Servants and witnesses?

Probably the greatest catastrophe the Christian church has experienced down through the ages, is the one that occurred in AD 323.

In being publicly recognized as  belonging to the official, favoured religion, believers were not only gradually relieved of their status as outcasts and enemies of society. They soon found themselves having to handle what churches have never been very good at handling: power.

Relief - for a while

It must have been a terrific relief no longer having to fear being hounded like dogs, or risk being thrown to the lions. What a colossal blessing it must have felt like being offered not the choice between massive torture or renouncing your faith, but instead being offered key positions in society - the unlikely prospect of modelling society in light of Christ's teachings. A fantastic opportunity that shouldn't be missed, right?

In some ways it was a good decision, but in most ways it turned out to be highly detrimental to these vibrant organisms that many churches had been. Faced with new and confusing freedoms, the sense of utter dependency on their Lord for survival and growth seemed to wane. Faith in Christ became vogue now, and the company of the formerly despised was now highly prized. And lured by this new popularity, it appears that laders and saints alike were beginning to think that pomp and glory now should be associated with this imperial religion. They had, after all, moved up in society?

The power that corrupts

The more modest basilicas, the very first and more rudimentary church buildings, eventually were replaced by towering cathedrals, and the simple, unstructured communal life began almost imperceptibly to move towards a rigid, hierarchic society run by professional clergy. And, sure enough, all the trappings of established religion were soon in place. Bishops and priests were soon the talk of town, being paid the respect their high standing called for. And being appropriately attired they would lead their worship services in a langue only they would understand: Latin.

Whatver happened to the gospel? Whatever happened to Jesus? The simple servants and witnesses, the untrained but highly spiritually competent, who had seen the likes of Lazarus being miraculously resurrected from the dead, all the while being relentlessly opposed by the religious establishment, soon found themselves in markedly different roles. As church and state slowly blended into one, the sword no longer was aimed at the believer, but at the infidels: all who refused to play the part they were assigned by the church. And because of their opposition to the One True Church, their fates were cruelly sealed.

From truth to terror

Certainly, there has always been communities where the servants and witnesses have been busy simply doing to others what they would want others do to them, but the reputation of the Christian church has been forever tarnished by unimagineable outpourings of terror, by the merciless bloodshed in the wake of the unholy Crusades, or by the pointless persecution and murder of perceived or real heretics and dissidents.

The Medieval Church was peopled by some of the worst sheep the fold has ever seen, reaching the high point of its partially sinister reign in the attempt to blot out any sign of the truly christlike communities well within its vast reach:

It was no longer the Emperor of Rome who tyrannised society. It was the popes, cardinals and bishops. 

The hedonist had been replaced by the fanatically pious.