HISTORY OF THE TRUE
ORIGINAL CHURCH

By Bishop Glenda Green, D.D.
with Archbishop Larry Jensen, D.D., Ph.D

Introduction

It is with great humility, in respect of this true privilege, that I present the history of Spiritis Church. For in so doing, I am presenting evidence of the Original Church of Jesus and the Apostles continuing to spread in yet another generation. This is a story as old as faith itself, moving through history in unbroken succession, one person at a time. This is not the story of institutional hierarchy and doctrine, although both of those powers were also important in shaping Christianity as we know it today. This is essentially the story of how the Jesus fellowship, known in his lifetime and for a generation beyond as "The Way" moved through history under the power of the Holy Spirit and Love regardless of - and often in spite of - institutional organization and issues of doctrine.

I was once asked by one of our seminary candidates why I wanted to "found" a new church at a time when religious conflicts were reaching a fever pitch and enlightenment had demonstrated that faith was the greater power over organization anyway. Stunned for a moment by her unexpected question, I paused to examine the truth of my position. Just as quickly I surprised myself with the answer. "I did not found a church. The Church "found" me!" Were this not the case, and were it not for the splendid education and guidance of Bishop Lee Petersen and Bishop Larry Jensen I would not be in this position of furthering an ancient and eternal work.

Even though I have been blessed with a sacred visitation by Jesus Christ on more than one occasion, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit many times, it would not have been my choice to serve their will through organized religious venues. Until the time that I was chosen for inclusion in the original apostolic succession I had envisioned my service to be loosely and specifically under the guidance of Love alone. Even when I was first invited to accept an Apostolic Vicarage to protect the new messages of Jesus, I accepted only out of respect for the honor that was being paid to the labors of my heart. I also reasoned that by way of fellowship with others of similar dedication I would receive support and perhaps a tempering discipline that could only strengthen my service. Otherwise, I would have continued as before, with a spirit of freedom under the guidance of Love. Little did I know at the time that this is exactly what Jesus originally ordained! Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I had been lifted into "The Way" and not consciously realized it.

When Jesus said to His Apostles, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to every creature," he released them from all confining structures and commissioned them to serve with the utmost compassion, tolerance, and acceptance everywhere. This is a radical concept even now, but imagine the impact of such an instruction at a time when "The Way" was thought to be just another sect within Judaism! What happened in the succeeding 2000 years is a marvel and a miracle. Not every act within every chapter is something to be proud of, but the extraordinary victory of a small group of believers has changed the world. Not only did this faith surmount opposition from external forces, but also it resisted and survived the internal domination of corrupting structures. When Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free," he was referring most intimately to the future destiny of his own following.

The triumph of Christianity has immense historical significance. It began with a small group of faithful men and women from the back waters of the Roman Empire and expanded so vigorously in three centuries that their beliefs permeated the whole Empire and somehow become the official religion. In fact, by the end of the 4th century, it was the only tolerated religion of the Roman Empire! That is a truly remarkable phenomenon. How it happened is not clearly known but is definitely a miracle of perseverance. We can clearly identify various stages on the path of Christianity, as it moved toward its ultimate victory. In its first stage, Christianity begins not as a religion, but as a movement of people around the man we call Jesus - a single charismatic teacher. He offered a love-directed, egalitarian worldview at a time in Jewish history when unification was imperative if destruction was to be avoided. Those who followed him had often had different opinions about who he was, but we know that he was generally regarded as a holy man by those who assembled in crowds to hear him speak or receive healing.

In the New Testament stories, it is clearly revealed that Jesus was preparing his disciples for a level of leadership and spiritual knowledge that was not yet revealed to the throngs of people who crowded to hear him speak. In one particularly direct statement, Jesus is quoted as saying, “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables.” (Mark 4:11)  Jesus was teaching within a Jewish context having ancient laws, teachings, and prophecies, a new way to spiritual fulfillment and to reunion with God.  He had no intention of changing that foundation, but rather of fulfilling it through providing an expanded understanding and more compassionate applications of it to life.  As his teachings gained more notice and his followers became more cohesive, this new power being unleashed first emerged as a sect within Judaism known as “The Way” or Ortha in Aramaic, the language that Jesus and his followers spoke. 

The arrest and crucifixion of Jesus had a terrifying impact on his followers — especially the inner circle of Apostles.  But of greater importance was the miracle of revelation that the resurrection gave them.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.  On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave this command:  “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” With their typical worldly orientation, they asked him: “Will the kingdom of Israel be restored at this time?”  He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.  And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”  Upon saying this, he ascended into Heaven.  The Apostles walked back to Jerusalem, spending much time together in prayer to strengthen their unity.  But overall, they were despondent with the loss of their beloved leader and somewhat unfocused.  Jesus had taught them “a way” of living and worshipping, of valuing and serving, but after his apparent departure there was a great slack in the line, and they were sad.

The Apostles remained together as instructed, along with the women beloved of Jesus and his family.  Then a miraculous event happened on the feast day of Pentecost, an agricultural festival celebrating and giving thanks for the "first fruits" of the early spring harvest.  On that day, some fifty days after the resurrection and ten days after his ascension, the faithful in Jesus received the baptism of Holy Spirit as Jesus had promised. Through the fulfilling of his covenant, the First Church was born.  This story may be found in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2.  It reads as follows:

1. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

2. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

4. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

6. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 

7. Utterly amazed, they asked: Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?
 
8. Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?

9. Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those who live in Bet Nahrein, Judeans and Cappodocians and from the country of Pontus and Asia

10. And from the country of Phrygia and Pamphylia and Egypt and the countries of Libyans that are neighbors of Cyrenia, and those that came from Rome, Jews and adherents.

11. And those from Crete and Arabia, behold, we heard them speaking in our language, wonders of God!

12. Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

13. Others, however, laughed at them, as they said, "They have had too much wine."

14. Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you, who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.

15. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!

16. No, this is what the prophet Joel spoke:

17. ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

18. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

By the power of the Holy Spirit the First Church was born. The event was so profound, and those who experienced it were so ecstatic that 3,000 more people were baptized and added to the followers of Jesus that day.  With profound immediacy the Church of The Holy Spirit (Spiritus Sancti) was established.

This is the Church that would spread throughout the world.  It would diversify greatly in the nature of service, acceptance, and inclusion.  But two things were ever constant: there was reverence for the Holy Spirit, and all the sacraments that conveyed its presence and redeeming power.   The love expressed and taught by Jesus was central to the message, which was retold endlessly in the stories of his life and resurrection.  Though there was no official organization of the Church at this time, the Power behind it was known by all, and the remembrance of this Power threads its way through all the sacraments celebrated through all the ages: It was the Church of Spiritus Sancti, which is Latin for Holy Spirit.

Christianity did not start out as a unified movement. We have to remember that the disciples were probably dispersed at the very beginning.   That was at a time before they knew themselves as Christians, before there were any fixed ideas about what Christian beliefs or rituals should be.  There were no uniform requirements even about their perceptions of Jesus or what they should tell others about him. The sources that we have tell us that Christianity started as a multiform process, and the Church adapted as it moved into very different cultural and language contexts.  In the first century we would be more correct to call it the Jesus movement.  In the early days after his departure, the teaching began to organize and reorganize around his memory.  The central theme was the resurrection.  That profound miracle seems to have spread very quickly among his followers, but the earliest form of that movement was still thoroughly a sect within Judaism. He was a Jewish Messiah. They were followers of a Jewish apocalyptic tradition, and they were expecting the coming of the kingdom of God on earth. 

The earliest congregations were probably small sectarian groups. At least one of them seems to be based in Jerusalem, and there were others as well spread throughout the countryside.  In all probability there's at least one or more in the Galilee.  It is reasonable to believe that the earliest gatherings of people to celebrate Jesus’ memory and practice his teachings were really small pockets of communal support all focused on this identity of Jesus as the Messiah and the healing power of the Holy Spirit. 

It's hard to know, in all the cases, who the earliest group members were. We know a few names largely from the New Testament itself.  In Jerusalem, James the brother of Jesus seems to have been the leader. There was a woman by the name of Mary in the Jerusalem congregation as well as Peter and some of the other original apostles of Jesus.   Beyond that we know very few names. There were just small conclaves of people holding on tightly to their new beliefs and expectations while at the same time continuing in their Jewish tradition. The Jesus movement was at first a sect, and sects have an interesting behavior pattern. One of the things they must do is to distinguish themselves from their dominant cultural environment while remaining to some degree part of it.  A sect always arises within a community with whom it shares a basic set of beliefs, and yet it needs to find some mechanism for identifying itself as different. The tension that arose from that was manifested in a variety of ways.  There were controversies over belief and practice such as different ideas of purity and piety. But, another manifestation of tension was a restlessness and zeal to spread the message out, to hit the road, and to convince others that their version of the truth was better. What we would call evangelists today were called in those days "wandering charismatics," traveling preachers and prophets who continued vigorously proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, apparently continuing the legacy of Jesus' own preaching. They traveled around without money or extra clothes, performing miracles and healing the sick for free.  They apparently begged for food or expected the charity of those who received them. This is a different picture than what we've come to expect from the pages of the New Testament and yet, it's within the tradition itself.  Even Paul reports that he encountered people who came from Judea with a different kind of gospel message.  Variety—not conformity—was the typical presence of early Christianity.

This runs contrary to the view that mainstream Christianity has always, understandably, wanted to convey. That is, at the beginning there was only clarity and conformity of belief—that only gradually, under outside influences, did heresies arise and conflict emerge.  One of the most challenging aspects of modern historical scholarship is precisely that easy answers elude us. The harder we work to determine the first moment when Christianity was unified and everything was clear, the more we must realize that the only true unity the Church has ever known is the person of Jesus Christ himself and the power of the Holy Spirit.

“The Way” was propagated through the service of love and development of communities with a strong will to find liberation and deliverance from Roman oppression.  The voice of freedom would always be strong within it.  Their desire for liberation and their spirit of caring seemed to defy conformity.  On the contrary it created a turn of heart and mind infinitely adaptable to the many cultures it would enter and infuse with its spirit.

Invisibility was the greatest ally of the early congregations, a sense of community was their greatest strength, and conviction in deliverance was their driving force.  Therefore, “The Way” had little need for naming itself, and congregations rarely considered their collective unit to be a “church.”  “The Way” was a sect within Judaism, and it considered its greatest value to be the fulfillment of messianic prophecy.  For this reason, it upheld the greater good of Israel.  They were united in Spirit — Spiritus Sancti — but the congregations would not commonly refer to themselves as “Christians” until after the burning of Jerusalem by Rome in 70 AD. 

Ironically, the catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem created a new opportunity. For a short while, it was safer to be a “Christian” than a Jew!  There was a need for distancing and protection, and it was in this pursuit that congregations first began to use openly the word Christian.  But, I am moving ahead of the story.  To understand the origins of the word “Christian” and its full impact, we need to first look at the contributions of Paul and the Apostolic movement in general.

The Apostolic Movement

The first Christian fellowships put a great emphasis upon unity amongst one another, yet the odd thing is they seemed always to have been squabbling over what kind of unity they were to have. The oldest authentic documents we have concerning their beliefs, customs, and struggles are Paul’s letters.  In these letters, he is frequently defending himself against some other messenger of the faith who has refuted his message, saying, “No, Paul didn’t tell it right. We have now to tell you the real thing.” So, it is clear from the very beginning, that there are different ways of interpreting the fundamental message. There are different kinds of practice, with many arguments over how “Jewish” are they to be; how “Greek” are they to be; how do they adapt to and penetrate the surrounding culture?  There were also no uniform answers about the real meaning of Jesus death; was the resurrection in body or spirit only; what teachings of Jesus were most important, and what did they mean?

Paul's conversion as an Apostle may date as early as three years after Jesus' death, and no later than the year 35. He was in Damascus when he was called, according to his own witness. So it looks like there are already, within two to five years after Jesus' death, Greek speaking congregations outside of Palestine, and very early in Antioch.  There were also very early communities in Samaria and Galilee.

The Apostle Paul is, next to Jesus, the most intriguing figure of the 1st century of Christianity, and far better known historically than Jesus because of his many letters that have survived as primary documents of the era.  There are many astonishing things about him.  Paul's mission carried Christianity through Asia Minor, and present-day Turkey, into Macedonia, and Greece, and before his life was over into Rome (although he did not found the Church of Rome). In his own time, he saw himself primarily as a prophet to the non-Jews, to bring to them the message of the crucified Messiah, and he does this in an extraordinary way.  This is especially interesting because he began his career as one of the highest Jewish authorities. His impact has resounded throughout the history of Christianity through his writings which comprise about two-thirds of the New Testament.

In the writings of Paul we see for the first time the language that will become the hallmark of all the later Christian tradition. Indeed this is where we get much of the vocabulary that makes Christianity distinctive. The term "Christ" is a title. It's the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messioc and they both mean exactly the same thing. They both refer to someone who is anointed for leadership by God. The term is identifying Jesus as a religious figure in a new way.

For Paul, however, the term "Christ" does not automatically signal a Christian frame of reference that everyone today would have recognized. The term Christ, Messiah, could have been used by any number of different Jewish people and still meant different things. So just to hear that term, even in the Syrian city of Antioch, probably wasn't all that unique, and yet it must have sparked some interest. It is significant therefore that the Book of Acts tells us that the term “Christian” (which meant Christ’s men) was first coined in Antioch as a reference to the Apostle Paul and St. Barnabas, who were indeed Christ’s men. This could have been as much as ten years after the death of Jesus.

It is good to remember, however, that while we think of the term Christian in lofty and positive terms, at the time that it was coined it was probably a slur. It was probably thrown at these early followers of Jesus as some derogatory designation of them.  It is typical with any new religious movement that the insiders may have their own self identity, while those outside label them with another term designed to exclude and repel. So when we hear at Antioch that they are called "Christians" we have to think of that more in the vein of them being called "Messianists" or "Christies."

But Paul had his opponents — sometimes from the leaders of the Jerusalem church led by James the brother of Jesus.  With great concern they cautioned the congregation of Galatia. "Wait a minute, Paul told you a very simplified gospel that makes it easy for you to become a member of this new group.  But we know, after all, that if you're really going to be a real Christian, you first have to be a real Jew and that means, you have to be circumcised and you have to keep dietary regulations of the Torah.” And Paul would reply, "No, you don't understand how radically new this thing is, which God is doing here." 

Paul commands with unprecedented authority this Jewish school, this Jewish philosophy, this Jewish sect, and declares that its teachings are so important that the entire map of the world needs to be redrawn.  As this happens the simple dichotomy of Jews and gentiles fades away and we no longer simply have a Jewish school arguing with other Jews about interpretations of law and theology. We now have a new map of the world. The teachings of Jesus have within them the secret to understanding the new cosmic order. The old distinctions between Jews and gentiles are now obliterated. That distinction has been supplanted by a new, more wonderful and beautiful idea in which we have a new Israel that will now embrace both Jews and gentiles.  Through those who accepted the new covenant and the new faith we can see the beginnings of what might be called the emergence of Christianity as distinct from Judaism.

For some Christians, this never happens. They can't bring themselves to say that God has thoroughly redrawn the map of the cosmos and has taken them out of the Jewish world and pushed them onto the stage of history. Others disagree with Paul on exactly how to read this new map and exactly what it means, and most importantly, where do the Jews fit in now, those Jews who are "being left behind."... But, in any case, the Christian Church itself was now emerging as a new independent group by the middle of the 2nd century. 

With this explosive spread of Christian churches it cannot be expected that everywhere, everybody was doing and believing the same thing, singing the same hymns and reading the same scriptures and telling the same story. So we have a beginning with great diversity, and the slow process, particularly in the second century, to establish a greater unity among the very diverse churches. Developing unity was already a process in Paul's church.  In fact that was his main motivation for writing letters, to insure that these newly converted Christians in Ephesus and Philippi and Thessaloniki and in Corinth have some unanimity in their beliefs. 

Christianity, or one would rather say "Christianities," of the second and third centuries were a highly variegated phenomenon. We really can't imagine Christianity as a unified coherent religious movement. Certainly there were some religious organizations. There were institutions developing in some Christian churches, but only in some. And, this was not universal by any means. We know from the literature recovered at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, that Gnostic Christianity did not have the kind of clear hierarchy that other forms of Christianity had developed. They still clung to a charismatic leadership model. 

There were also very different views of Jesus in the various types of Christianity.  Perhaps the starkest contrast was among those who considered themselves as Gnostic Christians, and those who considered themselves Christians in the old Pauline view of things. On the one hand, Paul, and Pauline Christianity, would have placed all of the emphasis on Jesus' death and resurrection, and the saving power of that death and resurrection. Gnostic Christianity, on the other hand, would have placed its prime emphasis on the message, the wisdom, the knowledge, the gnosis (which means ‘knowledge’ in Greek)—the knowledge that Jesus transmits, and even the secret knowledge that Jesus transmits. So, on one hand, faith was held in the saving event of Jesus' life and death, and, on the other hand, knowledge was held as the great source of adherence to a higher consciousness. 

The second century was the age of definition before Christianity. Now that it realized it no longer was Judaism, or no longer was a form of Judaism it had to figure out well then, what is it exactly? What is Christianity? What makes it not Judaism? How is it able hold on somehow to the Jewish Scriptures (the Old Testament), and still not be Judaism? This was one of the major questions confronting Christian thinkers, writers, and Church leaders of the second century. This was the great age of Christian diversity, sects, schools, and “heresies” of all kinds.  It was only in the second century that we begin to see the emergence of what might be called orthodoxy, or something that might simply be called "Christianity" in a kind of uniform body of doctrines and text, that is to say the New Testament. The New Testament as a collection of texts is a product of the second century, as Church leaders decided which books were sacred, which books were authoritative and which ones were not.

By the third century of our era, we have something called Christianity with its own sacred books, its own rituals, its own ideas.  But this is also the great age of confrontation with the Roman Empire. The third century was the great age of persecutions. The Roman Empire wakes up to realize that there is something new afoot, and from their perspective, sinister, in new groups that are threatening the social order and ultimately the political order of the Empire.  And, the Roman Empire was correct. The Romans correctly intuited that the victory of Christianity would mean the end of the Roman Empire, the end of the classical world.  When we think of persecution we see it, of course, from a Christian perspective. We see it as heroic martyrs confronting the might of Rome. The martyrs are indeed a spectacle of tragic devotion. Their sacrifices were magnificent demonstrations of Christian faith. On the other side of the coin, however, we must realize that the Roman Empire was doing what all bureaucracies do. It was trying to protect and to perpetuate itself.

The Romans tried to suppress Christianity but failed by such a staggering measure that in the fourth century, Christianity has become the state religion.  By the end of the fourth century the newly official Christian Church of Rome is persecuting all non-Christian groups in the Empire! By the end of the fourth century it was illegal to practice any form of public worship other than Christianity in the entire Roman Empire. There is a great mystery here.  How could there have been such an extraordinary reversal?  Jesus was executed by the Romans as a public criminal and a threat to their way of life. Yet three centuries later he is being hailed as a God, as part of the one true God, who is the God of the new Christian Roman Empire. That is a remarkable progression of possibilities, an astonishing development in the course of three centuries.  It’s hard to understand exactly how it happened or why it happened that way, but it is important to realize that Christianity of the fourth century is not the same as the Jesus movement of the first or even the second century.

This of course takes place gradually. It doesn’t happen everywhere all at once, in the same way. It’s a complex protracted process that must allow for variety. Early Christianity, by moving into different cultures, different universes of thought and religion in the ancient world also adopted numerous concepts from other religions, which enriched the early Christian movement tremendously.

Constantine & The Council of Nicea

The transformation of Christianity over the first 325 years of its existence is really a profound one. The one who started out as a messianic claimant, or a religious-political rebel, a victim of the Pax Romana, had by the time of the conversion of Constantine established the official religion of the Roman Empire. Even then, that’s not a simple transformation. It would take another hundred years before most of the Roman world really converted to Christianity. But still, with the conversion of Constantine, it was a very significant change, and that change was one that unfolds in several stages. What is originally a movement oppressed by Caesar, because it’s a competitor, eventually becomes a cult of the Lord Christ. With the conversion of Constantine it becomes an imperial religion.

One of the most surprising founders in the entire Christian tradition was the Roman Emperor Constantine. As a young man he was a successful General in the Roman army destined to become Emperor. But before he can attain that position he must gain victory over another successful General. As their struggle unfolded Constantine had a vision on the battlefield. Luckily for the Church, there was a Bishop nearby to interpret what the vision meant. Constantine never converted, at heart, to Christianity, but became a patron of one particular branch of the Church. It was not accidental that it was the branch of the Church that had the Old Testament as well as the New Testament as part of its canon. The significance of that is this: Inclusion of historical Israel as part of Christian redemptive history, provided an entire language for articulating the relationship of government and piety. It provided the model of King David and all the kings of Israel. Using this governmental concept the Bishop explained the vision to Constantine. 

Moved by the power of his vision, Constantine did indeed conquer, and in a sense became the embodiment of a righteous King. He consolidated his power by conquering not only the west, but eventually also the Greek east. There were many more Christians concentrated in the eastern cities, which were the social power centers of that culture. Constantine had been given an amazing position of having a theology of government with which to consolidate his own secular power. And, it worked both ways. From the beginning of the Jesus movement, there were always problems negotiating the proper relation between the members of the movement, who owed their allegiance to a different Lord, and the powers of the state. There was no central organization at that time in church history, and a Bishop was not only the local officiating leader of a congregation, but its highest office as well.  This made for diversity of faith and often serious disagreements.  The answer had been provided and the opportunity for resolution was seized, as much by a few surreptitious, opportunistic Bishops, as by the Emperor. 

After the union became an operative reality, those who propelled Constantine into victory would be given federal funding for sponsored committee meetings and urged to iron out differences of opinion about doctrine and creeds. Solving this problem was essential for the empire to seize control of the Church and for the consenting Bishops to obtain protection and legal state authority. But how could such agreement be accomplished when the great strength of early Christianity was its adaptive resilience, and rebellious defiance of all limiting structures?  The resolution would come slowly and cautiously, as some of the eastern Bishops began to present the Emperor with a consensus of opinion on their ideas of true Christianity.  Once he was confident that enforceable uniformity could be achieved, Constantine convened the Council of Nicea on June 19, 325.  He did so at that time because he had just completed his consolidation of authority over the whole of the Roman Empire, which comprised the majority of the world at that time. Up until 324, he had ruled only half of the Roman Empire. And he wanted to have uniformity of belief as well—or at least no major disputes within the Church he desired to rule. 

Some records state that 318 Bishops attended the Council and others say there were only 270 present.  Either way, it was a small number compared to the thousands of Bishops leading congregations in the late Roman Empire. Specifically, the Council of Nicea was a response to a crisis that developed in the Church over the teachings of a presbyter or priest of the church in Alexandria.  His teachings suggested that Jesus was not fully divine, that Jesus was certainly a supernatural figure of some sort, but was not God in the fullest sense. The Council of Nicea was called to mediate that dispute, and the Council did come down on the side of the full divinity of Jesus. But the Council did not limit itself to that mediation.  All the major decisions of doctrine that have governed the conformity of Christian faith and practice for more than 1,600 years were established by the Council of Nicea.  That includes the Apostles Creed so revered by most denominations (though no apostle ever pronounced it).  Many decisions were made about the authenticity of scripture, and official interpretations of it were publicly manifest.  Because their agreements were solid and enforceable, the Bishops were given their legal state authority and Constantine became the Emperor of the Church as well as Rome.

One of his first actions as Emperor of the Church was to authorize persecution of all Christians that disagreed with the newly established rules. The gnostic Christians were especially targeted.  Christians who did not have the Old Testament as part of their canon were also targeted. The list of enemies was long. There was a kind of internal purge of diverse practices and beliefs as Constantine built a singular Church under to his personal authority.

The Bishops who were in agreement with the Council’s decisions were terribly grateful for so much imperial support and reinforcement. The benefits of imperial patronage were enormous. In the late Roman Empire the lines of power were clear and unquestionable. A Roman Emperor (who was not yet even a believer) was the absolute authority. Therefore, Bishops were able to take advantage of Constantine’s mood, and his curious intellectual interest in things like Christology, the Trinity, and Church organization. They were able to have Bibles copied at public expense. They were finally able to have public Christian architecture and big basilicas. Altogether there was a comfortable symbiotic relationship between the Empire and the Church even if certain points of integrity were seriously questionable.

Records plainly confirm that Constantine did not convert to Christianity as an exclusive religion. Clearly he was covering all bases. Constantine was a consummate pragmatist and a matchless politician. He gauged well the upsurge of interest and support that Christianity was receiving, and so he consumed it and exported it through his own rule. But what’s important to understand and appreciate about Constantine is that he was a remarkable supporter of Christianity. He legitimized it as a protected religion of the empire and patronized it in lavish ways. With Constantine, in effect the kingdom had come. The rule of Caesar now had become legitimized and under-girded by the rule of God.  That was a momentous turning point in the history of Christianity. 

The imperialization of Christianity can be seen in many Roman monuments where imperial ideology and symbolism, along with the trappings of imperial grandeur, are brought into and overlaid onto the Christian tradition. An excellent example of that is the apse mosaic in the Church of Santa Podenziana at Rome. Here, we have what seems at first glance to be a traditional scene from the gospels.  Jesus is seated in the middle of his Apostles who flank him along either side.  It resembles a Last Supper scene, except there are two women seated behind who are dressed like very noble Roman women. It’s probably a Roman version of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. The greatest change however, is in the portrayal of Jesus. Jesus is now in a very elaborate, expensive toga, seated enthroned in an imperial chair. This Jesus looks like the Emperor himself, and here he sits enthroned in front of a very elaborate cityscape behind. But, it’s not the city of Rome; it’s the new imperial city of Jerusalem. Behind him we see Constantine’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre that had only recently been completed in Jerusalem.  Behind that is the rest of the new city of Jerusalem rebuilt for the first time, significantly, after it had been destroyed in the first revolt. So, Constantine’s imperial patronage of the Church is reflected in a variety of ways—in the rebuilding of Jerusalem, in the establishment of Christian monuments, and now in one more way: in the characterization of Jesus and his disciples.  They blend perfectly with the Roman aristocracy and are part of the mainstream of Roman society. This is an imperial Jesus who had been transformed into the Lord Christ of Heaven, with the Emperor Constantine ruling in his name.  Constantine had successfully founded the Church of Rome, and in this gesture has established the governing principle through which the authority of Heaven could be delegated to one human being. 

The Tree and The Branches

Diverse and conflicting factions within Christianity have often driven the faithful to seek unity through conformist organization and enforced doctrine.  At times the imagination of Church leadership would envision and present the faithful with an idea of a golden age at the beginning of Christianity — an era blessed with perfect harmony and truth.  But such a condition never existed.  The only true unity the Church has ever known is the person of Jesus Christ, himself, and the dedication of those who have taken his message to heart.  The core truth of Jesus’ teachings has moved forward in time not by doctrine but by faith…not by organization but by the conveyance of the Holy Spirit from one through another by the power of Love.

The true power of Christian fellowship is through spiritual unity that has expanded beyond all expectation and defied the constraint of all limiting vessels.  Even those who walked with Jesus would often disagree about the significance of his life and the nature of the mission he intended for them.  Therefore, if we would understand the true character of the Church established by Jesus and the Apostles, we must see it as something more than an ever-widening compass.  A better image would be an immense tree with deep roots and countless spreading limbs.  The tree sprang up from the seed of Jesus Christ, with its roots in the rich soil of Jewish faith, law, and custom.  The trunk would be the spirit and love of Jesus Christ pouring out to succeeding generations through each person that took his message to heart and practiced it in faith and service.  The inclusive nature of Christianity has accepted even the limitations of belief and practice, or the human insecurity of placing conformity and agreement over the search for truth.  Whenever that would happen a new “branch” of the tree would bud and grow.  Each denomination of belief, practice, and custom could be viewed as a new spreading branch.  Even the largest denominations are only branches of the Great Tree.  Because there is so much diversity within Christian faith and practice, the branches have often competed for dominance.  To reinforce such contentions for dominance, the history of a “branch” has often been confused with the history of the Church.  Though many have tried, however, never once has a branch successfully captured and redirected through itself the whole growth of The Tree!

With a botanical tree there is a different cellular organization in the trunk than in the branches.  So fundamental is this difference that any tree will cease to grow vertically if its center stem is damaged or clipped—regardless of how strong the branches are.  This is true also of the Great Tree of Christian faith.  The Church of Jesus Christ is not entirely of this world, except that it instructs us to love one another and to convey the Holy Spirit to one another by love, support, charity, and communion.  Those who know this understand the mystery and grace of the central trunk of the tree.  As Jesus was ever mindful to assert, “I am in the world, but not of the world.”  So too is the central trunk of the tree.  Through loving grace and fathomless mystery He brought forth a vessel for faith with amazing adaptability.  Those who follow it most closely often do so with the least amount of visible structure and remain close to center.  Those who have less tolerance and flexibility typically develop specialized branches of faith and service.   As with any tree, the branches are often more visible than the trunk until one moves in closely enough to see the true source of the tree’s strength and life.  What is unique about the central core, the Sacred Heart of the Church?  An eternal truth, abiding in love, with enough simplicity, strength, and adaptability to support all the necessary adaptations for the survival of its branches.

When Jesus began his work with only twelve Apostles, only the power of love could surmount the harsh conditions of conflict and oppression that spread across the earth at that time.  “Love your God with all your heart, might, and soul, and your neighbor as yourself,” was a simple unifying message that dissolved resistance to build a new community through the hearts of men and women needing a new life.  Soon that number would comprise the majority of the Roman Empire — which is to say also the majority of the world!  Not only did the outreach of Christianity spread as a faith and a community, but also the original Apostles taught and consecrated other Apostles as Bishops to care for the growing flocks.  So the central trunk of the tree would expand to carry its outer growth.  For 2000 years there has been a lineage of stewardship that has protected and passed on the original message of love.  Through every generation that central lineage has insured (through strange and diverse methods) the tolerance, acceptance, and application of these messages for the strength and furtherance of the Church corporeal.  Often the keepers of the central trunk have served in an inconspicuous missionary fashion.  Always the blessings and duties of responsibility have been conveyed person to person, rather than institution to person.  Perhaps the greatest difference between the trunk and the branches is the relative unimportance of institutional power that exists near the true center.  Those who are close to the center may have served within the various branches, or they may have swum like anonymous fish in channels of love known only to God and those they served.  Stewardship of this power has been by dedication to God, service to man, and ordination or consecration by those who came before.  Therefore, the members of this sacred fraternal trust have often been less well known than those who led the venerable branches, and more humble than those who had more fixed or prominent agendas.  Yet like the spirit of Christianity itself, this central lineage continues to move forward in unbroken succession.  It reemerges into public visibility every generation in often surprising ways of new service and inspiration.  It has now reappeared as Spiritis Church.  To tell the history of Spiritis Church is a bit like telling the history of sunshine.  The sun has never changed in its direction or ceased in its warmth and radiance, but due to the revolving cycles of earth it seems to re-emerge each new day in a different position on the horizon.  For this reason it is far more important to examine the character of the Original Church and the vital symbiotic relationship existing between all parts of the tree, than merely to retell the sequential dramas of history.   Paul wrote in Galatians 3: 28 “You are all Sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Spiritis Church

Spiritis Church carries forward into the third millennium the Original Church of The Way and Spiritus Sancti.  Spiritis Church accepts and affirms the value of all denominations of Christianity, and does not espouse any doctrinal limitations or exclude the truths of God in any way they may appear. 

We find ourselves standing on a foundation of such ancient firmness that our perspective can embrace the heroic past of those who carried the light of Christ and the truth of the Holy Spirit forward through challenge and adversity.  We can appreciate the guidance of Spirit when it has surrendered to serve within vessels of human conformity and restriction.  We can also see the indomitable courage of those who were chosen by Spirit to expand the envelope of faith and consciousness.  And now, in respect of an international community of mankind emerging for the first time, we are humbled and awestruck by the majesty of Spirit unfolding from every nation.  Through advances in communication, breakthroughs in technology, and discoveries through objective scholarship, we are finding similarities in the history of Truth, healing modalities, and inspirational fulfillment from every corner of the earth.  We are discovering that the same kinds of mis-direction have hurt us all, and the same kinds of dedication to goodness, love, and service has fulfilled us all. 

Perhaps it is significant that my own Consecration as a Bishop on the first morning of the third millennium marked a shift of emphasis from the branches back to the trunk of the tree.   Strong connotations of controlling structure are often attached to situations of exclusive masculinity, and with the introduction of feminine character there is perhaps a subtle suggestion that priorities will now adjust toward nurturing and support in a more unconditional way.

The foundation of Spiritis Church is Jesus Christ.  Its power is the Holy Spirit. And, its future is an uncharted frontier of unlimited possibilities for inclusion, love, and service as never seen before.  We honor all faiths and beliefs that truly reside in the heart and are applied with benevolence for the communities of man and nature.  As a living legacy of the “trunk of the tree” Spiritis Church stands in acceptance of the many branches that already exist and the many unborn branches that are beyond our capacity to envision.  We hold that the Church is of God not man, to be created and recreated by the will of God not man, and to exist by revelations of Truth, not by limitations of structure.  Therefore, Spiritis Church is all-denominational and is open to all the possibilities of God.  In the words of Paul to the Ephesians (4:4-6) “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope, when you were called—one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”  

click HERE for optional FULL PDF version