Rome's Relationship with the early Christians

The Roman authorities hesitated for a long time over how to deal with this new cult. They largely appreciated this new religion as subversive and potentially dangerous.For Christianity, with its insistence on only one god, seemed to threaten the principle of religious toleration which had guaranteed (religious) peace for so long among the people of the empire.Most of all Christianity clashed with the official state religion of the empire, for Christians refused to perform Caesar worship. This, in the Roman mindset, demonstrated their disloyalty to their rulers.

Persecution of the Christians began with Nero's bloody repression of AD 64. This was only a rash an sporadic repression though it is perhaps the one which remains the most infamous of them all.

The first real recognition Christianity other than Nero's slaughter, was an inquiry by emperor Domitian who supposedly, upon hearing that the Christians refused to perform Caesar worship, sent investigators to Galilee to inquire on his family, about fifty years after the crucifixion.They found some poor smallholders, including the great-nephew of Jesus, interrogated them and then released them without charge.The fact however that the Roman emperor should take interest in this sect proves that by this time the Christians no longer merely represented an obscure little sect.

Towards the end of the first century the Christians appeared to sever all their ties with the Judaism and established itself independently.Though with this separation form Judaism, Christianity emerged as a largely unknown religion to the Roman authorities. And Roman ignorance of this new cult bred suspicion. Rumours were abound about secretive Christian rituals; rumours of child sacrifice, incest and cannibalism. Major revolts of the Jews in Judaea in the early second century led to great resentment of the Jews and of the Christians, who were still largely understood by the Romans to be a Jewish sect. The repressions which followed for both Christians and Jews were severe.

During the second century AD Christians were persecuted for their beliefs largely because these did not allow them to give the statutory reverence to the images of the gods and of the emperor. Also their act of worship transgressed the edict of Trajan, forbidding meetings of secret societies. To the government, it was civil disobedience. The Christians themselves meanwhile thought such edicts suppressed their freedom of worship. However, despite such differences, with emperor Trajan a period of toleration appeared to set in.

Pliny the Younger, as governor of Nithynia in AD 111, was so exercised by the troubles with the Christians that he wrote to Trajan asking for guidance on how to deal with them. Trajan, displaying considerable wisdom, replied:

' The actions you have taken, my dear Pliny, in investigating the cases of those brought before you as Christians, are correct. It is impossible to lay down a general rule which can apply to particular cases. Do not go looking for Christians. If they are brought before you and the charge is proven, they must be punished, provided that if someone denies they are Christian and gives proof of it, by offering reverence to our gods, they shall be acquitted on the grounds of repentance even if they have previously incurred suspicion. Anonymous written accusations shall be disregarded as evidence. They set a bad example which is contrary to the spirit of our times.' Christians were not actively sought out by a network of spies. Under his successor Hadrian which policy seemed to continue.Also the fact hat Hadrian actively persecuted the Jews, but not the Christians shows that by that time the Romans were drawing a clear distinction between the two religions.

The great persecutions of AD 165-180 under Marcus Aurelius included the terrible acts committed upon the Christians of Lyons in AD 177. This period, far more than Nero's earlier rage, was which defined the Christian understanding of martyrdom.Christianity is often portrayed as the religion of the poor and the slaves. This is not necessarily a true picture. From the beginning there appeared to have been wealthy and influential figures who at least sympathised with the Christians, even members of court.And it appeared that Christianity maintained its appeal to such highly connected persons. Marcia, the concubine of the emperor Commodus, for example used her influence to achieve the release of Christian prisoners from the mines.

Other Religious Offices

The college of Augurs consisted of fifteen members. Theirs was the tricky job of interpreting the manifold omens of public life (and no doubt of the private life of the powerful).

No doubt these consultants in matters of omens must have been exceptionally diplomatic in the interpretations required from them. Each of them carried as his insignia a long, crooked staff. With this he would mark a square space on the ground from which he would look out for auspicious omens.

The quindecemviri sacris faciundis were the fifteen members of a college for less clearly defined religious duties. Most notably they guarded the Sibylline Books and it was for them to consult these scriptures and interpret them when requested to do so by the senate. The Sibylline books being evidently understood as something foreign by the Romans, this college also was to oversee the worship of any foreign gods which were introduced to Rome.

Initially there was three members to the college of epulones (banqueting managers), though later their number was enlarged to seven. Their college was by far the newest, being founded only in 196 BC. The necessity for such a college obviously arose as the increasingly elaborate festivals required experts to oversee their organization.

The High Offices of State Religion

If the pontifex maximus was the head of Roman state religion, then much of its organization rested with four religious colleges, whose members were appointed for life and , with a few exceptions, were selected among distinguished politicians.The highest of these bodies was the Pontifical College, which consisted of the rex sacrorum, pontifices, flamines and the vestal virgins.Rex sacrorum, the king of rites, was an office created under the early republic as a substitute for royal authority over religious matters. Later he might still have been the highest dignitary at any ritual, even higher than the pontifex maximus, but it became a purely honorary post.Sixteen pontifices (priests) oversaw the organization of religious events. They kept records of proper religious procedures and the dates of festivals and days of special religious significance.The flamines acted as priests to individual gods: three for the major gods Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus, and twelve for the lesser ones. These individual experts specialized in the knowledge of prayers and rituals specific to their particular deity.The flamen dialis, the priest of Jupiter, was the most senior of the flamines. On certain occasions his status was equal to those of the pontifex maximus and the rex sacrorum.Though the life of the flamen dialis was regulated by a whole host of strange rules.

Some of the rules surrounding

the flamen dialis included.

He was not allowed to go out without his cap of office.

He was not allowed to ride a horse.

If a person was into the house of the flamen dialis in any form of fetters he was to be untied at once and the shackles pulled up through the skylight of the house's atrium on to the roof and then carried away.

Only a free man was allowed to cut the hair of the flamen dialis.The flamen dialis would neither ever touch, nor mention a goat, uncooked meat, ivy, or beans.

For the flamen dialis divorce was not possible. His marriage could only be ended by death. Should his wife have died, he was obliged to resign.

The origins of Roman Religion

Most of the Roman gods and goddesses were a blend of several religious influences. Many were introduced via the Greek colonies of southern Italy. Many also had their roots in old religions of the Etruscans or Latin tribes.Often the the old Etruscan or Latin name survived but the deity over time became to be seen as the Greek god of equivalent or similar nature. And so it is that the Greek and Roman pantheon look very similar, but for different names.An example of such mixed origins is the goddess Diana to whom the Roman king Servius Tullius built the temple on the Aventine Hill. Essentially she was an old Latin goddess from the earliest of times.Before Servius Tullius moved the center of her worship to Rome, it was based at Aricia.There in Aricia it was always a runaway slave who would act as her priest. He would win the right to hold office by killing his predecessor. To challenge him to a fight he would though first have to manage to break off a branch of a particular sacred tree; a tree on which the current priest naturally would keep a close eye. From such obscure beginnings Diana was moved to Rome, where she then gradually became identified with the Greek goddess Artemis.
It could even occur that a deity was worshipped, for reasons no-one really could remember. An example for such a deity is Furrina. A festival was held every year in her honour on 25 July. But by the middle of the first century BC there was no-one left who actually remember what she was actually goddess of.

The religion of Rome

If anything, the Romans had a practical attitude to religion, as to most things, which perhaps explains why they themselves had difficulty in taking to the idea of a single, all-seeing, all-powerful god.In so far as the Romans had a religion of their own, it was not based on any central belief, but on a mixture of fragmented rituals, taboos, superstitions, and traditions which they collected over the years from a number of sources.To the Romans, religion was less a spiritual experience than a contractual relationship between mankind and the forces which were believed to control people's existence and well-being.The result of such religious attitudes were two things: a state cult, the significant influence on political and military events of which outlasted the republic, and a private concern, in which the head of the family oversaw the domestic rituals and prayers in the same way as the representatives of the people performed the public ceremonials.However, as circumstances and people's view of the world changed, individuals whose personal religious needs remained unsatisfied turned increasingly during the first century AD to the mysteries, which were of Greek origin, and to the cults of the east.

"The Prayer That Saved My Life"

Do you think your prayers are not being answered? You couldn't be more WRONG.
Everything your heart desires is right before your, closer than you think. Waiting to enter your life, you just have to know how to unlick the door. Recently, I was made aware of a SIMPLE TRUTH and it revolutionized my life.

That's why I call this, THE PRAYER THAT SAVED MY LIFE.My whole life I have been a seeker. Always looking for answers, inspiration, hope. Something to help me live the life I always wanted. I studied relegion both east and west, philosophy, psychology, meditation, yoga and prayer. I read self-help books by the shelf full and never got anywhere.

I was trying so hard and each year I sank deeper and deeper into dispare and depression. I had no idea how to be happy, how to find lasting joy in my life and I was no closer to living the life I knew I was meant to live.

There is so much good information out there and I did everything they told me to do. I keep journals, I forgave my past, I visualized my future, I created goals, talked about my childhood and chanted affirmations. Why was I still miserable? I never got anywhere. I was still living a life without love, drowning in debt, overwieght and ill.

One night I just gave up. I couldn't take it one more day. I lay there in bed and just decided to give up. All the fight had gone out of me. I didn't acre if I lived the life of my dreams, I didn't care if I was loved, happy, successful, prosperious. I would just resign myself to the life I was living. I had enough.

I sat in bed and just began to pray, not for understand, not for all of my dreams and hopes. I just prayed to be released, for the suffering to stop I didn't want the sun and the moon anymore. I just wanted to be at peace.

All the reading and prayer and meditation in the world hadn't changed a thing. I had failed. I just wanted to fail quietly and accept my life as it was.
As I lay there looking back on all my disappointments and failures a great calm came over me. I suddenly felt light and dare I say it happy. I took a book off my bedside table and randomly opened to a page.

A single sentence leap off the page at me. It's like it had light all around it. The sentence was like a key that unlicked the door to a great and wonderful truth. A simple truth that had been hiding from me in plan sight.

It felt like my someone dying of thirst in the desert being given an unlimited supply of cool water. My soul drank up this sentence like I was remember something very important I forgot. Something I forgot I had fogotten, if that makes any sense.
It was such a simple concept such a simple thing I almost dismissed it as not being profound enough. Thank God I was smart enough NOT to do that.
That night I wrote this sentence at the top of a piece of paper and sentence my sentence I prayer was given to me. A prayer like I had never seen before. Almost silly in its child like verse. A very simple, basic truth had been reviled to me. A truth so simple it had been hiding in plan sight.

With this knowledge I could see that all my seeking had been in vain, everything I needed was right here, right in frount of me. God, the universe had been answering all my prayers
That was when I made my big discovery. I discovered I was was doing it all wrong. It wasn't that the universe wasn't answering it's that I wasn't hearing the answer. The Prayer taught me to tune myself to the sounds of the God, to see myself the way God sees me.

"The Prayer That Saved My Life"