The Setting
Rome darned near lasted 1500+ years! That is mind-boggling.
From tribes to Republic, through tyrants and emperors and world-conquest it formed, melted, shaped and solidified authority.
In the end, it was too large and unmanageable to govern. It divided and was conquered.
But, Vampires in the Church is the title of this Topic!
How do we get there from the Roman Empire?
Read on, gentle reader.......read on!
Historically, power does not yield authority. Power must grow and maintain or vanish.
Rome fashioned straight highways for its legions to march upon swiftly. It could conquer and maintain with force of arms.
Soldiers could retire with citizenship and property as an incentive. Even captured slaves could become firmly installed as "somebody."
Where are the Vampires in the Church? Just keep reading, dammit! Stop being so impatient....
The earth was filled with countless religions and Rome was not AGAINST any of them!
Rome wisely ABSORBED religious practices and tolerated them.
If you were conquered by Rome you were allowed to keep your own leaders and religion! You just had to pay tribute...and...if you were threatened by anybody Rome would immediately launch a defense on your behalf! Not a bad deal.
The Introduction
The Greeks were different from the later Romans. Greeks were all about GREEK CULTURE and GREEK RELIGION.
When Alexander the Great conquered the world he spread all things GREEK! He died and his generals divided up the empire between them.
Judea contained the Jews and monotheistic religion of YHVH, a priesthood, a temple, sacrifices and a written LAW.
But--no Vampires?
I said Be Patient---that is coming....just pay attention......
In Judea, the Jews faced an existential decision. The Greek rulers would not tolerate Jewish culture.
The Jews could transform from obscurity and ancient ideas, backward technology and insignificance IF they adopted GREEK WAYS. Some of the Jewish leaders thought this was Progress while others reacted violently to PRESERVE the past: especially the religion.
This is the beginning of our VAMPIRE story!
But, it is subtle.....so, pay attention!
The Decision
Caught between two Greek generals Ptolemy and Seleucid a struggle ensued! Let's skip the bloody details. Antiochus ruled the Seleucid empire and he intruded upon Judaism by wiping out everything pertaining to Jehovah worship. Everything! Being 100% GREEK was his goal.
Using guerilla tactics (moving target) the Jewish armies succeeded in frustrating the Greeks who had only faced FORMAL BATTLE LINES.
For a brief while----a narrow little wedge of historical time---a very important TRANSFORMATION took place that changed all of history.
Does it concern Vampires in the Church?
Well, it does concern Vampires........but....not YET in the Church.
Read on...
The Pure Worship of old-fashioned ways won out over Greek Progress and Jewish Modernists. This is the Maccabees we are talking about.
You can pick up your NWT and-----NOT read about it. Ohhhh, sorry. A Catholic can pick up THEIR translation and read about it.
Protestants pretend all of this didn't happen and you don't need to know it!
YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT.
Why?
It concerns Vampires in the Church! Aren't you paying attention to the Topic??
Where were we?
Oh yes--The reactionary Jews beat the Greeks and the sell-out modern Jews who wanted to join the Real World!
These Maccabees ruled Judea with Jehovah Worship and proceeded to persecute anybody who didn't agree with them.
Are you listening? THIS IS IMPORTANT!
A Pivotal Moment
At this pivotal moment in Jewish history the little guy becomes the Big Man.
Will the Macabbean rulers rest on pure worship and religious freedom OR....will they become the agressors and FORCE all the other Jews to do what THEY think is right for them?
Pharisees were on one side.......................and...............Saducees were on the other side of this decision.
We'll meet these guys later.
The point to remember is that the decision was made to EXPAND the Jewish religion into a STATE with political allies by forcing all Jews to worship one and only one way.
The HASMONEAN KINGDOM was the end result of a lot of bloodshed.
This kingdom did NOT have to pay the upcoming ROMANS any tribute!!
(Where are the damn Vampires? I'm tired of all this history!)
Okay! Okay! Here they come. Here come the Vampires!
Who are the Maccabees?
The Maccabees own Hasmonean Kings killed Freedom of Worship.
How? Weren't they fighting for Freedom of Worship?
Sure-for their OWN idea of worship. Not for anybody else's!
No freedom of choice was allowed to survive. My way or the highway.
The rest of the world became transformed by Greek culture. Rome included!
The Jewish world shrunk into a fist of persecution of its own people and a flimsy political alliance.
The right to choose what you believe, how you worship and to do so unmolested was DEAD. The spilled blood of fellow Jews
attested. 103 years an Independant Kingdom of Jews survived surrounded by fading Greeks and ascending Romans.
Once ROME had reached full power it conquered those who were too independant to exact tribute.
in 63 b.c.e. General Pompey deposed official Jewish worship and entered the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem.
Jews, Jerusalem, the religion and the state were now a ROMAN CLIENT STATE.
The Plot Thickens
HEROD was installed by Mark Antony (of Cleopatra fame) after a brief attempt to join the Parthians against the Romans.
No more Hasmonean dynasty! No more Maccabees!
Brace Yourselves
What lived on like something DEAD that rose from its grave to feed on the life's blood of Jehovah worship?
What mythical legend could it be? It would haunt the Jewish religion all of its days?
Could it be the idea of MESSIAH?
Legend Becomes Reality
Remember that Greek general of Alexander's, Ptolemy? He ruled over Judea for awhile in competition with Seleucus.
Here is the legend about his part in producing an important document (SEPTUAGINT) that contained 39 instances of THE MESSIAH.
'King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one, without revealing to them why they were summoned. He entered each one's room and said: "Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher." God put it in the heart of each one to translate identically as all the others did.' [ 10 ]
For the Jews and later christians THIS WAS THE ONLY BIBLE they ever saw!!
Planted inside, those 39 MESSIAH references!
Combined with Torah and Talmud, the Septuagint ignited a burning desire for JEWISH DOMINATION of all the enemies surrounding them.
This taste of world empire had been ignited by the success of the Maccabees over Greeks and surrounding "enemies".
Belief in the eventual coming of the Messiah...is part of the minimum requirements of Jewish belief. In the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, recited three times daily, we pray for all of the elements of the coming of the Messiah: gathering of the exiles; restoration of the religious courts of justice; an end of wickedness, sin, and heresy; reward to the righteous; rebuilding of Jerusalem; restoration of the line of King David; and restoration of Temple service. [ 15 ]
A Stake in the heart of Judaism
Jesus and hundreds of other candidates for Messiah came and went from the scene. The story of Jesus became viral. It survived the destruction of Jerusalem when zealots prodded Rome into retaliation. This legendary MESSIAH became inseparable from JESUS as far as the "CHRISTIANS" were concerned.
The Jesus who was destroyed by the Romans RETURNED FROM THE DEAD and sucked the life out of Judaism's claim to True Worship using blood.
The blood of the Lamb, it was said, to transform the world according to Messianic legend!
Ironically, the same Roman empire that destroyed Jewish Worship in 66 c.e. put the Power of Rome behind making Messiah Jesus the official religion!
True Followers walked in the footsteps of this Messiah by imitation. A monolithic institution (Catholic Church) with the power of Roman authority swept across the face of the earth sucking the tributes and allegience out of all rulers and territories it could command.
Vampires in the church.
The blood of the risen dead was all the authority necessary to conquer the world!
Thus......like Jesus.....Vampires in the Church.
Rome died, but, the Church lived on.
The Jews dispersed, gathered and still search for their elusive Messiah.