Steven Anteau

HIS 151 – Mr. Dietrich

The Vatican’s Role in the Pagan Roots of

Christianity and the Schism that Followed
OR
“Get Those Idols off my Altar!”

07/23/2008
Steven Anteau

Mr. Dietrich

HIS 151

23 July, 2008

At the onset of the middle ages, or dark ages, the continent of Europe was divided. Where

the once stood an amazing nation where it’s citizens were expected to know two national tongues

(Greek and Latin) along with their own native languages, there was now a great divide. No

longer did the East and Western Europe share the same tongues, instead communication was

weak at best and the two sides went their separate ways, the West being conquered by a myriad

of barbarous invaders and the East keeping some semblance of its former self during this hectic

time period in Byzantine.

Christianity’s rise during this period would be felt on both sides of the continent, and as

we shall see both would claim righteousness over the other, matters of dialectic and assumed

authority halted any reforming year after year, leading eventually to a situation of three popes

and a population caught in the middle, we shall examine some of the causes of these rifts,

theological, dialectical, political, and everything in between, all of which however only sours the

idea that any one man (or church) can ever rule a whole population truly under the direction of

God. We will begin at the beginning, with Constantine the Great.

Constantine was the first Roman Emperor to embrace Christianity, and was baptized by

the Pope at the time, Sylvester I. The first order of business was to set straight the churches of

Alexandria and Antioch, that they were subordinate to the Holy See of Rome. There were

immediately liturgical disputes, for the Eastern churches at the time were accused of such things

as the “use of leavened or unleavened bread at the Eucharist,” (Greenslade, p. 102) which was
considered a “Re-Judaizing” of Christianity, and of course the Eastern rejection of the filioque

could only be seen as a spit in the face at an order of the Pope.

The filioque is a Latin phrase that means literally “and (from) the son.” It was inserted

into the Nicene Creed by the Catholics when referring to the Trinity, and follows “who proceeds

from the father,” so it reads “who proceeds from the father and the son.” This greatly changed

the theology that Christian fathers had been working so hard to hammer out for the illiterate or

uninformed church member. Pope Leo III even had the creed, with the filioque, engraved on two

silver tablets, one in Greek and the other in Latin, and placed them at the tomb of Saint Peter.

The Eastern Orthodox church, rejected this stance, condemning any “tampering” with the Nicene

Creed. (Farrell, p. 88)

During this time period the Middle East was being swept by Islam, which eventually led

to the Crusades, of which too much has already been written. With the filioque in mind we see a

pattern of assumed Papal superiority over all other church bodies, including those outside of

Christianity. Since the eighth century the Pope has used the title Vicarius Christi, literally the

“Vicar of Christ” or “In the Person of Christ,” in other words the Pope declared himself to be an

Earthly representative of Christ, though some later Popes had removed that title from

themselves, it is still a title and a concept used to this day, cap stoned with the First Vatican

Council of 1870 where the Pope was recognized as “infallible.” (Farrel, p. 149) All of this is

especially perplexing when one gets into the Pagan roots of Christianity and the Catholic

Church’s role in securing these doctrines, the most obvious example of this are the largest

recognized Christian holidays, Easter and Christmas.

 “The word ‘Easter’ appears once in the King James Version: ‘…intending after Easter to

bring him forth to the people.’ (Acts 12:4) The word translated ‘Easter’ here is pascha which is-

as all scholars know-the Greek word for Passover. It is well known that the word Easter is now a

Christian Expression-not in its original meaning. The word comes from the name of a pagan

goddess-the goddess of the rising light of day and spring. ‘Easter’ is but a more modern form of

Eostre, Ostera, Astarte, or Ishtar, the latter, according to Hislop, being pronounces as we

pronounce ‘Easter’ today.” (Woodrow, p 135, italics in the original) This theme has come up

again and again in the course of my study, and the Catholic Church and it’s politics play a large

role in the notion.

The Catholic Church was set up to rule over all, the very word ‘Catholic’ means

universal, as in a universal church. The Catholic Church and it’s Popes will never be able to run

from the horrors of the Crusades, of whom they most directly targeted Muslims of the area, but

also had unique Crusades for Jews, Essenes, Gnostics, any Protestant, any Western foundation of

Eastern Orthodoxy, basically any foundation that wasn’t strictly Roman Catholicism, but most

especially the remaining Pagans.

Paganism of all sorts (Egyptian, Greek, Nordic, etc.) was already much on the decline by

the twelfth century with the rise of organized Christianity, but how is that so when the modern

Christian world celebrates an openly Pagan holiday that has no dating in the New Testament,

Easter? The simple answer is that the Roman Catholic Church molded a universal religion from

the start, combining Christianity and Paganism into one to secure footholds in both communities.

There are so many alarming instances of ancient Pagan rite being used in most modern Christian

(but all Catholic) Churches that I dare to waste page space on them, but one in particular must be

assessed, and that is the act of Saint-hood.

 I am often perplexed at my girlfriend’s family, who is strictly Catholic, and their worship

of Saints. They may swear up and down that they do not worship the Saints, but praying in the

name of a deceased human to conduct the act of miracle on our Earthly plane sounds like

worshipping. As in the olden days, when a Pantheon blessed a nation, when a village had gods of

war, love, and carpentry, so does the Catholic Church today. Catholics are encouraged to keep

stone or wood representations of these elected individuals on them, in their house, their car,

anywhere, so that they may always ‘protect’ or invest in you their powers such as ‘direction,’ all

of which I find highly suspect.

The Catholic Church is not a Holy religious body, it is a political body. A command post

for the armies of all nations, its Crusades are legendary in their uniting of nations, rivaled only

by their brutality. Popes becomes replacements for God and parishioners are told to worship

stone idols to change their place on Earth. Disregarding language, dialect, and cultural history,

the church went on a warpath condemning and destroying all non-Catholic teachings from the

Middle East to the Americas. I do not partake in apocalyptic discussion so I won’t close with a

quote from Revelation, but as someone who is not a Christian but appreciates the Christian faith

in its ideal, the statement must be made that the Catholic Church’s effect on history cannot be

justified in the text.

Steven Anteau

Mr. Dietrich

HIS 151

23 July, 2008

Greensdale, S.L. Schism in the Early Church. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949.

Woodrow, Ralph Edward. Babylon Mystery Religion: Ancient and Modern. New York:

Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association, Inc., 1992.

Farrell, Joseph P.God, History and Dialectict. http://dialectic.wordpress.com/ghd/. 1995