Great Apostasy

The Great Apostasy is a term used by some religious groups to describe the perceived fallen state of traditional Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic Church, because they claim it allowed traditional Greco-Roman culture (i.e.Greco-Roman mysteries, deities of solar monism such as Mithras and Sol Invictus, pagan festivals and Mithraic sun worship and idol worship) into the church. That it is not representative of the faith founded by Jesus and promulgated through his twelve Apostles: in short, in their opinion, the church has fallen into apostasy.^[1][2] They feel that to attract the pagans to nominal Christianity, the Catholic Church took measures to amalgamate the Christian and pagan festivals so pagans would join the church;^[3] for example, bringing in the pagan festival of Easter as a substitute for the Pasch or Passover, although neither Jesus nor his Apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival.^[4][5]

They consider the Papacy to be in full-blown apostasy for allowing pagan rituals, beliefs and ceremonies to come into the church, having those who pointed out its apostasy persecuted and killed and never repenting of or fully admitting the true extent of its actions.^[6][7][8][9]

Overview

Some modern scholars ^[10][11] believe that the church in the early stages picked up pagan oral teachings from Palestinian and Hellenistic sources which formed the basis of a secret oral tradition, which in the 4th century came to be called the disciplina arcani. Mainstream theologians believe it contained liturgical details and certain other pagan traditions which remain a part of some branches of mainstream Christianity (for example, the doctrine of transubstantiation is thought to have been a part of this by Catholic theologians).^[12][13][14] Important esoteric influences on the church were the Christian theologians Clement of Alexandria and Origen, the main figures of the Catechetical School of Alexandria.^[15]

Protestants (most significantly starting with Martin Luther) and evangelical Christians have formally taught that the Bishop of Rome, along with the Catholic Church, greatly abused the original teachings and practices of the primitive or original Christian church. They teach that the Papacy slowly became corrupted as it strove to attain great dominion and authority, both civil and ecclesiastical.^[16][17] For example, they say, it reinstated the pagan ceremonies and obligations of the Collegium Pontificum and the position of Pontifex Maximus and created Christian religious orders to replace the ancient Roman ones such as the Vestal Virgins and the flamines. It brought into the church the ancient pagan festivals and made them 'Holy Days', and allowed the celebration of the Pasch or Passover to continue till the following Sunday which was the day of the ancient pagan day of Easter so Christians could also celebrate the Spring Equinox festival as they had done before. It used Easter as a tool to bring more pagans into the church, but instead of having them shed their pagan ways and ceremonies, it allowed them into the church.^[18] Catholics as well as the Reformers pointed to the office of the Papacy as responsible for the fallen state of the church as they considered the conduct of those in power had grown so spiritually or morally corrupt to the point that it was called the Antichrist power by those within as well as outside of the church.^[19][20][21]

Following the Protestant Reformation, the denominations spawned from the Reformation have considered their own teachings to be restorative in nature, returning to the basic tenets of Biblical Christianity and sola scriptura. These views are taught in the modern descendant denominations and these doctrinal stances account for their continuing separation from the Catholic Church. Although Protestant Christianity, as a whole, rejects the overall concept that the original church was thrown into complete anarchy and chaos through Catholicism, it does assert that there was gross abuse of Biblical authority (especially by the Papacy) and a wandering from clear Biblical teachings prior to the Reformation.

Some groups see themselves as uniquely restoring original Christianity and use the term "Great Apostasy" directed in a sweeping way over all of Christianity beyond themselves but tend to differ as to exactly when the Great Apostasy took place and what the exact errors or changes were, but claim that true Christianity was generally lost until it was disclosed again in themselves. The term "Great Apostasy" appears to have been coined in this narrower, technical sense, by "Restorationists". The term may sometimes be used in this sense by other groups claiming their unique position as representing Christianity.

Protestant views

Many Protestant reformers, including Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, John Thomas, John Knox, and Cotton Mather, felt the early church had been led into apostasy by the Papacy and identified it as the Antichrist.^[22] The reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and others disagreed with the papacy's claim of temporal power over all secular governments and the autocratic character of the papal office and challenged papal authority as it was a corruption from the early church and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice.^[23] In Western Christianity these issues both contributed to and are products of the Protestant Reformation.

The Centuriators of Magdeburg, a group of Lutheran scholars in Magdeburg headed by Matthias Flacius, wrote the 12-volume "Magdeburg Centuries" to discredit the papacy and identify the pope as the Antichrist.

To a large degree, Protestantism believes that Constantine the Great (c. 325 AD) merged paganism with Christianity, seeking to bring unity and stability under his rule, and advance acceptance of and the power of the church by all sectors of the empire.^[24][25] However, this had a corrupting effect on the beliefs of the church and through decades of succession by poor, often politically motivated leadership, abuses of scriptural application became prevalent. Nevertheless, it does not suggest that these abuses led to a complete state of anarchy and apostate renderings of scripture within the Early Church. From the Protestant perspective, abuses within the church led to a poor application of doctrine and Biblical truths. Protestantism generally asserts that although scripture itself remained pristine, the leaders and teachers became fouled. To that end, most of traditional Christianity agrees that the Biblical message itself was ultimately never lost to mankind.

Reformed perspective

John Wycliffe was well-known throughout Europe for his opposition to the teaching of the organized Church, which he believed had clearly deviated from the original teachings of the early church and to be contrary to the Bible. Wycliffe himself tells (Sermones, iii. 199) how he concluded that there was a great contrast between what the Church was and what it ought to be, and saw the necessity for reform. Along with John Hus, they had started the inclination toward ecclesiastical reforms of the Roman Catholic church.

The identification of the Roman Catholic church as the apostate power written of in scripture became evident to Martin Luther while he was a Roman Catholic Priest. Martin Luther wanted the Catholic Church to reform itself and return to the teachings of the early church and the Bible and rid itself of the traditions and corruptions of the Papacy, which he believed to have strayed from the original teachings. Luther declared his intolerance for the Roman Church’s corruption in 1517, by nailing his 95 Theses of Contention to the Wittenberg Church door. The Pope as the antichrist was so ingrained in the Reformation era, that Luther stated it repeatedly. For example: “This teaching [of the supremacy of the pope] shows forcefully that the Pope is the very Antichrist, who has exalted himself above, and opposed himself against Christ, because he will not permit Christians to be saved without his power, which, nevertheless, is nothing, and is neither ordained nor commanded by God” (Smalcald Articles, II).

Huldrych Zwingli, in 1518, when Zwingli became the pastor of the Grossmünster in Zurich he began to preach ideas on reforming the Catholic Church. Zwingli who was a Catholic priest before he became a Reformer, often referred to the Pope as the antichrist. He wrote: “I know that in it works the might and power of the Devil, that is, of the Antichrist” (Principle Works of Zwingli, Vol. 7, p. 135).

Calvinists have taught that a gradual process of corruption was predicted in the New Testament, that this process began within the New Testament era itself, and culminated in a self-proclaimed corrective brought about by the Protestant Reformation. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches had developed from early on the idea of infallibility of the Church — that the Church may speak entirely without error in particular councils or edicts; or that, in a less definable way, the Church is infallibly directed so that it always stands in the truth; and indeed, and claim that the Church has the promise of Jesus that it shall do so. The Roman Catholic Church also developed on the parallel and complementary idea of papal infallibility — that the pope may speak in the same capacity; this idea was finally defined dogmatically at the First Vatican Council of 1870 and incorporated into doctrine.

In contrast, Protestants believe that the Church has only spoken infallibly through the Scriptures since the time of the Apostles, and should not expect to be completely free of error at any time until the end of the world, and rather must remain continually vigilant to maintain a Biblical (and therefore authoritative) doctrine and faith, or else fall away from the Christian faith and become an enemy of the truth.

In the Reformed view of church history, the true church cannot declare itself infallible, but rather calls itself ecclesia semper reformanda ("the Church which must be always reformed"), the church that is always repenting of error. This Protestant view is that people are naturally inclined to elevate tradition to equality with the written testimony of the Bible, which is the word of God (cf. Sacred Tradition). The reforming churches believe that human weakness is naturally drawn to a form of false religion that is worldly, pompous, ritualistic, anthropomorphic, polytheistic, infected with magical thinking and legalism, and that values human accomplishment more highly or more practically than the work of God (divine grace) is valued. Given the chance, people will substitute the sort of religion they naturally prefer, over the Gospel, see also Cafeteria Christianity. The Hebrew Bible contains multiple episodes of backsliding by the very people who first received God's revelation; to the Protestant mind, this shows that teaching the Gospel is a strait and narrow path, one that requires that natural religion be held in check and that God's grace, holiness, and otherness be rigorously proclaimed.

Temptations of power

According to these Reformers, even as early as the apostles a process of deviation from the true faith and corruption began and spread with the reign of Constantine the Great, and reached a crucial point of development when the Christian church was made the state church of the Roman Empire by Theodosius I. From this point on, compromise of the truth deepened over time until the church became thoroughly worldly and corrupt, so that the true faith was no longer openly taught but instead suppressed, and at times persecuted and cast out. The development of formal hierarchy within the Catholic Church and consolidation of power under papal rule, as opposed to local autonomy among Christian congregations, with levels of rank among the bishops, and a handful of patriarchs to supervise the bishops, is seen by some Protestants as conducive to imperial manipulation of the Church, susceptible to general control by capture of only a few seats of power.

Similarly, the defenses of the right belief and worship of the church resided in the bishops, and Protestants theorize that the process of unifying the doctrine of the Church also concentrated power into their own hands (see also Ignatius of Antioch, who advocated a powerful bishop), and made their office an instrument of power coveted by ambitious men.^[26] They charge that, through ambition and jealousy, the church has been at times, and not very subtly, subverted from carrying out its sacred aim. For the Reformers, the culmination of this gradual corruption was typified, in a concentrated way, in the office of the Pope who took on ancient titles such as Pontifex Maximus and supreme power in the church, which they characterized in its final form as being an usurpatious throne of Satanic authority set up in pretense of ruling over the Kingdom of God.^[27]

Influence of the mystery religions of ancient Babylon

Mirthism and the mystery religions of ancient Babylon came to Rome by way of Pergamum and was brought into the early church then Constantine was instrumental in merging it with Christianity. The Babylonian Kings bore the title "Pontifex Maximus" as king and priest of the pagan Babylonian Mystery religion. ^[28] When Medo-Persia took over it, the Persian Emperor Cyrus forced the Babylonian priests to flee to Pergamum, were they established themselves and reign there as priest-kings of Babylonian paganism until the Attalus, the Pontiff and King of Pergamos, died in B.C. 133. He bequeathed the titles and authority over the Babylonian priesthood to Rome. The title of Pontifex Maximus had been used in Rome since at least 509 BC, when Gaius Papirius held the office.^[29] This spread into the Roman Empire and its influence gradually extended into Roman Christianity and were "the source of many so-called religious rites which have crept into ritualistic churches"^[30]

The Christian martyr Antipas was ordered to offer incense to a statue of the emperor and sacrifice to it as a god which he refused, and which shows up in Revelation to the church in Pergamum in Revelation 2:

"12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth." Revelation 2:12-13

When Julius Caesar took power he took the title Supreme Pontiff along with the priestly powers and functions of the Babylonian Mystery Religion. ^[31] Augustus and successive Roman emperors all the way to Constantine, continued to hold the title and office of pagan high priest until 360 AD, when Constantine (who died in 337^[32]) gave up the position to the bishop of Rome along with the title Pontifex Maximus.

After Constantine, Roman Emperors continued to hold the title until Gratian renounced it in 382.^[33][34][35] Although not an official title of the pope, the title has been used on some papal engravings, coins, and statues since the 15th century.^[36]

Verses used to support apostasy of the Roman Catholic Church

Many churches and preachers have held that scripture points out Papal Rome as the fallen church of biblical prophecy.^[37]

One verse in particular is used to point specifically to the coming apostate church: 2 Thessalonians 2:7 King James Version (KJV) For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. This verse gives prophecy which foretells that when the empire of Rome is taken away, the seat that falls away from God will succeed and hold its place, as the old writers, Tertullian, Chrysostom, and Jerome explain and interpret it.

Jerome (347–420) wrote:

Says the apostle [Paul in the second epistle to the Thessalonians], ‘Unless the Roman Empire should first be desolated, and antichrist proceed, Christ will not come.’" Jerome in addition identifies the little horn power of Daniel 7:25 which 'shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws' as the Papacy.

^[38]

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes give the following on this apostate power which follows the empire of Rome:

2 Thessalonians 2:7 He will surely be revealed; for the mystery - The deep, secret power of iniquity, just opposite to the power of godliness, already worketh. It began with the love of honour, and the desire of power; and is completed in the entire subversion of the gospel of Christ. This mystery of iniquity is not wholly confined to the Romish church, but extends itself to others also.

Martin Luther stated:

"We are not the first to declare the papacy to be the kingdom of Antichrist, since for many years before us so many and so great men have undertaken to express the same thing so clearly."

Martin Luther believed and taught that the church had strayed and fallen away from the true teachings of the scripture and challenged the authority of the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge^[39] and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood.^[40]

John Calvin stated:

"Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman pontiff Antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself, after whom we speak and whose language we adopt... I shall briefly show that Paul's words (In II Thess. 2) are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the Papacy."

^[41]

Although Lutherans and Calvinists hold that the Ecumenical Councils of the early and medieval church are true expressions of the Christian faith, many assert that the councils are at times inconsistent with one another, and err on particular points. The true Church, they argue, will be mixed with alien influences and false beliefs, which is necessary in order for these impurities ultimately to be overcome and the truth to be vindicated. The Westminster Confession of Faith (Calvinist), states:

The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated, as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there shall be always a church on earth, to worship God according to his will.

(25:5)

Therefore, although these groups believe that errors can and have come into the church, they deny that there has ever been a time when the truth was entirely lost. They affirm that there shall be times when errors shall predominate, as they believe is foretold in the Bible. First Timothy 4:1-3 states:

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. (KJV)

Acts 20:28-29

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. (KJV)

Even Jesus warned:

"Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come." Gospel of Matthew 24:10-14(NRSV)

According to this view, these verses foretold the rise of errors, among which they count the veneration of relics, saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary, importing polytheism, idolatry, and fetishism into Christianity; these are the "seducing spirits and doctrines of devils."

The "forbidding to marry" and the "commanding to abstain from meats" (foods) were held to refer to the elaborate code, or Canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, involving priestly celibacy, Lent, and similar rules promulgated by the medieval church. Calvinists thought these rules were legalism and inappropriate impositions on the faithful.

"Speaking lies in hypocrisy" and "having their conscience seared with a hot iron" were held to refer to the general corruption of the Church as it became heir to the Roman Emperors and claimed to rule an earthly kingdom, and its prelates became authoritarian lords of civil government, achieving a social rank never sought by Jesus himself (see also Evangelical counsels and John 18:36). The "searing of the conscience" was interpreted as referring to the Roman Catholic development of casuistry that sought to justify these various acts, and to excuse the sins of the powerful in exchange for gifts of land and money.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 was held also to refer to a coming great apostasy. This text announces that the Second Coming of Jesus and the gathering of the church to him, cannot come:

unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

These were held to be prophecies of the Pope's claim to infallibility and to be the Vicar of Christ, sitting in Jesus' seat and in his stead. This interpretation is the source of the traditional identification of the Pope as Antichrist, which occurs throughout Protestant literature of the Reformation period and afterwards. Chapter XXV, article 6, of the Westminster Confession, a confessional statement issued in 1646 and important to the Presbyterian and other branches of the English-speaking Reformed churches, states that:

There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ: nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God.

This article was abrogated in 1967 by the Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States. It remains officially in force in other Presbyterian denominations.

In 1 Timothy 2:5, Paul said,

"For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The Roman Catholic church has brought in through Mariology the idea of the Virgin Mary as a mediator and the pope has assumed for himself a position of authority that does not need to be filled.

The mystery of Babylon would be a power which brought corruption of man and lawlessness and be known by what it did to deceive and substitute itself above God, and the prophecy in Revelation 17:5,9 states:

5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

9And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

(KJV)

In the day of the Apostle John, the city of Rome was famed for its situation of encompassing seven hills, i.e., Capitolinus, Palatinus, Aventinus, Esquilinus, Coelius, Viminalis, and Quirinalis, as noticed by Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Claudian, Starius, Martial, and others.

"Roman Catholic apostasy" doctrine supplanted by dispensationalism

The Historicist biblical interpretation was the viewpoint of almost all Protestant Reformers from the Reformation into the 19th century. Because Rome realized that the Reformation could jeopardize her position as a religio-political power, the Roman Catholic church used what became known as the Counter Reformation with alternative methods of prophetic to deflect what it showed. Quite simply, the two alternative methods of prophetic interpretation were developed during the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation to oppose the historicist's interpretation that the Antichrist was the Roman Catholic church.^[42]

The virtually unanimous interpretation of the papacy as the Antichrist of prophecy, by all Protestant groups in all lands, led Roman Catholic leaders to attempt to divert the accusing finger and to direct Protestant attention away from the medieval Catholic system. In this they were highly successful. Francisco Ribera and Luis de Alcazar, both 16th-century Spanish Jesuits, rose to meet the challenge by introducing plausible counterinterpretations of prophecy.^[43] Both the Preterist and Futurist schools put forth by Jesuit scholars to divert the Protestant application of Daniel's "little horn" prophecy and Revelation's "beast" prediction to the rise and work of Papal Rome began to make inroads.^[44]

Spanish Jesuit Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) published a commentary on the book of Revelation in which he assigned the first few chapters to ancient Rome but proposed that the bulk of the prophecies would be fulfilled in a brief three-and-one-half-year period at the end of the Christian era. He claimed that a single individual who would be the antichrist would rebuild the Jerusalem Temple and be received by the Jews, would pretend to be god, and conquer the world. So from this view, the Protestant contention that the apocalyptic symbols of antichrist denoted an apostate religious system was set aside, and the focus of the prophecies was diverted from the time of ancient Babylon to the present to the far distant future.^[45][46]

Another Spanish Jesuit, Luis de Alcazar (1554-1613), also published a scholarly work on Revelation to refute the Protestant view, and this system of interpretation became known as preterism (from the Latin praeter, meaning 'past'). He wrote that all the prophecies of Revelation had been fulfilled in the past, that is, by the fifth and sixth centuries A.D., the early centuries of Christianity.^[47]

In 1870 the newly formed Kingdom of Italy annexed the remaining Papal States, depriving the Pope of his temporal rule. Unaware that Papal rule would be restored, (albeit on a greatly diminished scale) in 1929 as head of the Vatican City state, the historicist view that the Papacy is Anti-Christ rapidly declined in popularity as one of the defining characteristics of the Antichrist (i.e. that he would be a political temporal power at the time of the return of Jesus) was no longer met.

Soon thereafter, the distinctive systems of counterinterpretations began successfully to penetrate Protestant thought. This was picked up and now many leaders in mainstream Protestant churches have changed what was held from the start of the Reformation and backed away from teaching the apostasy of the Roman Catholic Church as it is the largest in the world, which is now felt to be divisive, and to belong to the more vehement quarrels of another day. Conservative and fundamentalist churches insisted on these teachings the longest, and some still do, especially among the stricter Calvinists and Fundamentalists. The spread of dispensationalism doctrine has led conservative Protestants to drop the traditional interpreting of the Book of Revelation as predicting events that have taken place throughout history (historicism) and pushed it to some far off future events (futurism) so there is no application to the Roman Catholic Church. This has resulted in a re-interpretation of the end times; and while Protestant fundamentalists may continue to believe that the Roman Church errs, they have dropped the Protestant Reformation view or are less likely to believe that the Pope is Antichrist.^[48]

Dispensationalists generally view passages such as 2 Thessalonians (referenced above) as referring to a reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem (see also Jerusalem in Christianity and Christian Zionism) in the last days. The great "Falling Away", they tend to view as a present or future affair, in which not only Rome but all of the world's religions join against the truth, for the sake of a false peace and prosperity.^[49]

For an extensive 18th century Protestant perspective on the Great Apostasy, see the treatment on that subject by the German historian J. L. Mosheim, a Lutheran, whose six volume work in Latin on Ecclesiastical History is referred to by some Protestants who emphasize a great apostasy.

Restorationist perspective

Anabaptists

Some Anabaptists of the Radical Reformation believe that the Church became corrupt when Constantine I ended the persecution of Christians with the Edict of Milan, and was not recovered until the Anabaptists came along. Others set other dates or time periods when the Church corrupted itself, making it necessary for them to leave the Roman Catholic Church in order to re-establish the true Church. Several descendant groups, including Baptists and Mennonites, believe that besides the Great Apostasy there has also always been a "little flock", a "narrow way" which struggled through persecution and remained faithful to the truth. For example, the Mennonites published a book called the Martyrs Mirror in 1660 that attempted to show that exclusive Believer's baptism was practiced and passed down in every century, and how those who held that belief were persecuted for it. Some groups held that the Apostasy of the Roman Catholic Church was so complete as to nullify its claims to Christianity. Consequently, in these groups, repudiation of the ecumenical councils has followed, in a few minority cases engendering seventh-day Sabbatarianism and unitarianism, along with believers baptism and pacifism, and other anti-traditional views.

Some of these views were influential in the founding of the Restoration Movement and the Adventist churches in the United States in the 19th century and continue to be influential in the house church movement.

The fusion of church and state as seen in the Papacy is a central theme of the Anabaptist view of the Great Apostasy, and of their consequent assertion during the Protestant Reformation that the churches of Catholic Europe needed not simply reform, but a radical re-establishment based on the Bible alone.

Bahá'í Faith

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the Great Apostasy started not long after Jesus' ascension^[50] and continued until Joseph Smith's First Vision in 1820. To Latter-day Saints, the Great Apostasy is marked by:

• the difficulty of the Apostles to keep early Christians from distorting Jesus' teachings and to prevent the followers from dividing into different ideological groups;^[51]
• the persecution and martyrdom of the church's Apostles;^[52]
• the loss of leaders with Priesthood authority to administer the church and its ordinances;^[53]
• the lack of continuous revelation to instruct the leaders and guide the church;^[50] and
• the corruption of Christian doctrine by Greek or other allegedly pagan philosophies such as Neo-Platonism, Platonic realism, Aristotleanism and Asceticism.^[54]

Beginning in the 1st century and continuing up to the 4th century AD the various emperors of the Roman Empire carried out violent persecutions against Christians.^[55] Apostles, bishops, disciples and other leaders and followers of Jesus who would not compromise their faith were persecuted and martyred.

The LDS Church declares that all Priesthood leaders with authority^[50] to conduct and perpetuate church affairs were either martyred, taken from the earth, or began to teach impure doctrines, causing a break in the necessary apostolic succession. Latter-day Saints believe that what survived was but a fragment of the light and truth that Jesus had established: the Church of Jesus Christ, as established by him, was no longer to be found on the earth. Survivors of the persecutions were overly-influenced by various pagan philosophies either because they were not well indoctrinated in Jesus' teachings or they corrupted their Christian beliefs (willingly, by compulsion, or with good intentions but without direct revelation from God to help them interpret said beliefs) by accepting non-Christian doctrines into their faith. Latter-day Saints believe that many plain and simple truths of the gospel of Christ were, therefore, lost.^[50]

Latter-day Saints understand various writings in the New Testament to be an indication that even soon after Jesus' ascension the Apostles struggled to keep early Christians from distorting Jesus' teachings and to prevent the followers from dividing into different ideological groups.^[56] Latter-day Saints believe that various Old Testament and New Testament scriptures, including teachings of Christ himself, prophesy of this "falling away" or "apostasy." The Christian believers who survived the persecutions took it upon themselves to speak for God, interpret, amend or add to his doctrines and ordinances, and carry out his work without proper authority and divine direction from God. During this time, important doctrines and rites were lost or corrupted.^[57] Latter-day Saints point to the doctrine of the Trinity adopted at the Council of Nicaea as an example of how pagan philosophy corrupted Jesus' teachings. Mormonism teaches that God, the Eternal Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are not one substance, but three separate and distinct beings forming one Godhead.^[58] The Latter-day Saints reject the early ecumenical councils for what they see as misguided human attempts without divine assistance to decide matters of doctrine, substituting debate or politics for divine revelation. Latter-day Saints believe that the often heated proceedings of such councils were evidence that the church was no longer led by revelation and divine authority. Indeed, the normative Christian view is that public revelation, or revelation having a binding on all Christians, concluded with the death of the last apostle,^[59] meaning that any doctrinal development after the apostolic era was not aided by revelation.

Thus, Latter-day Saints refer to the "restitution of all things" mentioned in Acts 3:20-21 and believe that a restoration of all the original and primary doctrines and rites of Christianity was necessary.^[56] The LDS believe that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to a 14-year-old boy named Joseph Smith and called him to be a prophet.^[60] Later Peter, James, and John, three of Christ's apostles in the New Testament, appeared from heaven to Smith and ordained him an apostle.^[61] Through Christ's Priesthood authority and divine direction from Christ, the LDS believe that Joseph Smith was called and ordained to re-establish Christ's church. Hence, members of the LDS faith refer to their church as "The Church of Jesus Christ." The term "latter-day saints" refers to the fact that members of Christ's church were originally called "saints" and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's restored church in these, what LDS and other Christian denominations believe, are the last days prior to prophesied second coming of Jesus.^[62] Latter-day Saints maintain that other religions—Christian or otherwise—have a portion of the truth, though mingled with inaccuracies due to misinterpretations of some doctrines, such as the nature of the Godhead, how Adam and Eve's choice in the Garden of Eden and their fall advanced the Plan of salvation, the need for modern divine revelation through living prophets and apostles, and the universal divine potential of mankind. They believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the restoration of Jesus' original church, has the authentic Priesthood authority, and all doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel, fulfilling many of the prophecies of Daniel, Isaiah and Malachi in the Old Testament and also the prophesies of Peter and Jesus in the New Testament. (See Ref.) They also maintain that many other religions, Christian and otherwise, advance many good causes and do much good among the people insofar as they are led by the light of Christ, "which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." (John 1:9)

Adventists

Most Adventist groups in the Millerite tradition hold similar beliefs about the Great Apostasy as do those of other Restorationist types of Christian faith. Some of these, most notably the Seventh-day Adventist Church, have traditionally held that the apostate church formed when the Bishop of Rome began to dominate and brought heathen corruption and allowed pagan idol worship and beliefs to come in, and formed the Roman Catholic Church, which teaches others traditions over Scripture, and to rest from their work on Sunday, instead of Sabbath, which is not in keeping with Scripture.

Seventh-day Adventists teach that great apostasy corresponded with the rise of the power of the Roman Bishop which they see as the Little Horn Power of Daniel 7 prophecy, which as predicted rose after the breakup of the Roman Empire. In 533 A.D. Justinian, the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, legally recognized the bishop (pope) of Rome as the head of all the Christian churches. Because of the Arian domination of some of the Roman Empire by the barbarian tribes, this authority could not be exercised by the bishop of Rome. Finally, in 538 A.D., Belisarius, one of Justinian's generals routed the Ostrogoths, the last of the barbarian kingdoms, from the city of Rome and the bishop of Rome could begin establishing his universal civil authority. So, by the military intervention of the Eastern Roman Empire, the bishop of Rome became all-powerful throughout the area of the old Roman Empire.

Like many reformation-era Protestant leaders, the writings of Adventist pioneer Ellen White speak against the Catholic Church as a fallen church and in preparation for a nefarious eschatological role as the antagonist against God's true church and that the Papacy is the Antichrist. Many Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther, John Knox, William Tyndale and others held similar beliefs about the Catholic Church and the papacy when they broke away from the Catholic Church during the reformation.^[63]

Ellen White writes,

His word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution.^[64]

Seventh-day Adventists view the length of time the apostate church unbridled power was permitted to rule as shown in Daniel 7:25 "The little horn would rule a time and times and half a time" or 1,260 years. The papacy ruled supremely in Europe from 538 A.D. when the last of the Arian tribes was forced out of Rome and into oblivion, until 1798 A.D. when the French general Berthier took the pope captive, which history records a period of 1,260 years.

Seventh-day Adventists believe that the mark of the beast refers to the apostate church which in the end times will legally enforce Sunday-worship. "Those who reject God's memorial of creatorship — the Bible Sabbath — choosing to worship and honor Sunday in the full knowledge that it is not God's appointed day of worship, will receive the 'mark of the beast.'"^[65] "Sunday Sabbath is purely a child of the Papacy. It is the mark of the beast."^[66] They see an apostate church that changed God's law in preference of pagan traditions, and allowed pagan beliefs and ceremonies into the church and brought oppression against and persecuted the true believers throughout the Dark Ages for 1260 years as prophesied in Revelation 12:6, 14-16.^[67][68] They see the Roman Papacy stepping in after the Roman Empire was taken out of the way and fulling 2 Thessalonians 2:7 (New International Version) "For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way."

As for the 'Holy Days', Seventh-day Adventists note that the apostolic church never gave attention to either the date of Christ's birth or the date of His resurrection, other than to note that the latter occurred on a Sunday. Neither of these days was observed by early Christians but as the pagan influence came into the church so did its festivals. The Roman Catholic church changed the Biblical Passover to the festival of Easter causing the Quartodeciman controversy and in the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) set a formula for when it was to be observed still followed to this day, which cannot possibly be commemoration of the actual resurrection and not sanctioned in scripture. So that now Easter always falls on a Sunday, and although the resurrection of Jesus is a historical event of huge importance, there is no biblical precedent for making Easter a special day of celebration.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Like many groups, Jehovah's Witnesses strive to reflect Christianity as they believe it was practiced in the 1st century, the Apostolic Age. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and its precursor organization, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society, considers the Great Apostasy to have properly begun before the death of the last Apostle, along with the warning signs and precursors starting shortly after Jesus' ascension. Jehovah's Witnesses consider adoption of the Trinity—which they allege is based on a specious application of Greek Platonic and sophistical philosophy and is a violation of the Scriptural precepts set forth beginning in the Law of Moses—as a prime indicator of apostasy. Jehovah's Witnesses consider that the falling away from faithfulness was already complete before the Council of Nicaea, when the Nicene Creed was adopted, which then enshrined the Trinity doctrine as the central tenet of nominal "Christian" orthodoxy.

This group strictly abstains from political involvement and military service, for reasons similar to those cited by earlier Anabaptists, and they point to such entanglements as another aspect of apostasy, or the willful rebellion against God and rejecting his Word of truth. Jehovah's Witnesses also teach that Jesus' statements regarding his disciples being separate from the world at John 17:6, John 17:14-16, and John 18:36 demonstrates that it is Jesus' intention that his disciples follow the pattern he set for them, as he said at John 13:15.

They cite 2 Thessalonians 2:3 [see discussion above] as indicating that the apostasy prophesied by Jesus at Matthew 7:15, Matthew 13:24-30 and Matthew 13:36-43, as well as Matthew 24:24 (and others) had already begun in the 1st century of the Common Era, and incorporated in the formation of the Catholic Church, as a religion separate and distinct from the true Christian faith as taught and practiced by Jesus and his 1st-century followers.^[69][70]

Christadelphians

Christadelphians tend to hold that the Roman Catholic Church deviated from the original Christian teaching, spreading pagan traditions among Christianity which exist to this day,^[71] bringing in the Trinity, Purgatory and belief of the immortality of the soul, and baptism of infants believing these to be corruptions brought in. They believe Hell (Hebrew: Sheol; Greek: Hades, Gehenna) to refer exclusively to death and the grave, rather than being a place of everlasting torment (see also annihilationism).^[72] Christadelphians believe that no one goes to Heaven upon death or go to purgatory. Instead, they believe that only Christ Jesus went to Heaven, and when he comes back to the earth only then will there be a resurrection of the saints, and God's kingdom will be established.

Christadelphians believe these doctrines were introduced into Christendom after the 1st century in large part through exposure to pagan philosophy,^[73] and cannot be substantiated from the Biblical texts.

The Christadelphian church was founded by John Thomas, M.D., an Englishman, who held that many of religious teaching being taught were contrary to the teaching of the Bible. He held to the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice, and the idea of the restoration of primitive Christianity after the first century church found in scripture, believing that the original teachings of Jesus were corrupted by Roman Papal power and shown in the doctrines of the churches of the time.^[74][75]

Hyperdispensationalism

Hyperdispensationalism is a niche view in Protestantism which views Pauline Christianity or the beliefs and doctrines espoused by the Apostle Paul through his writings, as the purest form of Christian faith and worship which the church fell away from. E. W. Bullinger framed the position for very early apostasy thus:

We are told, on every hand, today, that we must go back to the first three centuries to find the purity of faith and worship of the primitive church! But it is clear from this comparison of Acts xix.10 and 2 Tim.i.15, that we cannot go back...even to the apostle's own life-time!...It was Pauline truth and teaching from which all had "turned away".^[76]

Responses of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy

Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church contend that they are still in harmony with the teachings and practices Jesus gave the Apostles, and that Jesus' promise has been fulfilled: "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." And elsewhere, "I will be with you until the end of the age." Also, "The Father . . . will give you another Advocate to be with you always." And the passages of St. Paul describing the church as Christ's body and as the "pillar and bulwark of the truth." (1 Tim 3:15) They point to their claim of apostolic succession ( and tradition among other things) as evidence that they are maintaining authentic orthodox Christian teachings. They see claims of a complete apostasy (as opposed to a widespread revolt) as a denial of the promise that Jesus made (as recorded in scripture) to be with his Church "until the end of time". They also claim that their ecclesiastical structure (e.g. the Biblical practice of having bishops) and liturgical practices have their essential roots in the teachings and practices of the Apostles and early Christian community, and are not the result of radical changes introduced by either the imperial government or wave of pagan converts in the 4th century. They hold that elements of modern orthodox teachings can be traced back to the tradition of those known as the Ante-Nicene Fathers whose writings have some information about the sacraments, organizational structure, and general Christian lifestyle.

Catholics may see the "great apostasy" as referring to a future "falling away," using the quote from 2 Thess. 2:3-4 :"Let no man deceive you by any means, for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, Who opposeth, and is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God" which points to the Great Apostasy happening in the time of anti-Christ. Furthermore, 2 Thessolonians identifies this with the anti-Christ, who is held back by the Roman Empire: "And now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity already worketh; only that he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be taken out of the way. And then that wicked one shall be revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth; and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, him, Whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders" (2 Thess. 2:6-9).

The Early Church Fathers also predicted a coming Great Apostasy in the Church, for example Hippolytus: "And the churches too will wail with a mighty lamentation, because neither oblation nor incense is attended to, nor a service acceptable to God; but the sanctuaries of the churches will become like a garden-watcher's hut, and the Holy Body and Blood of Christ will not be shown in those days. The public service of God shall be extinguished." (Third Century)

Protestants claim, however, that the Roman Catholic Church has added to the Deposit of Faith handed down by the Apostles, especially since the time of Reformation, such as the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary and Papal Infallibility, though Catholics claim Biblical support for each. The Orthodox Churches also believe in the Assumption (which is termed the Dormition). In the view of Protestants, these are new doctrines and they take Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy further from the Protestant understanding of Biblical Christianity of the Early Church.

The Orthodox Churches also believes that the Roman Catholic Church has added doctrines since the time of the Council of Chalcedon and the East-West Schism, which justifies disunity between Roman Catholic and Oriental Eastern Orthodox churches. At the same time, both Roman Catholicism and Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy see much of Protestantism as having jettisoned much Christian teaching and practice wholesale, and having added much non-Christian dogma as well. They also accuse Protestants of distorting Scripture itself to support their own claims, whether by faulty translations, misinterpretations, or ignoring passages of Scripture which support Catholicism and Orthodoxy against Protestantism.^[77]

Both the Catholic and the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches put forward competing claims to apostolic succession, and claim to be the only Christian church that has remained since its establishment by Christ and His Apostles. Although the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches see corruption of doctrine and authority in the Catholic Church and in each other, just as Protestants do, they view Protestantism as essentially "throwing the baby out with the bathwater", ultimately separating themselves from the Truth to a far larger degree than has the Catholic Church.

Historic perspective

Protestants have asserted that peculiar rites and practices such as veneration of relics and icons, veneration of saints, honoring the Virgin Mary (known as the Theotokos (the one who gave birth to God) to the Orthodox and as Mother of God to Catholics), and observing special holy days associated with paganism, were introduced after the time of Constantine (or even introduced by Constantine as a way to lead the Church into paganism). The catacomb church was surrounded by bones of the dead which are now claimed as relics of necessity, but accounts of early martyrdoms show that Christians regularly sought the remains of the dead martyrs for proper burial and veneration. (See the Martyrdom of Polycarp.) Many of these early accounts associate miracles with the relics: mentioned in Acts are Paul's handkerchiefs which healed the sick (Acts 19:11-12). Non-Canon such as the Infancy Gospel of James which is attributed to James the Just but was certainly written no later than the 2nd century; it lays out additional details of Mary's life. This "gospel" is viewed by the Orthodox Church as apocryphal, and beneficial as a teaching tool only. The practice of observing special holy days was borrowed from the Jews, who were commanded to observe such days by God. In the same way, other practices were borrowed from the Jewish liturgy as well, such as the use of incense and oil lamps.

Regarding "forbidding to marry" and the "commanding to abstain from meats" in 1 Timothy 4, (Paul might have spoken in general in regards to any new sects or doctrines which could arise) the Catholic Church responds:

"...Regarding the Church's discipline of celibacy, men and women freely abstain from the high and holy good of marriage so that they can more fully give themselves to God and His work. Marriage is not "forbidden." Neither is it considered evil. See the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catechism), numbers 1618-20, especially the quote from St. John Chrysostom. 1 Timothy 4:1-5 needs to be read in context. There were those in Paul's time that forbade marriage on heretical presuppositions that marriage was intrinsically evil, a teaching based in turn on the false belief that the body or all matter was evil, and only the Spirit was good. This Gnostic heresy became prevalent again in the second century. The heresy became manifest in later centuries as well, with groups like the Albigensians, who also fell away from the Catholic Faith...With regard to foods, none are forbidden to Catholics. Unlike vegetarians, we may eat meat; unlike Jews and Muslims, we may eat pork, shellfish, and other non-kosher foods. Fasting—a practice actively promoted in Scripture—and abstinence from certain foods at particular times are good spiritual disciplines, but there is no food from which Catholics must abstain at all times...So who is Paul condemning regarding abstinence? He is referring to Gnostics and their spiritual descendants. In ascetic Gnosticism, we find both practices Paul condemned in his First Letter to Timothy. Ascetic Gnostics categorically forbade marriage (which libertine Gnostics also did) and abstained from sexual intercourse and meat all the time."^[78]

The Orthodox Church also defines the concept of oikonomia which is exercised to facilitate salvation or worship, and is exemplified in the New Testament: in Acts 16:3 St. Paul set aside the usual rule to circumcise Timothy, whose father was a gentile, to placate certain Jewish Christians. In both instances, economy was exercised to facilitate the salvation of some of the parties involved.

Worldly ambitions

There have certainly been times when the Church has seemingly benefited from its affiliation with ruling governments, and vice versa. You also have where the church used other means, such as the Donation of Constantine (Latin: Donatio Constantini) where it forged Roman imperial decree by which the emperor Constantine the Great supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope. There is also much evidence that the Church sought to subvert or undermine ruling governments to bring them under its influence. It used its agents or allowed the methods to be adopted for the acquisition of greater power and influence for the Roman Catholic Church. The Jesuits were seen as church's soldiers, and, in the view of some, given free rein to use whatever methods as outlined in the forged anti-Catholic document Monita Secreta, also known as the "Secret Instructions of the Jesuits" published (1612 and 1614) in Kraków,^[79] and were also accused of using casuistry to obtain justifications for the unjustifiable in their work (See: formulary controversy; Blaise Pascals' Lettres Provinciales).^[80]

There are also times in its history when the Church has taken a doctrinal stance directly contrary to the interests of the State. The Council of Chalcedon introduced a religious schism that undermined the Byzantine Empire's unity. The Emperor called the following Ecumenical Council in an attempt to reach a compromise position that all parties could accept, urging those involved to do so. A compromise was not reached, and the schism persisted. Later emperors introduced policies of iconoclasm; yet many Christians and Church leaders resisted for decades, eventually triumphing when a later Empress (Irene) came to power who was sympathetic to their cause. In Russia, Basil, a "Fool for Christ" repeatedly stood up to Ivan the Terrible, denouncing his policies and calling him to repentance; for this and other reasons he was buried in the cathedral that now popularly bears his name in Moscow. The Greek Orthodox Church survived roughly 400 years under the Muslim Ottoman Empire, preserving its faith when it would have been socially advantageous to convert to Islam. More recently, in the 20th century, the Russian Orthodox Church survived over 70 years of persecution under Communism, while Christians in many Muslim countries continue to refuse assimilation, in places including Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, and Iraq. Therefore, it would be more correct to say that there have been times when the State has seen that it was to its advantage to cooperate with the Church and to adjust accordingly, than to advocate the opposite position. More importantly, there is a consistency in Christian teaching, beginning with the persecuted church of its first few centuries, to the more established state church of the Roman Empire, to the again persecuted church of the various Muslim and communist regimes.

See also

Notes

Further reading

• Timothy M. Youngblood; http://www.masters-table.org/apostasy/Great_Apostasy_PDF.pdf ; Copyright 1998/2005 Timothy Malone Youngblood Library of Congress Catalog Number: (TXu 000883-964)
• Johann Lorenz Von Mosheim; De rebus Christianorum ante Constantinum Magnum Commentarii (6 vols.); (1753)
  • Johann Lorenz Von Mosheim; Ecclesiastical History from the Birth of Christ to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century (4 vols.), translated by Archibald Maclaine; (1758)
  • Johann Lorenz Von Mosheim; Ecclesiastical History, translated by James Murdock; (1851)
• James E. Talmage; The Great Apostasy; Deseret Book; ISBN 0-87579-843-8 (1909; Softcover, February 1994)
• Eric R. Dursteler (2002). "Inheriting the "Great Apostasy": The Evolution of Latter-day Saint Views on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance". 28 (Fall). Journal of Mormon History (republished at Neal A. Maxwell Institute website): 23–59. 
• Hugh Nibley; Todd M. Compton and Stephen D. Ricks, editors; Mormonism and Early Christianity; Deseret Book; ISBN 0-87579-127-1 (Hardcover, 1987)
• Hugh Nibley; The World and the Prophets Maxwell Institute, BYU
• James L. Barker; Apostasy from the Divine Church; Bookcraft; ISBN 0-88494-544-8 (1952; Hardcover 1984)
• Barry R. Bickmore; Restoring the Ancient Church; Cornerstone Publishing, FAIR; ISBN 1-893036-00-6 (Paperback, 1999); Available directly from the publisher
• Steven C. Harper; Prelude to the Restoration: Apostasy to the Restored Church; Brigham Young University 2004; ISBN 1-5903-8329-X
• Kent P. Jackson; From Apostasy to Restoration; Deseret Book; ISBN 1-57345-218-1 (Hardcover 1996)
• Holy Bible, King James Version, Isaiah 2:2,3; 5:20,21,25-29; 24:1-5; 28:10,11; 29:4,10-14,18,22-24; 49:22-23; 52:11,12; 54:1-3; 55:5; 56:6-8; 60:1-3,16. Malachi 3:1; 4:5,6.
• The Geneva Bible (1599), annotations of "Fr. Junius" to the Book of Revelation, repr. L. L. Brown Publishing, ISBN 0-9629888-0-4 (1990)
• The Thirty-Nine Articles of the Episcopal Church in America.