The monarchies & the roman catholic church
"From the birth of Popery in 606 to the present time, it is estimated by careful and credible historians, that more than fifty millions of the human family, have been slaughtered for the crime of heresy by popish persecutors, an average of more than forty thousand religious murders for every year of the existence of popery." - (Dowling, 1845).
"It has been estimated by careful and reputed historians of the Catholic Inquisition that 50 million people were slaughtered for the crime of "heresy" by Roman persecutors between the A.D. 606 and the middle of the 19th century" - Plaisted, D (2006).
THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH & EASTER
In 306 AD, Caesar Flavius Constantine I became the leader of the Roman Empire. In 19 June 325 AD ~ Constantine I, as the first Christian Roman Emperor held a meeting in Nicea, Turkey consisting of 318 Bishops. The truth about Jesus' relationship to God could not be agreed on. One group of Christians known as the Arians after their leader Arius the preacher, saw Jesus as a remarkable leader, but inferior to The Father and lacking in absolute divinity. The other group led by Archbishop Alexander of Alexandria saw Jesus as eternally divine as The Father. As such Christianity was in turmoil and the Church needed clarification on their rules of practice.
To appease these groups, Constantine I suggested that Jesus and The Father were one, and after the bishops took a vote, this became the accepted teaching. In addition the Council of Nicea affirmed the apostles’ teaching of who Christ is ~ The one true God and the Second Person of the Trinity, with The Father and The Holy Spirit and this became known as The Nicean Creed.
As part of this convention, the celebration of the 'Easter' holiday was moved to the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox so that it would not clash with the Jewish passover. (Whipps, 2016).
THE HOLY BIBLE
Originally, The Old Testament was written in the 'Hebrew' language in 'The Tanakh', and The New Testament was written in 'Greek'.
1,500 ~ The Enuma Elish, the epic Babylonian story of Creation was compiled. The story was adapted by later Hebrew scribes into the first chapters of the Book of Genesis for the Hebrew Bible.
1,240 ~ The Jewish religion, and the worship of the monotheistic god, Jahweh (Jehovah), began with 'The Covenant of Moses with Yahweh' during the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.
586 ~ The first books of the Hebrew Bible were written.
100 ~ The writing of the books of the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible were completed.
From 350 AD, The Roman Catholic Church had a collection of manuscripts in Latin used as their biblical references. In their entirety, these manuscripts were called The Vetus Latina. In 382 AD Pope Damasus I asked St. Jerome to revise the Old Latin text of 'the four Gospels' of The Vetus Latina from the best Greek texts. These revisions became known as The Vulgate.
In 1380's AD, John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, scholar, and theologian translated The Vulgate into a hand-written English version. "In 1428 the Pope - Martin V was so infuriated by Wycliffe's teachings and his translation of the Bible into English, that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he ordered the bones to be dug-up, crushed, and scattered in the river!" In the 1490’s Thomas Linacre an Oxford professor, and doctor to King Henry VII and VIII decided to learn the Greek language. Once Linacre had read the gospels of The Vulgate he wrote the following in his diary - "...“Either this (the original Greek) is not the Gospel… or we are not Christians.” This was because the Latin language was so corrupt that it did not give a true reflection of the message of the Gospels. The Church however threatened to kill anyone who read the scriptures in any other language than Latin even though Latin was not the original language of the scriptures. (Greatsite Marketing, 1997-2016).
In 1525, William Tyndale (1494 - 1536) a Captain of the Army of Reformers, and a spiritual leader began translating and compiling the bible directly from Hebrew and Greek texts which were subsequently sent to print. He was the first to publish The New Testament into the English language. As a consequence, any versions that the church could confiscate were burned as they feared that 'the general public would become aware that salvation was free and based on faith, they did not need to donate their money and/or give the proceeds of their earnings to The Church, and they did not need The Clergy.
On 4 October 1535, the first complete (Old and New Testament) English Bible was printed and is known as The Coverdale Bible. This was printed by the followers of Tyndale who in 1535 was subsequently arrested and imprisoned in the Castle of Vilvoorde (Filford) outside Brussels. In 1536 he was then convicted of heresy and executed by strangulation. He was then burnt at the stake. Three years after the murder of Tyndale, King Henry VIII decided to fund the printing of The English 'Great Bible'. His agenda was to spite The Pope and The Roman Catholic Church who would not permit him to marry his mistress or divorce his wife. He therefore removed the rule of Rome over England, set up a new denomination - The Church of England, and in effect made himself The Pope and ordered the printing of The Great Bible.
Further prints and versions of the bible continued, some of these are known as 'The Geneva Bible' (1560 AD), 'The King James Bible' (1611 AD), 'The English Revised Version' (1880 AD), and 'The New International Version' (1973). However, up until 1880 these bibles contained 'The Apocrypha' but these books were rejected and removed by The Protestant Church without any "widely-accepted reason". Since then, The Bible has not contained these books.
In 1582, by decree of Gregory XIII (Inter Gravissimas), 10 days were dropped from the calendar, and a new system of leap years was inaugurated.
The King James Version (KJV)
The Church of England began work on this version of the bible in 1904 and it was completed in 1911. It contained the 39 books of The Old Testament, a second section containing 14 books of The Apocrypha, and the 27 books of The New Testament. King James threatened anyone who dared to print the Bible without The Apocrypha with heavy fines and a year in jail.
The Old Testament was translated from Hebrew and Aramaic, The New Testament was translated from Greek, and The Apocrypha was translated from Greek and Latin. The 47 scholars who were all (bar one) members of the clergy of The Church of England, were tasked with translating The KJV, and were given instructions to ensure that the KJV reflected the theology of The Church of England (i.e the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its destiny, and its leadership and governance) and its belief in an ordained clergy.
THE TEMPLARS
On Friday 13th October 1307, hundreds of Templars were arrested on the orders of King Philip IV of France who was financially indebted to them - '500,000 French livres' (Lea, 2012). Philip began to see the Knights as a 'state within a state' answerable only to the Pope - Clement V.
As The Knights were tortured, they sought help from Pope Clement V who wrote to King Philip questioning their arrests and nothing more. In fact Pope Clement raised a Papal Bull instructing all of the European Christian Monarchs to arrest all Templars and seize their assets. Despite the fact that the Monarchs didn't believe the charges, proceedings were started in England, Iberia, Germany, Italy, and Cyprus where confessions were made dependent on whether they were tortured or not. Of 138 Templars arrested in France, 54 who had confessed were executed by French authorities. The other Knights later joined The Order of The Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem and of Rhodes as The Knights Templar was dissolved by Pope Clement V in 1312. In 1314, Philip had Jacques de Molay (The last Grand Master of the Temple), and Geoffroi de Charney (Preceptor (teacher responsible for upholding the laws and traditions) of Normandy of The Knights Templar), burned at the stake.
In September, 2001, Barbara Frale, MA (an Italian paleographer at The Vatican Secret Archives), found a copy of 'The Chinon Parchment' in The Archives that had absolved The Knights in 1308. She had her findings published. On October 25th 2009, the Vatican released 'The Chinon Parchment' acknowledging the absolution and innocence of The Knights, and that Clement had intended to pardon The Knights before he was coerced into condemning them (Keyser, 2015).
THE VATICAN ARCHIVES
In 1612, The Vatican Archives were founded by Pope Paul V. It was initially meant to house papal documents, correspondence and official records, and were separated from the main library. Public access to the archives was not allowed until 1881 when Pope Leo XIII allowed scholars to enter. Prior to this, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) had the archives moved to France and deposed of Pope Pius VII exiling him to Savona. Napoleon sought to do away with the Catholic Church and start a new Catholic sect. He also abolished the Inquisitions and the 'Index of Prohibited Books' written by astronomers, philosophers and the like which the Catholic Church had banned. However, in 1814, Pius VII returned to Rome as Napoleon's reign had ended. Pius VII "...revoked Napoleon’s ecclesiastical decisions, revived the Jesuits, and ‘with a sarcastic smile’, reinstated both the Inquisition and the ‘Index of Prohibited Books, and instructed the Inquisition to rebel against the people of Paris for what he called his ‘degradation’. (Heron, 1949; Leaks, 2012). "This fuelled Lord Acton (a liberal Catholic) to write the following paragraph in a letter to Lady Blennerhassett (another liberal Catholic) about the papacy in 1879, "...the papacy contrived murder and massacre on the largest and also on the most cruel and inhuman scale. They were not only wholesale assassins, but they made the principle of assassination a law of the Christian Church and a condition of salvation" (Acton, 1879 and Dahlberg, 1917).
"The entrance to the Archives, adjacent to the Vatican Library, is through the Porta di S. Anna in via di Porta Angelica (rione of Borgo). New underground storage space was added in 1980.
Qualified scholars from institutions of higher education pursuing scientific researches, with an adequate knowledge of archival research, may apply for an entry card. Scholars need an introductory letter by either a recognized institute of research or by a suitably qualified person in the field of historical research. Applicants need to specify their personal data (name, address etc.) as well as the purpose of their research. Undergraduate students are not admitted.
There are strict limitations to what archive users are able to view and access. For example, no materials dated after 1939 are available for public viewing – and an entire section of the archives relating to the personal affairs of cardinals from 1922 onwards can’t be accessed. Pope Francis is considering when to open the full archives of Pope Pius XII".
The Doctrine of The Immaculate Conception
"On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX issued the Ineffabilis Deus, officially committing to Apostolic Constitution the belief that Mary was conceived without "original sin". (Keyer, 2015).
THE INQUISITIONS & MEDIEVAL WITCH HUNTS
As the Knights did not pay any taxes, were financially wealthy, were a large army which had supported a coup in Cyprus earlier on in 1306 which had forced King Henry II of Cyprus to abdicate his throne to his brother Amalric of Tyre, King Philip no doubt began to fear their military power and political influence. On the word of Pope Clement V that there were suspicions that the Knights' christianity was questionable, Philip had them arrested, tortured and tried for crimes such as renouncing their faith, spitting on the cross during initiation into the Order, stripping of the man to be initiated and the kissing of that man by the preceptor on the navel, posteriors and the mouth three times. The third allegation was telling the neophyte (novice) that unnatural lust was lawful and commonly indulged in, the fourth was that the cord worn by the neophyte day and night was consecrated by wrapping it around an idol in the form of a human head with a great beard, and that this idol was adored in all chapters. The final allegation was the priests of the order did not consecrate the host in celebrating Mass.
Within a month of the murders of Molay and Charney, Pope Clement V died aged 50 prematurely as a result of a disease thought to be lupus. On his death-bed he confessed his remorse for poisoning King Henry VI, and the ruin of The Templars and The Beguines - another innocent religious order. Eight months later, Philip IV aged 46 suffered a stroke whilst out hunting and as a result died prematurely a few weeks later (Lea, 2012).
Pope Clement V
The Tomb of Philip IV (1268 – 1314)
Between the 1100's AD to 1808 AD, the church set up a Court to hear cases of alleged heresy, witch-craft, Hermetic philosophers (black-magicians), Jews and Protestant Reformers. Those who were found 'guilty' or who confessed under torture were publically executed usually by being burned at the stake. No condemned person ever won their case, nor did they ever beat the charge and walk free. "The inquisitions spread through-out Europe to Africa, Asia, and the Americas resulting in the Peruvian Inquisition and Mexican Inquisition" (Murphy, 2012).
The extent of the torture of these innocent people can be found and read here which is rated 18+.
"Except within the Papal States, the institution of the Inquisition was abolished in the early 19th century, after the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and after the Spanish American wars of independence in the Americas. The institution survived as part of the Roman Curia, but in 1904 was given the new name of "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office". In 1965 it became the Congregation for "The Doctrine of the Faith" (Wikipedia - Inquisition), and as such it still exists.
