arnoldo

Thanks mountainman, I'll check out the book the next time I'm at the library. Anyway I agree with Julian that christianity should not be a "State Religion" and that wiping out paganism was WRONG. IIRC Yeshua told Peter to put away his sword and that his kingdom "was not of this world." What Constantine did when he persecuted the pagans was merely to have paganism creep into Roman Catholicism which many feel is, in part, "mystery babylon."

mountainman

Julian was not "obviously taught by family members".
He was under heavy guard and house arrest for the
bulk of his childhood and early teenage years - he was
a political prisoner of the family who had arranged for
the execution of his father and related family members.
These brutal mafia imperial level thugs were Constantine's
sons, chips off the old christian block - murderers and
despots who sought absolute power, more taxation and
secure wealth.

Constantine called the "council" of Nicaea.
It was a military supremacy "summit meeting".
Arianism is named from the words of Arius.
What were the words of Arius?
They were five simple dogmatic assertions.
They appear as disclaimer clauses, on the "OATH".
(NB: In a strict legal sense, the Nicaean "creed" was an oath.)

It bound the signatories to either Constantine or Arius,
but not both. Everyone was coerced to sign - the
petitions were carried around by a chief official of the
newly supreme military despot COnstantine.

See my recent post regarding Constantine's extant
letter of c.333 CE addressed to Arius and the Arians,
in which the text is discussed and analysed politically.

Arius was an ascetic priest and in my opinion
was definitely not a "christian", perhaps a (neo)
pythagorean, or an adept of Ascelpius, from the
eastern capital Alexandria.

Arius was the focus of resistance to Constantine's
totally left ball park initiatives. Arius wished to
preserve the old (non-christian) traditions, but
Constantine had closed the temples by his edict
and enforcement therefrom 324 CE of the prohibition
of sacrifice in the temples.

The people were dispossessed.
Arius was the hero of the resistance.
He was poisoned eventually by Bullneck.

Best wishes,


Pete Brown