The Internecine Creed

The situation of the early Christians was one of perpetual persecution. Community was expressed through hidden meetings in the catacombs and caves in Roman. Above ground, rhizomatic shoots appeared offering perennial wisdom to a pagan culture. They  greeted one another with secret signs and symbols, of esoteric meaning only known to the community. This gathering was non-hierarchical, only honouring their Elders who were Followers of the Way and had passed through many trials and tribulations.

This was a most evocative movement amongst the marginalised of society, those not amongst Roman society’s ‘wise and learned’. Slaves and workers who saw a different peace from that of the Pax Romana, which was enforced by military might. Instead they knew the Pax Christi, a non-violent way of life with the moral code of ‘Do No Harm’. This could not be said of the power of Rome; where power led to indulgence and indulgence to entitlement. 

And then it all changed with one ‘vision’ of the Emperor Constantine, who is shown a cross of light in the heavens and told by ‘the Christ of God’, that  “By this symbol you will conquer.”

The Labarum of Constantine I. (Image - Creative Commons)

Constantine then gave a command that a Standard, for battle and the advancing Roman Army was made; the vertical axis of the Standard was to be a golden spear. And so we see tell-tale signs that this had nothing to do with the teachings of  Jesus. Semiotically, it is interesting to see the Sign of the Cross, used as a military symbol for conquest.  Imperial consciousness at this time, was a thing of violence and triumphalism and everything about the Pax Romana has to be seen in this light.

With this Imperial consciousness, stability was seen as a matter of perpetual conquest and control; of the growth of the empire and the creation of political Principalities. Even the entertainment of this society was based on gladiatorial violence. This is a total environment of conquest and Imperial Consciousness.

Conquest is an Imperial philosophy, a way of political life, that was not  rooted in the teachings of Jesus, but from this day forward, when Christians shifted their axis from the bottom of society to the higher echelons of the power matrix; the whole nature of what was called ‘good news’ was corrupted with the values of power and conquest.

The Nicene Creed, was seen as a move to unify Christian Doctrine, by demanding conformity. The meetings were held in the Emperor's villas in Nicea . Not hard to guess who had the most say on the discussions in the Council meetings! Any dissenters were sent packing. Unity under the Empire is always a matter of the limits of conformity and not the richness of diversity.

It is then, not a stretch to see the Christianising of the military become a tool to expand the kingdom of their god, or should we say, the kingdom of man dressed up with the appearance of this ‘Christ of God’. (In truth they did not understand the root meaning of the parables for the anonymity of salt, yeast and light).

We should add to this the humble Mustard Plant and not forget Pliny the Elder’s description of it either. He saw that this plant was like a weed that kept on growing in the garden and couldn’t be eradicated, for it’s roots spread underground, out of sight of the gardener. He never knew where it would be found growing next. 

This Imperial development in political and spiritual terms, led some to leave the mainstream and head for a desert way of life, to preserve the true teachings and spirituality of Jesus.  Their teachings have been collected in a book called The Philokalia; which is a Greek word meaning 'lover of beauty'. Beauty is then, perhaps the highest aim of the contemplative.

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And so it is today, with the Church laying in bed with and being seduced by State power. This unholy union creates ‘bastard spirits’ and provides them with a comfortable home to shelter their ill-gotten gains; their excesses unquestioned but justified and legitimised, apparently by God ‘Himself’.

The Ecclesiastical authorities are therefore the gatekeepers to the spirit of lies, only opening their doors to pollute society. And, you may ask, what does this have to do with the Spirit who will leads us into all truth? Nothing. 

This had led many of us into the spiritual and political desert; we refuse the seduction of power and are led to grow like the proverbial rhizome of the Mustard Plant; underground but effective in subverting the surface dwellers of superficiality, the greatest expression of which, is Military power. For a truly great nation is not built on that, but on compassion and wisdom. It's superficial in the sense that it has no spiritual depth and can never be conceived of as a virtue.

We must be content with our underground way of life. Creeds of power are internecine in nature and born out of political conflict and the need to dominate. Whilst no creed was written in our current situation, the relationship between Church and State was ratified in the halls of power and has the same characteristics of domination and control, through the conformity of its citizens. Slowly, but surely the rights of those citizens will be eroded, but they won't feel a thing, their spirit if torpor will see to that.

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We want our children to deny themselves any collaboration with the State and its delusion of authority and will shine a greater light on the excesses of power. Spiritually, it is to be hoped that they will not be a part of this bastard Church and its collusion with political power, its complicity in the control of society and the human costs of doing so. When the Church needed a spine to stand against the overreaching State, it was happier to trade truth for influence.

I shall leave us with one final thought.

"I am consciously advocating a subversive strategy for future political engagement. Current models of political activity are largely beyond reform. We need to withhold our support and redirect our imagination and energy into different, more egalitarian, ecological and sustainable ways for relating to creation and to other people." RR, The Politics of Connectedness.

Jack Stanza