edict (13th July) emperor Flavius Arcadius orders all the still

standing pagan temples, mainly in the countryside, to be immediately demolished.

400, Bishop Nicetas destroys the Oracle of Dionysus in Vesai and forcibly

baptizes all the Gentiles of this area.

401, The Christian mob of Carthage lynches Gentiles and destroys temples and

"idols". In Gaza too, the local bishop Porphyrius sends his followers to lynch

Gentiles and to demolish the remaining 9 temples of the city that were still

active. The 15th Council of Chalkedon orders all the Christians that still keep

good relations with their Gentile relatives to be excommunicated (even after

their death).

405, John Chrysostom, the Patriarch of Constantinople (347-407) sends hordes of

monks armed with clubs and iron bars to destroy the "idols" in all the cities of

Palestine. He writes: " Empty your minds of secular knowledge... The slave

should be resigned to his lot... in obeying his master he is obeying God.... The

pitiful and miserable Jews... Certainly it is the time for me to show that

demons dwell in the synagogue, not only in the place itself but also in the

souls of the Jews... And this is what happened to the Jews: while they were

making themselves unfit for work, they grew fit for slaughter... There ought to

be a wall inside this church to keep (women) apart... "

406, John Chrysostom collects funds from rich Christian women to financially

support the demolition of the Hellenic Temples. In Ephesus, he orders the

destruction of the famous Temple of Goddess Artemis. In Salamis, Cyprus,

Epiphanius and Eutychius continue the persecutions of the Gentiles and the total

destruction of their Temples and sanctuaries.

407, A new edict outlaws once more all the non-Christian acts of worship.

408, The emperor of the western Empire Honorius and the emperor of the eastern

Empire Arcadius order all the sculptures of the pagan temples to be destroyed.

Private ownership of pagan sculpture is also outlawed. The local bishops lead

new book burning and heavy persecutions against the Gentiles. The judges that

show pity for the Gentiles are also persecuted. Augustine massacres hundreds of

protesting pagans in Calama, Algeria.

409, Once again, an edict orders astrology and all methods of divination to be

punished with death.

415, Theophilus, the Patriarch of Alexandria, orders the destruction of the

famous library established by Alexander the great, which contained about 700,000

manuscripts. A few days before the Judaeo-Christian Pascha (Easter) the

Christian mob led by the bishop Cyrillus attacks the famous and beautiful

philosopher Hypatia, the daughter of Theon the mathematician and the last

recorded keeper of the great library in Alexandria of Egypt.

Hypatia was torn from her chariot, stripped naked and butchered by the hands of

Peter the reader and a troop of fanatics: her flesh was scraped from her bones

with sharp broken shells, and her quivering limbs were delivered to the flames

together with her books in the Cynaron. On 30th August, new persecutions start

against all the pagan priests of North Africa who end their lives either

crucified or burned alive.

416, The inquisitor Hypatius, known as "The Sword of God", exterminates the last

Gentiles of Bithynia. In Constantinople (7th December) all non-Christian army

officers, public employees and judges are dismissed.

423, Emperor Theodosius declares (8th June) that the religion of the Gentiles is

nothing more than "demon worship" and orders all those who persist in practicing

it to be punished by imprisonment and torture.

429, The temple of Goddess Athena (Parthenon) on the Acropolis of Athens is

sacked. The Athenian pagans are persecuted.

435, On 14th November, a new edict by emperor Theodosius orders the death

penalty for all "heretics" and Gentiles of the Empire. Only Judaism is

considered a legal non-Christian Religion.

438, Emperor Theodosius issues an new edict (31st January) against the Gentiles,

incriminating their "idolatry" as the reason of a recent plague.

440 to 450, The Christians of the eastern empire again demolish all the

monuments of Athens, Olympia, and other Greek cities.

Pope Leo I (440-461) was practically the only authority in Rome when Attila the

Hun came down with his tribes.

Pope Gelasius I (492-496) increased luxury in dressing and ceremonies, and

started the hostilities with Akakios, Patriarch of Constantinople, considered

too liberal with the monophysist "heretics" and agaisnt Thiudareichs

(Theodoric), the Ostro-Goth king who ruled over Italy from 493 to 526, and who

wrote in his famous edict: "Religionem imperare non possumus, quis nemo cogitur

ut credat invitus - Galàubeins ni mag weìs anabudàima ; ni aìns hun galàubjàith

withra is wilja." The meaning is: "we cannot impose religion with force, nobody

can be forced to believe in something against his own will".

448, Theodosius orders all the non-Christian books to be burned.

450, All the temples of Aphrodisias (the city of Goddess Aphrodite) are

demolished and all its libraries burned down. The city is renamed Stavropolis

("city of the Cross").

451, A new edict by Emperor Theodosius (4th November) reiterates that "idolatry"

is punished by death.

457 to 491, more persecutions against the Gentiles of the eastern empire. Among

others, the physician Jacobus and the philosopher Gessius are executed.

Severianus, Herestios, Zosimus, Isidorus and others are tortured and imprisoned.

The proselytiser Conon and his followers exterminate the last Gentiles of Imbros

Island, in the north east Aegean Sea. The last worshippers of Zeus Lavranius

are exterminated in Cyprus.

482 to 488, The remaining Gentiles of the eastern empire are exterminated after

a desperate revolt against the emperor and the Church.

486, More "underground" pagan priests are discovered, arrested, burlesqued,

tortured and executed in Alexandria, Egypt.

In Rome, in 501, under pope Simmacus, a law will be passed that no government

court has the power to judge any member of the Church, popes, bishops or even

priests, who also maintain all rights to all the wealth they can amass. For this

reason he was proclaimed a saint. The same pope baptized Clodoveus in 506 and

ordered him to convert France. Clodoveus killed several relatives and friends;

he divorced his first wife to marry a Visigot lady who carried a rich dowry, but

soon he grew tired of her and to get back his first wife, he strangled his

second wife.

515, Baptism becomes obligatory even for those that already say they are

Christians. The emperor of Constantinople Anastasius orders the massacre of the

Gentiles in the Arabian city Zoara and the demolition of the local temple of

Theandrites.

528, Emperor Jutprada (Justinianus) outlaws the "alternative" Olympian Games of

Antioch. He also orders the execution (by fire, crucifixion, tearing to pieces

by wild beasts or cutting to pieces by iron nails) of all who practice "sorcery,

divination, magic or idolatry" and prohibits all teachings by the Gentiles

("..suffering from the blasphemous insanity of the Hellenes").

529, Emperor Justinianus outlaws the Athenian Philosophical Academy and has its

property confiscated.

532, The inquisitor Ioannis Asiacus, a fanatic monk, leads a crusade against the

Gentiles of Asia.

Pope Gregory (540-604) establishes the full secular authority of the priests

(supplanting the imperial civil service), with special regalia and privileges.

Bishops and even popes are appointed among laymen and even non-Christians, in

which case they are baptized after their installation. He writes: "All sexual

desire is sinful in itself and is justified only for the sake of children", so

illegitimate papal children are appointed bishops. Gregory also inaugurates the

veneration and sale of 'holy relics' to gullible pilgrims and establishes the

"Canon" of the "authorized" scriptures, banning and destroying all the other

documents. He invents the purgatory, a kind of intermediate situation or

purification "waiting hall" between hell and heaven, where the deceased could be

helped to attain the paradise by their relatives who donated large sums of money

to the Church, and he declares that babies who die before being baptized go

straight to hell and suffer there for all eternity; so in the frequent cases of

death of a mother during delivery, the unborn baby was ripped out of the

mother's womb to be baptized before dying.

He also encouraged people to donate more and more to the Church by announcing

the imminent "end of the world" with the "second coming of Jesus". Besides that,

he also introduced the custom of accepting large land properties (previously,

the clergy only accepted money, jewels, food and buildings). Sutri was the first

territory outside Rome to become "land property of the pope". Under him, from

the year 600 CE, the priests started speaking only Latin to distinguish

themselves from the common people.

542, Emperor Justinianus allows the inquisitor Ioannis Asiacus to convert the

Gentiles of Phrygia, Caria and Lydia, Minor Asia. Within 35 years of this

crusade, 99 churches and 12 monasteries are built on the ancient sites of

demolished pagan temples.

546, Hundreds of Gentiles are put to death in Constantinople by the inquisitor

Ioannis Asiacus.

556, Emperor Justinianus orders the notorious inquisitor Amantius to go to

Antioch to find, arrest, torture and exterminate the last Gentiles of the city

and burn all the private libraries down.

562, Mass arrests, burlesquing, tortures, imprisonments and executions of

Gentile Hellenes in Athens, Antioch, Palmyra and Constantinople.

578 to 582, The Christians torture and crucify Gentile Hellenes all around the

eastern Empire, and exterminate the last Gentiles of Heliopolis (Baalbek).

580, The Christian inquisitors attack a secret temple of Zeus in Antioch. The

priest commits suicide, but the other Gentiles are arrested. All the prisoners,

including the Vice Governor Anatolius, are tortured and sent to Constantinople

to face trial. Sentenced to death they are thrown to the lions. The wild animals

being unwilling to tear them to pieces, they end up crucified. Their dead bodies

are dragged in the streets by the Christian mob and afterwards thrown in a

garbage dump.

583, New persecutions against the Gentile Hellenes by the Emperor Mauricius.

590, In all the eastern empire the Christian accusers "discover" pagan

conspiracies. New storm of torture and executions.

592, The "Penthekto" Council of Constantinople prohibits even secular

celebration of the ancient festivites called Calends, Brumalia, Anthesteria,

etc.

The eastern empire is completely Christianized and "pacified". In Rome, the

succession of the popes becomes the most interesting matter.

607, the pope of Rome Bonifax III convinces emperor Phoca to proclaim that the

pope of Rome has power over all the other bishops both in Rome and in the world,

and to give the last great monument of Rome, the Pantheon, to the Church.

Bonifax V (619-625) extended the power of immunity for criminals to convents

besides the churches like before.

Pope Onorius (625-638) established that Jesus Christ was only God and not a

human being (while the current belief is that he was both God and man); after

his death he was proclaimed heretic.

In 658, The new synod in Nantes forbids all priests to live in the same house

with their mother, sister or aunt.

Deodatus II (672-676) fixes a huge amount of money that a priest had to pay if

he wanted to enlist for election to pope. Conone (686-687) is poisoned to death,

as well as Sisinnius (poisoned 20 days after being elected, in 708).

Gregorius II (715-731) asks Charles king of the Franks, father of Pipin le Bref,

to invade Italy and kill all those who oppose the greed of the priests. He also

excommunicates all these who dare to marry a woman who was abandoned by priests

after being exploited sexually; this was to keep the priests' wives totally

subjugated. Under him, bishop Bonifax pushes on missionary activities in Germany

to convert the Frisons.

Under Zachary (741-752), those suffering from epilepsy (declared by him

"contagious") and other diseases were forbidden to reside in Rome: sneezing,

coughing or skin eruptions (acne) were sufficient to be kicked out from their

homes in the city forever. Still recently, the current pope John Paul II has

declared epilepsy a "diabolic possession" that makes people "impure", so much

that on 15 February 1994 in Rome an epileptic girl was killed, burned and thrown

in a garbage dump.

When the Lombards or Longobards invaded Italy, pope John III (761-774) went to

meet Pipin the king of the Franks to ask his help for maintaining the possession

of his lands in Italy and he appointed Pipin and his son Charlemagne as

"patricians of Rome" on the "authority of the Roman emperor", showing them a

fake document dated 30 March 315, the famous "Donation of Constantine". This

paper told the imaginary story of a Constantine struck by leprosy who had been

instructed by pagan priests to bathe in a pool filled with the blood of babies;

unwilling to commit such a horrible act, he was visited in a dream by Paul and

Peter who suggested him to consult with a pope named Silvester. Healed by the

pope, Constantine was requested by him to destroy all the pagan idols and build

churches all over the empire, and wrote that he was donating all the provinces,

districts and palaces of Rome, Italy and western regions to pope Silvester, "the

universal representative of the Son of God and all his successors", who had

authority over the whole empire and the other four main seats of Christianity –

Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Jerusalem – as well as all the other

churches in the world. The document also said that the emperor Constantine had

retreated to east because he wanted that the Roman church had no rival powers.

Lorenzo Valla, secretary to the pope in 1440, demonstrated that the document was

a fake (in his De falso credita et ementita Constantini Donatione), saying that

Constantine had made his deal with Milziades, and not with Silvester, who came

later. Also, in 315 Constantinople was still called Bisantium, and the language

at that time was still the classical Latin, while the vulgar language of the

text and the references were obviously pointing to a much later period.

Pipin chased the Lombards off Italy and delivered the territories to the "pope",

officially consolidating the material power of the Church.

After John III, three popes were elected at the same time, and after a terrible

fight two were killed (after being jailed and blinded) and the killer, Stephen

IV, was proclaimed the "only true pope".

Stephen III (752-757), who had been preceded by a Stephen II (who reigned one

day only before being poisoned to death and therefore he does not appear on all

the lists of popes), derided slaves as "subhuman beings" and called the

barbarians from France to siege an Italian city, Pavia, and invade Italy. He was

elected with the support of an invasion of armed soldiers in Lateran, and he

instigated Charlemagne to divorce from Ermengard, the daughter of the Longobard

king, in order to divide the two peoples and take advantage by destroying the

weakest. He also introduced the custom of carrying the pope on his chair upon

the shoulders of servants (which was followed until John Paul I, the pope before

the current pope). Finally he is deposed by a conspiracy of priests: he is

dragged through the streets by the mob, then blinded and locked up after a mock

trial.

In the year 800 in Rome, the pope crowned Charlemagne as "emperor of the Sacred

Roman Empire", in gratitude for having beheaded thousands of noble German

families who had refused to convert to Christianity (4,500 in Verdun alone).

804, The Gentile Hellenes of Mesa Mani (Cape Tainaron, in Laconia, Greece)

resist successfully against the attempt of Tarasius, Patriarch of

Constantinople, to convert them to Christianity.

850 to 860, Violent conversion of the last Gentile Hellenes of Laconia by the

Armenian Nikon.

It is interesting to note that almost all of these raving fanatics who killed

and tortured "heathens" and burned down temples and libraries are still

considered "saints" by the Church for their activities.

May 31, 2005

I'm sorry but I haven't time to read all this.

Ever heard of the expression "less is more"?

Lars

-

Parama Karuna Devi

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 11:11 AM

history, part II

In spite of the noisy propaganda of the Church about its "martyrs", the

number of Christians who were actually arrested and executed by the Roman

government was extremely small, and never because of their religious beliefs. In

fact, in Rome there was a great number of other religious groups who had very

similar theologies and philosophies and, as long as they kept quiet and did not

disturb society, the government allowed them to conduct all their rituals and