II.
The Interim Period, 135-381 AD, The Great Separation
The
term Nazarene now refers to Hebrew-speaking Judeo-Christians
in the Middle East. Ray Pritz says the term applied to the whole
Church of God during the days of the apostles.
"It
is important to note that the name Nazarenes was at first
applied to all Jewish followers of Jesus. Until
the name Christian became attached to Antiochan non-Jews,
this meant that the name signified the entire Church, not
just a sect. So also in Acts 24:5 the reference is not to
a sect of Christianity but rather to the entire primitive
Church as a sect of Judaism.
Only when the Gentile church took over and overshadowed
the Jewish one could there be any possibility of sectarian
stigma adhering to the name Nazarene within the Church itself.
This should be borne in mind when considering the total
absence of the name from extant Christian literature between
the composition of Acts and 376[AD], when the panarion was
written." [Ray Pritz, 1992]
What
Eusebius would like people to believe is that Judeo-Christianity
left Jerusalem after the Bar Kokhba revolt and war with Rome.
Bagatti begs to differ.
"[By]
Reading Eusebius one gets the impression that the Judaeo-Christians
left the city [of Jerusalem] forever, but such was not the
case, because things that happened later, when examined, show
us that they were still in their old surroundings.
From which it is established that the Judeao-Christians,
after having left the city for a time, returned very quickly.
This is explained by the fact that within the war a
distinction was made between the Jews and the Judeao-Christians,
and that the decree of expulsion, promulgated by Hadrian,
concerned only the Jews."
[B. Bagatti, 1971]
".the
ancient Jewish church, rejected by both Jews and Gentiles,
found itself in increasing isolation.
Although by A.D. 135 a number of Jewish Christians
returned to Jerusalem, their relationship with the rest
of Christianity had been almost completely severed, and
leadership had passed to Gentile Christians. When,
in later centuries, Gentile Christians deigned to write a
few words about that forgotten community, they would speak
of its heretics and its strange customs, but they would have
little of positive value to say about that church, which
faded out of history in the fifth century." [Gonzalez,
1984]
Initially,
right after the Bar Kokhba revolt was brutally suppressed
by the Roman Legions under Hadrian, some Greco-Roman Christians
moved into occupied Palestine right after 135AD. Bagatti had this to say about them and the
Jewish believers in Jesus:
"In
fact some gentile Christians could not bear that their coreligionists
should perpetuate, more than a century after the death of
Christ, those Jewish rites which they, on reading St. Paul,
believed had been juridicially abolished. The Christians of Jewish stock, on the contrary,
thought that it was wrong to abandon those rites, which neither
Jesus nor the apostles, Paul excepted, had abrogated." [B. Bagatti, 1971]
And
it is interesting, a close reading of Romans 14 shows that
the New Testament freedoms Paul was explaining allowed for
believers in Jesus to practice the days of worship that their
Christian conscience dictated, allowing all others the same
freedom of choice. It
would seem that these Gentile Greco-Roman Christians wanted
to deny the very freedoms that had allowed them to choose
Sunday/Easter/ observance over Sabbath/Passover observance.
Some historians feel that the Roman destruction of
Jerusalem during the Bar Kokhba revolt marked the end of the
Apostolic Era. John
in Ephesus of Asia Minor is dead, Polycarp is alive leading
the Hellenized Judeao-Christians in Asia Minor.
But as we have seen, the Jerusalem Church of God continued
long after 135AD. The
Bar Kokhba revolt brought about almost the entire annihilation
of the Jewish people living in Israel.
55 important outposts, 985 of their most important
villages wiped off the face of the map, 580,000 men slain,
according to Dio Cassius, Roman
History.
Judeo-Christians in Asia Minor (and throughout the
Empire to a lesser degree) continued to observe the Christian
Passover on Nisan 14, the weekly Sabbath, and the Holy Days
of Leviticus 23. The
Greco-Roman Christians now observed "the Lord's Day" (Sunday),
Easter, and later on, Christmas.
These changes could have begun in the Greco-Roman churches
as early as the late first century to mid 2nd century
(between 96 and 150 AD). As
the Greco-Roman church syncretized pagan days of worship and
customs into its belief structure this church grew.
Don't forget, they had access to huge pagan populations
in both the eastern and western half of the Roman Empire.
Evangelism in the synagogues amongst the indigenous
Jewish population had almost run its course.
As this syncretizing of pagan days of worship was occurring
Judeo-Christians separated themselves out of and away from
this Greco-Roman movement which they more and more believed
to be apostate and outright heretical. i.e. their days of worship were out of the Bible,
whereas the Greco-Roman days had been syncretized out of the
pagan cultures and religions of the far east, Greece and Rome,
which were, upon close scrutiny, all the same thing-copied
from the Babylonian Mystery Religion. This fact was not lost upon those early Judeo-Christians,
whose Old Testament biblical history of God's anger with Israel
over pagan practices had led to two separate total captivities
in Jewish history, Assyrian and Babylonian.
What else distinguished the Judeo-Christians from the
Greco-Roman churches?
"In
second-century Asia Minor and a few neighboring regions, a
Christian Passover was kept which naturally placed the thought
of the Lord's passion in the foreground, but also included
the idea that this passion leads to the resurrection. In accordance
with Jewish custom, 14 Nisan was kept as the date for this
Passover, by the Quartodeciman's of Asia Minor and perhaps
generally [by all] at first; it was prepared for by a strict
fast and included a homily on Exodus 12 (as did the Jewish
Passover). It was not
exclusively a day of mourning nevertheless, and had a joyous
conclusion with the agape and celebration of the Eucharist
early on Nisan 15." [Karl Baus, 1990]
This
"agape" meal was generally kept at the end of 14th
Nisan, sundown, as the 15th was beginning [Jewish
days, biblically, begin at sundown]. The Quartodeciman, or Judeo-Christian Passover
was observed on the 13th/14th Nisan,
at sundown, as the 14th Nisan was beginning.
This agape meal would have corresponded with the Jewish
Passover meal, or Seder. Jesus
had kept his Passover meal 24 hours earlier, at the beginning
of the 14th Nisan, so he would be crucified during
the 14th when all the lambs in the Temple were
being slain. So Judeo-Christians
observed the Passover memorial at the same time Jesus did,
and then kept their agape meal or feast when the Jews were
observing their Passover Seder, 24 hours later.
Even today in the Sabbatarian Churches of God, this
Quartodeciman Christian Passover memorial is still observed
on the 13th/14th Nisan, and the agape
meal, which they call The
Night To Be Much Observed, is observed on the 14th/15th
Nisan, the same night of the Jewish Seder.
[see http://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/lastsix.htm
to see the significance of why the early Judeo-Christians
felt so strongly about 14th Nisan observance of
Passover instead of a Sunday Easter service.
This was the original "Holy Communion" observed, once
a year, annually on the 14th Nisan by the early
Judeo-Christian Church of God in Jerusalem, and then by the
Judeo-Christians throughout the Middle East and Asia Minor.]
160AD
Polycarp,
disciple of John, visited the Roman bishop Anicetus in 160AD.
Anicetus tried to convince Polycarp to have the Greek
churches give up the 14th Nisan Passover observance
and replace it with the resurrection feast (Easter), as the
Latin churches from Sixtus I, 115AD, had already done.
Anicetus said he "could not persuade Polycarp not to
keep it because he had always observed it with John, the Lord's
apostle, and the other apostles." [Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History.]
Irenaeus (177AD)
During the first
three hundred years of the Christian Church a pitched battle
raged against the heresies of Gnosticism and Adoptionism
and those that were spreading them into the congregations. Many
of the early Church leaders after John would start to draw
up the battle-lines between the orthodox and heretical. Polycarp
was John’s trained disciple. He
trained a disciple named Irenaeus, another Jewish Christian,
who then moved up into the region of Gaul and was a Bishop
in what became Lyons in 177-178AD. He wrote five lengthy books defining the
heresies that were attacking the Church. He
was the Christian Church’s first major apologist. He wrote a number of books, but the most important that survives is the five-volume On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called
Gnosis, normally referred to by the Latin title Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies). Book
I talks about the Valentinian Gnostics and their predecessors,
who go as far back as the magician Simon Magus. Book
II provides rational proof that Valentinianism contains no
merit in terms of it’s doctrines. Book
III shows that these doctrines are false by providing evidence
from the Gospels. Book IV consists of Jesus’ sayings,
and stresses the unity of the Old Testament and the Gospels. The final volume, Book V, focuses on more
sayings of Jesus plus the letters of Paul the Apostle. Irenaeus recognized the legitimacy of
the church in Rome, which at this time had apparently not
become an apostate church yet After 325AD this all changed,
but at this time the Judeo-Christian congregations and Gentile
Christian congregations existed peacefully, side-by-side,
recognizing each other and working with each other. All the genuine Christian churches were
busy fighting these heresies and those who brought them into
their congregations. These
heresies had torn into the early Judeo-Christian churches,
just as John and Paul had warned, noting especially what
Paul said, that when he departed, he said grievous wolves
would tear into the flock. The
nature of what become the Catholic
Church would all change by the 300s AD. Irenaeus
is claimed by the Catholic Church as one of their early “fathers” to
this day. As
stated Irenaeus was a Jewish-Christian, and was a student
of Polycarp, who was said to have been tutored and discipled
by John the Apostle. It’s
interesting, Irenaeus give us in these five volumes a sort
of snap-shot picture of what the early Judeo-Christian, and
even Gentile Christian churches believed, which modern apologists
might label heretical, sort of proving my point that heretical
beliefs should only be those that complicate the simple gospel
of Christ, and nothing more.
Early eschatological beliefs of
the Christian Church as recorded by Irenaeus
Irenaeus gives
us a vivid snap-shot of early Judeo-Christian eschatological
doctrines, which should not surprise ex-members of the Worldwide
Church of God. “Irenaeus
identified the Antichrist, another name of the apostate Man
of Sin, with Daniel’s Little Horn and John’s
Beast of Revelation 13. He sought to apply other expressions to
Antichrist, such as “the abomination of desolation,” mentioned
by Christ (Matt. 24:15) and the “king of a most fierce
countenance,” in Gabriel’s explanation of the
Little Horn of Daniel 8. But
he is not very clear how “the sacrifice and the libation
shall be taken away” during the “half-week,” or
three and one-half years of Antichrist’s reign.” Small wonder he wouldn’t understand
some of this, as these events are due to occur about 2,000
years later. Irenaeus is at the early end of the Church
age, and we now are at the end of it. “He
also understood that Rome, or some form of the Roman system,
would be extant at the time of the 2nd coming
of Christ. Like the other early church fathers, Irenaeus
interpreted the three and one-half “times” of
the Little Horn of Daniel 7 as three and one-half literal
years. Antichrist’s
three and a half years of sitting in the temple are placed
immediately before the Second Coming of Christ.”
Early beliefs about the Millennium
“Irenaeus
declares that the Antichrist’s future three-and-a-half-year
reign, when he sits in the temple at Jerusalem, will be terminated
by the second advent [2nd coming of Christ], with
the resurrection of the just, the destruction of the wicked,
and the millennial reign of the righteous. The
general resurrection and judgment follow the descent of the
New Jerusalem at the end of the millennial kingdom.” Well, he got the order a little mixed
up, as Revelation 20:11-13 shows the general resurrection
taking place, and Revelation 21:1-17, after that event, shows
the descent of the New Jerusalem---after the lake of fire,
and the new heavens and earth are created. “Irenaeus calls those “heretics” who
maintain that the saved are immediately glorified in the
kingdom to come after death, before their resurrection.”---i.e.
he does not believe that the spirit-in-man component within
humans remains conscious upon death when they rise to God
in heaven, but as Ecclesiastes teaches, the spirit of man
rises to God, but is unconscious, which is often called the
doctrine of “soul sleep”.” So Irenaeus and the early Church during
his lifetime believed that believers were to be brought back
to life and made immortal at the time of the 1st Resurrection,
spoken of by Paul in 1st Corinthians 15:49-56. The
doctrine of
“the immortal soul” was considered Biblically inaccurate and heretical
by the early Christian Church, and don’t forget this is a disciple of
Polycarp, who was a disciple of John. So
what Irenaeus pens in these five books, these beliefs here, were the doctrinal
beliefs of John and the other 11 apostles, as well as those of Paul. “He avers that the millennial kingdom
and the resurrection are actualities, not allegories, the first resurrection
introducing this promised kingdom in which the risen saints are described as
ruling over the renewed earth during the millennium, between the two resurrections.” “Irenaeus
held to the old Jewish tradition that the first six days of creation week were
typical of the first six thousand years of human history, with Antichrist manifesting
himself in the sixth period.”---Wow! No
wonder his concepts of what the end-time Roman government,
or some form of it, were fuzzy. He
knew he was 1800 years away from that event---“And he expected the millennial
kingdom to begin with the second coming of Christ to destroy the wicked and
inaugurate, for the righteous, the reign of the kingdom of God during the seventh
thousand years, the millennial Sabbath, as signified by the Sabbath of creation
week…he applies Biblical and traditional ideas to his descriptions of
this earth during the millennium….” i.e.
he’s relying on Old Testament prophecies that describe that millennial
period, such as found in Isaiah. He
saw the millennial period bounded by the two resurrections. You know, I learned most of this information
when I first became a member of the Worldwide Church of God, which was under
the leadership of Herbert Armstrong at the time. Now isn’t that a kicker? Most other Christians and apologists like
to paint him as being a fringe cook, a cultist (heretic?). But here is described the eschatological
beliefs of the early Church, and undoubtedly the apostles themselves, as recorded
by the first and foremost apologist of the Christian Church. So we see reflected in what Irenaeus wrote
in his five books, as he battles heresies John and Paul also battled, the very
same beliefs the early Church of God in Jerusalem believed, which are the same
beliefs taught and believed by the Worldwide Church of God under Mr. Armstrong. So
what should we conclude from this? Secondary
beliefs, in such areas as prophecy, soul-sleep verses immortality of the soul,
are not to
be considered on the list of what makes beliefs orthodox or heretical. We must go by what Paul taught, and that
is simply that anything that complicates the simple gospel of Christ is to be considered
heresy. Personal or denominational
beliefs about prophecy or immortal soul verses soul-sleep, even teachings about
heaven and hell, all fall within the realm of secondary teachings, and can
and do differ amongst the various denominations that make up the body of Christ. Apologist’s beware,
you must not aim your gun-sights on other denominations and groups just because
they disagree with you on these secondary items I have just listed. For
years you have hammered at the Worldwide Church of God under Mr. Armstrong’s
leadership, calling him a heretic, and you were wrong in doing that. [Be
sure to click onto the Homepage nav button “Why Orthodoxy?” when
it appears on the site. It will
reveal a lot about these early battles against those two major heresies that
tried to destroy the early Christian Church.]
Bishop Victor I (189-199AD) also tried to abolish observance
of he Christian Passover on the 14th Nisan and
replace it with Easter. He set up the Counsel of Caesarea in an attempt
to push this through.
"A
half century after Hadrian's war we meet in the community
an open dispute between Hellenistic hierarchy and the Judeo-Christian
faithful, especially under bishop Narcissus and his successor
Alexander. The first
was present at the Counsel of Caesarea (196), at which it
was established that Easter should be celebrated on Sunday
instead of the 14th Nisan, and it can be supposed
that when the bishop wished to implement the decision of the
Counsel, he met with opposition. In fact, Judeao-Christians were convinced that
the traditional day of Nisan the 14th was not capable
of change." [B. Bagatti,
1971]
"The
fact is that the Judeao-Christians did not accept the conciliar
decisions for two reasons: first, because they deprived them
of a preponderance of authority; secondly, because they considered
the date of Easter [14th Nisan Passover] unchangeable.
The various facts relative to the observing of the
new moon in which the Minim also in the beginning were taken as witnesses by the Jews, shows
us the Judeao-Christians also observed the neomenia and fixed
accordingly Easter [Passover] and the feasts that depended
on it."."deeper reason prompted the Judeao-Christians not
to accept the decisions of the gentile churches, and it was
this, the common belief among the Jews that the date had been
fixed by the Lord and was, therefore, unchangeable.
Many believed that this date was superior even to the
Sabbath itself." [B.
Bagatti, 1971]
At
this time Policrates, disciple of Polycarp, was ruling the
Greek or Asia Minor Churches, and he refused to follow the
Latin custom of Easter, refusing to be intimidated by Victor
and his threats, saying the churches of Asia Minor (which
would have included Judeo-Christian and Hellenized Greco-Roman
churches which still observed Passover, Sabbath and Holy Days)
would not change their practice.
200AD At this time the
percentage of ethnic Jewish believers in the Roman Empire
is 62.9 percent of all Christians-Sabbath, Holy Day, 14th
Nisan Passover observing Christians.
Ethnic Gentiles made up 37.1 percent of all Christians.
[percentage figures from Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity, 1996] An estimated 7,000 Gentile Christians were in
Rome. There still wasn't sufficient number of Gentiles to
force a change from apostolic days of worship to the syncretized
pagan Gentile Greco-Roman days of worship.
This wouldn't occur for another 100 years.
Even after 300AD the Quartodeciman minority remained
faithful to their 14th Nisan Passover, Lord's Supper
(Sabbath, Holy Day observances included).
Leading Up To Constantine and the Counsel of Nicea
300AD: Starting with Constantine,
the Roman government (whenever these emperors were from the
Greco-Roman "orthodox" church) sought to bring the pagan population
into the "orthodox" church.
"In
the 4th century, when Christianity had already
won the victory over paganism, there was a reorganization
of the church [i.e. the Greco-Roman "orthodox" church] for
Unitarian purposes. The
Jewish usages and doctrines, unknown in great part to the
[Gentile] Christian world, in some regions were looked upon
as causes of division among the faithful and were therefore
fiercely opposed. Bishops
and savants united their efforts on this programme and they
acted through the counsels."
[B. Bagatti, 1971]
The
orthodox Greco-Roman emperors sought to do this in order to
stabilize Roman citizenry under one uniform umbrella system
of beliefs. Their motive
was political, not religious or Christian in any way. This "orthodox" Greco-Roman church now used
the power of the Roman Empire to confiscate Judeo-Christian
churches, church properties, and criminalize their observance
of the Sabbath, Holy Days, and the Christian Passover of 14th
Nisan. Judeo-Christianity
was essentially squashed under the military boot of the Roman
Empire, now acting upon the orders of the Greco-Roman "orthodox"
church. What had been
the Church of God at Rome in Paul's day had now become something
totally new. The apostle John had remarked in his 1st
Epistle how the iniquity of the antichrist is already at work,
which could have been a veiled reference to what the Roman
bishops were up to at the end of the 1st century.
It certainly does seem to fit, looking back.
Elaine Pagels writes that by 200 AD Greco-Roman Christianity:
".had
become an institution headed by a three-rank hierarchy of
bishops, priests, and deacons, who understood themselves to
be the guardians of the only "true faith." The majority of churches, among which the church
of Rome took a leading role, rejected all other viewpoints
as heresy. Deploring
the diversity of the earlier movement, Bishop Irenaeus and
his followers insisted that there could only be one church,
and outside of that church, he declared, "there is no salvation."
Members of this church alone are orthodox (literally,
"straight thinking") Christians. And, he claimed, this church
must be catholic,
that is, universal. Whoever
challenged that consensus, arguing instead for other forms
of Christian teaching, was declared to be a heretic, and expelled.
When the orthodox gained military support, sometime
after the Emperor Constantine became Christian in the fourth
century, the penalty for heresy escalated." [Elaine Pagels, 1979]
300AD: 66 percent of those
calling themselves Christian were from the Greco-Roman stock,
and only 34 percent were now Judeo-Christian.
That would come to 4.8 million Greco-Roman believers
compared to 3 million Judeo-Christian believers. [percentages
from Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity, 1996]
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