Founding of Christendom: Christianity is Outlawed-- post 11

After the death of Claudius; during the "Five  Golden Years" before Nero took power-- the laws against Jews in Rome were eased. So tradition has it that St. Peter returned to Rome. Whether St. Paul knew this or not is unclear or most likely that St. Peter returned just after his Epistles.

St. Peter probably  returned to Rome around 54-57 AD with a possible break from 57-62 AD. The period of time would be the same  as St. Paul's letter to the Romans and his imprisonment in Roman, after being arrested in Jerusalem.

We surmise that St. Mark wrote his Gospel in Rome under the direction of St. Peter, during his three year stay in Rome, 54-57, AD.

In 58 AD we are told St. Mark arrived in Alexandria, Egypt, without Peter, and founded the Church there. He was asked by St. Peter  to return to Rome from 63 AD to 67 AD.



Nero took power around 60 AD. There was nothing usual at first. He had good advisors Seneca and Burrus, who ran the Empire well waiting for him to attain age. But soon the power got to Nero. He killed his mother; started having drunken orgies and all kinds of indulgences.  He divorced his wife, and married his mistress. He forced Seneca into retirement and Burrus died. Nero more and more gave into passions of egoism and lust.


Romans paid little attention to Christians, at this time. They were considered a strange sect of Judaism. But this was soon to change.

On July 18th 64 AD a 9 day fire destroyed most of Rome; someone was to blame. The people blamed Nero who was known to be lost in his own world of hedonism, and let the fires burn. This is where we get the saying: "Nero fiddled as Rome burned"

Founding of Christendom: Paul's second Mission-- post 10

Once again in Antioch of Syria, Paul decided to return to the churches he established. St. Mark wanted to come along again, but Paul didn't want to take him. So Barnabas seemed to work out a compromise. He and Mark would go to Cyprus, their first leg in their first mission, and Paul and Silas, who had come up to join them from Jerusalem, would go to Asia Minor (Turkey) in Taurus Mountains--- part of their second leg.

Paul and Silas reaffirmed the churches at Iconium and Lystra in the Taurus Mountains-. It is speculated that Paul understood those towns to be in the area of Galatia, this will be the churches referred to in his letter to the Galatians.

On the way to Iconium Paul fell sick and was taken care of by the believers there and formed a deep affection for them. Silas and Paul are joined by St. Timothy, in Lystra; one of Paul's most endearing companions. After the town of Lystra, Paul is told by the Holy Spirit not to preach in Asia Minor (Turkey) and make his way to Aegean next to Troy. On the western coast of Turkey.  

In Aegean, St. Luke joins the group. Paul and his group crossed the water to Phillippi, starting his mission in Europe through Macedonia and Greece.

They arrived in Philippi about 51 AD. There were almost no Jews in the town so they preached as they could. Adapting to the environment. Paul exercised a demon from a slave girl, but her owner was not happy with this, because of her demonic gifts, she had made him money. This stirred up a crowd causing riots--- seeking Paul.

Paul was arrested by the Romans of Philippi. He was beaten by rods and imprisoned. Then an earthquake destroyed the prison allowing Paul to escape-- but he didn't. He instead sought to save the soul of his guard on duty. He converted the guard and baptized him and his family.

Founding of Christendom : Council of Jerusalem -- post 9

Apostles Gather for the Dormition of Mary
and the Council of Jerusalem

It has been 7 years since the Apostles left Jerusalem. St. Peter met with much success in Rome. But Simon Magus-- the magician from Acts (cf. Acts 8) appeared in Rome, confronting Peter, his old enemy, causing turmoil and riots to break out. The problem grew to the point that emperor Claudius expelled all Jews--- not making a difference between Christians, Jews, or Gnostics.  Peter headed back to Jerusalem by way of Corinth doing some preaching there.

There may have been a plan for all the Apostles to gather back in Jerusalem at this time, 49 AD for the first council. It can't be documented that all the Apostles were present, but there may be a clue in that tradition holds that all the Apostles were present for the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Both may have coincided. Maybe there were signs that her time was short. They all wanted to be there, and probably thought it practical, at the same time have a council to deal with the problems they were having with the preaching and controversies of the Mosaic law.

Remember they were mainly fishermen and were not prepared to debate the Bible like scholars, so this may have been an opportunity to consult on particular questions.

There is a tradition that St. Thomas came late, after the Blessed Mother's dormition, and wanted to see the body. Recalling the doubting, he had at the resurrection, but there was no body to be found, thus her body was Assumed into heaven, her body in heaven like her son, she is now sitting at his right hand, as Queen Mother already established by Jewish tradition, that the Mother was queen and sits at the king's right side.

Jesus foretold his mother’s place because it was established by Sacred Tradition by God the Father in the Old Testament.
“But to sit on my right hand, or on my left, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared.” (Mark 10:40)


All  the Apostles were converting Gentiles, except St. James "the just,” who stayed in Jerusalem, so there was little doubt that they were doing the right thing, but how to address the questions they were dealing with was needed. James living in Jerusalem sought a compromise, with few a requirements, because he was dealing with only Jews in Jerusalem.

St. Paul returned to Antioch after the council. Peter followed him but started to avoid eating with the Gentiles, probably intimidated by the strength of personality of James, who was the “brother” (cousin) of Our Lord, and so admired by the Jews.

Soon Paul confronted  Peter "to his face" (cf.Galatians 2:11) about him giving into human respect and avoiding eating with Gentiles. Obviously St. Peter wasn't rejecting his teaching, which was just confirmed in council, but Paul was confronting a weak man, in over his head. Peter must have thought often :”Who am I? A fisherman. Telling people how to live? Opposing Mosaic Law?” By his insecurities he failed in this case, to follow what he taught.

I would think St. Paul was more of an encouragement than a hindrance. Paul encouraged Peter to trust in God who chose him, Paul was there to firm up Peter, who in turn was in the office to firm up all the Church.

Jesus predicted this:
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)

St. Peter, being humble enough to take the correction, didn't seem to miss a beat. He continued to live and evangelize in the region during the reign of Claudius, about 7 years, before returning to Rome. Rome would be impossible to return to until Claudius died, since all Jews were expelled. After the death of Claudius the ban was lifted.

continue to next chapter

faith formation: THE PRESENCE OF GOD-- prayer and virtue

 

The quest for virtue must begin with prayer. Prayer is the most necessary virtue to acquire.

Why should we pray?

If God knows our needs before even we know them, why do we need to pray?
 "Your Father knows that you have need of all these things." (Matthew 6:32)

Since God was rejected by Adam in the Garden. To a certain extent, Adam shut God out of relationship with humanity; he chose it. The devil thought he had now won.

But there are other avenues God could still use, so that  His relationship with Man would not die, chief among these is prayer.

"For we pray not that we may change the Divine disposition, but that we may entreat that which God has disposed to be fulfilled by our prayers, in other words

"that by asking, men may deserve to receive what Almighty God from eternity has disposed to give," as [St. Gregory the Great ] says (Dial. i, 8) "
(Summa Theologica, II-ii: Question 83--art. 2)

Our personal life on earth, because of the FALL, can be thought of as a door that is constantly closing on certain graces, and all God "needs" is for us to constantly open it; we open the door for Him to act, and receive the graces He wished from all eternity to give us. This is a condition caused by the FALL. We live in a fallen world, with a fallen nature. God warned Adam of this condition.

Founding of Christendom: Paul's First Mission-- post 8

We have covered the Apostles that were the most obscure. So let us now turn our attention to one of  the best documented--- the Apostle St. Paul. We won’t cover his whole story here.

We already witnessed his conversion, and  his short attempt at preaching, before he left to live in Arabia in the desert for three years praying and meditating, to prepare for his mission to preach. He probably had other private revelations and visions of instructions from our Lord at this time too.

St. Paul was already established as a leader in the Church. He was present in Jerusalem when Herod Agrippa the first  died. He was bringing supplies and money from Antioch. St. Paul is the best documented of the Apostles. He earned it. He worked tirelessly and without compromise.

The faithful gathered, in Antioch, for a liturgical  mass in 45 AD for guidance in evangelization. It must have been a great feast for the celebrants were the bishops:
 St. Paul and Barnabas, Simone Niger (thought to be Simone of Cyren the one who helped Jesus' carry his cross) and Manhen, foster brother of Herod Antipas--the same Herod who questioned Jesus himself. Some speculate that this is how we got some of the information of what happened at Jesus' trial with Herod.

St. Luke says in Acts (13:2) that St. Barnabas and St. Paul were to be set aside for a great work. This begins St. Paul the Evangelist on his first missionary journey.

St. Barnabas and St. Paul headed for Cyprus, Barnarbas' home land, with Barnabas' cousin, the young St. Mark, whose house Pentecost took place. The three traveled the whole island and established a method of preaching first in synagogue, and once rejected there, they turned to the Gentiles.

Preaching through the whole island, they reached the  town of Paphos, on the western end. They were asked to explain their doctrine to the Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulos. They were opposed by a Jewish magician, who felt challenged by these foreigners. St. Paul rebuked him and he was stuck blind for his deceit. We are told the proconsul Sergius believed in Christ.

The group of three headed for the main land and they decided to go through the Taurus mountains to the city of Antioch in Pisidia, (Not to be confused with the town of Antioch in Syria) which was a major military colony, the Legion of Lark, started by Julius Caesar. They were mostly soldiers from Gaul (Celtics from western Europe-- mainly France)

The Taurus Mountains would be intimidating to the little group. They towered 2 miles high and the pass to the city they beheld was a real challenge. There were robbers,  no rest areas, or towns along the way-- a grueling haul. It was such a challenging decision that St. Mark decided to go home to Jerusalem. But St. Paul and St. Barnabas decided to go on.

Paul and Barnabas entered the synagogue in Antioch and preached; attracting large crowds even of Gentiles. St. Paul debated the Jews and created quite a stir. Thrown out of the synagogue, Paul and Barnabas went to the Gentiles and established a flourishing Christian community. After so many troubles they went southeast, about a hundred miles, to the town of Iconium.

The same pattern was repeated; they preached in the synagogue first, and then to the Gentiles. Again establishing communities. Then went to the Lystra, where St. Paul healed a cripple. He and Barnabas were hailed as gods. Paul and Barnarbas rejected this, saying "we are just men''. The Jews from the nearby towns came to stir up problems, which ended with St. Paul being stoned and being left for dead. He survived, and went to the next town Derbe, establishing another community.

They backtracked through the four towns again, to firm up the faith and ended up on the shores of the Mediterranean, where they started, when St. Mark had left them. Paul and Barnabas sailed back to Antioch in Syria. This was the year of 49 AD; this ended their 4 year first missionary journey.


Continue to next chapter

faith formation: Fatherhood Prudence and Leadership

---

There are three styles of fathering:

1.Authoritarian

2. Permissive

3. Leadership

1.) Authoritarian fathering:

uses lots of commands, yelling and threats but little reasoning--draconian in nature.

"Fathers, provoke not your children to indignation, lest they be discouraged." (Colossians 3:21)

“My sons, in my long experience very often I had to be convinced of this great truth. It is easier to become angry than to restrain oneself, and to threaten a boy than to persuade him." (St. John Bosco; Office of Readings, Jan. 31.)

2.) Permissive fathering:

is high on affection but low on authority. Subconsciously children can feel un-loved because they feel not worth the effort to set boundaries. Children raised by permissive parents do not learn age-appropriate behaviors and the consequences for performance or non-performance.

"What  will  become  of  boys  when  from  earliest  youth  they  are  without  teachers?...  to  exercise  this  child’s  soul  in  virtue,  to  that  no  man  any  longer  pays  heed." (St. John Chrysostom-- Vainglory and the Right Way for Parents to Bring Up Their Children #18)

3.) Leadership  fathering:

combines confidence  with reasoning, love, and encouragement. Yelling is avoided.

"Let us be ashamed to assume an attitude of superiority. Let us not rule over them except for the purpose of serving them better.
This was the method that Jesus used with the apostles. He put up with their ignorance and roughness and even their infidelity." (St. John Bosco; Office of Readings, Jan. 31.)

We wish to focus on leadership fathering, which is what Christ wishes of us. Leadership is the "mean"-- the virtue of prudence, between the Authoritarian and the Permissive approach.


A good  understanding of  the Catholic Faith must be instilled in the children. The Theological Virtues of faith, hope, and love, like perfume, should leave their scent in all activities.

Founding of Christendom: St. Thomas' Second Journey to India- post 7

We rejoin St. Thomas and his travels, after the council of Jerusalem  he traveled back to India, by sea this time.

 A new route to India  was being used by 50 AD ---the monsoon route. discovered by the Greek seaman Hippalos, from Arabia to India;  it shortened the route from a year to about 40 days.

 St. Thomas seems to have stayed on the island of Socotra off the Arabian coast  for some time making converts there, waiting to sail to India. This island was on the sea route using the monsoons.



There is evidence of Christians on the island of Socotra in the 10th century, the Arab geographer Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani, stated that in his time most of the inhabitants were Christians.  When St. Francis Xavier arrived on the island in 1542, on his way to India, there was still a Christian community in the hills of the island. They claimed St. Thomas brought them the Faith.

A Christian community existed on the island of Socotra all the way up to the 1800's, until they were wiped out by Mulism Wahabis.

There is a strong tradition from both Christian and Hindu that St. Thomas arrived in Cranganore on Malabar on the south west coast of India in the year 52 AD (the time St. Paul was in Corinth). Cranganore was the capital of the Chera kingdom. It is relatively the same area as the present Kerala.




It seems Thomas arrived alone. There was no Jewish community in India at this time, so he went to the locals from the start. He probably learned some Prakrit, the language in the north.  on his first mission, using this briefly, till he acquired Tamil, the local language.

The Bramans wrote in Keralolpathi about St. Thomas' arrival:

"Thoman, an opponent of all vedas [came to the Malabar coast and converted] many prominent people in the land"

In another writing, [I can't even pretend to pronounce] Nagargarandhravaryolam, a record  from the family Kalathu Mananotes writes:

"Kali year 3153 [52AD] the foreigner Thomas Sanyasi  came to our village, preached there, causing pollution. We therefore came away from that village."

This Town, Palayoor,  still has a Syro-Malabar  Church on the ruins of a Hindu temple to this day.

Christian tradition holds that there were miracles by the hundreds and baptisms by thousands, St. Thomas was quite successful on his second mission. Jews, who came later, in 68 AD, found a thriving Christian Church.

Though documentation of his efforts are rare, we can see his work by its fruits. When the Europeans arrived in the 1500's, they found a Church, honoring St. Thomas, with a priesthood, which still exists today, with hundreds of thousands of believers.

St. Thomas labored 17 years preaching. When he saw it was a solid community; he moved on to the next kingdom of Chola, near the city of Madras. This is where he was killed by Brahmans, pierced through the heart, by a knife, or a spear; we are not sure. But His tomb is honored by Christian Indians to this day, in the area of Mylapore.