Rome. The most brutal civilization to ever reign. The Romans were masters of the world. They conquered nations like spreading fire. Roman Rule was the background upon which Jesus Christ's Ministry rose and it was at the hands of the Romans that Jesus was Crucified. Rome's role in the History of God's Church is as bizarre as the conversion of Saul of Tarsus to St. Paul. Rome in the time of Christ had expanded its empire to the far reaches of the world and was consolidating its power. The Romans were ruled by dictator known as the Cesar, who was appointed during crisis but like most leaders who gain great power, was never to relinquish it. In fact, this will foreshadow the Cesar of the Church, known as the Pope.
Rome's role in Christianity really started at the Crucifixion. Pontius Pilate, who was prefect and Governor of Judea was presented with Jesus of Nazareth on charges of blasphemy and other religious law. Pilate immediately found not fault in Jesus and it says in Scripture, "Pilate tried everything to spare Jesus and took Jesus aside and said, don't you know that I have the power to crucify you or set your free? Jesus respond, "You have not power but what has been given to you from above." (John 19:10-11). According to extra Biblical accounts, one being a Letter from Pilate to Cesar Augustus and another from Eusebius the chronicler of Church history from the Apostles to 345 A.D. Pilate was convinced Jesus was the Christ and Son of God and spent his last days trying to save the Christian lives.
Inevitably, Pontius Pilate after threats from the Sanhedrin of riot and revolt, had Jesus Crucified. His own centurions did the job, and it says one Centurion named Longinus took a spear and pierced Jesus' side (John 19:34). It says in the Gospel, "that the centurion and his men guarding Jesus on cross said after an earthquake, "Truly, this was the Son of God." (Matthew 27:54, Mark 15:38 ). Now that I remember, Jesus actually did help a Centurion's servant during His public ministry; it says in the gospel, "After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.." (Luke 7:1-10, ESV). So even before the Crucifixion, Romans were becoming part of God's plan to reach the Gentiles.
St. Peter after Jesus ascended was called by the Lord Jesus Risen to go to a Roman named Cornelius' House, whom He preached to and the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and his whole household. (see Acts 10:1-33). From there St. Paul rises in Acts and is told in prophecy from Jesus, "You shall preach in Rome." (Acts 23:11). St. Paul spends at least four years of his life in Rome on house arrest and an unnumbered amount of days shipwrecked with Romans on one of his voyages. (Acts 27:27-Acts 28:5). According to other accounts, St. Paul was told by Christ to go to Nero's court and Nero before going mad had Him chained to the Pretorian Guard on house arrest and the Guard became believers in Jesus Christ. St. Peter spent a mission trip in Rome and spent his last days there where he was crucified upside-down.
Following the Apostles, Rome became filled with Christian converts who were willing to face persecution under insane emperors like Nero, Caligula, and Diocletian. These persecutions ranged from being eaten by lions, to being massacred by the sword, crucified, and other tortures before crowds in coliseums. It is said Nero had torches made of Christians in his palace and that he wore the skins of Christians as clothes. But all this malice and morbid onslaught could not snuff out the flame of faith. Rome's last Emperor became a Christian and following Him another greater emperor of the Eastern Empire known as Constantine The Great became Christian upon seeing the sign of the Cross in a dream/vision, and hearing "in this sign you shall conquer." Constantine did conquer and converted to Christianity, and Rome adopted the Christian faith.
What followed was many councils on Orthodox Christian faith, the most well known being the Council of Nicaea in 325 which was called to order by Emperor Constantine. Following all this change for the church came the Fall of the Western Roman Empire (witnessed by St. Augustine). The Barbarians known as the Visigoths invaded Rome and destroyed their former masters. The Eastern Roman Empire, known as Byzantium would survive for six more centuries and finally be crushed by ironically Roman Catholic Christians known as the Crusaders in 1204 and then by the Ottoman Turks on 29th of May, 1453 A.D.
The most dramatic transformation was of the Roman Empire into the Roman Catholic Church. To this day Rome survives in the Latin Church which at present is lead by Pope Francis I. The Roman Church did not begin with a Pope, but rather as the greatest of St. Paul's planted churches. It was the largest, wealthiest, and most influential of the Churches and is the Church that Paul directs his Epistle "Romans" to. The Roman Catholic Church tends to rely on what is called Primacy of Peter and for some reason looks to Peter as its founder, when Paul actually spent more time in Rome and reached more than Peter for Christ. The Pope or Papa was first instituted as a landowner, but through politics and reforms became the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church (Tour Guide of the Vatican). Differing from the Greek Church, which was lead by a Council of Bishops, the Roman Church has one figurehead and College of Cardinals.
Rome's influence on the Church would shape an entire nine centuries of European history (500-1600 A.D.) and arguably still holds today in 2015 a major influence over 1.5 Billion Christians! What is interesting about Rome's part in Christ's flock is how it returned to its roots as an empire. The most astonishing moment in the Roman Church's history is without a doubt the Crusades. The Crusades were holy wars waged against the Turks, Muslims, and Heretics from 1095-1291 A.D. Some include the wars against the Ottoman Turks as crusades, but they don't really fit the criteria for the crusading indulgence, however they were holy wars. The Crusades began as answer to two separate problems: The Knightly Class and The Rise of Islam. To the Church of Rome, killing was sin, one that damned a soldier. Reforms were made by Abbot Cluny who created the "Code of Chivalry" to help the knights be pious and godly, and later by Pope Gregory VII who conceived the ideas of penitential warfare to save the souls of soldiers and knights.
Ultimately, the efforts came together at Clermont, France where Pope Urban II called men to "take the cross" and fight in an expedition (The First Crusade) to save the church in Byzantium, to route the Turks who had invaded Spain, Southern Italy and other European Countries, and to take back the Holy Land. The Pope promised Full Absolution of Sin (blanket forgiveness for all sins, certainty of salvation upon death, and assurance of bypassing purgatory and going straight to heaven) for crusaders and so it not surprisingly how it became popular and led to many more expeditions such as the Second Crusade, the Third Crusade with Richard Lionheart and Saladin, The Fourth Crusade which destroyed the Byzantine Empire, The Fifth and Sixth Crusades that included St. Louis IX, and others holy wars labeled as The Baltic Crusades, The Albigensian Crusade, The Hussite Crusade, and longest local European holy war in Spain called The Reconquista. This conquering Church that used the apparatus of holy war called crusade shouldn't surprise people. The Roman Church came from the Roman Empire and that empire had fallen in Augustine's day and the Crusades were in a way a revival of the old Roman conquering machine, only this time instead of eagles, Emmanuel's Cross was the sign of victory and dominion.
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| Roman Centurion (left), Roman Catholic Crusader (right) |
The most interesting element of the crusades is that Rome ruled Judea and Jerusalem twice; first as the Roman Empire, and then by the Europeans known as the Crusaders who were under the Pope and Roman Catholic Church. It is astounding that in the very place Rome killed Jesus on the cross, that future Romans would raise up banners with the cross of Christ upon them. This like the events of Rome going form persecuting the Church to proclaiming the Gospel message is major paradigm shift in history.
The Roman Church to this day gets many things right and many things wrong. Firstly and chiefly, the Roman Church has a deep reverence and focus on Jesus Christ. There is not confusion about Christ being the centerpiece of faith in the Roman Church. Crucifixes and crosses adorn most cathedrals and churches of Latin rite. The Eucharist or Communion of Christ's Body and Blood is held ever mass (every week, sometimes multiple times a week). The Roman Church like the Jews before remember. In fact, I would call the Roman Church the Remembering Church. From the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday to the Vigil of Christmas Eve, every detail of Jesus' life, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension and return is covered in minute detail. This is where the Roman Church gets it right; Jesus must be the focus! It is in Jesus Christ that we are saved and set free from Sin by His death on cross and Resurrection on the Third Day!
Where the Roman Church gets things wrong is in rite, ritual, and penance. The Roman Church more than others has incorporated pagan practices and misinterpretations. Marian Worship or the Cult of Mary is the number one error in the Roman Church. Mary is not equal to Christ, is not a god, is not to be prayed to, and was not perfect. She even said, "My Lord and Savior.." (). While admiring saints is fine, praying to them like some Catholics do is anti-Biblical and idolatry! "Pray only to the Lord your God. Have not idols before Him" (). It is Jesus Christ that saves, heals, helps, and is the object of worship, not some Jesuit priest! The second issue that is equally damaging is the concept of penance, which has believer do acts to merit forgiveness for sins. Penance is surviving system from the Middle Ages, and was closely connected to indulgences, like the Crusading indulgence, which was a paper you paid for to assure that you, a dead relative, or a friend got out of the hell or purgatory. Penance is to do an act or work to pay for your sins; but it is an Anti-Christ because Jesus Christ, "paid it all, and wiped clean your debts a sinner." Penance is a doctrine that violates the Bible and the Gospel as seen in John 3:16 which says "believe." Here is a great argument against penance as found in the Scriptures:
"When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions. having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross." (Colossians 2:13-14).
There are some strongly held views on the Roman Church's role in future. Scholars of Eschatology and other self proclaimed prophets say the Roman Church will be involved with the Anti-Christ and even be part of the Beast Regime. These particular views are built on interpretation in the Book of Revelation of Babylon the Harlot (Revelation 17:5) and the Seven Churches (Revelation 2:1-28, 3:1-22). Only time will tell if these interpretations will be valid and until then we must be careful about speculating too much. There may be merit in these concerns of Christians and there is a growing belief that The Roman Church will unite with Islam through Fatima who in Catholic Church is Mother Mary and in Islam is the daughter of their prophet Muhammad. But we must be careful in these times and keep our eyes on Christ Jesus and not jump to conclusions without proof.
What I do know is that Roman Church is staunch about believing in Jesus Christ. The Roman Church is Trinitarian and espouses the belief in Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit in a well articulated manner. The Roman Church is against Abortion (though some branches of Catholicism are Pro-Choice, as whole Abortion is seen as murder). In these areas the Catholic Church is doing well, but I have concerns about the lack of the Holy Spirit moving in power through the congregation and hierarchy of clergy. Ultimately, no church is perfect, only Christ Jesus is perfect. The Roman Church has real fascinating history that some may deem as radical and religious, but others like myself will not forget that the Roman Church's efforts and victories in defending the Church against the Ottoman Invasion at Malta, Rhodes, and Lepanto. Because of the Catholics, we are Christian. They fought the Muslims and kept European and known world from falling to the Crescent. For that alone we should show respect and be thankful. While I do not agree with many elements of Roman Catholic doctrine, I do try to do as St. Paul said, "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.." (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22).
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