620) LIES, DECEPTION, COERCION AND FORGERY
Mohamad Mostafa Nassar
Twitter:@NassarMohamadMR
Episode One
Pai Akhtar
How was Christianity spread?
A Timeline of Disaster
In the next few episodes, let us show you a few highlights of the coercion and violence of those who have been talking about sword of Islam, which may have been hidden from today’s Christians because the wounds of that era are bleeding even today.
Gaius Galerius
A shepherd who joined the army, finally became Caesar of Rome in March 293 and in 303 after ordering the persecution of the Orthodox Church (remembered as The Great Persecution) took the position of Augustus in 305 after the abdication of the incumbent, and, when the policy remained ineffective, issued a decree of tolerance and peaceful coexistence in the name of Constantine and Licinius.
The Constantine’s Edict of Milan of 313 ratified it. And this legality of the Church started to create a tale of cruelty and coercion, whose stains Christianity will never be able to wash away.
324: Constantine tortured non-Christian priests in Didyma, demolished the ancient Greek temples and evicted all non-Christian people from Mount Athos.
325: Jesus was given the status of God in the Council of Nicaea.
326: Constantine destroyed non-Christian temples of Jerusalem, Aphaca, Mambre, Phoenicia, Baalbek, etc.
330: Constantine stole all precious items from the non-Christian temples of Greece to decorate his new Capital of Constantinople.
335: Constantine ordered the massacre of magicians and soothsayers of Asia Minor and Palestine. The Philosopher Sopatrus was also killed.
340-397: Bishop Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, invented the title of saint.
Jesus Christ was declared a warrior; it was said that Jesus was the commander of the army.
And preached the Trinity to his heart’s content.
341: Flavius Julius Constantius persecuted the non-Christians in Constantinople.
346: Banishment of the famous orator Libanius accused as a “magician”. He Started imprisoning or killing by crucifixion all cultural writers and soothsayers.
353: An edict of Constantius ordered the death penalty for all kind of worship through sacrifices and “idols”.
354: A new edict ordered the closing of all non-Christian temples. Some of them were profaned and converted into brothels or gambling rooms.
354 A new edict of Constantius ordered the closing of all Pagan Temples. Some of them were profaned and turned into brothels or gambling rooms; Executions of non-Christian priests. There was first burning of libraries in various cities of the Empire. The first lime factories were built next to closed Pagan Temples. A large part of Sacred Gentile architecture was turned into lime.
357: All kinds of divination including Astrology were outlawed.
359: In Skythopolis, Syria, the Christians organised the first death camps for the torture and executions of the arrested non-Christians from all around the empire.
361-363 Flavius Claudius Julianus
Julianus, who himself was a non-Christian, restored all non-Christian sects. (Constantinople 11 December 361). He says:
“It is, I think, expedient to set forth to all mankind the reasons by which I was convinced that the fabrication of the Galilaeans is a fiction of men composed by wickedness. Though it has in it nothing divine, by making full use of that part of the soul which loves fable and is childish and foolish, it has induced men to believe that the monstrous tale is truth.”
Julian, Against the Galileans: remains of the 3 books, excerpted from Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Julianum (1923) pp.319-433
The master plan consisting of three points was created:
1. Announcement that non-Christian temples should be opened or built anew.
2. Royal decree of tolerance for all religions.
3. The Royal Decree prevented Christians from teaching ancient Greek literature and Roman books.
The year 362 educational order prevented Christians from teaching grammar, philosophy and writing arts.
363: Julius was suddenly murdered.
And the disaster sped up again!
364: Emperor Jovian ordered the burning of the Library of Antioch.
Another imperial edict ordered the death penalty for all Gentiles that worship their ancestral Gods or practice Divination Three different edicts ordered the confiscation of all properties of non-Christian Temples and the death penalty for participation in non-Christian rituals, even private ones.
Council of Laodicea (Phrygia – western Asia Minor)
Decided that the religious holiday will be on Sunday instead of Saturday (i.e. the Sabbath will now be on Sunday)
And on Saturday, it was made illegal to stay at home for rest. Rather, saying that it was a curse for Jesus, it was declared a sin.
365: An Imperial edict forbade the gentile officers of the army to command Christian soldiers.
370: Emperor Valens ordered a tremendous persecution of non-Christian peoples in all the Eastern Empire. In Antioch, among many other non-Christians, the ex-governor Fidustius and the priests Hilarius and Patricius were executed.
Tons of books wereÂÂÂ burnt in the squares of the cities of the Eastern Empire. All the friends of Julianus were persecuted (Orebasius, Sallustius, Pegasius etc.), the philosopher Simonides was burned alive and the philosopher Maximus was decapitated.
The Acts 19:19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver.
20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
372: Valens ordered the governor of Minor Asia to exterminate all the Hellenes and all documents of their wisdom.
373 New prohibitions of all divination methods.
To demean the non-Christians, they started using words like pagan, atheist, apostate, clumsy, heretic, blind, deaf, etc.
THE PARTY HAS JUST BEGUN.
Sources:
Charles Freeman, The Closing of the Western Mind (Heinemann, 2002)Henry Hart Milman, The History of the Jews (Everyman, 1939)John Julius Norwich, Byzantium (Viking, 1988)Fridrich Heer (ed) The Fires of Faith (Newsweek 1970)Dan Cohn-Sherbok, The Crucified Jew (Harper Collins,1992)Leslie Houlden (Ed.), Judaism & Christianity (Routledge, 1988)Norman Cantor, The Sacred Chain – A History of the Jews (Harper Collins, 1994)Hugh Trevor Roper, The Rise of Christianity (Thames & Hudson, 1965)Frank Delaney, A Walk in the Dark Ages (Collins, 1988)David Chidester, Christianity- A Global history (Allen Lane, 2000)Robin Lane Fox, Pagans & Christians (Viking,1986)John Moorhead, Ambrose (Longman, 1999)
Episode Two
Pai Akhtar
The story of the cruelty and coercion of Christianity continued from the previous episode.
A Timeline of Disaster2
375: The non-Christian temple at Greece was closed down by the Christians.
380: The notorious edict of Thessalonica!
Emperor Theodosius’s 27 February edit declared Christianity as an Exclusive Religion of the Roman Empire.
The Edict!
“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”
In another edict Theodosius called “insane” those that did not believe in the Christian god and outlawed all disagreements with the Church dogmas.
Ambrosius, bishop of Milan, started destroying all the non-Christian Temples of his area.
Year 381: Theodosius Council of Constantinople. The Holy Spirit was declared as a part of God and the Trinity was announced.
On May 2, Theodosius deprived of all their rights the Christians that return back to the earlier religion.
All libraries in the eastern part of the kingdom were robbed and burnt.
December 21st! It was declared illegal to go to the ancient Greek temple for any purpose.
Brothels and horse stables were established in the temples of Constantinople.
382: “HALLELUJAH” WAS IMPOSED IN CHRISTIAN MASS.
384: Theodosius ordered the Praetorian Prefect Maternus Cynegius, a dedicated Christian, to cooperate with the local bishops in destroying the temples of the non-Christians in Northern Greece and Minor Asia.
John Chrysostom
Holy Hierarch of Constantinople (347-407)
Says: This church should have a wall to separate women: women have learned the methods of ′′ brothels ′′ and men are no better than mad bulls.
Chrysostom (Lane, Pagans & Christians, p374 brothels)
He says further:
It is time to show these impoverished Jews that the devils live in their synagogues, not only in buildings but also in their souls. And this happened to the Jews when they were developing themselves to work so they were making themselves capable of slaughter.
Chrysostom (Against the Jews, Homily)
Still More!
A slave should be happy in himself, because he obeys God by obeying his master.
It was a common custom of shaving the heads and eyebrows of the slaves, and it was considered a special sign of slaves, and long hair was a sign of a free man. Then the monks took this habit of calling themselves slaves of Christ and then it went to the pastors. Now everyone has become slave of the Holy Church.
385-388: Maternus Cynegius and bishop “Saint” Marcellus with his gangs scour the countryside and sack and destroy hundreds of temples, shrines and altars.
Thousands of innocent non-Christians brought from all sides of the kingdom were killed at the death campus of Skythopolis.
386: Theodosius outlawed the care of evacuated non-Christian temples.
388: Public talks on religious subjects were also outlawed.
The old orator Libanius sent his famous Epistle “Pro Templis” to Theodosius, with a hope that the few remaining Hellenic Temples will be respected and spared.
.
389-390: All non-Christian date-methods were outlawed.
Hordes of fanatic hermits from the desert flooded the cities of the Middle East and Egypt and destroy statues, altars, libraries and non-Christian temples, and lynch the non-Christians.
Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, started heavy persecutions against non-Christian peoples, turned the temple of non-Christians into a Christian church, burnt down the Mithraeum of the city, destroyed the temple of Zeus and burlesqued the non-Christian priests before they were killed by stoning.
The Christian mob profaned the cult images.
391: A new edict of Theodosius prohibited not only visits to pagan temples but also looking at the vandalised statues.
In Alexandria, Egypt, non-Christians, led by the philosopher Olympius, revolted and after some street fights they locked themselves inside the fortified temple of the Serapis. After a violent siege, the Christians took over the building, demolished it, burnt its famous library and profaned the religious marks.
392: Theodosius outlawed all the non-Christian rituals and named them “superstitions of the gentiles”. New full scale persecutions against non-Christians.
In Cyprus the local bishop “Saint” Epiphanius and “Saint” Tychon destroyed almost all the temples of the island and exterminated thousands of non-Christians.
Theodosius’s edict declared: “the ones that won’t obey pater Epiphanius have no right to keep living in that island”.
393: The Pythian Games, the Aktia Games and the Olympic Games were outlawed as part of the Hellenic “idolatry”.
The Christians sacked the temples of Olympia.
395: Two new edicts caused new persecutions against non-Christians. Rufinus, the eunuch Prime Minister of emperor Flavius Arcadius directed the hordes of the baptised Goths (led by Alaric) to the country of the Hellenes. Encouraged by Christian monks the barbarians sacked and burnt many cities (Dion, Delphi, Megara, Corinth, Pheneos, Argos,
Nemea, Lycosoura, Sparta, Messene, Phigaleia, Olympia, etc.), slaughtered or enslaved innumerable gentiles and burnt down all the temples. Among others, they burn down the Eleusinian Sanctuary and burnt alive all its priests,
396: A new edict by Arcadius ordered that Paganism be treated as high treason. Imprisonment of the few remaining non-Christian priests and hierophants was affected (What is coercion?).
397: “Demolish them!”. Flavius Arcadius ordered all the still standing non-Christian temples to be demolished.
398: The Fourth Church Council of Carthage prohibited everybody, including the Christian bishops, the study of the books of the non-Christians. Porphyrius, bishop of Gaza, demolished almost all the non-Christian temples of his city (except 9 of them).
399: With a new edict Flavius Arcadius ordered all the still standing non-Christian temples, mainly in the countryside, to be immediately demolished.
400: Bishop Nicetas destroyed the Oracle in Vesai and baptised all the non-Christians of this area.
THIS STORY OF CRUELTY IS STILL LONG.
(622) LIES, DECEPTION, COERCION AND FORGERY
Episode Three
How was Christianity Spread?
The story of Christian oppression and coercion continued from the previous episode.
A Timeline of Disaster 3
A ‘Father’ of the Dark Age, Augustine
He writes:
But the Jews who slew Him, and would not believe in Him, because it behoved Him to die and rise again, were yet more miserably wasted by the Romans, and utterly rooted out from their kingdom, where aliens had already ruled over them, and were dispersed through the lands (so that indeed there is no place where they are not),
and are thus by their own Scriptures a testimony to us that we have not forged the prophecies about Christ.
Augustine, The City of God, 18:46
So,
Since God has spoken to us, we no longer need to think.
401: Christian forces started lynching the non-Christians of Gaza and destroyed the remaining 9 temples.
405: The Council of Chalcedon ordered all the Christians that still kept good relations with their gentile relatives to be excommunicated (even after their death).
406: John Chrysostom collected funds from rich Christian women to financially support the demolition of the temples. In Ephessus he ordered the destruction of the famous temple of goddess Artemis. In Salamis, Cyprus, “Saints” Epiphanius and Eutychius continued the persecutions of the Pagans and the total destruction of their temples and sanctuaries.
407: A new edict outlawed once more all the non-Christian acts of worship.
408: Emperor Honorius and Emperor Arcadius ordered to destroy all statues and idols in their own kingdom. And it was also illegal to keep any sculpture or statue with them.
Augustine massacred hundreds of protesting non-Christians in Calama, Algeria.
409 Another edict ordered all methods of divination including astrology to be punished by death.
In Alexandria, Egypt, the Christian mob, under the leadership of the bishop Cyrillus, attacked a few days before the Judaeo-Christian Pascha (Easter) and cut to pieces the famous and beautiful philosopher Hypatia.
The pieces of her body, carried around by the Christian mob through the streets of Alexandria, were finally burnt together with her books in a place called Cynaron.
30th August, new persecutions started against all the non-Christian priests of North Africa who were either crucified or burnt alive.
414: Jews were expelled from Alexandria.
416: “Sword of God′′ Hypatius exterminated the last non-Christian of Bithynia.
In Constantinople, all non-Christian army officers, public employees and judges were dismissed.
423: Emperor Theodosius II declared that all non-Christian religions were nothing more than “demon worship” and orderd all those who persist in practicing those to be punished by imprisonment and torture.
429: The temple of goddess Athena (Parthenon) on the Acropolis of Athens was sacked. The Athenian non-Christians were persecuted.
431: THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS GAVE JESUS THE STATUS OF COMPLETE GOD AND COMPLETE HUMAN BEING.
He ordered to burn all the books of Porphyry.
435: November 14, Theodosius II through an edict ordered death penalty to all non-Christians except the Jews.
438: Theodosius II issued another edict (31st January) against the non-Christians, incriminating their “idolatry” as the reason of a recent plague!
440-450: The Christians demolished all the monuments, altars and temples of Athens, Olympia, and other Greek cities.
448: Theodosius II ordered all non-Christian books to be burned.
450: All the temples of Aphrodisias (the city of the goddess Aphrodite) were demolished and all its libraries burned down. The city was renamed Stavroupolis (City of the Cross).
451: Chalcedon Council enforced the Orthodox belief on all people.
457-491: Sporadic persecutions against the Pagans of the Eastern Empire. Among others, the physician Jacobus and the philosopher Gessius are executed.
Severianus, Herestios, Zosimus, Isidorus and others were tortured and imprisoned.
The proselytiser Conon and his followers exterminated the last non-Christians of Imbros Island, Norheast Aegean Sea.
The last worshippers of Lavranius Zeus were exterminated in Cyprus.
The majority of the non-Christians of Minor Asia were exterminated after a desperate revolt against the emperor and the Church.
More “underground” Pagan priests were discovered, arrested, burlesqued, tortured and executed in Alexandria, Egypt.
515: Baptism became obligatory even for those that already said they were Christians.
The emperor of Constantinople, Anastasius, ordered the massacre of the non-Christians in the Arabian city Zoara and the demolition of the temple.
523: Emperor Justin 1 started suppressing the Arian sect by declaring the words of the Arian sect as illegal.
528: Emperor Jutprada (Justinianus) outlawed the “alternative” Olympian Games of Antioch. He also ordered 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 prohibited all teachings by the non-Christians.
529: Justinianus outlawed the Athenian Philosophical Academy and had its property confiscated.
542: Justinianus ordered to convert the non-Christians of Phrygia, Caria and Lydia, Minor Asia.
Pope Gregory 540-604
All power concentrated in the church; the Pope got special powers.
Royal authority was given to the clergy.
Heaps of wealth and huge property were given to the Pope.
Without training to be a pastor, rich people chose pastors from rich people.
The illegitimate offspring of the church elders were made cardinals.
Fake stories of the lives of saints full of miracles were propagated and sacred relics in their names were sold at high prices.
By declaring worldly education forbidden, teaching grammar was declared a crime.
Libraries were burnt and teaching of Bible to non-clergy people was prohibited.
Thus, for about one thousand years, the masses were kept illiterate.
Children without baptism go straight to hell and always get punished there.
People were forced to remain single.
Pope Gregory says about women: they are like a temple built on a dirty canal.
All sexual desire is sinful in itself and is justified only for the sake of children.” – Gregory I
Pope Gregory, who was bachelor himself, issued a bachelor order just to prevent transfer of Church property to women.
Thousands of children were drowned in the pond of Lateran palace following this order.
556: Justinianus ordered the notorious inquisitor Amantius to go to Antioch, to find, arrest, torture and exterminate the last non-Christians of the city and burn all the private libraries down.
580: The Christian inquisitors attacked a secret temple in Antioch. The priest commits suicide, but the rest are arrested. All the prisoners, the Vice Governor Anatolius included, were tortured, and sent to Constantinople to face trial. Sentenced to death they were thrown to the lions.
The wild animals being unwilling to tear them to pieces, they ended up crucified. Their dead bodies were dragged in the streets by the Christian mob and afterwards thrown unburied in the dump.
HAD THIS NOT BEEN A RELIGION OF PEACE, WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED?
Allah knows Best.