The Church During The Dark Ages

The Church During The Dark Ages THE CHURCH DURING THE DARK AGES
ROBERT C. JONES THAT MAN MIGHT fulfill the purpose for which he was created, God gave him the Bible. If we follow the teaching of this book, we honor the Lord, help our fellow man and save ourselves. Of course we are interested in this, the greatest of all books, and in its history. The Bible was complete when the New Testament scriptures were fully revealed, re-cored and “once for all delivered unto the saints” in the first century A. D. Before this revelation was completed an approaching darkness was seen. “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3) “But the spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth.” (1 Timothy 4:1-3) “The mystery of lawlessness doth already work.” (2 Thessalonians 2:7) “I wrote somewhat unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Therefore, if I come, I will bring to remembrance his works which he doeth, prating against us with wicked words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and them that would he forbiddeth and casteth them out of the church.” (3 John 1:9-10) In addition to these and many other statements from God’s book we have much information from great historians of the past. Hegesippus, a great historian of the second century tells us about some of the departures in the early church at Jerusalem. He said: “after James the just had died as a martyr, Simeon the son of his Uncle Clopas was appointed bishop, whom all pressed forward as being the second cousin of the Lord. Therefore they called the church a virgin. For it was not yet corrupted with empty speeches. But Thebouthis begins to corrupt it because he was not made bishop, being from the seven heresies,—from these came false Christs, false Prophets, false Apostles, who divided the unity of the church with corrupt words against God and against Christ.” Hegesippus died about the year 190. In the first part of the second century Marcion was born. His father was an elder of the church at Sinope, in Pontus. Marcion quarrelled with his father, about the position of the church on Old Testament scripture. He went to Rome, quarrelled with the church there and left it. He started a church of his own in about 144. Churches of his sect were to be found as late as the fifth century. Marcion accepted the eleven New Testament books. The gospel by Luke and ten epistles of Paul. In selecting these he rejected others, and thus he refers to most of the books of the New Testament.

Dr. Mosheim on page sixty of his Ecclesiastical History, says, “These councils of which we find not the smallest trace before the middle of this century, (second) changed the whole face of the church, and gave it a new form: for by them the ancient privileges of the people were considerably diminished, and the power and authority of the bishops greatly augmented. The humility, indeed, and prudence of these pious prelates, prevented their assuming all at once the power with which they were afterward invested. At their first appearance in these general councils, they acknowledged that they were no more than the delegates of their respective churches, and that they acted in the name, and by the appointment of their people. But they soon changed this humble tone, imperceptibly extended their limits of authority, turned their influence into dominion, and their counsels into laws; and openly asserted, at length, that Christ had empowered them to prescribe to his people authoritative rules of faith and manners.” So the shadows began to fall, and the glorious light of the unpreverted gospel did not continue to illume the hearts and lives of men. This apostasy finally corrupted all the teaching, faith and practice of the church. The Bible during these dark ages, is our subject. And in as much as our time and space is limited we shall deal with matters pertaining to the New Testament especially. The inspired truths were first written on papyrus or parchment. Papyrus was the common writing material, the paper*, of that day. It was the cheaper material and not very durable. Parchment was, on the contrary, more expensive, very durable and could be bent and used at will. The early disciples accepted these writings as scripture from the first. Soon after these books were given to the people many copies and translations were made. They were recognized and quoted as authority by the early teachers and writers, and before many years had passed they were considered as books that should be preserved for future generations. The original manuscripts have perished, were destroyed or they remain undiscovered. Some day some of the original copies may be found. Several thousand valuable manuscripts and versions have been found. We depend upon these, together with the testimony of the early church fathers* for information concerning the original writings. The manuscripts are divided into two groups or classes. The uncials, or large letters and the minuscules, or small letter manuscripts. The most valuable manuscripts are in the uncial class, and the best one in this class is the Codex Aleph or Sinaiticus. This old Bible was found by Tischen- dorf in the monestary of St. Catharine at Mount Sinai. Forty- three leaves were found in 1844, the rest, three hundred and forty six leaves in 1859. The forty-three leaves were carried to Leipzig, Germany, the rest to St. Petersburg, Russia, where it was placed in the Imperial Library. According to the best authorities this book was written during the first part of the fourth century, by four scribes, in four columns to the page, on fine parchment. The manuscript contains most of the Old Testament, all of the New Testament, the book of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. At the close of the book of Esther is a statement which refers to the comparison and collection of this manuscript with a manuscript of Phamphilus, which is called “very old.” Russia paid the monks at Sinai an amount equal to about six thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars for this volume, and in December 1934 sold it to England for five hundred thousand dollars. It is now in the British Museum in London.

Another great old manuscript is the Codex Vaticanus. There are several indications of some kind of a connection between this volume and the codex Sinaiticus in the days of their making. The Vatican manuscript was written in the fourth century, by three scribes, in three columns to the page, on fine parchment. At the first almost forty-six chapters of Genesis are lacking. The last part of Hebrews, First and Second Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Revelation are missing. The close of Hebrews and the Revelation were supplied out of another manuscript in the fifteenth century. This volume was in the Vatican library in 1475, in Paris in 1809, later it was carried back to Rome, where it remains in the Vatican library. In the year 331 Constantine wrote Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, asking him to have fifty fine copies of the Bible made, and to send them to him in Constantinople. Eusebius was a very learned man and the bishop in the city with the most celebrated Christian library, the great library of Pamphilus. Some scholars think the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus volumes were among the fifty books prepared by Eusebius for Constantine.

According to Tischendorfs view one scribe wrote both volumes. In speaking of these Constantine Bibles, Eusebius says he wrote them “by threes and fours,” if he referred to the number of columns to the page, as some think, these two manuscripts fit the description given and in this respect could have been among the books written for Constantine. The Alexandrian manuscript was probably written in the last half of the fifth century, and in Egypt. It was presented to the patriarch of Alexandria in the year 1098, the name “Codex Alexandrinus” is given to it because of this fact. This manuscript like the others mentioned is a manuscript of the
whole Bible, although a few leaves are lacking. The writing is in two columns, the uncial letters are small and 'neat. At the beginnings of the books a few lines are written in red for ornament. It is now in the British Museum.

Let us (notice the other great uncial manuscript which at first contained both the Old a'nd the New Testaments. The Codex Ephraemi. It was probably written in Egypt before the middle of the fifth century. This manuscript- has suffered much, there are now only two hundred and nine leaves, of which one hundred and forty-five belong to the New Testa-ment. All the books of the New Testament are represented except Second John and Second Thessalonians. It is written in single columns. It is in the National Library at Paris. These four great Bibles, the Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexau- drinus and Ephraemi were written during the first part of the dark ages. The minuscle manuscripts are numerous, and range widely through the countries and the centuries. These manuscripts are denoted by Arabic numbers. The first manuscript, 1, of the tenth century, contains all the books of the New Testament except Revelation. This book was used in the correction of the proofs of Erasmus’ New Testament. Number 33, has all the New Testament books except Revelation. It is a very fine text, written in the ninth or tenth century. Number 1194, of the tenth or eleventh century, was written on the island Patmos in the cave where the Apostle John is supposed to have stayed while receiving the Revelation. Number 463, was written by a monk Nicholas in the year 835, and is o*ne of the oldest Greek manuscripts in small letters that is known. The ninth century probably saw the first books written in minuscle letters. All these minuscle manuscripts and. hundreds of others were written during the very middle of the dark ages.

Beginning before the dark ages and continuing on through those years of darkness the work of translating the holy scriptures into the different languages of the earth was carried on. Eusebius says, that the writings of the Apostles wrere translated in the whole world, in all languages of the
Greeks and Barbarians; and Chrysostom and Theodoret repeat the remark with still greater emphasis.

Latin Translations. The Greek and Latin languages were cognate, and they were coexistent in many provinces' of the Roman Empire. The translation would in this case be much earier than in many other versions. The first Latin translation was probably made in Northern Africa in the second century, and before many years had passed Latin versions were numerous. This fact is easily explained if the case was stated correctly by Augustine: “Those who translated the scriptures from Hebrew into the Greek can be enumerated; but the Latin translators by no means. For in the early days of the faith when any one received a Greek manuscript into his hands and seemed to have ever so little facility in language, he dared to translate it.”. This statement concerning the great variety of Latin translations is corroborated by the documents, manuscripts and quotations preserved. The text was so altered and corrupted that at least twenty-seven variant reading were given for Luke 24:4-5. In other words, as Jerome says: “as many readings as copies.” During the fourth century the Latin church must have suffered no little because of so many versions of variant readings, and no single version generally accepted. In about 382 Damasus, bishop of Rome, commissioned Jerome to prepare an author-itative revision. Jerome accepted the task assigned by Damasus and began work on a translation that has had an ufnparalled history. Jerome did most of the work in Bethlehem, where he lived from about 386 until the time of his death in 420. He says: “The New Testament I have restored to the true Greek form, the Old I have rendered from the Hebrew.” The Greek manuscript or manuscripts used by Jerome must have been of the type of the Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. It was centuries before the revision of Jerome was accepted by the church. “So great is the force of estab-lished usage,” says Jerome, “that even acknowledged corruptions please the greater part, for they prefer to have their copies pretty rather than correct.” At the end of the sixth century when Gregory the Great sat in the chair at Rome both the old and new translation was used. The ninth century has been named as the time when Jerome’s work came into general use. Jerome’s translation was not known as the Vulgate for many centuries. Perhaps the name was not definitely attached to it until the decree of the Council of Trent in 1546. It was used first not as a name, but merely as an adjective in the sense of “common” or “current.”

Among the Vulgate manuscripts we have the Codex Fuldensis, which contains the whole New Testament. This book was written about the vear 540, at the wish of Victor of Capua. The Codex Amiatinus, was written shortly before the year 716 by the order of Ceolfrid, the abbot of Yarrow. It was carried as a gift to Rome. The Codex of St. Emmeram, of the year 870 was written in gold by Berengar and Liuthard at the order of Charles the Bald. It is ornamented with beautiful pictures. In the year 1590 Pope Sixtus V. made an edition of the Latin text of the New Testament, and declared his edition to be the Vulgate to which the Council of Trent had pointed, and that it “must be received and held as true, legitimate, authentic, and undoubted, in all public and private disputations, lectures, sermons, and explanations.” It was discovered at once that Sixtus’s edition was extraordinarily bad, and that it must be suppressed and replaced by another. The new edition appeared in the year 1592 under Clement VIII., and is called the Clementine Vulgate. It was far better than the bad edition of Sixtus V., but was not so carefully revised or as good as it should have been. Almost three and one half centuries have passed since the Clementine Vulgate was published, the best and most authoritative manuscripts in man’s1 possession have been found or their value discovered, but the church of Rome has not published a good, full and complete Latin text.

Syriac Translations. Indications are that the New Testament scriptures were translated into the Syrian language by the middle of the second century. The great Peshitto (New Testament) was probably written in the fourth century. The word Peshitto means “simple,”.it seems to amount to as much as “usual,” “current,” “common,” and may be compared with the Vulgate in the Latin church. The Peshitto is not the only form of the Syrian text. Another form is called the Jerusalem or Palestinian. It was probably written for a Syrian church in Palestine during the fourth century. The double form Syrian translations were first written in the last of the fifth or first of the sixth century, and agree largely with a'n ivory binding which is much older.

Armenian Translations. The Armenians used at first the Syrian Bible. But according to the statements of Koriun, Lazar of Parpi, and Moses of Chorene, the scriptures were translated by Mesrob, Sahag, Eznik, and others between 396 and 430 from the manuscripts brought from Edessa, Constantinople, and Alexandria. At Moscow is a copy of the Gospels dated 887, at Echmiadzin is a manuscript written in 989, with an ivory binding which is much older.

Egyptian Coptic Versions. According to the life of Saint Anthony, he heard the Gospel read in the church in the Egyptian language. So a part or all the New Testament must have been translated by the middle of the third century. The dialect of Lower Egypt is represented by a translation which has been called Alexandrian and Memphitic, but is now termed Boheiric. The dialect of Upper Egypt gives us the Thebaic or Saidic translation. These two appear to have been made directly from the Greek.

Gothic Version. Ulfilas, the Moses of the Goths, as Constantine styled him was made bishop in about 341 at Antioch and died between 380 and 383. He gave to his people the alphabet and the Bible. The version is said to be very faithful, following the text used by Chrysostom. The larger manuscripts of this version is the Codex Argenteus, of the sixth century, on purple parchment in silver letters.

Parts of the New Testament were translated into the Anglo-Saxon and German languages in the eighth century. Many other translations could be mentioned but enough has been said to give a fair idea of the history of the translation of the Bible during the dark ages. The Bible, or parts of it, has been translated into about five hundred different languages.

Let us notice the history of the Bible during the dark ages as viewed through the writings of some of the church fathers, beginning about the middle of the second century. During the last half of the second century Irenaeus was bishop at Lyons. When a boy he saw Polycarp at Smyrna. He tells that that he remembers just where and how Polycarp sat and preached to the multitude, and how he told of his connection with John and with others who had seen the Lord, and of some things he had heard from them about the Lord and about his miracles and teaching, and having received it, Polycarp announced all things in unison with the scriptures. Irenaeus’ high appreciation and use of the scripture is seen in this statement, “the Apostles gave the church over to the bishops,—and the fullest use of the scriptures which have reached us in careful custody without corruption, consenting neither to adddition nor subtraction.”

Tertullian, the first great writer of Latin Christianity and one of the grandest and most original characters of the ancient church, lived in Carthage during the last part of the second and first part of the third century. His writings cover the whole theological field of the time, or the whole reorganization of human life on a Christian basis. Tertullian was well acquainted with the New Testament scriptures. He writes', “In short, if it be agreed that that is the truer which is earlier, that earlier, which is even from the beginning, that from the beginning which is from the Apostles, it will also likewise surely be agreed that that was handed down from the Apostles which has been sacredly preserved among the churches of the Apostles.” Origen, the most famous Christian writer and teacher of the third century, was born probably at Alexandria, about 182, and died at Caesarea between 250 and 254. When he was about twenty years of age his father Leonidas, was martyred.

Origen became a great scholar, and devoted himself assiduously to teaching and writing. Jerome says that he wrote more books than other men can read, and Epiphansius places the total number at six thousand. He wrote commentaries on both the Old and New Testaments. In his homilies on Joshua 7:1, he says: “But our Lord Jesus Christ coming, whose advent that former son of Nun pointed out, sends as priest His apostles' bearing well-drawn trumpets, the magnificent and heavenly doctrine of preaching. First Matthew sounded with priestly trumpet in his Gospel. Mark also, and Luke, and John sang each with their priestly trumpets. Peter also sounds with the two trumpets of his Epistles. James also and Jude. None the less does John also here still further sing with the trumpets by his Epistles and the Revelation, and Luke describing the deeds of the apostles. Latest of all, moreover, that one coming who said: I think, moreover, that God makes a show of us newest apostles, and thundering with the fourteen trumpets of his Epistles he threw dawn the very foundations of the walls of Jericho and all the contrivances of idolatry, and dogmas of the phi-losophers.”

Eusebius of Caesarea, the Father of Church History, was born between 260 and 280, he was bishop of Caesarea before 315, and died in 339 or 340. Of the extensive literary activity of Eusebius, a relatively large portion has been preserved. At first he occupied himself with works on biblical criticism, under the influence of Pamphilus and prob ably of Dorotheus of the school of Antioch. Afterward the persecutions under Diocletian and Galerius directed his attention to the martyrs of his own time and the past. And this led him to the history of the whole church and finally to the history of the world, which to him was only a preparation for ecclesiastical history. In summing up the writings of the New Testament Eusebius gives this statement, “and we must set first of all the holy four of the Gospels, which the writing of the Acts of the Apostles follows. And after this we must name the Epistles of Paul, and in connection with them we must confirm the current First Epistle of John and likewise the Epistle of Peter. In addition to these is to be placed, if that appear perhaps just, the Revelation of John, about which we shall in due time set forth what has been thought. And these are among the acknowledged books. And of the disputed books, but known then nevertheless to many, the epistle of James is current to that of Jude, and the Second Epistle of Peter and the Second and Third named for John, whether they happen to be of the Evangelist or of another of the same name with him.”

Sometime before Easter in the year 367 Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, wrote an Epistle and gave a list of the books of the Bible. He writes, “But since we have referred to the heretics as dead, and to us as having the divine scriptures unto salvation, and as I fear, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, lest some few of the simple may be led astray by deceit from the simplicity and purity by the wiles of men, and finally may begin to read the so- called apocrypha, deceived by the likeness of the names to those of the true books, I beg you to have patience if in alluding to these things I write also about things that you understand because of necessity and of what is useful for the Church.” After giving a list of Old Testament books he says, “And those of the New we must not hesitate to say. For they are these: Four Gospels, according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, according to John. Then after these Acts of Apostles and so-called Catholic Epistles seven thus: Of James one, but of Peter two, then of John three, and after these of Jude one. In addition to these there are of Paul fourteen Epistles, in the order thus: first to the Romans, then to the Corinthians two, then also after these to the Galatians, and following to the Ephesians, then to the Philippians, and to the Colossians, and to the Thessalonians two. And the Epistle to the Hebrews, and following to Timothy two, and to Titus one. And again John’s Revelation. These are the wells of salvation, so that he who thirsts may be satisfied with the saying in these. In these alone is the teaching of godliness heralded. Let no one add to these. Let nothing be taken away from these.”

John Chrysostom, “The Golden-mouthed” was born in Antioch, in about 345 or 347, he died near Comana, in Pontus, September 14, 407. So the work and the writings of Chrysostom bring us into the fifth century. He was bishop of Constantinople, and preeminently a man of the scriptures. His sermons cover practically the whole Bible, including seventy- six on Genesis, ninety on Matthew, eighty-eight on John, fifty-five on Acts, and two hundred and forty-two on the Epistles of Paul, not counting a commentary on Galatians worked up from the sermons. Many other works from his pen are preserved. Augustine, “The Chief of the Latin Fathers,” was born at Thagaste in Numidia, November 13, 354. He was converted in 387, became bishop of Hippo in 395, and died August 28, 430. He wrote hundreds of treatises, letters and sermons', and took an active part in all the great discussions and disputations of his day.

Let us go into the ninth century and into some of the darkest days of the middle ages. Claudius, who became bishop of Turin in about 820, was born in Spain in the latter half of the eighth century, and died in Turin before 832. He was one of the most radical iconoclasts of his time. He protested against the use of images, the invocation of Saints, the ven-eration of relics, and opposed the growing power of the bishop of Rome. He was famous for his knowledge of the holy scriptures. He wrote commentaries on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and the books of Kings, also on Matthew, Galatians, Ephesians, and First Corinthians, and an exposition of all the Epistles of Paul. In a sense he may be numbered with the precursors of the reformation. The expositors and commentators, who attempted in the tenth century to explain the scriptures, were too mean in their abilities, and too unsuccessful in their undertakings to be mentioned in this brief study. In the eleventh century Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury is supposed to have written a commentary on the Psalms, and on the Epistles of Paul, also an ecclesiastical history. Stephen Langton, was made archbishop of Canterbury an. June 17, 1207. He was a voluminous writer. Glosses, commentaries, expositions, treatises, and sermons by him on many books of the Bible are preserved. It was probably Stephen Langton who first di-vided the the Bible into chapters. The study of the Bible during the dark ages. Beginning with the Apostles' and continuing for several centuries, the leading teachers and writters admonished the people to read and study the holy scriptures. Chrysostom frequently, both in private conversation and public discourses, exhorted his hearers not to rest satisfied with that which they heard read from the scriptures in the church, but to read them elso with their families at home. He often traced the corruptions of the church, as well in doctrine, as in life, the spread of error, and of vice to the prevailing ignorance of the scriptures. Augustine says: “Do not allow yourselves to be so immersed in present, earthly things as to be obliged to say, I have no time to read or to hear God’s word.” Sound teaching and good admonition like this did not continue. The church drifted so far from the truth, and became so corrupt in its teaching, faith and practice, that it caused no little trouble when those not under the direct control of the Pope, came to know what the Bible really taught. Those reading the scriptures could, and many did, see that the church of their day was not the church of Christ. In order to help this and other troublesome situations the fourth council of Constantinople, in 869 passed the decree recognizing written tradition as authority in the church as a “secondary oracle.” This was not enough to support them in all their evil and unscriptural practice. So in 1546 at the council of Trent, all tradition, written and oral was placed on a level with divine revelation. The Bible was forbidden to the laity by the council of Toulouse in 1229. The decree was as follows: “We forbid also the permitting of the laity to have the books of the Old and New Testaments, unless any should wish, from a feeling of devotion, to have a psalter or breviary for divine service. But we most strictly forbid them to have the above-mentioned books in the vulgar tongue.” On page 80 of “The Question Box” by Conway, we find these words: “we do not in any way pre-suppose that the books of the New Testament are inspired, but only that they are genuine, authentic documents written by honest men.” The writers of the New Testament claimed to be inspired, if they were not inspired, they are liars, and not honest men. On page 89 of “The Faith Of Our Fathers” by Cardinal Gibbons, we have this statement: “the scriptures alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith because they cannot, at any time, be within the reach of every inquirer; because they are not of themselves clear and intelligible even in matters of highest importance, and because they do not contain all the truths necessary for salvation.” By making tradition equal to the Word of God, by forbidding the Bible to the laity, and by teaching that the holy scriptures are not sufficient, they divert the minds and hearts of the people from the sacred truths. When some study of the scriptures was made by honest and courageous men the reformation be-gan. When a full and complete study of these inspired truths was made by honest and courageous men the restoration began. We shall be able to continue in this great work in keeping with our knowledge of, and faithfulness to, the Word of God. When we consider the ancient manuscripts, the early translations, and the writings of the early fathers, we are assured that we have in our present Bible, without addition or subtraction, the truth that holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, and we almost blush for the arrogrance, ignorance, and stupidity of those who have stigmatized these sacred books as fictions or forgeries. Let them first prove that all history and all nations are an illusive cheat; that Homer never suhg in Greece; that Caesar never reigned in Rome; and that Cromwell never rebelled in England. Until then let them not think of denying the genuineness and the credibility of the Bible. In an address before the Bible Union Convention, held at Memphis, Tennessee on April 2, 1852, Alexander Campbell said: “I have never seen any English Version Romanist or Protestant, orthodox or heterodox, however imperfect, from which a man of sense and industry might not learn the way to heaven.”