บทที่ บทที่ 25 · How Rome Became The Centre Of The Christian World

The average intelligent Roman who lived under the Empire had taken

very little interest in the gods of his fathers. A few times a year

he went to the temple, but merely as a matter of custom. He looked on

patiently when the people celebrated a religious festival with a solemn

procession. But he regarded the worship of Jupiter and Minerva and

Neptune as something rather childish, a survival from the crude days

of the early republic and not a fit subject of study for a man who had

mastered the works of the Stoics and the Epicureans and the other great

philosophers of Athens.

This attitude made the Roman a very tolerant man. The government

insisted that all people, Romans, foreigners, Greeks, Babylonians,

Jews, should pay a certain outward respect to the image of the Emperor

which was supposed to stand in every temple, just as a picture of the

President of the United States is apt to hang in an American Post

Office. But this was a formality without any deeper meaning. Generally

speaking everybody could honour, revere and adore whatever gods he

pleased, and as a result, Rome was filled with all sorts of queer

little temples and synagogues, dedicated to the worship of Egyptian and

African and Asiatic divinities.

When the first disciples of Jesus reached Rome and began to preach

their new doctrine of a universal brotherhood of man, nobody objected.

The man in the street stopped and listened. Rome, the capital of the

world, had always been full of wandering preachers, each proclaiming

his own “mystery.” Most of the self-appointed priests appealed to the

senses—promised golden rewards and endless pleasure to the followers

of their own particular god. Soon the crowd in the street noticed that

the so-called Christians (the followers of the Christ or “anointed”)

spoke a very different language. They did not appear to be impressed by

great riches or a noble position. They extolled the beauties of poverty

and humility and meekness. These were not exactly the virtues which

had made Rome the mistress of the world. It was rather interesting

to listen to a “mystery” which told people in the hey-day of their

glory that their worldly success could not possibly bring them lasting

happiness.

Besides, the preachers of the Christian mystery told dreadful stories

of the fate that awaited those who refused to listen to the words of

the true God. It was never wise to take chances. Of course the old

Roman gods still existed, but were they strong enough to protect their

friends against the powers of this new deity who had been brought to

Europe from distant Asia? People began to have doubts. They returned

to listen to further explanations of the new creed. After a while they

began to meet the men and women who preached the words of Jesus. They

found them very different from the average Roman priests. They were all

dreadfully poor. They were kind to slaves and to animals. They did not

try to gain riches, but gave away whatever they had. The example of

their unselfish lives forced many Romans to forsake the old religion.

They joined the small communities of Christians who met in the back

rooms of private houses or somewhere in an open field, and the temples

were deserted.

This went on year after year and the number of Christians continued to

increase. Presbyters or priests (the original Greek meant “elder”) were

elected to guard the interests of the small churches. A bishop was made

the head of all the communities within a single province. Peter, who

had followed Paul to Rome, was the first Bishop of Rome. In due time

his successors (who were addressed as Father or Papa) came to be known

as Popes.

[Illustration: A CLOISTER]

The church became a powerful institution within the Empire. The

Christian doctrines appealed to those who despaired of this world. They

also attracted many strong men who found it impossible to make a career

under the Imperial government, but who could exercise their gifts of

leadership among the humble followers of the Nazarene teacher. At last

the state was obliged to take notice. The Roman Empire (I have said

this before) was tolerant through indifference. It allowed everybody to

seek salvation after his or her own fashion. But it insisted that the

different sects keep the peace among themselves and obey the wise rule

of “live and let live.”

The Christian communities however, refused to practise any sort

of tolerance. They publicly declared that their God, and their God

alone, was the true ruler of Heaven and Earth, and that all other gods

were impostors. This seemed unfair to the other sects and the police

discouraged such utterances. The Christians persisted.

[Illustration: THE GOTHS ARE COMING]

Soon there were further difficulties. The Christians refused to

go through the formalities of paying homage to the emperor. They

refused to appear when they were called upon to join the army. The

Roman magistrates threatened to punish them. The Christians answered

that this miserable world was only the ante-room to a very pleasant

Heaven and that they were more than willing to suffer death for their

principles. The Romans, puzzled by such conduct, sometimes killed the

offenders, but more often they did not. There was a certain amount of

lynching during the earliest years of the church, but this was the work

of that part of the mob which accused their meek Christian neighbours

of every conceivable crime, (such as slaughtering and eating babies,

bringing about sickness and pestilence, betraying the country in times

of danger) because it was a harmless sport and devoid of danger, as the

Christians refused to fight back.

Meanwhile, Rome continued to be invaded by the Barbarians and when

her armies failed, Christian missionaries went forth to preach their

gospel of peace to the wild Teutons. They were strong men without fear

of death. They spoke a language which left no doubt as to the future

of unrepentant sinners. The Teutons were deeply impressed. They still

had a deep respect for the wisdom of the ancient city of Rome. Those

men were Romans. They probably spoke the truth. Soon the Christian

missionary became a power in the savage regions of the Teutons and the

Franks. Half a dozen missionaries were as valuable as a whole regiment

of soldiers. The Emperors began to understand that the Christian might

be of great use to them. In some of the provinces they were given equal

rights with those who remained faithful to the old gods. The great

change however came during the last half of the fourth century.

Constantine, sometimes (Heaven knows why) called Constantine the Great,

was emperor. He was a terrible ruffian, but people of tender qualities

could hardly hope to survive in that hard-fighting age. During a long

and checkered career, Constantine had experienced many ups and downs.

Once, when almost defeated by his enemies, he thought that he would try

the power of this new Asiatic deity of whom everybody was talking. He

promised that he too would become a Christian if he were successful in

the coming battle. He won the victory and thereafter he was convinced

of the power of the Christian God and allowed himself to be baptised.

From that moment on, the Christian church was officially recognised and

this greatly strengthened the position of the new faith.

But the Christians still formed a very small minority of all the

people, (not more than five or six percent,) and in order to win, they

were forced to refuse all compromise. The old gods must be destroyed.

For a short spell the emperor Julian, a lover of Greek wisdom, managed

to save the pagan Gods from further destruction. But Julian died

of his wounds during a campaign in Persia and his successor Jovian

re-established the church in all its glory. One after the other the

doors of the ancient temples were then closed. Then came the emperor

Justinian (who built the church of Saint Sophia in Constantinople), who

discontinued the school of philosophy at Athens which had been founded

by Plato.

That was the end of the old Greek world, in which man had been allowed

to think his own thoughts and dream his own dreams according to his

desires. The somewhat vague rules of conduct of the philosophers had

proved a poor compass by which to steer the ship of life after a deluge

of savagery and ignorance had swept away the established order of

things. There was need of something more positive and more definite.

This the Church provided.

During an age when nothing was certain, the church stood like a rock

and never receded from those principles which it held to be true and

sacred. This steadfast courage gained the admiration of the multitudes

and carried the church of Rome safely through the difficulties which

destroyed the Roman state.

There was however, a certain element of luck in the final success

of the Christian faith. After the disappearance of Theodoric’s

Roman-Gothic kingdom, in the fifth century, Italy was comparatively

free from foreign invasion. The Lombards and Saxons and Slavs who

succeeded the Goths were weak and backward tribes. Under those

circumstances it was possible for the bishops of Rome to maintain the

independence of their city. Soon the remnants of the empire, scattered

throughout the peninsula, recognised the Dukes of Rome (or bishops) as

their political and spiritual rulers.

The stage was set for the appearance of a strong man. He came in the

year 590 and his name was Gregory. He belonged to the ruling classes

of ancient Rome, and he had been “prefect” or mayor of the city. Then

he had become a monk and a bishop and finally, and much against his

will, (for he wanted to be a missionary and preach Christianity to

the heathen of England,) he had been dragged to the Church of Saint

Peter to be made Pope. He ruled only fourteen years but when he died

the Christian world of western Europe had officially recognised the

bishops of Rome, the Popes, as the head of the entire church.

This power, however, did not extend to the east. In Constantinople the

Emperors continued the old custom which had recognised the successors

of Augustus and Tiberius both as head of the government and as High

Priest of the Established Religion. In the year 1453 the eastern Roman

Empire was conquered by the Turks. Constantinople was taken, and

Constantine Paleologue, the last Roman Emperor, was killed on the steps

of the Church of the Holy Sophia.

A few years before, Zoë, the daughter of his brother Thomas, had

married Ivan III of Russia. In this way did the grand-dukes of Moscow

fall heir to the traditions of Constantinople. The double-eagle of old

Byzantium (reminiscent of the days when Rome had been divided into an

eastern and a western part) became the coat of arms of modern Russia.

The Tsar who had been merely the first of the Russian nobles, assumed

the aloofness and the dignity of a Roman emperor before whom all

subjects, both high and low, were inconsiderable slaves.

The court was refashioned after the oriental pattern which the eastern

Emperors had imported from Asia and from Egypt and which (so they

flattered themselves) resembled the court of Alexander the Great.

This strange inheritance which the dying Byzantine Empire bequeathed

to an unsuspecting world continued to live with great vigour for six

more centuries, amidst the vast plains of Russia. The last man to wear

the crown with the double eagle of Constantinople, Tsar Nicholas, was

murdered only the other day, so to speak. His body was thrown into a

well. His son and his daughters were all killed. All his ancient rights

and prerogatives were abolished, and the church was reduced to the

position which it had held in Rome before the days of Constantine.

The western church however fared very differently, as we shall see

in the next chapter when the whole Christian world is going to be

threatened with destruction by the rival creed of an Arab camel-driver.