Trinity doctrine - Historical Development Archives

2024-11-222024-11-22

Justinian and the Byzantine Papacy squashed Arianism.

Overview

In the fifth century, Germanic nations wrestled Europe from the Romans but claimed to remain part of the Roman Empire, subject to the emperor in the East. Although they were Arians, they treated the Roman Church in the West (the Papacy) with respect. This allowed the Papacy to grow in strength for reasons such as its central organization, compared to the fragmented Germanic nations.

In the Roman view, Church and State were One, with the Emperor as the Head, with the right and duty to protect and regulate the Church. Justinian was the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor from 527 to 565. In his view, his duty to protect and rule extended also to the Papacy in the West. He sent troops to liberate the Papacy and subjected the three Arian nations that were immediate threats to the Papacy. By 553, his troops had dispersed the Vandals to the fringes of the empire, forced the Ostrogoths back north to South Austria, and barricaded the Visigoths with the new province of Spania.

His conquests began a period of two centuries known as the ‘Byzantine Papacy’ because of the extent to which the Byzantine (Eastern) monarchs dominated the Papacy. One example is the massive growth of Greek speakers in the Papal hierarchy over this period; from almost zero to the majority. During the Byzantine Papacy, the Eastern Empire ruled not only the Papacy but also the Western nations through the Papacy. This continued for two centuries, transformed the Roman Church into a very powerful political organization, and converted the remaining Arian kingdoms to Catholicism.

In conclusion, the Trinity doctrine dominates today because the Roman Empire made it its State Religion and because the Empire dominated.

Daniel 7 foresaw these events and identifies the Papacy as the 11th horn.

Fifth Century

In the fifth century, Germanic nations subjected Europe but remained ostensibly under part of the Roman Empire.

In the fifth century, Germanic peoples, who had migrated into the Western Roman Empire over the preceding century or more, became a dominant force within the Western Roman Empire due to their large numbers and military supremacy. They revolted against the severe conditions under which they were allowed to remain in the Empire, sacked Rome twice, and deposed the last Roman Emperor. Through wars, they divided up the territory of the Western Empire into Germanic kingdoms. However, these nations claimed to be part of the Roman Empire—under the governance of the Eastern Emperor.

These Germanic peoples were Arians but treated the Roman Church (the Papacy) with respect.

There are at least two reasons why the Germanic peoples might have opposed the Roman Church (the Church of the Roman Empire):

Firstly, the Roman Church was part of the Roman government. There was no separation of Church and State. The Roman Church was like a government department, accountable to the Roman Emperor.

Secondly, the Germanic peoples, including the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths of Spain, and the Vandals in North Africa, were Arian Christians because they converted to Christianity due to the missionary efforts of the fourth-century Arian Church (Read Article).

Despite these facts, since these immigrants wished to remain part of the Roman Empire, they allowed the Roman Church to remain in the West and even showed respect to it.

Despite being subjected to Arian rule, the Papacy grew in strength for reasons such as its central organization.

After the Western Roman Empire was divided into these kingdoms, the Roman Church had to depend on the Arian nations for physical protection. However, the Roman Church grew in strength. The reasons include the following:

1. Previously, the Roman Church was subject to the Roman Emperor. Now, it had more independence.

2. The Roman Church’s centralized and superior organization, administration, and expertise in statecraft, from years of being part of the Roman Government, gave it an advantage over the various Germanic nations, which had no centralized control.

3. The Germanic nations desired to remain part of the Empire. As the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Roman Church had a certain status.

Unity of Church and State

Justinian was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 to 565.

Justinian I, also known as Justinian the Great, was the Eastern Roman emperor from 527 to 565, ruling from Constantinople; the capital of the empire. Due to his religious preferences and actions, he is venerated by the Roman Catholic and some other churches.

The Byzantine Empire is another name for the Eastern Roman Empire after the Western Empire fell.

This article often refers to the “Byzantine Empire.” Byzantium was an ancient Greek colony in early antiquity that later became Constantinople; the capital of the Roman Empire.

The Byzantine Empire is simply another name for the Eastern Roman Empire after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and, therefore, was the continuation of the Roman Empire.

Byzantine Empire is a term created after that empire ceased to exist. Its citizens referred to their empire simply as the Roman Empire and to themselves as Romans.

Church and State were One, with the Emperor as the Head, with the right and duty of protecting and regulating the Church.

It is important to understand that no separation of Church and State existed. A Cambridge article explains the relationship between church and state in the Byzantine Empire:

“The idea of papal sovereignty was foreign to the Byzantines. … unintelligible, unreasonable, and unhistorical. … (in) their concept of the order of the Christian world … The Christian Roman Emperor was the elect of God and … God’s vice-gerent [God’s agent on earth] on earth … His patriarchs or supreme bishops of the Christian Empire … were the spiritual heads of the Christian world, acting in harmony with him. Church and State were therefore one, indissoluble and interdependent.”

In other words, the Emperor was the head of the Roman Church. Similar to his predecessors, Justinian believed that “he had the right and duty of regulating by his laws the minutest details of worship and discipline, and also of dictating the theological opinions to be held in the Church”.¹ Emperor Justinian regulated everything:

At the very beginning of his reign, he promulgated by law the Church’s belief in the Trinity and the Incarnation and threatened all heretics with the appropriate penalties. [Justinian’s Codex Iustinianus, i. 5.]

He made the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan creed the sole symbol of the Church: “We direct that all Catholic churches, throughout the entire world, shall be placed under the control of the orthodox bishops who have embraced the Nicene Creed.” (Codex Justinianus)

He felt entitled to settle disputes in papal elections, as he did when he favored Vigilius and had his rival Silverius deported.

As a result, the church within the Eastern Roman Empire had become firmly tied with the imperial government. Church and State were one with the emperor as the Head. Modern readers may find this concept difficult to grasp but, unless we do, we fail to understand the history of the church or the process through which the Trinity doctrine became accepted.

In Justinian’s view, his right and duty were not limited to the East but extended to the Papacy in the West.

.The First Council of Nicaea in 325 affirmed that the bishop of a provincial capital had a certain authority over the other bishops of the province. It also recognized the authority of the sees of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch and granted special recognition to Jerusalem. The First Council of Constantinople in 381 added the see of Constantinople.

Emperor Justinian assigned to those five sees (in other words, including Rome) a superior ecclesial authority that covered the whole of his empire. In other words, in Justinian’s view, the Church included the Western Roman Church and he, as emperor, had the right and duty also to protect and regulate it.

He had a genuine interest in the church.

Over the course of his reign, he authored a small number of theological treatises. He was indeed a “nursing father” of the Church. Both the Codex and the Novellae contain many enactments to benefit the church. Just in Constantinople, he built 25 churches (see traditioninaction). Justinian also rebuilt the Church of Hagia Sophia, with its numerous chapels and shrines, gilded octagonal dome, and mosaics.

He suppressed heretics with violence and even death.

Emperor Justinian protected the ‘purity’ of the church by suppressing heretics. For example:

The Codex contained two statutes that decreed the destruction of paganism. (Codex, I., xi. 9 and 10) These provisions were zealously enforced.

At Constantinople, on one occasion c.450, several Manicheans, after strict inquisition, were executed in the emperor’s very presence: some by burning, others by drowning. ² Show More

Monophysitism opposed the two-natures theory. Some emperors tolerated it. Justinian was undecided.

One of the major diverging views in his empire was Monophysitism, which had adherents in Syria and Egypt. While the Council of Chalcedon in 451 concluded that Jesus Christ has two natures; a divine and a human nature, Monophysitism maintained that Jesus Christ has one divine nature; a divine nature, or a synthesis of a divine and human nature. Some previous emperors and the Patriarch of Constantinople tolerated Monophysitism and allowed the appointment of Monophysites to church offices. However, this caused tension with the bishop of Rome. ³

Justinian’s predecessor (Justin I) reversed this policy, confirmed the Chalcedonian doctrine, and openly condemned the Monophysites, reestablishing relations between Constantinople and Rome. ⁴

Justinian’s efforts alternated between attempts to force Monophysites to accept the Chalcedonian creed by persecuting their bishops and monks – thereby embittering their sympathizers in Egypt and other provinces – and attempts at a compromise that would win over the Monophysites without surrendering the Chalcedonian faith.

Justinian’s wife Theodora favored the Monophysites unreservedly. While Theodosius’ wife is venerated in the Catholic Church because she was a fervent supporter of the Nicene Creed, Empress Theodora, for Catholics, was “one of the most … deplorable figures of ancient history,” for “she became an enemy of the Faith and a supporter of the heresies, and she strove to make Justinian enter into conflict with the Holy See at the end of his life” (Tradition in Action).

Wars against the Western Arian Nations

While subject to Arian rule, the Papacy was unable to dominate or compel people to comply with its dictates.

After the Germanic peoples divided the territory of the Western Empire between them in the fifth century, the Western Roman Church was subject to their laws.

The Catholic website Tradition in Action states that the Catholics at the time were groaning under the yoke of the barbarians. But the Jewish Encyclopedia states: “In contrast with the domination of the orthodox church, the Arian was distinguished by a wise tolerance and a mild treatment of the population of other faiths” (Kohler et al, ARIANISM).

We can conclude, at least, that the Roman Church was unable to dominate or compel the population in Europe to comply with its doctrines.

Justinian considered it his God-given duty to liberate the Papacy. He sent troops and subjected three Arian nations.

As an ardent supporter of the Nicene church in Rome, Justinian considered it his God-given duty to restore the Roman Empire to its ancient boundaries and to liberate the Western Roman Church from Arian domination. Justinian never personally took part in military campaigns, but one of the most spectacular features of Justinian’s reign was the recovery of large stretches of land around the Western Mediterranean basin that had slipped out of Imperial control in the 5th century.

Through these wars, Justinian subjected the three main Arian nations that were immediate threats to the Papacy:

In 533–534, his troops dispersed the Vandals of North Africa to the fringes of the empire.

The first Arian Christian kingdom that Justinian’s armies attacked was the Vandals in North Africa. Again, from a Catholic perspective, “that whole area had been taken over by the worst barbarians, the Vandals” (Tradition in Action). Although the Arians generally tolerated other faiths, the Vandals, for several decades, tried to force their Arian beliefs on their North African Nicene subjects, exiling Nicene clergy, dissolving monasteries, and exercising heavy pressure on non-conforming Nicene Christians. This might be why Justinian attacked them first.

General Belisarius defeated the Vandals in the Vandalic War of 533–534. They were dispersed to the fringes of the empire and became lost to history.

After a protracted war, Justinian defeated the Ostrogoths in Italy in 553. They returned to South Austria.

Justinian next attacked the Ostrogoths; another Arian Christian nation. This war may be divided into three phases:

In 535, Belisarius invaded Sicily and advanced into Italy, sacking Naples and capturing Rome in 536. In 540 he reached the Ostrogothic capital Ravenna and reclaimed it for the Empire.

But Belisarius was recalled in the face of renewed hostilities by the Persians to the East. While military efforts were focused on the east, the Ostrogoths made quick gains in Italy. They reconquered the major cities of Southern Italy and soon held almost the entire Italian peninsula.

The third phase of the war in Italy (from 541 to 554) followed after a truce was agreed upon with the Persians. Following their final defeat at the Battle of Mons Lactarius in 553, the Ostrogoths returned north and (re)settled in South Austria. Through the Gothic War, Justinian restored Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy, and Rome to the empire after more than half a century of Ostrogoth rule.

In 552, Justinian recovered a strip of land that barricaded the Visigoths from being a threat to the Roman Church in Italy.

In 552, Justinian dispatched a force of 2,000 men to invade Visigothic Hispania: another Arian Christian Germanic nation. This short-lived conquest recovered only a small strip of land along the Mediterranean coast, known as the new province of Spania before being checked by the Visigoths. This campaign marked the apogee (apex) of Byzantine expansion. Spania kept the Visigoths as a threat to Hispania alone and not to the western Mediterranean nor Africa.

It is remarkable that Justinian attacked the Christian nations in the west, yet he was prepared to negotiate peace with the pagan nations to the east. In the long term, that was a mistake. These pagan nations later embraced Islam and overran much of the former Eastern Empire’s territories.

Byzantine Papacy

Justinian’s conquests began two centuries called the ‘Byzantine Papacy’ because the Byzantine monarchs dominated the Papacy.

After Justinian conquered the Italian peninsula and delivered the church in Rome from Arian domination, he replaced the incumbent pope and appointed the next three popes. In this way, Justinian put the Papacy firmly under the control of the Byzantine monarch. His successors continued this practice for the next two centuries. The Papacy in the years 537 to 752 is known as the Byzantine Papacy because the Byzantine monarch claimed the right to approve the appointment of the bishop of Rome and, therefore, dominated the Papacy also in other ways. This is consistent with the traditional Roman view that the Emperor is the real head of the Church under God.

One indication of Eastern domination is the massive growth of Greek speakers in the Papacy.

One indication of the dominance during these years of the Byzantine Empire over the church in Rome is the Greek dominance of the Roman Church:

The two halves of the Empire always had cultural differences. For example, the Western Empire spoke Latin and the East Greek. During the Byzantine Papacy, large numbers of Easterners rose through the ranks of the clergy in Papacy. Easterners constituted less than one percent of the papal hierarchy at the end of the sixth century. In contrast, according to Ekonomou, over a century later, between 701 and 750, “Greeks outnumbered Latins by nearly three and a half to one”.

This confirms that the church in the West was now once again firmly subject to the authority of the (Eastern) Roman Emperor.

The Eastern Empire now ruled the West through the Papacy, converting the Papacy into a politically powerful institution.

After Justinian defeated the Arian Germanic nations, the Roman Church no longer depended on them for protection. With the protection and status it received from the Byzantine Empire, the Papacy became a powerful social and political institution in Europe.

This relationship also allowed the Byzantine Empire, through the Church, a certain level of control over the Germanic nations in the West. To some extent, the Roman Empire was reunited.

The domination of the Eastern Empire and the Papacy caused the Arian nations to convert to Catholicism.

The Franks entered the Western Roman Empire as Pagans. In 496, before the time of Justinian, the pagan king of the Franks Clovis I, was the first important non-Roman ruler to convert to Catholicism rather than to Arianism. After that, he forcibly converted the Franks to Chalcedonian Christianity.

After Justinian began to rule the Germanic tribes through the Papacy, they incrementally abandoned Arianism in favor of Catholicism. The first Germanic ruler to convert from Arianism to Chalcedonian Christianity was Reccared I of the Visigoths in Spain. He converted in 587. Visigothic Spain followed him at the Third Council of Toledo in 589.

Pope Gregory I reigned from 590 to 604; a few decades after Justinian. He was perhaps the best-known pope of the Byzantine Papacy. Britannica describes him as the first of the medieval popes. With the support of the Byzantine Empire, he reformed the ecclesiastical structures and administration, launching renewed missionary efforts to convert the peoples of northern Europe as far north as Ireland. These efforts were able to convert the Arian peoples to Catholic (Nicene) Christianity:

The Anglo-Saxons of Southern Britain were the predecessors of the English. They had never been part of the Empire and were pagan, but were forcibly converted by their king Æthelberht of Kent, following the work of missionaries sent by Pope Gregory the Great. In turn, the Anglo-Saxons sent missionaries to northwestern Europe – to what is now the Netherlands.

Aripert I of the Lombards converted to Catholicism in 653. Grimwald, King of the Lombards (662–671), and his young son and successor Garibaldi (671) were the last Arian kings in Europe. By 700, the Lombards in northern Italy have converted from Arianism to Catholicism.

By the 8th century, Arianism had ceased to be the mainstream belief of the Germanic people. Justinian’s goal was achieved through the sword.

Conclusions

The Trinity doctrine dominates today because the Roman Empire made it its State Religion and because the Empire dominated.

This article confirms that the Trinity doctrine was advanced by the military might of the Roman Empire. The decision to adopt the Trinity doctrine was not taken by Church Councils but by the Roman Emperors; particularly Constantine, Theodosius, and Justinian. If Justinian had not subjected the Arian nations, and if the Byzantine Empire, through the ‘Byzantine Papacy’, had not squashed Arianism in Europe, it might still have dominated Europe and, therefore, the Church today. Show More

Daniel 7 foresaw these events and identifies the Papacy as the 11th horn.

Secondly, this article helps to identify the little horn of Daniel 7 as the Roman Church; the Church of the Roman Empire:

The fourth beast of Daniel 7 symbolizes identified as the Roman Empire. (Read article)

The 10 and later 11 horns that grow out of that beast are the fragments of the Empire as it collapsed. While the previous empires (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece) were followed by another great empire, Rome was not. It was fragmented.

The first 10 horns describe the Fall of Rome in the fifth century. It was fragmented into several Germanic kingdoms. The current article mentions some of them, such as the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Franks, and the Anglo-Saxons.

The 11th horn that comes up later, uprooting three other horns as it came up (Dan 7:7, 24), describes the birth of the Papacy a political organization in the sixth century. The three uprooted horns are the three nations Justinian conquered: the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and the Vandals. The Papacy was not able to dominate before Justinian.

The 11th horn will become larger than the others, persecute the saints, and attempt to change the law. This describes the High Middle Ages, when the Papacy dominated the rulers of Europe. See Article.

Daniel’s 11th horn is the Church of the Roman Empire.

Overview

To present an overview of world history, from the Babylonian Empire until Christ’s return, Daniel 7 uses four animals symbolizing four successive empires. From the fourth, 10 horns grew. After them, an 11th horn grew up, uprooting three previous horns. At first, it was small, but it grew and eventually dominated the other horns. It is different from the others. It blasphemes God and persecutes His people. It will only be destroyed when Christ returns. This 11th horn is the main character in Daniel 7. The only reason that Daniel 7 mentions the preceding four empires and ten kingdoms is to enable the reader to identify it.

Previous articles identified the four animals as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and the Roman Empire, and the eleven horns as the kingdoms into which the Roman Empire fragmented in the fifth to eighth centuries.

The Beast’s 11th horn is the Antichrist. The purpose of the current article is to show that several similarities identify the 11th horn as the Church of the Roman Empire:

(1) The Roman Church was one of the horns.

Since the horns are the fragments into which the Roman Empire divided, they (a) were part of the Roman Empire and (b) existed as distinct entities after the Empire fragmented.

(1a) The Roman Church was part of the Roman Empire.

In the Roman Empire, the emperors decided which religions and factions of religions to allow. In the fourth century, the Church was divided, mainly between Arian and Nicene factions. However, in 380, the Roman Empire made Nicene theology the State Religion of the Roman Empire, meaning that it was the only legal religion but also that it was subject to the authority of the emperors. At the same time, the Empire outlawed and persecuted Arianism. Outside the Empire, Christianity remained Arian.

(1b) Was a distinct entity after the Empire collapsed.

The Roman Church, with its teachings and hierarchy of bishops, survived as a distinct organization after Arian nations in the fifth century wrestled control of the Western Empire from the Romans. It also survived after Muslim armies subjected the Eastern Empire in the eighth century.

(2) It was the last of the 11 horns.

The first 10 horns symbolize the Arian kingdoms that were formed after the Germanic tribes took control of the Western Empire from the Romans in the fifth century. As a result, the Roman Church in the West was under Arian control. It only began to dominate the Arian Church in the next (sixth) century when the Eastern Empire liberated it by defeating the Arian nations that posed the greatest threat.

(3) It uprooted three other horns as it came up.

The forces of the Eastern Empire defeated three Arian kingdoms: the Vandals, Ostrogoths, and the Visigoths.

(4) The 11th horn began small.

After the Eastern Empire liberated and protected it, the Roman Church remained subject to the Eastern Empire. After the Eastern Empire also lost much of its power in the eighth century, the Roman Church survived but was protected by and subject to first the Carolingian and then the Ottonian Dynasties.

(5) The 11th horn grew “larger than its associates.”

Until the 10th century, the Roman Church always relied on monarchs for protection. However, in the 11th century, for the first time, it became able to appoint popes and bishops without outside interference. Starting in the 12th century, during the High Middle Ages, the Roman Church attained power that rivaled and exceeded that of the Western Monarchs. It became the Church of the Middle Ages, dominating the nations of Europe.

(6) The 11th horn will “wear out the saints of the Most High.”

In the Middle Ages, through the civil rulers, the Roman Church engaged in brutal forms of coercion, such as the Albigensian Crusade, the Inquisition, and the Waldensian massacres, seeking to compel or exterminate the true people of God who dared to stand up against its evil innovations.

(7) The 11th horn will only be destroyed when Christ returns.

The Roman Church still exists today.

Conclusion

The Roman Church is the only historical entity that fits both the timing and the characteristics of the 11th horn of Daniel 7.

– END OF OVERVIEW –

Daniel 7

The Horns of the Fourth Animal are the kingdoms into which the Roman Empire fragmented.

*Antichristus, a woodcut by Lucas Cranach, the Elder, of the pope using temporal power to grant authority to a generously contributing ruler.*

Daniel 7 presents world history, from the Babylonian Empire until Christ’s return, by symbolizing four empires as four beasts (See here). A previous article identified the Fourth Animal as the Roman Empire. (See here)

At first, 10 horns grew out of the fourth beast. In Daniel, horns symbolize divisions of an empire. These 10 horns symbolize the fragments of the Roman Empire, namely, the kingdoms that arose after it collapsed in the fifth to eighth centuries.

This is confirmed by the parallel vision of the statue of a man in Daniel 2, in which the Iron Legs are equivalent to the fourth animal in Daniel 7, and the Feet of Iron and Clay are equivalent to the horns of the fourth animal. Since the Feet exist after the Legs, the horns exist after the Fourth Animal. Show More

The Beast’s 11th Horn is the Antichrist.

After the first ten horns in Daniel 7, an 11th horn came up by uprooting three of the other horns. It will be “little” or “small” when it comes up (Dan 7:8; 8:9) but will grow “larger than its associates” (Dan 7:20, 24), meaning it will dominate the other kingdoms that arose when the Empire fragmented. It will blaspheme God and persecute His people for a time, times, and half a time (Dan 7:25). It will become so important that a court will sit in heaven to judge between it and God’s people (Dan 7:26, 9-11, and 14) but it will only be destroyed when Christ returns (Dan 7:26, 11). It is the main character in Daniel 7. The only reason that Daniel 7 mentions the preceding four empires and ten kingdoms is to enable the reader to identify that evil 11th horn. Therefore, this horn symbolizes the Antichrist.

Overview of History

This section provides an overview of the history to explain what the Church of the Roman Empire is, how it survived after the Empire fragmented, uprooted three other kingdoms when it came up, began small, received its power from the Empire, and became more powerful than the other kingdoms that fragmented from the Empire.

After being an illegal and persecuted religion for three centuries, Christianity was legalized by Emperor Constantine in 313. However, the Roman emperors ruled over the Church. They decided which religions were legal, and when there were divisions in the church, they decided which divisions to allow and which to squash. Show More

Church and State was one because the emperor was the head of the church. Show More

The so-called ecumenical councils were really the meetings through which the emperors governed the Church to ensure that it complied with the emperors’ wishes. Show More

In 380, the Roman Empire made Nicene Christianity the State Religion of the Roman Empire; the Roman Church.

In the fourth century, factions existed within Christianity, with Nicene and Arian theologies being the main factions. Most of the time, the majority view was Nicene in the West but Arian in the East. However, in 380, the Eastern Emperor Theodosius, with the support of the Western Emperor Gratian, made Nicene Christianity the State Religion of the Roman Empire. ‘State Religion’ that Nicene theology:

- - Became the sole legal religion in the Empire. Theodosius outlawed and ruthlessly persecuted Arianism, which previously dominated in the East, into extinction, at least among the Roman elite.
  - Received protection and authority over people from the emperors.
  - Was subject to the authority of the emperors. Read Article

At that time in history, each kingdom had its god, and the Roman Empire had selected the Christian God, specifically as explained by Nicene theology. The State Religion of the Roman Empire is here referred to as the ‘Roman Church’.

In the 5th century, Arian tribes took control of Europe, leaving the Roman Church subject to Arian rule.

Arian Germanic tribes, who previously migrated into the Empire, wrestled control of the Western Empire (current Europe) from the Romans and divided it into several Arian nations. The Roman Empire continued to rule in the east. These ‘Arian’ nations claimed to remain part of the Roman Empire. Therefore, the Roman Church survived and even flourished in the West. But it had to exist alongside a hierarchy of Arian bishops and under Arian rule. Read Article.

In the 6th century, Justinian, the Eastern Roman Emperor, sent troops to the West and liberated the Papacy.

Justinian’s aim was to free the ‘Roman Church’ in the West from Arian domination. His troops subjected the three Arian nations who were the most direct threat to the Papacy.

In 533–534, his troops dispersed the Vandals of North Africa to the fringes of the empire.

After a protracted war, Justinian defeated the Ostrogoths in Italy in 553. They returned to South Austria.

In 552, Justinian recovered a strip of land that barricaded the Visigoths from being a threat to the Roman Church in Italy.

Read Article

Then, for two centuries, the Eastern Empire ruled the Western Nations through the Papacy.

Justinian then set up the Byzantine Papacy, a system in which the Eastern Emperors in Constantinople ruled the Papacy but also ruled the Western nations through the Papacy. This continued for two centuries, transforming the Roman Church into a very powerful political animal and an important part of the Roman Empire. Read Article

In the 8th century, Islamic forces significantly weakened the Eastern Roman Empire, ending the Byzantine Papacy.

The Byzantine Empire lost its richest provinces to Islamic armies. Suddenly, much of the Christian world was under Islamic rule. (Wikipedia) Consequently, the Byzantine Empire could no longer control or protect the Western Roman Church. Byzantine authority in Italy evaporated. Islam had put an end to the Byzantine Papacy. Show More

In the ninth century, the Papacy found a new protector in the Carolingian dynasty, which also dominated the Papacy.

The Papacy had to find a new protector. After a volatile period, the popes found a powerful protector in the Frankish-dominated Carolingian dynasty. This was a large Frankish-dominated empire founded by Charlemagne (Charles the Great). However, the Carolingians followed the example of their Roman predecessors by asserting “immense authority over the Western church” (Britannica). Show More

After Carolingian power waned, the Ottonians protected the Papacy in the tenth century but also dominated it.

Carolingian power waned in the late 9th century. In the 10th century, the Ottonian dynasty in Germany established a new imperial line and became the preeminent power in Latin Europe. The Ottos treated churches as their property, appointed bishops, and forbade appeals to Rome. (Britannica) Show More

In the eleventh century, the Papacy transformed from being subject to the civil powers to being supreme over them.

Up to this point in history, the Papacy was always ruled over by civil powers, namely, by:

- - The Roman Emperors in the fourth century,
  - Arian kings in the fifth,
  - Eastern Emperors in the Byzantine Papacy, from the 6th to 8th centuries,
  - The Carolingians in 9th, and by
  - Ottonians in the 10th century.

In the 11th century, for the first time, the Papacy began to escape from such domination.

Traditionally, the monarchs controlled appointments (investitures = investing a person with honors or rank) of popes and high-ranking church officials. However, in the 11th century, the Papacy restricted political interference by forming the College of Cardinals to appoint new popes and challenged the authority of monarchs to control appointments in higher church offices. With the Concordat of Worms in 1122, the Emperor agreed to allow the Church to appoint its officials but retained the right to veto the appointments of bishops. Show More

The humiliation of King Henry IV before Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy illustrates how powerful the Papacy had become. Henry IV, the mightiest king in Europe at the time, had to wait for three days, stripped of his royal robes and clad as a penitent, barefoot in ice and snow, before Pope Gregory was willing to withdraw his ex-communication. Show More

In the subsequent centuries, known as the High Middle Ages, the Roman Church was the dominant power in Europe.

It claimed that the pope stood between God and humankind as the vicar (stand in the place) of Christ and, therefore, claimed authority over emperors and kings; not only in Europe but worldwide. It claimed jurisdiction over all matters relating to sin. Emperors and kings, to reign lawfully, had to be in communion with the Pope. Otherwise, the Pope could declare the ruler unfit to reign. Show More

The Papacy massacred Christians.

The Roman Church continued the principles of the Roman Empire, killing countless numbers of God’s people. For example:

Innocent III (1198–1216) called the Albigensian Crusade, which was intended to end heresy in southern France and resulted in the massacre of Christians whom the Papacy classified as heretics.

The Inquisition, which was a powerful office set up within the Catholic Church to root out and punish heresy, is infamous for the severity of its tortures. The Spanish Inquisition alone resulted in some 32,000 executions. (History.com)

The Catholic Church authorized the Waldensian massacres. Read Article The Waldensians criticized Catholic beliefs and identified the Church as the harlot of the Apocalypse. In response, the Catholic Church called for the destruction of the Waldensians, absolving all who would perpetrate such crimes. In consequence, the Waldensians were looted, raped, tortured, and massacred.

The Church’s Powers

The factors that allowed the Church to become “larger” than the kings of Europe include the following:

The Church became wealthy by demanding that all people contribute 10% of their earnings.

Ordinary people across Europe had to ‘tithe’ 10 percent of their earnings to the Church. This allowed the Church to amass a great deal of money and power, as attested by the cathedrals. Built during the Middle Ages, were the largest buildings and could be found at the center of towns and cities across the continent.

The Church ruled by fear by teaching that people are damned to eternal hell unless they found salvation through church sacraments.

To control the gates of hell can be quite a lucrative business. The church used this monopoly on salvation to wield power over political rulers:

Popes EXCOMMUNICATED disobedient kings. This meant the king was denied salvation, and his vassals were freed from their duties to him.

If an excommunicated king continued to disobey the pope, the popes used an even more frightening weapon; the INTERDICT, which meant that many sacraments and religious services could not be performed in the king’s lands, causing civil unrest because the king’s subjects believed they are doomed to hell.

The Church made very strict rules around marriages, forcing people to seek permission from the Church for marriage.

The Church attempted to control most marriages among the great by prohibiting marriages involving blood kin and kin by marriage to the seventh degree of relationship. Under these rules, almost all great marriages required special approval from the Papacy.

Monastic communities became storehouses of knowledge, education, crafts, artistic skills, and agriculture.

Christian monasticism, which is the practice of living ascetic and typically secluded lives dedicated to worship, became popular in the Middle Ages.

Before the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, books were works of art. Craftsmen in monasteries created handmade books with colored illustrations, gold and silver lettering, and other adornments.

The Crusades greatly enhanced papal prestige.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church authorized military expeditions called Crusades to expel Muslim “infidels” from the Holy Land and to return it to Christian control. The crusades gave the people a common purpose and inspired waves of religious enthusiasm.

Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade in 1095. Crusaders, who wore red crosses on their coats to advertise their status, believed that their service would guarantee the remission of their sins and ensure them eternal life. They also received worldly rewards, such as papal protection of their property and forgiveness of some kinds of debts.

Since the pope called for the crusades, they were also a sign of the authority of the popes over the political rulers. By participating in the crusades, in a sense, the kings submitted to the Pope’s authority.

Conclusions

The Roman Church is the only historical entity that fits both the timing and the characteristics of the 11th horn of Daniel 7.

There are also other identifications of the 11th horn in Daniel 7, such as the “time, times, and half a time,” that are not discussed in this article. Furthermore, the 11th horn is the same as the Beast of Revelation (Read Article). Therefore, another article identifies it from the Book of Revelation (Read Article).

To believe in God is not always easy. We live in a world where we see evil and pain, birth and death. We get used to these things, and sometimes we fail to see the infinite miracles of the life in us and around us. See – Inner Life of a Cell. We must also observe the miracles in the Bible, such as the miracle of His laws, for example, the Sermon on the Mount, and the miracles in His prophecies. Daniel 9 seems to be a clear prediction of the life and death of Jesus Christ. And, for me, Daniel 7 seems to be a clear prediction of the Church of the Roman Empire.

Category: Trinity doctrine – Historical Development

Justinian and the Byzantine Papacy squashed Arianism.

Overview

Fifth Century

Unity of Church and State

Wars against the Western Arian Nations

Byzantine Papacy

Conclusions

Other Articles

FOOTNOTES

Daniel’s 11th horn is the Church of the Roman Empire.

Overview

Daniel 7

Overview of History

The Church’s Powers

Conclusions

Other Articles

FOOTNOTES