THE WATCHMAN
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ANTIPAS, MY FAITHFUL MARTYR
PERCY T. MAGAN
(SECOND ARTICLE)
At Last a World-Power
MMEDIATELY after the
downfall of the Ostrogoths
the bishop of Rome asserted
his sole authority over the
estates of the church. The
territory surrounding Rome
was created into the Roman
Duchy, and the bishops of
Rome claimed sole jurisdiction over it.
The pope was now not only pope, but
also king. He had a definite territory
over which he ruled, to a certain extent
at least, in things temporal as well as
spiritual. Right at this time the famous
letter of the emperor Justinian to the
pope served to sanction and accentuate
this exercise of power, which letter was
as follows: —
“ Justinian, pious, fortunate, re-
nowned, triumphant; emperor, consul,
etc., to John, the most holy archbishop of
our city of Rome, and patriarch :—
“Rendering honor to the apostolic
chair, and to your Holiness, as has been
always and is our wish, and honoring
your Blessedness as a father, we have
hastened to bring to the knowledge of
your Holiness all matters relating to the
state of the churches. It having been
at all times our great desire to preserve
the unity of your apostolic chair, and the
constitution of the holy churches of God
which has obtained hitherto, and still ob-
tains.
“Therefore we have made no delay
in subjecting and uniting to your Holi-
ness all the priests of the whole East.
“For this reason we have thought fit
to bring to your notice the present mat-
ters of disturbance ; though they are man-
ifest and unquestionable, and always
firmly held and declared by the whole
priesthood according to the doctrine of
your apostolic chair. For we cannot
suffer that anything which relates to the
state of the church, however manifest
and unquestionable, should be moved
without the knowledge of your Holiness,
who are the head of all the holy churches;
for in all things, as we have already de-
clared, we are anxious to increase the
honor and authority of your apostolic
chair.”®
By this letter and the overthrow of
the Ostrogoths, the last of the Arian
kingdoms was wiped out, and temporal
authority of the papacy, and the exercise
of that authority as a world-power was
established.
Then began that “ fatal policy of the
Roman see,” herself now a world-power,
possessing territory over which she exer-
cised temporal dominion, and by virtue of
which she could contend with other king-
doms, and upon the same level
“ Henceforth kings and emperors were
her tools, and often her playthings; and
kingdoms and empires her conquests,
and often only her traffic. The history
of how the papacy assumed the suprem-
acy over kings and emperors, and how
she acquired the prerogative of dispens-
ing kingdoms and empires, is no less in-
teresting and no less important to know
than is that of how her ecclesiastical su-
premacy was established.”
And Now the Pope
In the prophecy of the seven churches
of the book of Revelation are seven let-
ters addressed by the Lord to his own
church in the seven phases of the com-
plete cycle of her experience from the
first advent of our Lord to his coming
again in the clouds of glory.
The letter to the church in the third
phase of her experience gives the key-
stone of the whole papal system as a
world-power. There is here mentioned
with commendation by the Head of the
church, Christ Jesus the Lord, the fact
that his church had held fast his name,
and had not denied his faith, “even in
those days wherein Antipas was my faith-
ful martyr.”
Now the word “ Antipas” is not the
name of a person. It designates rather
a condition of the times. It is made up
of two words, anti, and pappas; “ anti”
means against, and ‘‘pappas’ means
papa. This word, papa, is simply the
8 Croly’s Apocalypse, chap. 11, Hist. under
verses 3 - 10.
7 Jones, “Ecclesiastical Empire,” chap. 13,
par. 2.
BEYOND TO-DAY
Ir we could see beyond to-day
As God can see;
If all the clouds should roll away,
The shadows flee,
O’er present griefs we would not fret,
Each sorrow we would soon forget,
For many joys are waiting yet
For you and me.
If we could know beyond to-day,
As God doth know,
Why dearest treasures pass away,
And tears must flow,
And why the darkness leads to light,
Why dreary paths will soon grow bright,
Some day life’s wrongs will be made right;
Faith tells us so.
If we could see, if we could know,
We often say!
But God in love a veil doth throw
Across our way;
We cannot see what lies before,
And so we cling to him the more;
He leads us till this life is o'er;
Trust and obey.
— Christian Work.
AA A AAA AA AAA AAA AANA AANA AAAS
pe repeated, and is the origin of the
word ““ pope.”
And so it comes about that “ Antipas ”
—“against ‘pas’ or ‘pappas’’— de-
nominates those who opposed the arro-
gance and usurpation of the bishop of
Rome. And it is evident from the Scrip-
ture, and substantiated by history, that
many were put to death for their oppo-
sition to this monarchical power and
world-wide church.
The records further show that while
the other principal bishops of the church
bore the title of “ patriarch,” the bishop
of Rome avoided it always, as placing
him on the same plane with the other
“ patriarchs.” He always preferred the
title of “ papa,” or “pope.” And he
preferred this title because patriarch
means and indicates an oligarchical
church government — that is, a govern-
ment by a few; whereas “ pope” indi-
cates a monarchical church government,
— that is, government by one and one
alone.
And thus over a bloody path bestrewed
with the ruin and the wreck of kings and
kingdoms, reeking in the blood of mar-
tyrs, came the papacy to be established
as a world-power. Well indeed has a
great philosopher said, “ No one can
study the development of the Italian ec-
clesiastical power without discovering
8 Schaff, “Hist. of the Christian Church,”
Vol. 3, sec. 55, par. 7, note.