| 1066-1205 (313-452 AD) (L'Uniona Homanus) | Religious Revolution during the Peace of the Twelfth Century (L'Uniona Homanus) | 1205-1220 (452-467 AD) (L'Uniona Homanus) |
Angelic Gnosticism
The Aegyptians and Zoroastrians
During the peace of the twelfth century people began to look for more meaning in their lives. This usually comes when there are not more pressing, practical matters at hand with which to occupy the minds of the ruling class and, in this case, the general population. One of these began in the city of Hierosolimitanum (Jerusalem). The entire Province of Judea was a crossroads not only of trade, but also of migration and most other transportation in the Roman Empire. This would form the influential religion of Angelic Gnosticism.
The Ankh, a symbol of Life in the Aegyptian religion
From the information existing in and those which were further developed in the areas of the Roman Empire during its long peace came a convergence of ideas in the city of Hierosolimitanum. The long alchemical knowledge of the Aegyptians grew into a respectable science long before the first stone building of the Tiber. The knowledge of what we now call chemistry was still closely connected and guarded by the religious
The Eye of Horus, a main symbol of the Aegyptian Religion
community. The decline of the old religion of Aegypt after the loss of their independence to the Romans left the alchemists as the last believers in their country who had any status or respect. The documents and rituals of the Aegyptians were preserved in Aegypt but became less and less popular as the years progressed. The alchemists became an introverted group which did research and rituals together and in secret. As the scientific knowledge and interest grew after the reign of Emperor Carolus and further Emperors the Aegyptian alchemists began to submit their research into the public scientific newspapers transactions that were going on especially from North Africa to Parthia. The publicity that was received by the alchemists was a happy relief and they began to come out of the woodwork and began attending, if not making their own, Universities. The science of chemistry became a study based upon these Aegyptian mystics but the more devout religious members continued their rituals and religion despite their emergence into the public. The place where they felt most accepted, other than their native land, was in Hierosolimitanum where the religious and the knowledgeable often came together. The Jewish people came to peaceful terms with the Aegyptian mystics and in the university of the city they made many discoveries into a study of the divine. The other science of the universe and nature which was conjoined with the religion of a religion that declines as the people began to move more freely and depend less on their community was the tradition of Astrology and Zoroastrianism in the Parthian provinces.
A Mystic Priest of the Gnostic religion holding a piece of the Holy Fire.
Zoroastrianism is based on the idea of duality and the battle between these forces as being the whole of nature. This is revealed and understood to effect humanity in the form of the position and movement of stars and planets. People of the eastern desert began to feel the influence of Rome even before it was made part of the Empire. The society of the kingdom became increasingly stratified into classes and nobility over recent years. Many of the military titles and positions of power, which used to be held by men who had worked their way from the bottom to the top by their strengths and abilities, were now held by the spoiled descendants of once great men. The same could be said of the current King and many of the more dependent satraps, which were like the governors of provinces underneath the King so that his power could be enforced in places which he could not be, and certainly about the high priests.
The Faravahar of Zoroastrianism, an important symbol in the Parthian provinces.
The High Priest of Ctesiphon, the leader of all the temples of Zoroastrianism, sat on the laurels of the older generations which were always studying the movement and the meaning of the heavens above. The appointments made by the King of Parthia to all the positions of power were made by nepotism or simply mechanically and without thought to regard for qualifications. There was no honor in the Parthian Kingdom at the time of the Roman invasion, which was prompted by a cowardly move from their and the Armenian Empire. The fall of the Zoroastrian religion was followed by an localization of the religion. It no longer looked towards the neglectful and heretical High Priest of Ctesiphon but to their own lower priests and perhaps themselves to learn of what was holy. The gods continued in a greater way than they did in Aegypt. The knowledge of the planets and how they relate to human knowledge quickly turned into a study of planetary motion and eventually led to the discovery of Gravitational forces. The apparent connection between the Zoroastrian religion and the study of the planets as well as the Aegyptian religion and knowledge of the interaction of chemicals in nature made both of them the religion and rituals of interest to the intellectuals of the Kingdom.
These were seen, by the majority of people, as simply a fancy of the intellectuals. However, once people began attending Universities in larger numbers in pursuit of the knowledge that had been growing in these buildings, they began to pick up an interest in the rituals of the Zoroastrian and Aegyptian religions. The also took these back to their hometowns, usually to the scorn of their community. The castaway intellectuals began to pour into the home countries of those religions, and especially in the provinces between these two, that is the province of Judea and of Syria to a lesser extend.
The last facet that was to be gained by the hierarchy among the intellectual and collegiate community, a small, introverted sect of the population, so that the astrological and alchemical rituals would become the major religion which it did. That facet was an appealing message.
The Kabbalah
The tree of Life of Kaballah, which was incorporated into Angelic Gnosticism.
The People of Judea had always been an accepting people, other than when they felt threatened. They had a symbiotic relationship with the mystics/intellectuals that were filling their universities. The people of the provinces provided a home for them not only to research knowledge, which made the university look good, and to study the ancient religion of Judaism, making the province a center for pilgrimages and a reputation as holy. The Judaic texts were a wealth for these interested youth, many of whom were focusing on the mystical and religious aspects that were growing within their community. One of these developments was in the area of names. many had taken on pseudonyms of Aegyptian gods, like Thoth, Seth, Ra, Horus, and Osiris, or Zoroastrian figures, such as Zoroaster also known as Zarathustra, and Ahura Mazda.
The Judaic religion offered a connection to the many elements of nature in the form of angels. Zoroastrianism and Judaism are monotheistic religions and the identity of their one highest god combined as their practices did. The several gods of Aegypt were made into another class of divinity alongside angels. Nature was embodied in the angels and each angel became a patron of the science or study that was related to it. The study of the ancient religion of Judaism and its many laws, stories, and teachings were also incorporated into the scholastic tradition of the, what were now being called, Gnostics. Gnosticism means that knowledge, usually of god but in this case also of the world, was the center of their religion and it was for these worshipers. The study of Judaism led them to believe that there was indeed a way to become an angel alongside their god and this became a magnet of converts from across the Empire.
The search for becoming divine became a study of the most elite of the mystical new religion. This did not deter other people from entering, certainly, because they believed they too would be able to hold, if not divinity, but divine powers through angels and alchemy. The study of the kaballah existed prior to the Roman Empire and consisted mainly of the nature and names of God and his Kingdom in Heaven. The achievement of godhood could be attained by connecting several emanations from the mind and body into a total devotion to the purpose of the temple and its secrecy. Many of their rituals were conducted in secret during early times by more radical mystics in the synagogues of ancient Judea. They entered the public to scorn during later days of independent Judea and were driven out during the purges by the Romans after the rebellions of the whole country.
The mystics were separated from the main groups of Jews and while the majority moved into North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, the kaballah members entered Aegypt where they spoke of their knowledge to the members of their fledgling religion but did not teach them, as the records remained in Judea, or Roman
Jews being driven out of the Temple of Solomon, a major kaballah center, by the Roman Army.
Libraries, or with the mainstream Jewish communities. The control of the province of Judea fell to immigrants there, some of these were Aegyptian immigrant mystics looking for the records of the kaballists and later they would meet with the Persians to expand rapidly.
Before the expansion of the new amalgamation of religions would start, the Governor of Judea, a devoted Gnostic in private life, became open with his practise. He rose to be governor on his ability to gauge an audience and give speeches accordingly. This did not fade with his faith. His name was Alestrius Libo and he changed his name to Zeruel, meaning the Arm of God and also the name of an angel, and also took the position of High Priest of Judea. This development in the year 1145 (392 AD), during the reign of Emperor Carinus, was not noted among most Romans. Many governors were known to have eccentric lifestyles and there was an indifference to the beliefs of others by the Emperor and Senate, as the Empire was so diverse. The ignoring of this declaration would be a great help to the Angelic Gnostics, many of whom were now adopting second, religious an ritualistic, names of angels.
An organization had grown in the Gnostic faith with the tree of life superseding most other symbols. The Probationers were new members who were able to enter the lowest rank of the Gnostic Hierarchy proper. Once they entered the temple they were known as a neophyte and were placed in the lowest orb of the tree of Life. After rising up into the foundation position on the tree they were a Zelator and this is where they began the first intellectual study. The Practicus or Priest rank was in the splendour sphere and work to recruit more probationers. The in the Victory sphere came the title of Philosophus which was meant to complete moral training within the persons soul. After becoming a Philosophus the Veil of Paroketh needed to be overcome and the person would enter the second highest grade of the Temple structure of the gnostics. While working to become an Adeptus Minor, which was the office of Tiphareth, the orb of beauty, the student would need to pass through the bridge title of Dominus Liminis, a like between the lower and higher grades. As a Dominus the student, who would be around the adult age at this time, may lead a group of churches called a Dominion. The Practicus led a congregation an the Philosophus would lead the whole church in which the Practici held teachings to the common people not in the formal organization, which started as a few of the women and children of the members but became large groups of communities. The Dominus would unite some close churches but would govern very little as they were, for the most part when the religion was small, very well behaved.
In the Second grade were the three offices of Adeptus Minor, Major and Exemptus. Minor was in the orb of Beauty, Major in that of Strength, and Exemptus in the orb of Mercy. These all together formed the governance of a large community in a legislative sort of assembly. There were small Comitia Adepti in Aegypt and Parthia at the start of the religious movements after the bold declaration of Governor Zeruel but the largest was in and around the city of Hierosolimitanum which was leading in the Gnostic population and the first to have a majority of its population be gnostic.
After this grade came the like of the Abyss where one would pass over the veil of the Abyss. The babes of the abyss as they were known had the duty to exit any governing position of the temples and devote to the higher studies of kaballah and the rituals of Aegyptians and Parthians. The Babe of the Abyss, if it was passed which in many cases took many years or perhaps decades, was followed by the Highest Grade of knowledge and the closest to the truth of God. {C}In the Highest grade the Babe would become a Magister Templi, master of the temple, and could control as many of the temples as he wanted while occupying the orb of Understanding and conducting the more elaborate and important rituals among his temples. He could ascend even higher by rejecting this power and declaring all Seventy two names of God and the names of his angels in a ritual to become a Magus and was considered a sub-divinity and occupied the orb of wisdom, marking the end of their necessary study of the records and rituals of the religion. The wisdom they had was believed to give them the only true power to sanctify new temples and new communities. The examined the probationers after they enter into neophytes, as well as if the Dominus entered the Second Grade and if the Babe of the Abyss could enter and become a Magister Templi.
The last grade was Ipsissimus and was the crown of the tree of life. Contrary to many opinions this and many other offices came without a real knowledge of the scriptures of the religion. This fake faith was not known in the early days of the church but emerged slowly. The Ipsissimus was the most powerful and his word in or about any temple or person was considered unquestionable. The Ipsissimus was first held by the original prophets of kaballah and would grow to take on the highest source of power in a religion though they controlled no temple officially but rather could order all by virtue of their dedication to the study and knowledge of the scriptures and mystical rituals.
The Religion of the Emperors
After the death of Marcus Aurelius arose more of a respect for than a religion of the Sun, Sol Invictus the Unconquerable Sun, which represented the success of Rome in recent years. From the establishment and consecration of the two main temples to the sun, one in Crimea where Marcus Aurelius had died and another in Rome itself, each Emperor after Marcus Aurelius made a pilgrimage and a sacrifice to the temple of the Sun in these areas. In an attempt to gain support from the Emperor almost every major city made a temple to the sun, some were remodelings of older solar temples.
A Bust of the God Zeus and Jupiter of the Roman religion.
These monuments to later victories, such as those in New Cyprus, on the Mare Suebicum, and in New Ctesiphon, would characterize the later Emperors as the Sun after Marcus Aurelius. The stewardship of these centers became a public task and their glorification and aggrandizement became a source of pride and devotion. The worship of the god-like images of Emperors, and also some generals, became more devotional as proximity increased toward urban centers. The Pantheon in Rome, which housed other traditional gods like Mars, Venus, and Jupiter, held statues of Emperors alongside them and they became increasingly connected.
The first use of the title of ‘Episcopus’ as a name for a leader of a temple was made by Emperor Jacobus in the year 1023 (270 AD) and this became a popular use in the greater temples in large cities like Londinium (London), Lutetia (Paris), Hierosolimitanum (Jerusalem), Byzantium (Istanbul), Thebes in Egypt, and Athens. The stories of mythology became the teachings of the Episcopi and soon they began to create lower ranks which they controlled to reach the other surrounding temples. There had been an office of government which maintained the temples, they were called Aediles. However they also had the duty of maintaining public works, stadiums, baths, and fora. The episcopi began to take on more responsibility in the temples and the aediles began to let them. By the end of the reign of Jacobus’s son Decius, the temples of Rome were in the hands of the Episcopi
A Laureal Wreath, symbol of power and glory in Roman and Greccian Tradition.
The Episcopi began to have an influence of the local politics. These were chiefly in European regions and were not as received in the African and Parthian provinces. In Burdigala (largest city in Aquitannia, the Episcopus began to preach stories about the will of the gods, rather than follow the myths of ancient times.The wealthy families in the once powerful province of Aquitannia, prosperous because of its dominion over its neighbors which were now Narbonensis and Francia, desired to have this glory returned to them and believed themselves superior to their now independent neighbors. The Ecclessia (another name for temple) of Lutetia in Francia also had unique plans for their congregation. In the freest province of Rome the episcopi began to form ties to protect that freedom. The powerful members of the clergy made the military the top priority of the governor and the Assembly men. The defense of these dear freedoms which made Francia the most famous of the European provinces, outside of Italia with Rome itself, were motivation enough for most of the population. Any objectors
A stone representation of the Sol Invictus, another symbol of this religion.
were made out to be traitors and against the freedoms which a revolution had been fought over.
This buildup of tensions within the Empire was not unusual. The involvement of the Episcopi would also not be rare after the other high clergy saw the money and influence which could be held by one man or an elite group. The money which was held by the temples was used for the building of new temples and the grand constructions of new monuments. The style of the day created many monuments around the number two representing different dualist concepts. The Chief of these were the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Carolus who became companion deities in the temples of the new religion.
By the reign of Emperor Constantinus II the grandest display of divinity in the Empire was yet to be done. The Office of Archepiscopus Romanum, Archbishop of Rome, was created by the Emperor and was granted power over the other Episcopi. The first Archepiscopus was Lucretius Strabo Atratinus, the flamboyant son of the the
The Great Cathedral of Lucretius.
highest general in the Roman Army, Gnaeus Atratinus. The new office was to be defined by Lucretius. Among his actions was the use of the surplus of funds in Rome to deconstruct the Circus of Nero in the outskirts of the city. The Colle Vaticano (Vatican Hill), as it had been known, was renamed the Colle Lucretio and rightly so. The Circus was removed and its stones could only form the foundation of the grand Ecclessia that was going to be the center of the Roman Religion. Rumors spread that a secret relationship existed between Lucretius and the Emperor and that was what persuaded him to grant the large among of land and procure such a portion of the Roman treasury to build what would be a defining monument of Rome. The Great Temple of Lucretius was the largest single building in the Roman Empire and the cost of filling it with the magnificent artwork describing the myths and legends of their
A depiction of the Virgins of Vesta, an important ritual tradition.
religion was almost as great as the cost of its construction.
The image of the cathedral spread throughout the clerical world and also among the newspapers of the time. The New Office of was mimicked by many other high ranking episcopi in wealthy regions of the Empire. The Patriarch of Carthage in Mauretania was established first in the year 1201 (448 AD) just one year after the completion of the Grant. Similar Patriarchates were started in Byzantium, Lutetia, and New Ctesiphon in the next few years. The buildings that they made were magnificent but failed to top the Great Temple in Rome. The growth of belief in these traditional gods of Rome would compete with the belief in Angels and Alchemy of the Gnostics.
The Hierarchy of the Gnostic religion was often compared to that of the Romans. In Rome, after the King was overthrown, the Priests (known as flamines) of the fifteen official gods made up the College of Pontiffs (Collegium Pontificum). They served alongside the Vestal Virgins, who protected the sacred fire of Rome, and the Pontifex Meximus. This College elected their Pontifex Maximus during the Republican Period and he led the College in rituals and festivals. The office was usually open to only the patrician class but it was eventually opened to the plebians as well.
Anistius, Archepiscopus of Rome and Pontifex Maximus in the place of the Emperor.
After Julius Caesar declared himself Pontifex Maximus every Empero thereafter gave himself that office. With the expansion of the Empire it became necessar to set up leaders in the far off areas and this was the necessity of the Episcopi and the Archepiscopi above them. The Collegium Pontificum had many duties and their leader in the Emperor often blurred the line between church and state. Besides the army and the politics of the country to worry about, the Emperor had many duties to the religion of his Empire. Among them were chiefly:
- The regulation of all expiatory ceremonials needed as a result of pestilence, lightning, etc.
- The consecration of all temples and other sacred places and objects dedicated to the gods.
- The regulation of the calendar; both astronomically and in detailed application to the public life of the state.
- The administration of the law relating to burials and burying-places, and the worship of the Manes or dead ancestors.
- The superintendence of all marriages by conferratio, originally of all legal patrician marriages.
- The administration of the law of adoption and of testamentary succession.
- The regulation of the public morals, and fining and punishing offending parties.
The Archespiscopus of Rome took over many of these duties when the Emperor could not, which was almost all the time. Though while doing this he was called the Propontifex he was still leading the flamines and the other episcopi. Archepiscopus Atratinus would hold this power during and after the reign of Constantinus II.
The Religion of the Northern Provinces
As the episcopi were taking control of many of the inner political actions of the european provinces,. their influence fell short when they reached the most northern Provinces, Scandinavia, Suebia, Scythia, Aurelia, Prussia and to an extent Germania and Islia. The Cimbri were the biggest proponents of this religion. Their High Priests took the cration legends of his people to reflect the sueriority of the Cimbri people and their close relation to the god Odin. As the Scandinavians became more powerful within the Empire, which also made them more independently minded, they were gathering influence in the surrounding provinces. This was especially true among the smaller tribes which worked within provinces to try to effect change. These included the Lombards, Venedi, Goths, Frisi, and other tribes who were seeking to take power from the occupying Roman Generals. The other tribes were made relatives of the Norse Gods and that religion became one of the ways of convincing members of those tribes to united against the oppressive dominators.
| 1066-1205 (313-452 AD) (L'Uniona Homanus) | Religious Revolution during the Peace of the Twelfth Century (L'Uniona Homanus) | 1205-1220 (452-467 AD) (L'Uniona Homanus) |