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The Real Reason Rome Destroyed Its Own Gods · Chapter by Chapter — The Lost Library

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Imagine, just for a second, an obscure, underground and deeply
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persecuted fringe movement like you have this group of people
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meeting in secret. They are completely
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misunderstood by the general public and they're just
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occasionally scapegoated and, you know, haunted down by the
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state. It's a terrifying position to
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be. In exactly.
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But now Fast forward a few centuries and picture that exact
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same movement completely taking over the greatest military and
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political superpower on earth. They don't just survive.
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I mean they eventually wield more sheer, unadulterated power
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than the very emperors who once fed them to the lions.
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It really. Remains one of the most stunning
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reversals of fortune in human history.
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I mean, to go from hiding in the catacombs of Rome to literally
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sitting on the throne of the world, it requires a massive
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structural upheaval. Which is exactly what this deep
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dive is about. Today we are exploring the
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mechanics of how that actually happened.
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Yeah, it's a fascinating process.
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We're looking at a stack of excerpts from Edward Gibbons
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monumental classic The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
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and our mission today is to to unpack this really fascinating
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paradox of religious tolerance in the ancient world.
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Right, and look at how early Christianity managed to
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essentially conquer Rome from the inside out.
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Yeah, and examine the dark irony of what happens when an
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oppressed group finally gets the keys to the Empire.
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To really fully grasp the magnitude of this shift, I mean,
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we have to establish the baseline of the ancient Roman
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world because it is fundamentally different from how
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modern society, you know, conceptualizes religion.
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Oh, for sure. When you think of ideological
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battles today, you probably think of strict boundaries,
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right? Like exclusive, rigid truths.
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Exactly. But Roman paganism was
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inherently almost completely flexible.
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Given sums this up brilliantly. Yeah, I love this quote.
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Right. He notes that in the Roman world
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the various modes of worship were considered by the people as
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equally true, by the philosophers as equally false,
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and by the magistrates as equally useful.
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OK, let's unpack this, because that is a totally wild concept
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for a modern mind. It really is.
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You're saying that you know if you are an ancient Roman, your
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religion isn't a strict set of internal beliefs that excludes
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all other world views. No, not at all.
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It seems less like a modern theology and more like, I don't
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know, like an open source operating system.
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That open source analogy actually captures the dynamic
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perfectly. Right, because as the Roman
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Empire expanded, they just kind of installed the local gods of
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the people they conquered right into their mainframe.
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Literally they literally imported gods from conquered
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lands. I mean, they built the pantheon
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specifically as a temple for all gods.
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To the Roman mind, a God of a river in Egypt and a God of a
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river in Gaul. We're simply, you know,
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different local manifestations of the exact same underlying
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divine forces. Gotcha.
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So it wasn't about like a personal relationship.
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Right. Religion wasn't about personal,
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internal belief. It was entirely about civic
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duty. It was the social glue that held
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this massive, diverse society together.
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Because you performed the public rights to ensure the crops grew,
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the army won, that kind of thing.
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Exactly to ensure. Which raises an immediate
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question for me. If Rome was this incredibly
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tolerant, adaptable machine that practically collected foreign
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deities, why were the Christians considered such a massive
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threat? That is the key question.
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Because, I mean, the Jews also worshiped one God, right?
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And they explicitly refused to worship the Roman gods, but they
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generally got a pass from the authorities.
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So why draw this bloody line in the sand for Christians?
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Well, Gibbon points to a really vital distinction the Romans
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made between a nation and a sect.
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OK, see, the Romans had this deep, almost ingrained respect
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for antiquity and tradition, and the Jews were a recognizable
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nation. Right.
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So the Romans found their monotheism weird, but they
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respected it. Exactly.
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They found Jewish monotheism peculiar, and they definitely
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view their refusal to participate in Roman festivals
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as highly antisocial. Yeah, but the Jews were followed
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with the ancient laws of their ancestors.
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Oh, I see. The Romans could respect
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inherited tradition. They tolerated the Jewish faith
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because it was tethered to a specific historical people.
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Whereas the Christians, on the other hand, had completely
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severed that tether. Precisely, they were viewed as
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apostates. Because they had abandoned the
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ancestral traditions of their own people, whether they started
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out Jewish or Pagan, just to form this radical, entirely new
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movement. Right.
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They weren't a nation with geographic boundaries.
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They were a disruptive ideology spreading across all
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demographics. That makes sense.
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And because Roman religion and Roman civic life were completely
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inseparable, refusing to participate in the public
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sacrifices wasn't just, you know, interpreted as a simple
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theological disagreement. It was treason.
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It was viewed as literal treason.
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The Romans looked at the Christians not as religious
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dissidents, but as dangerous, antisocial atheists.
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Wait, atheists? That's what they called them.
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They actually use the term atheist because the Christians
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rejected the entire pantheon of visible state sanctioned gods.
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Wow, that is wild to think about.
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Right. So by refusing to participate in
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the civic festivals, the gladiatorial games, or the
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military oaths, all of which involved Pagan rights, the
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Christians were seen as threatening the very fabric of
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the state. So it would be like a modern
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citizen refusing to pay taxes. Refusing to recognize the court
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system and actively telling everyone that the government is
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controlled by literal demons. That's the exact psychological
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mechanism at play. If the crops failed or a plague
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broke out, the Romans genuinely believed the gods were angry
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because this new group was refusing to honor the social
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contract. Man, so understanding that they
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viewed Christians as an existential threat to public
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safety makes the persecutions contextually logical.
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It does, but I have to push back here based on the actual numbers
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given provides in these excerpts because understanding the
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political tension is one thing, but the reality of these
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persecutions totally shatters the Hollywood myth we all grew
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up with. Oh, completely.
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We have this cultural image of non-stop carnage right?
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You picture Roman magistrates acting like mustache twirling
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villains, actively hunting down Christians just to throw them in
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the Coliseum for sport. Yeah, that's the popular
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narrative. But Gibbon actually ran the
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historical numbers on this, and the math flips the whole thing.
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Over 3, 800 years of this supposedly relentless meat
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grinder, he estimates the total number of early Christian
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martyrs at roughly 2000. The contrast is staggering. 2000
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people over 3 centuries across the entire Roman Empire.
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Which is, I mean, it's still tragic, but it's remarkably low.
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Given actually explicitly contrast that figure with later
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religious conflicts to provide scale.
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He points out that during the 16th century, the Holy Roman
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Emperor Charles the 5th executed an estimated 100,000 Protestants
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in the Netherlands alone. Wait, so a later Christian
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empire killed 100,000 people in a single small region in just a
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few decades, whereas the Pagan Roman Empire, which is always
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depicted as the ultimate machine of religious oppression, killed
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a fraction of that number over 300 years?
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That means the persecutions weren't some empire wide policy
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of extermination. They absolutely were not.
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More often than not, the violence was driven from the
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bottom. Meaning the regular people.
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Right, it was driven by the panic of the local populace
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rather than top down imperial decrees.
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If there was an earthquake, a famine, or a flood, the
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terrified mob would demand that the Christians be punished to
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appease the angry gods. Wow, so the Roman magistrates
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were frequently forced to act simply to prevent widespread
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riots. Yes, Given highlights the
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correspondence between the Emperor Trajan and Pliny the
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Younger, who is a provincial governor.
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It perfectly illustrates. This Oh yeah, Pliny is
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essentially writing to the boss asking what to do with these
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people. Exactly.
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And Trajan explicitly tells him do not actively hunt the
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Christians down. He outright bans anonymous
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accusations because they're contrary to the spirit of Roman
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justice. That's fascinating.
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These letters reveal a Roman legal system that was actually
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surprisingly hesitant to employ the death penalty against
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citizens for purely ideological reasons.
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Because Trajan's goal was clearly to minimize the
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bloodshed and maintain social order, he didn't want to
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maximize executions. Right when Christians were
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brought to trial, the magistrates would practically
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plead with them. They would beg them to just
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throw a few grains of incense on the altar.
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Like the magistrate is sitting there thinking, just do the bare
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minimum, make the physical gesture of civic loyalty and I
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can let you go. Exactly.
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But the Christians refused. Which leads directly into the
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next massive question, right? If the persecutions were
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actually sporadic and the state wasn't actively trying to wipe
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them out, how did this tiny, illegal underground group grow
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large enough to take over the entire empire?
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It's the multimillion dollar question.
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And here's where it gets really interesting.
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Because the very things that made them outcasts forged them
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into an unstoppable force. They didn't just offer a new
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theology, they built an entirely parallel infrastructure, like a
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disruptive startup taking on an aging monopoly.
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That's a great way to put it. Given outline several
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sociological drivers for the rise of Christianity and you see
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how they all weave together to create a society within a
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society. Let's go through those.
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First, you have their inflexible, intolerant zeal.
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In a Roman world of religious ambiguity and constant
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compromise, the Christians absolutely refused to yield an
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inch. And that kind of absolute,
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unwavering certainty is incredibly magnetic to people
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searching for meaning. Oh, absolutely, especially when
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that certainty is paired with their view of the afterlife.
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Right. We talked about why they refused
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the magistrate's offer to just burn the incense.
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Roman paganism had a very vague, gloomy and unappealing view of
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the underworld. It.
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Was a very shadowy existence. But Christianity introduced a
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vivid, guaranteed promise of eternal paradise for believers
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and eternal fire for unbelievers.
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And when you truly believe that dying for your faith guarantees
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you immediate entry into paradise, the Roman magistrates
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threat of execution completely loses its leverage.
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The survival instinct is totally rewired.
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Yes, what's fascinating here is how that theological courage
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manifested in their daily lifestyle.
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Gibbon highlights their extremely pure and austere
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moral. Which stood out.
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Huge contrast. Keep in mind the Roman world in
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its later centuries was plagued by gross wealth inequality,
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political corruption, and massive social decay.
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In stark contrast, the early Christians lived incredibly
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disciplined, modest lives. And that discipline translated
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directly into how they treated each other.
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I mean, they essentially built the social safety net that the
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Roman government was failing to. Exactly.
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They became a state within a state.
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If we look at the internal mechanics, they collected their
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own voluntary taxes. They had a comprehensive welfare
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system that supported widows, orphans, the sick and the
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unemployed. They even had their own internal
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courts to settle disputes so members wouldn't have to
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interact with corrupt Roman judges.
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That's if we connect this to the bigger picture.
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You can see why it acted as a massive recruitment tool.
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If you are a poor, marginalized person in the Roman Empire, this
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community fees you, protects you, promises you eternal life,
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and treats you with a dignity that the state denies you.
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Plus, they operated this vast, interconnected network of
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bishops across the entire empire.
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They were constantly communicating, sharing resources
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and building a unified front. So by the early 4th century,
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this parallel society was too big, too organized, and too
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deeply embedded to ignore. And the Roman Empire is
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fracturing. At this point.
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You have civil wars, economic crises, and a total loss of
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unified identity. It brings us to Emperor
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Constantine. Right, the ultimate merger.
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He looks at this massive, highly disciplined underground network
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and he doesn't just see a quirky new religion, he sees a
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political solution. He realizes he can use their
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infrastructure. But the friction point here is
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the philosophy. How does an empire built on
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ruthless conquest, violence, and absolute submission reconcile
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with a religion that explicitly preaches turning the other cheek
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and loving your enemies? Seems like a massive
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contradiction. Yeah, how does a brutal,
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ambitious usurper like Constantine justify his absolute
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rule using the teachings of a man who was literally executed
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by the state? Well, Constantine's integration
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of the church was a breathtaking piece of political calculus.
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His initial decree? The famous Edict of Milan
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originally just offered universal toleration, freedom of
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religion for everyone. OK, but Constantine quickly
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recognized the unique political utility of the Christian
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Church's internal structure and theology, specifically the
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Christian doctrine of passive obedience.
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Right, because the early church taught that earthly authority
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was instituted by God, they believed the Emperor was
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essentially the Vicedrin of God on earth.
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Exactly. Which meant that political
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rebellion wasn't just a crime, it was a literal thin against
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heaven. That doctrine is the silver
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bullet for an absolute monarch. Pagan populations might rebel if
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their specific local interests or local gods were threatened,
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but the Christians offered a theological mandate for absolute
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submission to the throne regardless of local politics.
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So Constantine saw that by Co opting the church he could unify
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A fractured empire under one God and one emperor.
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The theological hierarchy mapped perfectly onto the political
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hierarchy he wanted to establish.
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So the underground resistance movement basically gets acquired
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by the imperial monopoly? Yes.
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And the terms of that acquisition completely
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transformed the church overnight.
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They were instantly showered with immense wealth.
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The state started funding the construction of massive
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basilicas. And the clergy were suddenly
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granted total tax exemptions. Which, in an empire where Roman
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taxes were famously crushing, was a phenomenal transfer of
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wealth and power. Oh, absolutely.
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Bishops were suddenly given legal authority to act as state
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judges. The persecuted minority was
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essentially handed the levers of the greatest political machine
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on earth. And this brings us to the final
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segment, the tragic irony of ultimate power.
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This is the pivot that Given captures with such sharp
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insight. It exposes the fragile nature of
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revolutionary zeal, because when you are a persecuted minority,
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your zeal keeps you alive. Your unity is forged by the
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external pressure of the state. But when the underdog finally
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wins and you possess absolute power, that external pressure
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vanishes. You no longer have a common
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enemy to fight. So what does this all mean for
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you, the listener? What happens?
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That fierce, uncompromising zeal that helped them survive the
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Roman persecutions doesn't just dissipate.
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No, it turns inward. Without the Pagan state to push
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against, the Christians began fighting each other and the
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terrifying difference is that now they are doing it with the
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backing of the interior military.
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Exactly. We see the oppressed rapidly
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adopt the tactics of their former oppressors.
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The internal schisms that erupted ended up tearing the
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newly Christianized empire apart.
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Like the Trinitarian controversies?
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Yes, you had two massive factions, the Aryans and the
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Athanasians, and it is crucial to understand that these were
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not just polite theologians debating in the library.
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No, these were massive political voting blocs.
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Right aligned with different emperors, military generals and
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regional power centers, they were fighting violently over the
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precise metaphysical nature of Christ, whether he was Co
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eternal with God the Father or a created being.
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And Gibbon highlights the dark tragic comedy of this entire
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conflict. This massive empire wide war
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eventually boiled down to a dispute over 2 Greek words,
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homolution, meaning of the same substance and homolusion,
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meaning of a similar substance. The only difference between
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those two words is a single letter.
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And I an iota. A literally an iota of
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different. Unbelievable.
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And yet that single letter sparked violent riots.
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It's in the streets of Alexandria and Constantinople.
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Bishops were deposed, exiled and murdered by rival factions.
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Mobs slaughtered each other in the streets.
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Over an iota. The Roman military, which was
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supposed to be guarding the frontiers, was frequently
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deployed inward to enforce highly specific theological
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nuances upon the populace. As unsettling as that is, the
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psychology gets even darker when you look at North Africa with
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the Donatis schism. The Donatists provide a
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terrifying case study in unchecked fanaticism.
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They believe the mainstream church had been fatally
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corrupted by those who compromised during the earlier
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Roman persecutions. They demanded absolute,
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uncompromising purity. Right and out of this demand for
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purity spawned a radical, violent militant wing known as
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the Circumsilience. The circumcillions are almost
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hard to believe. They were essentially fanatical
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peasant gangs roaming the North African countryside, and because
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they were technically trying to adhere to a literal
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interpretation of Jesus telling Peter to put away his sword,
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they refused to use bladed weapons.
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So instead they beat their theological opponents to death
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with massive, heavy wooden clubs.
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And they ironically named those clubs Israelites.
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It was a complete reign of terror across the countryside,
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but the darkest element of the Circumsillians was their twisted
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desire for martyrdom. Right, because the Roman state
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was now Christian and no longer executing them for their faith,
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they felt deprived of the ultimate spiritual crown of
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martyrdom. So they would seek out death
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themselves through extreme provocation.
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They would literally stop armed travelers on the road and
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demand, under threat of death, that the travelers kill them.
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Yes, they would force strangers to murder them just so they
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could claim they died for the faith.
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It is a complete inversion of everything the early movement
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originally stood for. They went from passively
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accepting death at the hands of the state to violently forcing
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others to deliver it. Which leads directly to Gibbons
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deeply melancholy conclusion regarding this whole era.
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Yeah, what? He tallies up the historical
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record. He concludes that Christians,
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once they detained the levers of state power, inflicted far
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greater severities, far more torture, and far more death upon
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each other than they ever experienced from the hands of
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the Pagan emperors. So as we wrap up this deep dive,
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when you zoom out from the historical details, the
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blueprint given maps out becomes incredibly recognizable for us
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today. It really does.
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The mechanisms of power, the coercion, the state violence,
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the need to enforce conformity. They do not vanish when a new
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group takes charge, they simply change their ideological
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uniform. You see how a massive government
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can Co opt in ideology even 1 fundamentally based on peace,
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and weaponize it to enforce unity, right?
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It forces you to realize that a movement's foundational values
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can be completely, tragically inverted the absolute second it
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attains political power. History suggests that we
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shouldn't ask how the oppressed will rule once they take the
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throne, but rather who they will point the lions at next.
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And I think this raises an important question when we look
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at how societies organize themselves today.
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The Romans demanded civic loyalty through the burning of
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incense. It was their required proof that
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you bought into the state's operating system, right?
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If modern secular states have simply replaced civic religion
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with civic ideology, we have to ask ourselves what is the modern
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equivalent of burning incense? When new dominant cultural
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institutions demand absolute ideological alignment for the
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sake of societal unity? Are they actually dismantling
19:40
the old oppressive structures, or are they just updating the
19:43
code base for the exact same Roman machinery?