02-02-2014, 01:58 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-04-2014, 03:22 AM by Occhidiangela.)
Shadow, the fusion of the church and state didn't really get going until about the time of Theodosius and the Edict of Thessalonica. That's about sixty years after Constantine decreed Christianity to be legal and legitimate, which it was not considered previously in some parts of the Empire. Before that the Church was in many ways a counter culture movement, or subversive, or underground. Depended upon locale, and of course which group or heresy or school of thought one belonged to. (One of the great early theologians, Origen, seems to have eventually been declared anathema/heretic as the battle of ideas raged. ) Was there politics involved? I suspect the answer to that is yes.
There are a significant number of Restorationist movements that seek to model their congregations and churches along the lines of the Apostolic era and the Patristic period: before Christianity became mainstream and then official. That's a group of Christians I'd not be surprised to see not sit quietly for Caesar and any form of secular government. One such movement, Jehovah's Witnesses, object to serving in uniform. (They also do not give blood).
The "good citizen" movement and theology was as present in the Greek Orthodoxy and it was in the RCC, perhaps even moreso. No surprise to see it move to the C of E, eh? The Queen/Crown is still nominally the head of the Anglican confession. It also makes sense that the fusion happened over the years, since a great percentage of the clergy came from among the literate, who tended to be those materially well off enough to afford an education. Not all of the saints and clergy came from the mid and upper class, of course, but two immensely popular saints -- St Anthony and St Francis -- of the medeival period did.
As to the comment above about not expecting a pope bringing Christianity to Rome ... it's already there. It is Christianity, in its Roman Catholic form (which of course believes to be the One True Church) that brings the Pope to Rome. That takes us back to when that form of Christianity became the official religion: about 380 AD, and about the time that the Vulgate was published to get the Scripture into the lingua franca of the empire, Latin, from the Greek that most of the New T and Septuagint were preserved in at the time.
There are a significant number of Restorationist movements that seek to model their congregations and churches along the lines of the Apostolic era and the Patristic period: before Christianity became mainstream and then official. That's a group of Christians I'd not be surprised to see not sit quietly for Caesar and any form of secular government. One such movement, Jehovah's Witnesses, object to serving in uniform. (They also do not give blood).
The "good citizen" movement and theology was as present in the Greek Orthodoxy and it was in the RCC, perhaps even moreso. No surprise to see it move to the C of E, eh? The Queen/Crown is still nominally the head of the Anglican confession. It also makes sense that the fusion happened over the years, since a great percentage of the clergy came from among the literate, who tended to be those materially well off enough to afford an education. Not all of the saints and clergy came from the mid and upper class, of course, but two immensely popular saints -- St Anthony and St Francis -- of the medeival period did.
As to the comment above about not expecting a pope bringing Christianity to Rome ... it's already there. It is Christianity, in its Roman Catholic form (which of course believes to be the One True Church) that brings the Pope to Rome. That takes us back to when that form of Christianity became the official religion: about 380 AD, and about the time that the Vulgate was published to get the Scripture into the lingua franca of the empire, Latin, from the Greek that most of the New T and Septuagint were preserved in at the time.
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete