The Story of the Middle Ages In This Sign, Conquer! Christendom Kindles Empire versus Church – The Treasures of the Church – Galerius's Rule - In Hoc Signo Vinces – Arianism – The Nicene Creed – Athanasius Against the World – The Barrier Broken – The Barbarians - Honorius's Chicken – The Greatness of Rome in the Days of Ruin – The Hordes Sweep Southward - The Scourge of God – The Battles of Chalons, 451 – Priscus Encounters Attila – Dinner With Attila – Attack on Rome Averted – The Pope and the Hun Anne W. Carroll: “Empire Versus Church” From Christ the King, Lord of History (AD 1976) Though the events of the first century A.D. showed that the Roman Empire could never again be the proud, healthy nation it had once been, Rome remained the strongest power in the world. Eventually Rome would come into direct conflict with the growing new religion called Christianity and would try to eliminate this religion from the empire. The contest at the beginning seemed unequal: the mighty Roman government with the power of life or death over its citizens, the Roman army, and the instruments of torture, against a small religious group which had no army, no wealth, nothing but faith. But like earlier contests in history – Moses against Ramses II, Elijah against the 450 priests of Baal – the outcome of the struggle would be far different from what anyone expected. The Good Emperors Around the year 96, a group of intelligent and brave Romans, most in their sixties and seventies, gathered together to try to bring an end to the stream of assassinations, insanities and horrors which had caused so much suffering. These men had grown up during the hideous reign of Nero and lived their middle age under the cruel rule of Domitian. They knew evil very well and resolved to protect themselves and others from as much of it as possible. They planned and successfully carried out the assassination of Domitian in 96. They chose one of their number as emperor, a Spanish general named Trajan, whom he adopted as his son in order to avoid the struggles and bloodshed over who would be emperor. Trajan became emperor in 98. The example set by Nerva was followed by the next three emperors. Each adopted as his son a talented man of similar political views. Each adopted son peacefully became emperor. The four emperors thus chosen – Trajan (98-117), Hadrian (117-138), Antoninus Pius (138-161) and Marcus Aurelius (161-180) – each ruled approximately twenty years. During the entire period of their rule the Roman people knew more peace and order than they had since the days of Tiberius. As long as they reigned, these men – known as the Good Emperors – were able to stop the worst evils of the earlier emperors who had been concerned with wealth and power for themselves.But the Good Emperors could only cure some of the symptoms of Rome's sickness; they could not cure the disease. Though the assassinations of emperors were stopped, other evils continued. One important symbol of the spiritual sickness of Rome was the Colosseum, a huge stadium built by Vespasian and still standing today, though in ruins. In the Colosseum were held the “Games” which entertained the people of Rome. By the time of Marcus Aurelius, the games were held 135 days a year.... They were bloody spectacles involving death and destruction, which the people flocked to see and to cheer. Trajan celebrated his conquest of Dacia (Rumania) by 123 consecutive days of games during which 10,000 gladiators fought and 11,000 animals were killed. Captured prisoners of war fought to the death. These gladiators had no choice - it was kill or be killed – and the crowd cheered and screamed for blood. In addition, the Good Emperors continued to persecute Christians. They saw Christianity as weakening the empire because Christians gave their first loyalty to what seemed to be a foreign god. Marcus Aurelius, especially, regarded Christians with suspicion. During his reign occurred the martyrdoms in Lyon, when the most horrible tortures since Nero were inflicted: the ninety-year-old bishop was beaten to death; several of the Christians were roasted in an iron chair; living bodies were torn to ribbons. The moral standards of the people became lower and lower. They did less work while prices and taxes continually rose higher. Mystery religions, whose secret rituals involved mutilation and perhaps even cannibalism, gained in popularity. The population declined as people stopped having children or allowed the ones who were born to die. Disaster hung over Rome like a huge, dark cloud. As long as Marcus Aurelius lived, he could hold it off. But Marcus Aurelius had a son, Commodus. The emperor loved him and named him to succeed him on the throne. Commodus was insane. Years of Horror The next 100 years were almost like a replay of the first century – only worse. The insane Commodus was emperor for thirteen years. His wild spending completed the bankruptcy of the treasury. But he was finally strangled by his own personal bodyguard (193) and replaced by a simple man of common sense, Publius Pertinax, the corrupt senate and governmental officials would have none of Pertinax's efforts to economize. He was murdered in three months by the Praetorian Guard (the emperor's personal army), which then literally auctioned off the empire to the highest bidder, one Didius Julianus. Didius paid the Praetorian Guard, but he was unable to buy the army in Africa.. Its commander, Septimius Severus, marched on Italy and became ruler of the world in the spring of 193. In Rome he found the treasury empty. So he increased taxation, driving people from their homes to become bandits. Immorality and lawlessness reigned, and the only solution anyone could think of was to keep trying new emperors. In the ninety years after the death of Commodus, there weere twenty emperors. ... not one of them died a peaceful death. The efforts of the Good Emperors were as if they had never been. Corruption, horror, and death dominated Rome. “The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer” by Jean-Leon Gerome, 1863-1883, Walters Art Museum The Church and the Popes In one way, Commodus was an improvement over his father; he did not persecute Christians. He stopped the martyrdoms and ordered the release of those Christians who had been sent to slave labour in the mines. One of those released was Calixtus, who was elected Pope in 217. But a an named Hippolytus was not impressed by Calixtus's sufferings for the faith. He declared that he, Hippolytus, was the real Pope. When a man sets himself up as Pope when a true Pope reigns, the false pope is called an anti-pope. Hippolytus was the Church's first anti-pope. Hippolytus said that Calixtus was too lenient toward sinners, that some sins could never be forgiven. Calixtus knew better; he knew that any repented sin could be forgiven. Finally Calixtus was martyred by the Roman mob. A new Pope, Urban I, was chosen, followed by Pontian in 230. Through it all Hippolytus continued as anti- pope. In 235 the giant emperor Maximus Thrax ordered Pontian arrested and sent to the mines in Sardinia. Hearing about Hippolytus's claims, Maximus ordered him arrested too. And sot h the anti- pope and the true pope were side by side in the mines. Pontian, knowing that he would certainly never return to Rome, resigned his office as Pope, the first to do so. Although no one can depose (force out of office a Pope because no one on earth has higher authority than the Vicar of Christ, a Pope can resign as Pontian did. Not long after, Pontian died from the suffering and hardship of the mines. Seeing Pontian's holy example, Hippolytus was shamed into admitting that his pride had been too strong. He realized that he was wrong; he repented. He sent a message to his followers, saying that he no longer claimed the title of Pope and urging them to obey the true Pope. Hippolytus also died in the mines.... Emperor Decius launched an even more vicious persecution, requiring for the first time that everyone in the empire sacrifice to the spirit of the emperor himself. The first person he ordered martyred was Pope Fabian, declaring afterwards that he would rather lose his throne than see the election of another Pope. The Roman clergy, who in those days were responsible for the election of the Pope, did not dare to elect another man while Decius lived. So the papacy remained vacant for about a year, until Decius was killed in battle in 251. In 257 Sixtus II was elected Pope. Emperor Valerian Valerian had a superstitious fear that the disasters befalling the Empire were due to the gods' anger at the Christians. He intensified the persecution, forbidding liturgical worship and access to the catacombs, where the Christians had gone to celebrate Mass secretly during ties of persecution. Sixtus's consecration as Pope was held in secret. The next year, Valerian enacted a harsher law; bishops, priests, and deacons cold be executed without trial. But Sixtus was not afraid. He gathered his people for Mass at the chapel in the cemetery of St. Calixtus. Only the flickering of candles lightened the darkness of the small room. Only the rustling of bodies broke the silence. Then Sixtus began Mass. His voice was quiet but firm. Slowly, reverently, he spoke the prayers of the Mass The people were caught up in their love for Christ, forgetting the anger that surrounded them. Suddenly they heard a crash at the door.