The church split of 1054

 I was asked this week,

How is it that the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches split? 

            The issue was prompted because of the inroads of Islam.  Muslims conquered Syria and Palestine, North Africa and Egypt, then Iberia (Spain) by the early 700s. In that era Islam was tolerant, winning converts without proselytizing after an area had been conquered. A simple religion with easy self-justification, it appealed to many.  Europe’s Christians searched for answers; the Byzantine Empire searched to reclaim their territory.  The Roman empire collapsed in the West but continued in Constantinople. There were 6 cities with patriarchs or mega-bishops who ruled over all of Christendom—Rome, Alexandria, Athens, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Constantinople. The Roman bishop or pope, claimed headship but the others did not accept this. Rome used Latin while Greek was used in the other domains.

            Byzantine Emperor Leo III thought that a practice which had become popular but was not among early church practices was partly to blame.  It was the idea of praying to pictures of martyrs, icons.  In the West, the land had fallen under illiterate barbarians and church authorities thought it helpful if the new, illiterate converts would emulate the faith of the martyrs.  But Leo thought this was an obstacle to evangelizing Jews and stemming Muslims.  So in 726 he issued an edict for all paintings, statues and mosaics in churches to be destroyed. In Rome, Pope Gregory II disagreed and rejected this, as did John of Damascus and several later popes.  However, Leo’s successor, Constantine V continued in opposition to “icons”. It was controversial. Those who venerated icons claimed you could feel the spirit of the departed pray with you. But as the East was desperately searching for ways to stop Islam, the West surprisingly turned back the invasion at the battle of Tours, 732, and felt exonerated in their views. 

            Emperor Constantine V continued with his father’s edict over veneration of icons.  To gain ecclesiastical backing Constantine called a Synod at Hieria in 753.  Only patriarchs of Athens and Constantinople attended. But there were 338 bishops from all over the world. They issued an opinion that images of Mary and the saints were idols.  Many monks were thereupon killed for the sake of their venerated icons.

            Then things got political.  Franks, the eastern German tribal nation, had arisen as a strong force.  Their king, Pepin, conquered the Lombards in northern Italy and donated their lands to Pope Stephen (which is how  the papacy got into the business of ruling lands like kings).  Pepin’s donation set the stage for Pope Leo III  to crown Pepin’s son, Charlemagne, as Holy Roman Emperor in 800. (politics no longer works this way, you know) Charlemagne’s kingdom claimed to be the New Rome.  Meanwhile the veneration of icons gained widespread popularity and there was a backlash against the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperors. There was intense controversy, violent persecution and skirmishes on both sides.  So the Second Council of Nicea was called.  In this town, just east of Constantinople (Istanbul today), it was decided in 787 that icons could receive veneration but not adoration, which was reserved for God alone. You could pray along with a saint but not to the saint. Charlemagne defied the order but the Western Roman Popes thought they had won and it showed their authority over all Christians.  Pope Nicholas I (862) put his nose in the patriarchal succession of Constantinople, chosing  Ignatius over Photius.  But Photius was popular and had begun evangelizing the Slavs with his pupils Cyril and Methodius. Photius managed to get Pope Nicholas deposed and get himself re-appointed patriarch.  Then the next Emperor re-appointed Ignatius after a Constantiople Council in 869.  Ignatius died and Photius resumed, then held another council of Constantinople in 879 to annul decisions of 869.  Council of 869 is not recognized as an ecumenical council by the Orthodox to this day. (Is the reader confused yet? )

            Differences in language, doctrine and authority stewed, then came to a head when Leo IX became pope in 1048.  Leo was a reformer and had several issues including simony (buying benefits of the church) and marriage of priests.  He established a new office, Cardinal, which made princes out of what were formerly papal advisors.  And he demanded loyalty to Rome and his Cardinals. The East choked.  They strongly believed church councils should hold final authority, not a Pope and his dominion. The two bodies split in 1054 after 3 centuries of bickering over icons, Byzantine emperors, and church polity. Had Popes given thought, there might have been a later Reformation of much lesser extent. [My thanks to historian Paul Johnson]

Christmas for Christian Astronauts

 

It was Christmas Eve 1968 when Apollo 8 had just entered the orbit of the moon.  Astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovell and Frank Borman took turns reading from the book of Genesis they had smuggled on board. Just a stunt?  Madalyn Murray O’Hair and the American Atheists thought it was a government endorsement of religion, and they sued NASA. What would possess 3 pilots to read scripture?  Put it this way.  You get strapped inside a capsule with almost no escape.  The Saturn V rocket goes off beneath you with 6 million pounds of thrust.  You mission is either to succeed or you’ll die.  Would you reach for God? 70 miles high, seeing the jaw-dropping splendor of earth, would you reach for happenstance or God as an explanation?

            Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11, were the first two men on the moon. Before they stepped out of the capsule Buzz produced a Bible and communion kit which they used to do communion.  On August 2nd, 1971, Apollo 15 Mission Commander David Scott left a Bible on the Lunar Rover during an Extravehicular Activity. He wanted to read a sermon on Sunday. He was aboveboard with his plans and wanted to broadcast the service to earth, but was dissuaded by a fellow crew member and Mission Control in Houston.  There was also the microfilm bible that Ed White wanted to take to the moon, but he died in a fire that destroyed Apollo 1.  It was auctioned for charity.  In April 1994 three Catholic astronauts celebrated Mass on a Space Shuttle Mission.  Again in 2013 the International Space Station got consecrated wafers for Mass.  Russian Orthodox Christmas was celebrated on the International Space Station, in 2011.  Cosmonauts had the day off, but one of the other crew tweeted, "Merry Christmas to all Russia." The entire crew had also celebrated on December 25, two weeks prior.

                 James Irwin was the astronaut who didn’t reach for God but God reached for him.  He was raised Christian, but  James stopped going to church when he was ten. He wanted to be an astronaut and was selected for training in 1966.  In 1971 he became the eighth man to walk on the moon. His picture saluting the American Flag is famous.  In awe at the scenery, his job was to collect rock samples.  He saw a whitish stone and suddenly felt something compelling. “I felt the touch of somebody, God, tap me on my shoulder and said – look there.” And so Irwin picked up the stone and brought it home.  Geologic analysis showed it to be anorthosite of extreme age, 4.5 billion years by radioisotope dating.  The Genesis Rock, as it was named, dates the moon as the product of collision debris of earth and a small planetoid.  But God wasn’t done with Jim. Outside their spacesuits, the temperature on the lunar surface was 150 degrees. “He perspired like crazy,” wife Mary Irwin explained. “He was losing his electrolyte balance. An imbalance of sodium and potassium can trigger a heart attack.” Flight surgeons on earth who monitored the men were alarmed when they saw both astronauts develop irregular heart rhythms. Irwin’s situation was more severe, with abnormal heartbeats every other beat. Neither man was told about their condition by Mission Control. The sight of earth made Irwin fill with acceptance that God did control everything. At one point, he had trouble with a planned experiment that wouldn’t erect.  A piece was missing or something. “God, I need your help right now!” Suddenly Irwin experienced the presence of Jesus Christ in a remarkable way, unlike anything he ever felt on earth. “The Lord showed him the solution to the problem and the experiment erected before him like a little altar,” Mary says. “He was so overwhelmed at seeing and feeling God’s presence so close,” she says. “At one point he turned around and looked over his shoulder as if He was standing there.” This unusual encounter with Jesus – some 238,000 miles from earth, changed Irwin’s life forever. It healed his cold marriage, he resigned from NASA to form High Flight Foundation, which is on a quest to reach the world as goodwill ambassadors for the Prince of Peace. “God decided that He would send His Son Jesus Christ to the blue planet,” Irwin related, “and it’s through faith in Jesus Christ that we can relate to God.  Jesus Himself said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes unto the Father except through me.’  I tell people Jesus walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon.” Or as Charlie Duke said, “Walking on the moon was 3 days.  Walking with Jesus Christ is forever.”

            Irwin bought a home and acreage near the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and when Mary began to write, built her a cabin up on the ridge above their house—a writer’s retreat.  Jim died in 1991 of the heart condition that had started on the moon.  He ministered 20 years about the spiritual heart condition.  They had 5 children. Some still live around Colorado Springs.  Christian author Mary now lives in Florida in retirement. This writer has accumulated these facts from his son who owns the Irwin property in Colorado Springs today, as well as other sources.

 

Hippies and lockdowns

 

1980.The guy who had been my major professor on my Phd. in theoretical physics called me.  There was a new thing going around campus called Political Correctness.  He and I were like minds.  He an Alabama nerd and a whizz at numbers, and I a ranch kid who wanted to know how everything in the universe worked. But it seemed, he speculated, that every lazy hippie had become a sociology or psychology prof and they were the movers of the PC thing.  So what does PC mean?  Well, he said, it means you can’t ask certain questions.  Preposterous! I objected.  Whatever happened to Academic Freedom.  No, if it affects their views, you can’t ask, he insisted and they have a view of science that certain assumptions cannot be challenged.  This is crazy, I said.  You mean if that work I did with Brown and Bark (2 climatologists) on climate cycles offends them, you can’t ask?  Yes, exactly. 

            Little did I know I was speaking literal truth.  I scoffed at PC.  It would never succeed against scientific inquiry.  But it did!  Those who advocate climate cycles are shut out of grants and government programs.  They are in the same malaise as Einstein was when he tried to challenge Newtonian mechanics or any doctor from the 18^th century that challenged bleeding the patient.  They were outcasts for an era.

            When my colleague talked about hippies, everyone in the 80s knew how that was.  The “greatest generation” fought WW II, came home with many issues of war they just wanted to forget and not talk about.  They left suburban homes to work long days in the city and left the wife to raise the kids.  The boys suffered most—hippies who had a poor role model of dad.  They dressed in outlandish styles like women, grew long hair, took no responsibility, and when war came said “Hell no, I won’t go”—as much out of cowardice as conscience.  The rich ones got away with it, collected degrees at college and became professors. That was part of my Baby Boom Generation. Now my same generation is chewing on their tails like the lion in Wizard of Oz because of COVID19.  We must shut down!  We must trust government! Some states in USA have been under various shades of lockdown for 10 months.  Is it working?  Well, it flattened the curve of cases for the initial 4-week trial.  Then they upped the ante to lock down until the pandemic was over.  It didn’t work but that’s okay because it feels good to do something. 

            Especially the politicians.  Their normal mode of operation is to take Stands.  They stand for the end of racism or free speech or a border wall.  Just don’t ask them to actually do anything.  If they ever solved a matter, that would rob them of a Stance.  Now comes much research and “The Great Barringtron Declaration” that illustrates the lockdowns are not working. “Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.”  Precisely what they meant to protect.  It has doubled 48,000 suicides per year, increased cancers 30% because of non-screening (150,000 deaths) and increased drug and alcohol use by unknown amounts. Are we fools or what?

            Meanwhile the schoolkids and the 20-somethings are having their lives crushed.  Fauci and Azar and the CDC and the VA are all saying they never meant to imply that business should be closed down outdoors.  Pols didn’t listen.  Masks aren’t very effective except to stop the worst of spray spittle.  Pols didn’t listen.  Nobody can truly define a non-essential worker.  Pols didn’t listen.  All of it playing to the hand-wringers over 65.  But count me among the ranch kids.  Nothing you do, including simply riding a horse comes risk-free.  And when my kids and grandkids are having their future ruined to sauve senior fears, my blood boils.  The hippies want to silence Christianity which they rejected, Institutions and traditions, statues of Lincoln—tore them all down. Now we’ll have perhaps an octogenarian leader and lockdowns.  Don’t blame me if I cheer the revolution of entrepreneurs and workers who lost their dreams. Hippies had it coming.

The Yellow Rose of Texas

 

The Bible has several stories of women of ill-repute.  For reasons we can only guess, Rahab, likely an important member of the cult prostitutes of Jericho, decided to throw in with the Israelites. She became the great grandmother of King David.  Ruth, the Moabite, seduced (Well, is there a better word for it when you crawl under the blanket with a drunk man?) Boaz and became the grandmother of King David. Then, 9 generations earlier, there’s that strange story of Tamar in Genesis 38.  In a society that took pains for marital fidelity, these are almost embarrassing stories to be included in scripture.  Their lesson: It doesn’t matter what sordid life you’ve led or what morals you break, God desires sinners who turn to Him.

            Emily D. West, a free woman of color from New York, signed an indentured servant contract with James Morgan to be his housekeeper in Galveston Bay, Texas in 1835. While West and other of Morgan's servants were in transit in 1836, the Mexican cavalry arrived in New Washington,Tejas, looting the town and and seizing many of its inhabitants, along with the traveling servants. General Antonio López de Santa Anna then set fire to the town, killed many of its people, and West was forced to accompany the Mexican cavalry as they left New Washington. 

            Santa Anna was a brilliant military man.  With 4000 soldiers he had come to put down a Texian rebellion with brutal force to scare the immigrants into submission or force them to leave.  Texas had 30,000 Texians, mostly American immigrants and 7000 Tejanos, Mexican nationals. The Texians had agreed to become Catholic and be Mexican citizens, but when Santa Anna, the dictator, took away federalism thus abolishing the state of Tejas, as well as most human rights, they rebelled.  Santa Anna’s brother, Cos, had been installed as local military commander and was run out of the state.  So Santa Anna also had vengeance on his mind when he massacred all those who surrendered at Alamo and Goliad.  Sam Houston, with only 900 untrained militiamen could not engage the crack general so he retreated again and again in a game of hide and seek with the Mexican army.  This drew heavy criticism from his men, but Houston had little choice.  Santa Anna had such huge advantage that he split his forces into two armies.  General Urrea took charge of the utter destruction of small Texian communities as Santa Anna pursued Houston. And under the Santa Anna tent was Emily West.

             Now comes myth and speculation. Did Houston plan the battle at San Jacinto or did his men force his hand? Nor do we know the extent of Emily West’s contribution to the demise of Santa Anna. (History Channel’s Texas Rising is inaccurate in depicting her as his mistress—he already had another mistress.)  What we do know is that another slave contacted Houston at San Jacinto River telling him that West was saying the time was ripe for counter attack. Urrea’s troops had been marching for two days without sleep and were arriving. Likely Emily used another slave for her messenger. Santa Anna camped at a place that was grassy, but flanked by forest and swamp. An Englishman, William Bollaert, staying with Santa Anna’s contingent wrote that “a Mulatta Girl [Emily] belonging to Col. Morgan was closeted in the tent with G’l Santana.” Whatever the extent of her dalliance, the Texians under Houston attacked over a grassy knoll hidden in tall grass and trees. In 18 minutes they overwhelmed the drunk and sleepy camp (April 21, 1836).  In two hours occurred one of the most one-sided victories in American history, 300 Mexicans were killed, 1650 captured, while 11 Texians died.  Houston was wounded.  Santa Anna retreated to the swamp and tried desperately to direct soldiers having 3 horses shot out from under him. Hastily he put on a corporal’s uniform but was rounded up and exposed inadvertently by the Mexican soldiers.  In the end, Emily West held his custom firearm, having shot at him and missed. Bargaining for his life amid the vengeful Texians, Santa Anna wrote a letter telling all Mexican authorities to leave Tejas. Then he was taken into custody to Washington, DC, where he had to guarantee Texas independence. US ambassador Joel Poinsett (who we remember as the importer of a flower of Mexico we love at Christmas) said to Santa Anna, “you have gotten what you deserve.” Santa Anna returned to Mexico to find out that he was no longer recognized as Presidente and Mexico didn’t accept his surrender of Texas. But with USA’s protection, they were powerless.  Santa Anna went on to take control of the Mexican government 4 more times as a dictatorial President, but the people grew tired of him and exiled him 3 times. Interestingly he was a wealthy planter and the first to introduce chicle to the USA, the base for chewing gum.

            Houston went on to become the President of the Republic of Texas and then Governor of the state. He was anti-slavery,and wanted to stay out of the Civil War, but was removed forcibly from office by Confederates.  In 1863 there were only 4 people at his funeral. 2 years later, Texans mourned that they should have listened to him. 

            Emily’s notification to Houston surely ranks as one the most successful espionage events in our history.  In Tejas, she went under the surname of Morgan as most slaves did even though she was free.  Morgan got her a passport and passage back to NY via his private yacht. A lot of legend began to surround her and a folk song arose to honor her around 1850, “The Yellow Rose of Texas”. The song is written from the perspective of an African-American singer who refers to himself as a "darky," longing to return to “a yellow girl” (that is, light-skinned, or bi-racial women were nicknamed “high yeller”.)  Whatever the truth, Emily West lived until 1891, was an instrumental member of her church in Harlem and known as a particularly kind and charitable woman, a beloved Christian sister.