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The Mystery of Christian Power

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The Mystery of Christian Power THE MYSTERY OF CHRISTIAN POWER The Christian Roman Empire and its Old Testament Origins to the Fall of Constantinople (1453) Vladimir Moss © Vladimir Moss, 2009 It is he that shall build the Temple of the Lord, and shall bear royal honour, and shall sit and rule upon his throne. And there shall be a priest by his throne, and peaceful understanding shall be between them both. Zechariah 6.13. From Him and through Him [the Word of God] the king who is dear to God receives an image of the Kingdom that is above and so in imitation of that greater King himself guides and directs the course of everything on earth… He looks up to see the archetypal pattern and guides those whom he rules in accordance with that pattern… The basic principle of kingly authority is the establishment of a single source of authority to which everything is subject. Monarchy is superior to every other constitution and form of government. For polyarchy, where everyone competes on equal terms, is really anarchy and discord. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, Oration in Honour of Constantine, 1, 3. When by Divine decree I was elected to the empire, then amidst the many needs of the State I was occupied by none more than the need for the Orthodox and true faith of the Christians, which is holy and pure, to remain without doubts in the souls of all... Holy Emperor Marcian, Acts of the Fourth Ecumenical Council. If the Emperor forgets the fear of God, he will inevitably fall into sin and be changed into a despot, he will not be able to keep to the customs established by the Fathers, and by the intrigues of the devil he will do that which is unworthy and contrary to the commandments of God, he will become hateful to the people, the senate and the Church, he will become unworthy to be called a Christian, he will be deprived of his post, will be subject to anathema, and, finally, will be killed as the ‘common enemy’ of all Romans, both ‘those who command’ and ‘those who obey’. Emperor Constantine VII, On the Government of the Empire. 2 FOREWORD ............................................................................................................6 PART 1: THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIAN POWER (to 306)..............................8 1. PRE-CHRISTIAN STATEHOOD ......................................................................9 The Origin of Statehood.........................................................................................9 The Mark of Cain.................................................................................................12 Nimrod’s Babylon................................................................................................16 The Egyptian Pharaohs........................................................................................21 Israel: The Pilgrim State......................................................................................25 From Theocracy to Autocracy..............................................................................30 The Davidic Kingdom..........................................................................................34 Athenian Democracy ...........................................................................................40 Plato and Aristotle on the State...........................................................................46 Alexander, the Stoics and the Demise of Democracy ..........................................56 From Zerubbabel to the Maccabees......................................................................60 Herod the Great....................................................................................................64 Theocracy, Autocracy and the Jews .....................................................................67 The End of the State.............................................................................................73 2. PAGAN ROME .................................................................................................75 Christ and the Roman Empire .............................................................................75 Rome, the Jews and the Christians ......................................................................81 Rome: Protector or Persecutor?...........................................................................86 Why Rome?..........................................................................................................92 Rome and China...................................................................................................98 The Cult of the Emperor ....................................................................................107 Rome and the End of the World.........................................................................111 PART II. THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIAN POWER (306 to 1000) ..............114 3. CHRISTIAN ROME: THE EAST...................................................................115 The Triumph of the Cross ..................................................................................115 St. Constantine the Great ..................................................................................117 The Heretical and Pagan Reaction ....................................................................124 Kingship and Tyranny.......................................................................................129 Ideas about Kingship..........................................................................................134 The Sanctity of Kingship ...................................................................................139 The Symphony of Powers...................................................................................143 The Symphony of Nations .................................................................................149 Byzantium and the Jews ....................................................................................153 The Dissonance of Powers: Monothelitism and Iconoclasm..............................162 Perso-Islamic Despotism....................................................................................166 St. Photius the Great..........................................................................................172 Church Canons vs. Imperial Laws.....................................................................179 The Question of Legitimacy...............................................................................181 The First Bulgarian Empire...............................................................................185 St. Vladimir the Great .......................................................................................188 St. Vladimir and the Jews ..................................................................................192 4. CHRISTIAN ROME: THE WEST..................................................................194 The Fall of Old Rome .........................................................................................194 3 The Rise of the Popes: (1) from Leo I to Vigilius ...............................................201 The Remnants of Romanity: Italy, France, Spain, Britain ................................206 Romanity Restored: Anglo-Saxon England ......................................................219 The Rise of the Popes: (2) from Gregory I to Agatho .........................................222 The Sacrament of Royal Anointing ...................................................................225 The Papacy Turns West.....................................................................................230 Charlemagne, the Papacy and the East..............................................................232 The Rise of the Popes: (3) from Nicholas I to Christopher.................................240 The Growth of Feudalism...................................................................................245 The English Monarchy ......................................................................................250 The German Monarchy......................................................................................254 The Year 1000: The Apex of Monarchism .........................................................259 PART III: THE WANING OF CHRISTIAN POWER (1000 to 1453)............264 5. THE RESURRECTION OF PAGAN ROME................................................265 The Germans and the Filioque...........................................................................265 The Reform Movement ......................................................................................268 The Schism of 1054............................................................................................271 The Fall of Orthodox England ...........................................................................278 The Gregorian Revolution .................................................................................285 The Crusades......................................................................................................295 The Apotheosis of Papism: Innocent III.............................................................298 The Medieval Revolutionaries: Jews, Albigensians and Templars....................302 The Kabbala........................................................................................................307 The Resurrection of Roman Law .......................................................................313 Natural Law.......................................................................................................317 The Crisis of Medieval
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