The Council of Trent and its support of paganism.

[Hobie]

The Council of Trent was held in an attempt to destroy the progress of the Protestant Reformation; it approved many pagan and unbiblical beliefs and declared it was to be accepted under the threat of "anathema".

The Council of Trent declared in its proclamation's the following:

It denied all the doctrines of the Reformation, from Sola Scriptura to "salvation by grace through faith alone" and pronounced anathemas (basically eternal damnation) upon anyone believing what the scripture shows and the Reformation held and preached.

It gave equal value and authority of tradition and Scripture (in actuality, tradition is held above Scripture) and so allowed for all the pagan rites and rituals it had allowed into the church.

Declared the Scriptures was for the priesthood only, and prohibited to anyone in the laity without written permission from one's superior -- to violate this was considered a mortal sin.

Confirmed the seven sacraments which basically were of pagan origin in the form they brought in. They held seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, Eucharist (mass), penance/reconciliation (indulgences), extreme unction (last rights), marriage, and orders (ordination). Although not even formally decreed until the Council of Florence in 1439, the Council of Trent later declared all to be anathema whom do not hold Rome's position that it was Christ Himself who instituted these seven sacraments, but the form they used were from paganism more than anything from scripture.

Confirmed Purgatory which has no biblical basis but of pagan origin.Though of pagan origin, the Roman Church proclaimed it as an article of faith in 1439 at the Council of Florence, and it was confirmed by Trent in 1548. The Catholic Church teaches that even those "who die in the state of grace" (i.e., saved and sins forgiven) must still spend an indefinite time being purged/purified (i.e., expiated of sins/cleansed for heaven).

Confirmed the use Indulgences of which clearly is not sanctioned by the scriptures.

Confirmed the Mass as a propitiatory offering.The Mass was unknown in the early church, the mass did not become an official doctrine until pronounced by the Lateran Council of 1215 under the direction of Pope Innocent III, and reaffirmed by the Council of Trent.

Confirmed the perpetual virginity of Mary. The Lateran Council of 469 under Pope Martin I declared: "if anyone does not confess in harmony with the holy Fathers that the holy and ever virgin and immaculate Mary is really and truly the mother of God, inasmuch as she in the last times and without semen by the Holy Spirit conceived God the Word himself specially and truthfully, who was born from God the Father before all ages, and she bore him uncorrupted, and after his birth her virginity remaining indissoluble, let him be condemned." The perpetual virginity of Mary thus became an official teaching of the church: Mary was a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus. In 1555, the Council of Trent confirmed this dogma in the Constitution of Pope Paul IV known as "Cum Quorundam." Here the pope warns against teaching that "the same blessed Virgin Mary is not truly the Mother of God, and did not remain always in the integrity of virginity, i. e., before birth, in birth, and perpetually after birth."

Some of the of the Anathemas of Trent:

"If any one shall deny that the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore entire Christ, are truly, really, and substantially contained in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist; and shall say that He is only in it as a sign, or in a figure, or virtually -- let him be accursed." (Canon 1).

"If any one shall say that the substance of the bread and wine remains in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, together with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and shall deny that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, the outward forms of the bread and wine still remaining, which conversion the Catholic church most aptly calls transubstantiation, let him be accursed."(Canon 2).

"If any one shall deny, that in the venerated sacrament of the Eucharist, entire Christ is contained in each kind, and in each several particle of either kind when separated, let him be accursed."(Canon 3).

"If any one shall say that, after consecration, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is only in the wonderful sacrament of the Eucharist in use whilst it is taken, and not either before or after, and that the true body of the Lord does not remain in the hosts or particles which have been consecrated, and which are reserved, or remain after the communion, let him be accursed."(Canon 4).

"If any one says that the principal fruit of the most holy Eucharist is the remission of sins or that other effects do not result from it, let him be accursed." (Canon 5).

"If any man shall say that Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is not to be adored in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, even with the open worship of latria, and therefore not to be venerated with any peculiar festal celebrity, nor to be solemnly carried about in processions according to the praiseworthy, and universal rites and customs of the holy Church, and that he is not to be publicly set before the people to be adored, and that his adorers are idolaters -- let him be accursed." (Canon 6).

"If anyone shall say that the ungodly man is justified by faith only so as to understand that nothing else is required that may cooperate to obtain the grace of justification, and that it is in no wise necessary for him to be prepared and disposed by the motion of his own will ... let him be accursed." (Canon 9).

"If anyone shall say that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the divine mercy pardoning sins for Christ's sake, or that it is that confidence alone by which we are justified ... let him be accursed." (Canon 12).

Here we see the Council of Trent sets forth the pagan 'Mystery' of the Eucharist.

 

[Hobie]

Now in the sacrament of the Eucharist, was the doctrine of Transubstantiation (in Latin, transsubstantiatio, in Greek metousiosis) which is the change whereby, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, the bread and the wine used in the sacrament of the Eucharist become, not merely as by a sign or a figure, but also in actual reality the body and blood of Christ. However the doctrine of transubstantiation does not date back to the Last Supper as is supposed.

Like many of the beliefs and rites of the Roman Catholic Church, transubstantiation origin is from paganism, and was first practiced by pagan religions. The idea of transubstantiation was characteristic of the religion of Mithra whose sacraments of cakes and Haoma drink closely parallel the Catholic Eucharistic rite. The noted historian Durant said that belief in transubstantiation as practiced by the priests of the Roman Catholic system is "one of the oldest ceremonies of primitive religion." The Story Of Civilization, p. 741. In Egypt priests would consecrate mest cakes which were supposed to be come the flesh of Osiris. Encyclopedia Of Religions, Vol. 2, p. 76.

It was never held in the early church and took many centuries before officially becoming an article of faith by the church of Rome, which means that it is essential to salvation according to the Roman Catholic Church. The idea of a corporal presence was not part of beliefs, but in 831 A.D. Paschasius Radbertus, a Benedictine monk, published a treatise openly advocating the doctrine of transubstantiation. Even then, for almost another four hundred years, theological debate waged over this teaching by bishops and people alike until at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 A.D., it was officially defined and canonized as a dogma.

 

[Hobie]

The Early church was faithful to the Word of God, but after the so called conversion of Constantine, who for political expedience declared Christianity the state religion, thousands of pagans were admitted to the church without true conversion. The leaders in Rome, to gain influence above the other centers of Christianity had been at the forefront of the wave of pagan 'converts' and thus increasing the numbers, but at the same time allowing paganism to come into the church. They also brought with them pagan rites which they boldly introduced into the church with Christian terminology, thus corrupting the church.

This also allowed the continuance of the pagan custom of eating and drinking the literal flesh and literal blood of their god. This is actually how pagan transubstantiation, through the sacrament of the Eucharist, entered the church and declared part of the beliefs.

True believers who correctly interpret the Word of God see without any difficulty whatsoever that our Lord's reference to His body and blood was symbolic. When Jesus spoke of Himself as being the bread, He was not teaching the pagan transubstantiation brought in by Roman Catholic Church. It is wrong to hold that the Son of God turned a piece of bread into Himself. It is perfectly clear in the Gospels that Christ spoke in figurative terms, referring to Himself as "the door," "the vine'', "the light," "the root," "the rock," "the bright and morning star" and so it was with the bread and wine.

However the doctrine of transubstantiation is clearly of paganism mystery's, which pretended, on the pronunciation of a few potent words, to change one substance into another, or by pagan rites, wholly to remove one substance, and to substitute another in its place. From the Council of Trent the pagan god of flour and water, produced by priestly sorcery, is still worshipped and adored to this day as it was defined. We can find it in the bowing, genuflecting, praying to the "Blessed Sacrament" which may be seen daily in any Catholic church.

 

[Hobie]

Looking a what the Roman Catholic Church says is Mary we find this too is from paganism. In almost all the devotional books of the Roman Catholic Church, the mother of God is crowned, sceptered and enthroned as the Queen of heaven.

The Roman Catholic Church basically holds that damnation is impossible where there is true devotion to the Virgin. Hence the worship of Mary allows for and encourages multiplies sins which of course they then turn around and declare indulgences can negate.

Christians know this even today and yet many accept it...
"Question: "Who is the Queen of Heaven?"

Answer: The phrase “the queen of heaven” appears in the Bible twice, both times in the book of Jeremiah. The first incident is in connection with the things the Israelites were doing that provoked the Lord to anger. Entire families were involved in idolatry. The children gathered wood, and the men used it to build altars to worship false gods. The women were engaged in kneading dough and baking cakes of bread for the “Queen of Heaven” (Jeremiah 7:18). This title referred to Ishtar, an Assyrian and Babylonian goddess also called Ashtoreth and Astarte by various other groups. She was thought to be the wife of the false god Baal, also known as Molech. The motivation of women to worship Ashtoreth stemmed from her reputation as a fertility goddess, and, as the bearing of children was greatly desired among women of that era, worship of this “queen of heaven” was rampant among pagan civilizations. Sadly, it became popular among the Israelites as well.

The second reference to the queen of heaven is found in Jeremiah 44:17-25, where Jeremiah is giving the people the word of the Lord which God has spoken to him. He reminds the people that their disobedience and idolatry has caused the Lord to be very angry with them and to punish them with calamity. Jeremiah warns them that greater punishments await them if they do not repent. They reply that they have no intentions of giving up their worship of idols, promising to continue pouring out drink offerings to the queen of heaven, Ashtoreth, and even going so far as to credit her with the peace and prosperity they once enjoyed because of God’s grace and mercy."....Who is the Queen of Heaven? | GotQuestions.org

The origin of this idolatry had its root in ancient paganism. From Babylon, this worship of the mother and child spread to the other parts of the world. Astarte of the Assyrians, Ashtoreth of the Sidonians and Bowaney the mother of the gods of the Hindus held the place that Mary occupies in the church of Rome. Greece had her Venus and Rome her Juno and we find in scripture, the Diana of the Ephesians. The Egyptians had Isis, the same symbol, a female divinity whom they regarded as "the mother of the gods."

If one has an image of Mary then it is Mary who is venerated, just as much as an image of Jesus. Nowhere do we see this practice in the New Testament, but we do have many warnings about it. Nowhere does God approve of any type of worship toward objects that are even of Himself, neither the tabernacle which housed His presence, nor the ark which had the tablets, were to be worshipped.

 

[Hobie]

If you read your history and you will find the Catholics seven sacraments are not from what scripture gives us, but some truth mixed with falsehood derived from pagan rites and ceremonies. The seven sacraments came from another origin not from scripture, so baptism, confirmation, Eucharist (mass), penance/reconciliation (indulgences), extreme unction (last rights), marriage, and orders (ordination) came from pagan sources. The seven sacraments were not even formally decreed until the Council of Florence in 1439, the Council of Trent then declared to be anathema to not hold Rome's position that it was Christ Himself who instituted these seven sacraments. The idea of pushing the sacraments is that it supersedes the shedding of Christ's blood in His death upon the cross, and His death is of no value unless it is somehow dispensed and applied "sacramentally" by the Catholic priesthood.

Catholics are taught that the sacraments are indispensable for salvation, but baptism is considered the most important. Catholics doctrine is that a person enters into the spiritual life of the Church through baptism or really baptismal regeneration (that a person can be saved through baptism) so they practice infant baptism because they believe baptism erases original sin so the priest has power to do that. But scripture makes clear that we cannot be saved by works, and these sacraments even baptism in this form are not taught in the Bible.

The Mass is not from the Bible either, it like the others, has pagan origins. In the Roman Catholic mass, the Eucharist or “host” is a symbol of the sun from the old pagan worship. The round disc in the crescent moon was a symbol of ancient Babylon, and is found in all the ancient religions. Mass was never part of the early church, the mass did not become an official doctrine until pronounced by the Lateran Council of 1215 and then reaffirmed by the Council of Trent. The sacrifice of the mass is the central point of Catholic worship, as seen by the fact that those not attending and abstaining from mass are considered to have committed a mortal sin.

 

[Enoch111]

The Council of Trent was held in an attempt to destroy the progress of the Protestant Reformation

At the time of the Reformation the Catholic Church had two options (1) go back to the Bible and reject all of its false teachings or (2) reject Bible truth and double down on its false doctrines. So the RCC chose the latter option and began the Counter Reformation, which included the Council of Trent. Today, its canons govern the Catholic Church and its Catechism.

 

[Philip James]

They abstain
from eucharist (thanksgiving) and prayer, because they
allow not that the eucharist is the flesh of our
Saviour Jesus Christ, which flesh suffered for our
sins, and which the Father of His goodness raised up.

They therefore that gainsay the good gift of God
perish by their questionings. But it were expedient
for them to have love, that they may also rise again.

- St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch circa 100 AD

 

[historyb]

My Bishop says of those who hate the Holy Eucharist that they may be Christians but they are starving themselves to death.

 

[Paul Christensen]

Dave Hunt wrote his book "The Woman Who Rides The Beast" which is an evaluation of the Roman Catholic Church based on what Catholic popes and theologians themselves have written and instructed how Protestants and Reformers should be treated. He concludes that the RCC is a total fraud and is deceiving millions of people. It is a very enlightening book and every believer who wants to know the truth should read it and form his own conclusions about it.

 

[Philip James]

. It is a very enlightening book and every believer who wants to know the truth should read it and form his own conclusions about it

Or they could actually read some history from reputable scholars and/or the documents of the Church.

Peace!

 

[Paul Christensen]

Or they could actually read some history from reputable scholars and/or the documents of the Church.

Peace!

Dave Hunt and John MacArthur are very reputable teachers of the Bible and are respected as well qualified to teach on Biblical prophecy. Dave Hunt takes most if not all his comments from the actual documents of the Roman Catholic Church itself. He was intrigued when opponents of his teaching accused him of lying when all he did was quote the documents from their own Church!

 

[Hobie]

Dave Hunt and John MacArthur are very reputable teachers of the Bible and are respected as well qualified to teach on Biblical prophecy. Dave Hunt takes most if not all his comments from the actual documents of the Roman Catholic Church itself. He was intrigued when opponents of his teaching accused him of lying when all he did was quote the documents from their own Church!

People are waking up and seeing what they did, and its all in history. The Catholic Church didn't get to the Council of Trent and its unbiblical and pagan declarations by chance, slowly the church was led into apostasy. Here are some of the steps it took:

AD 310-It brought in the pagan prayers for the dead about 300 years after Christ.
AD about 320-Wax Candles for the pagan ritual of prayers was introduced in church.
AD 321- Pope Constantine passes a law requiring believers to worship on Sunday, the day the pagans worshipped the sun-god.
AD 321 to 364-Sunday worship instituted by the Council of Laodicea.
AD 327-Relic Worship was introduced in church.
AD 375-Veneration of angels and dead saints was introduced in church.
AD 394 -The Mass, as a daily celebration, adopted.
AD 431=The worship of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the use of the term, "Mother of God", as applied to her, originated in the Council of Ephesus.
AD 500-Priests took on pagan appearance and dress differently from the laity
AD 590-The belief of Eternal Torment was introduced in church.
AD 593-The doctrine of Purgatory was first established by Pope Gregory I.
The Latin language, as the language of prayer and worship in churches, and a form of Western plainchant, was attributed to Pope Gregory I and so took the name of Gregorian chant.
AD 600-The introduction of prayers directed to Mary, or to dead saints. This practice began in the Roman Church during Pope Gregory I
AD 610-The title of pope or universal bishop, was declared given to the bishop of Rome by the emperor Phocas. Gregory 1, then bishop of Rome, refused the title, but his successor, Boniface III, first assumed title "pope."
AD 709-The kissing of the Pope's feet began. It had been a pagan custom to kiss the feet of emperors.
AD 788-Worship of the cross, images and relics was authorized
AD 850-Holy Water, mixed with a pinch of salt and blessed by the priest, was authorized
AD 965-The baptism of bells was instituted by Pope John XIV
AD 995-Canonization of dead saints, first by Pope John XV
AD 998-Fasting on Fridays and during Lent were imposed, some authorities say, began in the year 700.
AD around 1000-The Mass was developed gradually as a sacrifice; attendance made obligatory in the 11th century, some authorities say, began with the liturgy of Pope Gregory I and two versions from beyond the Alps, the Gelasian (originally from Rome) and the ancient Gallican.
AD 1079-The celibacy of the priesthood was decreed by Pope Hildebrand, Boniface VII
AD 1090-The Rosary, or prayer beads was introduced by Peter the Hermit, in the year 1090. Copied from Hindus and Mohammedans
AD 11184-The Inquisition of heretics was instituted by the Council of Verona.
AD 1190-The sale of Indulgences, commonly regarded as a purchase of forgiveness and a permit to indulge in sin and it was the protest against this traffic that brought on the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.
AD 1215-The dogma of Transubstantiation was decreed by Pope Innocent III. By this doctrine the priest pretends to perform a daily miracle by changing a wafer into the body of Christ, and then lays claim to eat Him in the presence of his people during Mass.
AD 1215-Confession of sin to the priest at least once a year was instituted by Pope Innocent III., in the Lateran Council
AD 1220-The adoration of the wafer (Host), was decreed by Pope Honorius
which is plain idolatry.
AD 1229-The Bible forbidden to laymen and placed in the Index of forbidden books by the Council of Valencia
AD 1287-The Scapular was invented by Simon Stock, and English monk
It is a piece of brown cloth, with the picture of the Virgin and supposed to contain supernatural virtue to protect from all dangers those who wear it on naked skin.
AD 1311-Infant Baptism was introduced in church.
AD 1414-The Roman Church forbade the cup to the laity, by instituting the communion of one kind in the Council of Constance
AD 1439-The doctrine of Purgatory was proclaimed as a dogma of faith by Council of Florence
AD 1439-The doctrine of 7 Sacraments affirmed
AD 1808-The Ave Maria, part of the last was completed 50 years afterward and finally approved by Pope Sixtus V, at the end of the 16th century.
AD 1445-The Council of Trent, held in the year 1545, declared that Tradition is of equal authority with the Bible and apocryphal books were added to the Bible also by the Council of Trent

The Roman Church says it never changes and yet it has done nothing else but invent 'new doctrines' from pagan origin which are contrary to the Bible, and has brought in and practiced rites and ceremonies taken bodily from paganism.

 

[Paul Christensen]

People are waking up and seeing what they did, and its all in history. The Catholic Church didn't get to the Council of Trent and its unbiblical and pagan declarations by chance, slowly the church was led into apostasy. Here are some of the steps it took:

AD 310-It brought in the pagan prayers for the dead about 300 years after Christ.
AD about 320-Wax Candles for the pagan ritual of prayers was introduced in church.
AD 321- Pope Constantine passes a law requiring believers to worship on Sunday, the day the pagans worshipped the sun-god.
AD 321 to 364-Sunday worship instituted by the Council of Laodicea.
AD 327-Relic Worship was introduced in church.
AD 375-Veneration of angels and dead saints was introduced in church.
AD 394 -The Mass, as a daily celebration, adopted.
AD 431=The worship of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the use of the term, "Mother of God", as applied to her, originated in the Council of Ephesus.
AD 500-Priests took on pagan appearance and dress differently from the laity
AD 590-The belief of Eternal Torment was introduced in church.
AD 593-The doctrine of Purgatory was first established by Pope Gregory I.
The Latin language, as the language of prayer and worship in churches, and a form of Western plainchant, was attributed to Pope Gregory I and so took the name of Gregorian chant.
AD 600-The introduction of prayers directed to Mary, or to dead saints. This practice began in the Roman Church during Pope Gregory I
AD 610-The title of pope or universal bishop, was declared given to the bishop of Rome by the emperor Phocas. Gregory 1, then bishop of Rome, refused the title, but his successor, Boniface III, first assumed title "pope."
AD 709-The kissing of the Pope's feet began. It had been a pagan custom to kiss the feet of emperors.
AD 788-Worship of the cross, images and relics was authorized
AD 850-Holy Water, mixed with a pinch of salt and blessed by the priest, was authorized
AD 965-The baptism of bells was instituted by Pope John XIV
AD 995-Canonization of dead saints, first by Pope John XV
AD 998-Fasting on Fridays and during Lent were imposed, some authorities say, began in the year 700.
AD around 1000-The Mass was developed gradually as a sacrifice; attendance made obligatory in the 11th century, some authorities say, began with the liturgy of Pope Gregory I and two versions from beyond the Alps, the Gelasian (originally from Rome) and the ancient Gallican.
AD 1079-The celibacy of the priesthood was decreed by Pope Hildebrand, Boniface VII
AD 1090-The Rosary, or prayer beads was introduced by Peter the Hermit, in the year 1090. Copied from Hindus and Mohammedans
AD 11184-The Inquisition of heretics was instituted by the Council of Verona.
AD 1190-The sale of Indulgences, commonly regarded as a purchase of forgiveness and a permit to indulge in sin and it was the protest against this traffic that brought on the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.
AD 1215-The dogma of Transubstantiation was decreed by Pope Innocent III. By this doctrine the priest pretends to perform a daily miracle by changing a wafer into the body of Christ, and then lays claim to eat Him in the presence of his people during Mass.
AD 1215-Confession of sin to the priest at least once a year was instituted by Pope Innocent III., in the Lateran Council
AD 1220-The adoration of the wafer (Host), was decreed by Pope Honorius
which is plain idolatry.
AD 1229-The Bible forbidden to laymen and placed in the Index of forbidden books by the Council of Valencia
AD 1287-The Scapular was invented by Simon Stock, and English monk
It is a piece of brown cloth, with the picture of the Virgin and supposed to contain supernatural virtue to protect from all dangers those who wear it on naked skin.
AD 1311-Infant Baptism was introduced in church.
AD 1414-The Roman Church forbade the cup to the laity, by instituting the communion of one kind in the Council of Constance
AD 1439-The doctrine of Purgatory was proclaimed as a dogma of faith by Council of Florence
AD 1439-The doctrine of 7 Sacraments affirmed
AD 1808-The Ave Maria, part of the last was completed 50 years afterward and finally approved by Pope Sixtus V, at the end of the 16th century.
AD 1445-The Council of Trent, held in the year 1545, declared that Tradition is of equal authority with the Bible and apocryphal books were added to the Bible also by the Council of Trent

The Roman Church says it never changes and yet it has done nothing else but invent 'new doctrines' from pagan origin which are contrary to the Bible, and has brought in and practiced rites and ceremonies taken bodily from paganism.

Informative. People need to know this.

 

[Stan B]

Dave Hunt wrote his book "The Woman Who Rides The Beast" which is an evaluation of the Roman Catholic Church based on what Catholic popes and theologians themselves have written and instructed how Protestants and Reformers should be treated. He concludes that the RCC is a total fraud and is deceiving millions of people. It is a very enlightening book and every believer who wants to know the truth should read it and form his own conclusions about it.

Wow! It has been 25 years since I read Dave's book!! I think the time has come to read it again. I have now placed it on my to-do list.

Thanks!

 

[Stan B]

If you read your history and you will find the Catholics seven sacraments are not from what scripture gives us, but some truth mixed with falsehood derived from pagan rites and ceremonies.

Hobie, Thank you ever so much for your excellent series of postings on the Council of Trent! They were most informative and helpful in confronting the adversary!!

 

[Hobie]

Hobie, Thank you ever so much for your excellent series of postings on the Council of Trent! They were most informative and helpful in confronting the adversary!!

YW, history is my background so when I come up on how it changed what the scripture says, it catches my attention.

 

[Hobie]

Now here is some interesting tidbits I got from my friend, Amo...

'The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon

Chapter XXVIII

The worship of the Christian martyrs

The ruin of the Pagan religion is described by the sophists as a dreadful and amazing prodigy, which covered the earth with darkness and restored the ancient dominion of chaos and of night. They relate in solemn and pathetic strains; that the temples were converted into sepulchres, and that the holy places, which had been adorned by the statues of the gods, were basely polluted by the relics of Christian martyrs. "The monks" (a race of filthy animals, to whom; Eunapius is tempted to refuse the name of men) "are the authors of the new worship, which, in. the place of those deities who are conceived by the understanding, has substituted the meanest and most contemptible slaves. The heads, salted and pickled, of those infamous malefactors, who for the multitude of their crimes have suffered a just and ignominious death; their bodies, still marked by the impression of the lash and the scars of those tortures which were inflicted by the sentence of the magistrate; such" (continues Eunapius) "are the gods which the earth produces in our days; such are the martyrs, the supreme arbitrators of our prayers and petitions to the Deity, whose tombs are now consecrated as the objects of the veneration of the people." Without approving the malice, it is natural enough to share the surprise of the sophist, the spectator of a revolution which raised those obscure victims of the laws of Rome to the rank of celestial and invisible protectors of the Roman empire. The grateful respect of the Christians for the martyrs of the faith was exalted, by time and victory, into religious adoration; and the most illustrious of the saints and prophets were deservedly associated to the honours of the martyrs. One hundred and fifty years after the glorious deaths of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Vatican and the Ostian road were distinguished by the tombs, or rather by the trophies, of those; spiritual heroes. In the age which followed the conversion of Constantine, the emperors, the consuls, and the generals of armies devoutly visited the sepulchres of a tent-maker and a fisherman; and their venerable bones were deposited under the altars of Christ, on which the bishops of the royal city continually offered the unbloody sacrifice. The new capital of the Eastern world, unable to produce any ancient and domestic trophies, was enriched by the spoils of dependent provinces. The bodies of St. Andrew, St. Luke, and St. Timothy had reposed near three hundred years in the obscure graves from whence they were transported, in solemn pomp, to the church of the apostles, which the magnificence of Constantine had founded on the banks of the Thracian Bosphorus. About fifty years afterwards the same banks were honoured by the presence of Samuel, the judge and prophet of the people of Israel. His ashes, deposited in a golden vase, and covered with a silken veil, were delivered by the bishops into each other's hands. The relics of Samuel were received by the people with the same joy and reverence which they would have shown to the living prophet; the highways, from Palestine to the gates of Constantinople, were filled with an uninterrupted procession; and the emperor Arcadius himself, at the head of the most illustrious members of the clergy and senate, advanced to meet his extraordinary guest, who had always deserved and claimed the homage of kings. The example of Rome and Constantinople confirmed the faith and discipline of the catholic world. The honours of the saints and martyrs, after a feeble and ineffectual murmur of profane reason, were universally established; and in the age of Ambrose and Jerom something was still deemed wanting to the sanctity of a Christian church, till it had been consecrated by some portion of holy relics, which fixed and inflamed the devotion of the faithful.

General Reflections

In the long period of twelve hundred years, which elapsed between the reign of Constantine and the reformation of Luther, the worship of saints and relics corrupted the pure and perfect simplicity of the Christian model; and some symptoms of degeneracy may be observed even in the first generations which adopted and cherished this pernicious innovation.

1. Fabulous martyrs and relics.

I. The satisfactory experience that the relics of saints were more valuable than gold or precious stones stimulated the clergy to multiply the treasures of the church. Without much regard for truth or probability, they invented names for skeletons, and actions for names. The fame of the apostles, and of the holy men who had imitated their virtues, was darkened by religious fiction. To the invincible band of genuine and primitive martyrs they added myriads of imaginary heroes, who had never existed, except in the fancy of crafty or credulous legendaries; and there is reason to suspect that Tours might not be the only diocese in which the bones of a malefactor were adored instead of those of a saint. A superstitious practice, which tended to increase the temptations of fraud and credulity, insensibly extinguished the light of history and of reason in the Christian world....

 

[Hobie]

2. Miracles.

II. But the progress of superstition would have been much less rapid and victorious if the faith of the people had not been assisted by the seasonable aid of visions and miracles to ascertain the authenticity and virtue of the most suspicious relics. In the reign of the younger Theodosius, Lucian, a presbyter of Jerusalem, and the ecclesiastical minister of the village of Caphargamala, about twenty miles from the city, related a very singular dream, which, to remove his doubts, had been repeated on three successive Saturdays. A venerable figure stood before him, in the silence of the night, with a long beard, a white robe, and a gold rod; announced himself by the name of Gamaliel; and revealed to the astonished presbyter, that his own corpse, with the bodies of his son Abibas, his friend Nicodemus, and the illustrious Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian faith, were secretly buried in the adjacent field. He added, with some impatience, that it was time to release himself and his companions from their obscure prison; that their appearance would be salutary to a distressed world; and that they had made choice of Lucian to inform the bishop of Jerusalem of their situation and their wishes. The doubts and difficulties which still [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] this important discovery were successively removed by new visions; and the ground was opened by the bishop in the presence of an innumerable multitude; The coffins of Gamaliel, of his son, and of his friend, were found in regular order; but when the fourth coffin, which contained the remains of Stephen, was shown to the light, the earth trembled, and an odour such as that of Paradise was smelt, which instantly cured the various diseases of seventy-three of the assistants. The companions of Stephen were left in their peaceful residence of Caphargamala; but the relics of the first martyr were transported, in solemn procession, to a church constructed in their honour on Mount Sion; and the minute particles of those relics, a drop of blood, or the scrapings of a bone, were acknowledged, in almost every province of the Roman world, to possess a divine and miraculous virtue. The grave and learned Augustin, whose understanding scarcely admits the excuse of credulity, has attested the innumerable prodigies which were performed in Africa by the relics of St. Stephen; and this marvellous narrative is inserted in the elaborate work of the City of God, which the bishop of Hippo designed as a solid and immortal proof of the truth of Christianity. Augustin solemnly declares that he has selected those miracles only which were publicly certified by the persons who were either the objects, or the spectators, of the power of the martyr. Many prodigies were omitted or forgotten; and Hippo had been less favourably treated than the other cities of the province. And yet the bishop enumerates above seventy miracles, of which three were resurrections from the dead, in the space of two years, and within the limits of his own diocese.If we enlarge our view to all the diocese, and all the saints, of the Christian world, it will not be easy to calculate the fables, and the errors, which issued from this inexhaustible source. But we may surely be allowed to observe that a miracle, in that age of superstition and credulity, lost its name and its merit, since it could scarcely be considered as a deviation from the ordinary and established: laws of nature....

 

[Hobie]

3. Revival of polytheism

III. The innumerable miracles, of which the tombs of the martyrs were the perpetual theatre, revealed to the pious believer the actual state and constitution of the invisible world; and his religious speculations appeared to be founded on the firm basis of fact and experience. What ever might be the condition of vulgar souls in the long interval between the dissolution and the resurrection of their bodies, it was evident. that the superior spirits of the saints and martyrs did not consume that portion of their existence in silent and inglorious sleep. It was evident (without presuming to determine the place of their habitation, or the nature of their felicity) that they enjoyed the lively and active consciousness of their happiness, their virtue, and their powers; and that they had already secured the possession of their eternal reward. The enlargement of their intellectual faculties surpassed the measure of the human imagination; since it was proved by experience that they were capable of hearing and understanding the various petitions of their numerous votaries, who, in the same moment of time, but in the most distant parts of the world, invoked the name and assistance of Stephen or of Martin. The confidence of their petitioners was founded on the persuasion that the saints, who reigned with Christ, cast an eye of pity upon earth; that they were warmly interested in the prosperity of the Catholic church; and that the individuals who imitated the example of their faith and piety were the peculiar and favourite objects of their most tender regard. Sometimes, indeed, their friendship might be influenced by considerations of a less exalted kind: they viewed with partial affection the places which had been consecrated by their birth, their residence, their death, their burial, or the possession of their relics. The meaner passions of pride, avarice, and revenge, may be deemed unworthy of a celestial breast; yet the saints themselves condescended to testify their grateful approbation of the liberality of their votaries; and the sharpest bolts of punishment were hurled against those impious wretches who violated their magnificent shrines, or disbelieved their supernatural power. Atrocious, indeed, must have been the guilt, and strange would have been the scepticism, of those men, if they had obstinately resisted the proofs of a divine agency, which the elements, the whole range of the animal creation, and even the subtle and invisible operations of the human mind, were compelled to obey. The immediate, and almost instantaneous, effects, that were supposed to follow the prayer, or the offence, satisfied the Christians of the ample measure of favour and authority which the saints enjoyed in the presence of the Supreme God; and it seemed almost superfluous to inquire whether they were continually obliged to intercede before the throne of grace, or whether they might not be permitted to exercise, according to the dictates of their benevolence and justice, the delegated powers of their subordinate ministry. The imagination, which had been raised by a painful effort to the contemplation and worship of the Universal Cause, eagerly embraced such inferior objects of adoration as were more proportioned to its gross conceptions and imperfect faculties. The sublime and simple theology of the primitive Christians was gradually corrupted: and the MONARCHY of heaven, already clouded by metaphysical subtleties, was degraded by the introduction of a popular mythology which tended to restore the reign of polytheism.

4. Introduction of Pagan ceremonies.

IV. As the objects of religion were gradually reduced to the standard of the imagination, the rites and ceremonies were introduced that seemed most powerfully to affect the senses of the vulgar. If, in the beginning of the fifth century, Tertullian, or Lactantius, had been suddenly raised from the dead, to assist at the festival of some popular saint or martyr, they would have gazed with astonishment and indignation on the profane spectacle which had succeeded to the pure and spiritual worship of a Christian congregation. As soon as the doors of the church were thrown open, they must have been offended by the smoke of incense, the perfume of flowers, and the glare of lamps and tapers, which diffused, at noon-day, a gaudy, superfluous, and, in their opinion, a sacrilegious light. If they approached the balustrade of the altar, they made their way through the prostrate crowd, consisting, for the most part, of strangers and pilgrims, who resorted to the city on the vigil of the feast; and who already felt the strong intoxication of fanaticism, and, perhaps, of wine. Their devout kisses were imprinted on the walls and pavement of the sacred edifice; and their fervent prayers were directed, whatever might be the language of their church, to the bones, the blood, or the ashes of the saint, which were usually concealed, by a linen or silken veil, from the eyes of the vulgar. The Christians frequented the tombs of the martyrs, in the hope of obtaining, from their powerful intercession, every sort of spiritual, but more especially of temporal, blessings. They implored the preservation of their health, or the cure of their infirmities; the fruitfulness of their barren wives, or the safety and happiness of their children. Whenever they undertook any distant or dangerous journey, they requested that the holy martyrs would be their guides and protectors on the road; and if they returned without having experienced any misfortune, they again hastened to the tombs of the martyrs, to celebrate, with grateful thanksgivings, their obligations to the memory and relics of those heavenly patrons. The walls were hung round with symbols of the favours which they had received; eyes, and hands, and feet, of gold and silver: and edifying pictures, which could not long escape the abuse of indiscreet or idolatrous devotion, represented the image, the attributes, and the miracles of the tutelar saint. The same uniform original spirit of superstition might suggest, in the most distant ages and countries, the same methods of deceiving the credulity, and of affecting the senses of mankind: but it must ingenuously be confessed that the ministers of the catholic church imitated the profane model which they were impatient to destroy. The most respectable bishops had persuaded themselves that the ignorant rustics would more cheerfully renounce the superstitions of Paganism, if they found some resemblance, some compensation, in the bosom of Christianity. The religion of Constantine achieved, in less than a century, the final conquest of the Roman empire: but the victors themselves were insensibly subdued by the arts of their vanquished rivals.'

 

[Philip James]

AD 310-It brought in the pagan prayers for the dead about 300 years after Christ

Otherwise, what will people accomplish by having themselves baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they having themselves baptized for them?

As the very first item on your list is demonstrably false, i wont waste my time on the rest of what is surely more lies.

Pax!