The Emperor Justinian

Before passing to the next power destroyed by the Papacy we shall briefly state the condition of the Roman Empire at this time. Justinian had finally ascended the throne of Constantinople as the Emperor of the East, 527A. D. He was a shrewd politician, and in his effort to extend his rule over the whole of the Roman Empire he realized his need of securing the cooperation of the highly organized Catholic Church, for it was directed by a single head (the pope), and worked as a unit all over the empire, while the Arian nations stood separately, without any central organization, and hence they were weak. Then too, the Arians were very wealthy, and if Justinian could conquer them in the name of “the true Church,” he could confiscate their property and thus secure means to carry on his many wars. We read:FAFA 40.2

“Justinian (527)... already meditated ... the conquest of Italy and Africa.”- “Decline and Fall,” Edward Gibbon, chap. 89, par. 17.FAFA 40.3

“Justinian felt that the support of the Pope is as necessary in his reconquering of the West. “History of Medieval Europe,” L. Thorndike, Ph. D., p. 133. Cambridge, Mass.: 1918.FAFA 40.4

“Justinian spared nothing in his efforts to conciliate the Roman Church, and we find inserted with evident satisfaction in Justinian’s Code pontifical letters, which praised his efforts to maintain ‘the peace of the church and the unity of religion.’” — “Cambridge Medieval History,” Bury, Gwatkin, and Whitney, Vol. II, p. 44. New York: 1913.FAFA 40.5

Procopius, the historian who followed Justinian’s armies, says:FAFA 41.1

“In his zeal to gather all men into one Christian doctrine, he recklessly killed all who dissented, and this too he did in the name of piety. For he did not call it homicide, when those who perished happened to be of a belief that was different from his own.” — “Secret History of the Court of Justinian,” pp. 188, 189. Chicago: P. Covici, 1927.

“Now the churches of these so-called heretics, especially those belonging to the Arian dissenters, were almost incredibly wealthy.” — Id., p. 121.FAFA 41.2

“Agents were sent everywhere to force whomever they chanced upon to renounce the faith of their fathers .... Thus many perished at the hands of the persecuting faction; ... but most of them by far quitted the land of their fathers, and fled the country ... and thenceforth the whole Roman Empire was a scene of massacre and flight.” — Id., p. 122.FAFA 41.3

Dom John Chapman (Roman Catholic) says of Justinian:FAFA 41.4

“He felt himself to be the Vicegerent of the Almighty to rule the world and bring it all to the service of Christ. His wars were holy wars. In later centuries a Byzantine battle began like a church ceremony. Even in the sixth century every enterprise was consecrated by religion.

“He was well aware that judicious persecution is a great help towards conversion! ... He strengthened the existing laws against pagans, Jews, and heretics.... Many were burnt at Constantinople after the Emperor had made vain attempts to convert them. John of Ephesus ... was employed in this apostolate. He boasts that in 546 he gained 70,000 pagans in Asia Minor, including nobles and rhetoricians and physicians, and many in Constantinople. Tortures discovered these men, and scourgings and imprisonment induced them to accept instruction and baptism. A Patricius, named Phocus, hearing that he had been denounced, took poison. The Emperor ordered that he should be buried as an ass is buried. The pious Emperor paid all the expenses of this Christian mission, and gave to each of the 70,000 Asiatics the white garments for their baptism and a piece of money.”FAFA 41.5

“Other heretics were given three months grace. All magistrates and soldiers had to swear that they were Catholics.” — “Studies in the Early Papacy,” Dom John Chapman, p. 222. London: Sheed and Ward, 1928. New York: Benziger Brothers.FAFA 42.1