Читать книгу Nicaea - The Rise of the Imperial Church - William Speir - Страница 12

Athanasius awoke to knocking on the door of his compartment. “Who is it?” he called.

“Sebastian,” was the reply. “Hosius wants you.”

Athanasius rose and stretched his legs; they were stiff from falling asleep while kneeling in meditation. “Coming,” he said.

Sebastian led Athanasius up the narrow stairs to Hosius’ cabin. The two men entered, and Athanasius saw Titurius and Hosius seated in the far corner. Titurius stood, and he and Sebastian left the cabin and closed the door behind them. Athanasius noticed that Hosius was using his travel chests as seats and a table.

“Come in, Athanasius,” Hosius said, motioning for Athanasius to sit on the chest vacated by Titurius.

Hosius poured a cup of wine from a stoppered jug and handed it to Athanasius. The young priest accepted the cup and took a sip. It was a fruity-tasting wine – the kind popular in southern Hispania – and the aroma reminded Athanasius of how much he missed Gades. He took another sip and looked at Hosius.

“The first part of our plan has been a success,” Hosius began. “We’ve created a divide between the churches that cannot be resolved through polite conversations between the two factions. I knew when I made my bargain with Constantine that I could never deliver all of the churches to him with a unified theology. The devout Followers of The Way would never give up their beliefs for the simpler doctrine of the Divine Trinity, and they’d never allow themselves to be used as tools of statecraft for the empire.”

“So you’re still planning to propose a council of bishops to establish one unified theology?” Athanasius asked.

Hosius nodded. “Yes. It’s the only way to force the dissenting faction members to either join with the rest of us or be banished from the churches and the protections of the empire.”

“Then what?” Athanasius asked.

Hosius smiled. “That’s the right question! If the council is successful, then it will end with a single unified doctrine for all Christian churches. But Christianity is still a loose collection of churches spread out all over the empire – and outside the empire as well. With one theology comes the need for a central church to control the other churches – like the main trunk of a tree giving life to each of its branches. Each church cannot continue to have its own identity and ways of doing things. We need one identity, common orders of service and ceremonies, standardized prayers and blessings… in short, we need one common set of rules for the churches and for the governing of the churches. These rules must give Constantine and his successors a church that stands as an equal beside the Imperial Throne, the Senate, the legions, and the bureaucracy for governing the empire.”

“That’s the role you see for the church?”

“It’s what Constantine wants,” Hosius replied. “And it’s what we need. Think about it. The Emperor is the embodiment of the empire’s purpose. The Senate establishes laws that govern the empire. The legions keep the empire secure. The bureaucracy maintains the civil services that keep the machinery of the empire’s government working. But who controls the hearts and minds of the people? There are dozens of religions worshipped across the empire. If we establish a single Imperial Church preaching one doctrine that all men must worship, then we are the ones who control the hearts and minds of the people!”

“But how is that a tool for the empire to use?” Athanasius asked, feeling confused. “It sounds like the church will be the true power of the empire, and the emperor will just be a figurehead.”

“I knew you were my brightest student,” Hosius said with a wide grin on his aging face. “You’ve discovered my vision for the church. But it could take generations before that vision is realized. Until then, our immediate problems are creating a church that does what Constantine needs for it to do and getting Constantine to agree with the level of authority that the church needs to have to carry out its mission on his behalf.”

“I see an even more immediate problem, Hosius,” Athanasius said.

“What?”

“You keep talking about control – that the church will control the people. But how will that happen? Our priests don’t have any authority over their congregations. They lead the congregations in prayer and in the study of the gospels, but they are servants of the congregations, just as Jesus commanded his disciples to be. I see how a unified theology can guide people toward a common understanding of the prophets, the gospels, and the epistles, but each individual communes directly with God and won’t be manipulated as easily as you’re suggesting.”

“I’ve been wrestling with that,” Hosius admitted. “But I don’t have an answer yet. Do you have any ideas?”

The two men sat in silence for a long time as Athanasius thought about the problem. Hosius waited patiently for the young priest to respond.

Finally, Athanasius replied. “I keep coming back to the Roman Legions. When you were first describing the unification of the churches under a single church, I thought about how the legions are organized. I saw the priests as legionnaires, the bishops as centurions, and the Patriarchs as the generals. But to make the church work as you envision, it’s the people who’d be the legionnaires, the priests would be the centurions, the bishops would be the tribunes, and the Patriarchs would be the generals. The supreme head of the church would be the Emperor.”

Hosius nodded. “An interesting analogy. Go on.”

“The priests would have to command the congregations with the same authority that a centurion has over his legionnaires. Priests would reward good behaviors and punish bad behaviors to keep their congregations in line. If Christianity is truly about the salvation of man, as preached by the apostles, then salvation must come from the priests and not from individual communion with God. Just like a legion’s chain of command, the priests will intercede between their congregations and God as God’s representatives on earth. Through the priests, the church will grant forgiveness of sins, grant salvation, define what behaviors are acceptable, and condemn those who disobey the church’s commands. We will essentially be altering Jesus’ edict that ‘No man cometh to the Father, but by me,’ into ‘No man cometh to the Father, but by my church.’ It’s the only way we can make the people obey the church, as far as I can tell.”

“I like where you’re going,” Hosius said, “but how can we give the church the authority to intercede between God and man?”

“Well,” Athanasius began, “you and I acknowledge that Jesus established Peter as the head of the church, right?”

Hosius nodded, and Athanasius continued. “In Matthew, right after the passage where Jesus declares that Peter is the rock upon which he will build his church, he says, ‘And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ Now I know how Arias and his followers read this passage. They believe that Jesus was admonishing his apostles to free people from mental and physical bondage on earth, that the bondage freed on earth will remain freed in heaven, and that the bondage not freed on earth will still need to be freed in the afterlife. But what if it means something else? What if Jesus is giving his church divine authority? What if Jesus is saying that he’ll have bound in heaven whatever the church binds on earth, and that he’ll have loosed in heaven whatever the church looses on earth? If that was his meaning, then the church has the authority to do anything it wants, and heaven will have to approve!”

“Arias and his followers will accuse you of blasphemy,” Hosius noted. “And they don’t accept that Jesus made Peter the head of the church. They believe that it was Peter’s declaration of Jesus being the Son of God that is the foundation of the church.”

“I know. Arias and I had that discussion shortly before I sailed from Alexandria. But if the new church adopts my interpretation of this passage, then anyone standing against us will be the one guilty of blasphemy.”

Hosius leaned back with a pleased look on his face. Then he said, “What you’re describing is quite a departure from the way that the priests currently serve their congregations. How would we transform the churches to be more like the legions with the priests in command of the congregations? There would be pushback from some bishops and priests, not to mention some of the congregations.”

“Based on what?” Athanasius asked.

“Based on their understanding and interpretation of the gospels and the epistles,” Hosius replied. “This is something I’ve been thinking about for some time – especially regarding the Divine Trinity and the arguments against it by Arias and his followers. If we want to ensure that there is no doubt as to what the scriptures are saying, then we may need to clarify the scriptures.”

“You mean alter them?” Athanasius asked.

“I wouldn’t use that word,” Hosius replied. “But we may need to create an official version of the gospels and epistles – one that will replace all of the existing versions and be worded so that there is no misunderstanding among the priests about what the passages mean. The theological decisions made by the council of bishops would be included in the official version.”

“And what about the congregations?” Athanasius asked.

“What about them? They don’t need to read the scriptures. They’ll have the priests to teach them all that they need to know. But back to my question: how do we transform the churches to be more like the legions, over the objections of any bishops and priests?”

Athanasius drained his cup, and Hosius refilled it too full. The wine sloshed over the rim as the warship swayed, and the young priest quickly drank it down while thinking about Hosius’ question. Finally, he sat up with a smile on his face.

“I think that you’ve already given us what we need to force the transformation,” he said happily.

“What are you talking about?” Hosius asked.

“Arias! Specifically, the conflict between Alexander and Arias, between the Divine Trinity and the Followers of The Way. If the council of bishops is successful and Arias and his supporters are defeated, then there’s still the risk of Arias’ philosophies remaining ingrained in many of the congregations, not to mention many of the priests and bishops. If the council votes that Arias’ philosophies are no longer acceptable, then it would be prudent to implement safeguards against them resurfacing, wouldn’t it? We might not be able to make the complete transformation quickly, but we can implement parts of it immediately, and then add the rest of the parts slowly so that the transformation of the churches happens gradually. We’ll also need to educate the priests in the new theology and official scriptures, and we can educate them on the new rules and the reasons for the transformation at the same time.”

“And the pushback from the congregations?” Hosius asked.

“If Christianity becomes the state religion for the empire and all other religions are abolished, then pushback from the congregations won’t matter. They won’t have a choice but to comply with the new theology and the new authority of the church.”

Hosius smiled and nodding enthusiastically. “And this is why I wanted you to accompany me to Byzantium. I’ve been so focused on the theological questions that I couldn’t see the way to make everything else work as Constantine expects.”

“Will the council of bishops be considering the other things that the Emperor wants in addition to the theological questions?”

“No,” Hosius replied. “Only the Patriarchs will be privy to the other plans for the church. Once they’re in agreement with the plans, they’ll help convince the bishops and priests.”

Athanasius nodded. “If you’d share with me all that Constantine wants, perhaps I can help you figure out how to make it work with the new theology,” he offered.

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

Athanasius was exhausted when he returned to his compartment late that night. As he lay down on his cot, he suddenly thought of something that Arias had said to him. “My position is reasonable because it is the same position held to by the priests of this church since its founding. Your position has no such foundation, so which of us is being reasonable?”

Why did I think of that? Am I doubting what Hosius and I are doing? Was Arias right?

Athanasius stared at the ceiling of his compartment. Hosius has spent most of his life securing the free worship of Christianity in the empire, and now he’s even managed to convince the Emperor to make it the state religion. Christians are no longer being persecuted for their beliefs. Isn’t that what’s important? No more martyrs, no more fear. And all that we have to do to secure the safety of all Christians is to give the Emperor what he wants.

Arias is a purist. He’d rather die that change his beliefs. But this is the real world, and compromise is required if we’re going to survive. All that Hosius and I are doing is unifying the doctrine of the churches, which needs to happen anyway, and establishing a few additional functions to be performed by the churches on behalf of the empire. We’re ensuring that the churches will flourish for as long as Rome herself stands – perhaps longer!

Athanasius smiled. Even Jesus told his followers to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s. He paid his taxes, and God gave him the coin with which to do it. If Jesus knew that obedience to the empire was required to live freely within its borders, then why can’t Arias understand that? Hosius and I aren’t recommending changes to the churches for ourselves; we’re recommending changes to ensure the survival of the churches. If we don’t, and Christianity loses its imperial protections, who will be left to worship Jesus and serve God’s church? If we’re all martyred, who will keep the gospels and epistles alive in the hearts of men? What Hosius and I are doing is small compared to what will happen if we don’t please the Emperor.

Arias doesn’t understand, and he never will. He represents the past. Hosius and I represent the future, and we’ll be the ones remembered for saving the churches and setting our religion on the path to everlasting glory. That’s what reasonable men do.

Athanasius’s confidence in what he and Hosius were doing was restored. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep to the swaying of the warship.

The two warships docked in Barcino two days later. Sebastian and Titurius went ashore to get more blank scrolls and pencils for Hosius. Athanasius barely noticed that the galley was no longer moving. He and Hosius remained cloistered the entire time the ships were in Barcino, working on detail after detail of how the new Imperial Church would function.

The two warships left Barcino the next morning, and they arrived in Arelate two days later. Once again, Athanasius and Hosius remained on board, working all day and through most of the night.

The day before the warships arrived in Rome, Athanasius and Hosius were discussing ideas through most of the night. Shortly before sunrise, Athanasius said, “I think that one of the most valuable imperial services the church can provide is information. The priests will know what’s going on in the areas around their churches, and they can report back anything that the imperial government might need to know. We’ll need permission to use the Imperial Courier Service to send this information so it can arrive quickly, unless we want to someday set up our own courier service. But there’s another kind of information that should prove useful to the Emperor.”

“What’s that?” Hosius asked.

“The kind of information that can be used against political rivals.”

“I don’t understand. How will our priests become privy to information like that?”

“There are three passages in the gospels and the epistles that I keep coming back to. The passage in the gospels is in Matthew, where Jesus says that ‘I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ In the epistle of James, it says, ‘And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.’ And in the first epistle of John, it says, ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ I think that the answer might be in these three passages.”

“Go on,” Hosius said, still not clear on what Athanasius was proposing.

“According to the first epistle of John, all men are sinners. Matthew says that Jesus came to call the sinners to repentance. Both James and John mention that confessing sins is the first step in the removal of sin. So what if we make the confession of sins a duty of every Christian – part of the way they reach salvation through the church? Each Christian must confess his sins on a regular basis to earn and retain God’s favor, the priest will test him by giving him some sort of task to be sure that he is truly repenting from his sins, and then the priest can forgive the sin in the name of God. The church has called the sinner to repentance, and the priest now knows the secrets of every Christian in the congregation. The more that the members of the congregation confess, the more the priest learns. Information that’s of value to the Emperor can be passed along. We can also have the priest assign tasks that benefit either the Emperor, the empire, or the church as part of achieving forgiveness and salvation. That’s how the church can control the congregations, and by extension, the empire!”

“Wouldn’t there have to be some expectation of privacy between the person confessing and the priest?” Hosius asked. “Would people be willing to confess their sins if they learned that their confessions were being used against them?”

“The information would never leave the church,” Athanasius replied. “It would just be provided up the chain of command within the church.”

“To the Emperor…” Hosius began.

“Who is the secular head of the church,” Athanasius finished.

Hosius laughed. “It’s brilliant! The people will think that they’re attaining salvation for this life and for the afterlife, but they’re actually giving the church what it needs to control them on behalf of the empire. And the priests become the eyes and ears of the empire and the church.”

“In places where we have churches,” Athanasius added. “But we might want to think about how to get the same information in territories where there are no churches.”

“Territories outside of the empire? Couldn’t we just build new churches in those territories?” Hosius asked.

“Yes, but it would take time to build churches in those territories and in territories of the empire that have not yet been converted to Christianity. Just as governments send spies into foreign lands, we may have to do the same by sending missionaries to lands where the church has no influence.”

Alexander climbed the stairs to his chamber. The wall sconces at the top of the stairs illuminated the way through the darkness of the early evening.

Alexander reached the top of the stairs and turned the corner to enter his chamber. Wine and food were waiting for him on his desk. He closed the door, sat down, and poured himself a cup of wine.

Athanasius has been gone for over three weeks. If he found Hosius quickly, he should be back here in two weeks with Hosius’ reply to my letter. I’m anxious to read what he suggests that I do. I don’t want to strip Arias of his post, but I can’t have his open defiance disrupt the other churches in this region. Something must be done.

Alexander took a sip of the wine. I wonder if I should visit Arias at his church and try to resolve our differences directly. My letters aren’t working, and he’s always defensive when I summon him here. Perhaps if I go there, he’ll feel comfortable enough to reason with me. Maybe that’s what I should have done in the first place.

Alexander thought about this, and then he thought about the last letter he received from Arias. No, I guess we’re past the point where he and I can work through our disagreements privately. Athanasius is right; Arias is beyond reasoning with. He’ll never change, he’ll never see reason, and he’ll never abandon his beliefs. He’ll have to be removed from his post and banished from preaching but in a way that won’t disrupt his congregation or force his followers to come after me.

A servant knocked on the door and brought a fresh flagon of wine to replace the one that Alexander had nearly emptied. This is why I need to wait for Hosius’ reply. He’ll know how to get Arias out of the way without creating a situation that’ll split the church apart.

Arias watched his acolytes leave his chamber. He had spent three hours with them, teaching them The Way. They’re good students. They’ll make fine priests one day.

Glancing at the window, he noticed that it was dark. Hosius should have received my letter and sent back his reply already. It should be here in a matter of days. I’m curious to read what he says about how I should work with Alexander to resolve our differences.

Arias stood up and crossed over to the window overlooking the courtyard. Alexander and I don’t agree on many things, but I know that we both have what’s best for the churches in our hearts. We can build on that. No matter what we disagree upon, we’re still brothers in Christ, and that’s a bond that can survive any disagreement. I’m sure that we can resolve our differences – or at least find a way to live with them for the good of everyone. I don’t want our disagreements to cause a rift between the churches; I could never allow that. Alexander is my brother, and I am his. Our Master would never want our problems to disrupt our mission to teach The Way to the faithful. He commanded us to love one another, and I intend to do just that.

Arias closed the shutters, sat down on the side of his bed, and prayed. Heavenly Father, I know that Your will is supreme. Help me to know Your will so that I may obey and embrace it. You see Your creation as very good, and I must do the same. Alexander is part of that creation. You see him as good, and so must I. I don’t want my problems with Alexander to jeopardize Your churches. Help me to remember that it’s not the man Alexander that I oppose, it’s his beliefs and the doctrine that he’s attempting to force on all true believers and followers of our Master, Jesus. Give me the strength to put aside my own wants and do what You need me to do. This I will do willingly. Thank You for the opportunity to serve You and to guide others to serve You. Being in Your service is my greatest joy. I exist only to serve You. Guide my thoughts and actions so that my service is according to Your divine purpose. And help me to show Alexander and his followers the errors of their ways so that all of the churches may return to the true faith and proper worship of You and Your son Jesus. Strengthen me in this endeavor so that I do not fail You. Amen.