CHILIASM AND PATRIOTISM
Perhaps the most pronounced characteristic of pre-Christian, Judaistic
Chiliasm is its nationalistic or ethnic patriotism. Of course any
attempt to rigidly differentiate the nationalistic and religious
concepts of the Hebrews of the two centuries preceding the advent of
Christianity would be foredoomed to failure. Never perhaps were
patriotism and religion more nearly synonymous than at this period among
this people. That their Chiliasm has a strongly nationalistic content is
therefore natural and inevitable. The same patriotic animus is to be
found in a great number of their other religious tenets and practices.
The emphasis is perpetually upon the enhancement of the value of the
Jewish race and nation and the corresponding depreciation of other
nations and faiths.
But while it is true, that, owing to the inseparable integration of
Church and State in Judea, in the first two centuries before Christ, we
find a very considerable proportion of the religious beliefs and
observances highly charged with nationalistic patriotism; this is
perhaps more noticeable in the case of Chiliasm than in the case of any
other contemporary theological concept. The nature of the Millennial
belief was such as qualified it to function with especial ease and
success in that particular historical situation. For considerably more
than half a century before the birth of Christ the dominant fact in
Hebrew history is the increase of the power and influence of the Roman
state in the political life of the Jewish people. This increase was
perfectly natural. Indeed it was inevitable. That the petty Judean state
would eventually be absorbed in the world wide republic was a fact
patent to any reasonably intelligent student of the situation.[1] Under
the circumstances it could hardly fail to take place even without any
direct provocation to overt action on the part of either Jews or Romans.
It is not our purpose to follow the long, hopeless struggle of the Jews
against the inevitable extinction of their political independence. The
Jew was fighting against fate. From the first interference of Rome in
the affairs of Palestine to the last execution of Bar Cochba rebels, the
end was never in real doubt--humanly speaking. The inevitableness of
the catastrophe in this long drawn out tragedy is, in the writer's
judgment, in some measurable degree connected both with the nature and
subsequent history of Jewish Chiliasm. Later Hebrew Chiliasm is a very
peculiar form of belief. It is characterized by what can only be called
a crass and exaggerated anthropomorphic supernaturalism. It would seem
as if pari passu with the increasing conviction of the futility of
opposition to the power of Rome, there was an increasing conviction of a
catastrophic supernal manifestation, which manifestation in its details
became ever more and more crude and vulgar. The developing knowledge and
conviction of the invincible power of Rome is sufficient to explain the
increasing dependence upon supernatural aid for deliverance--but the
peculiar crassness of the supernaturalism is the arresting element in
the later Jewish Chiliastic writings. When every allowance has been made
for the natural exuberance of the Oriental imagination something still
remains to be accounted for. It is at least possible that the, to our
taste, repulsive features of supernalistic vengeance and glory are the
result of a long process of selection. In no people of whom we have
historical knowledge is the spirit of nationalistic patriotism more
deeply rooted than in the Jew. We may take it that practically all the
Hebrews of the generations under discussion believed in an eventually
triumphant Jewish state. Differences of education, and religious faith,
however, conditioned the opinions as to the time when this triumphant
state would appear and still more the method by which it would appear.
The better educated Jews, who were conversant with the political
conditions of the contemporary world and whose belief in supernatural
aid was perhaps weakest, appear to have adopted a laissez-faire
attitude. They seem to have been advocates of a pro-Roman policy; to
make the best of the existing Roman supremacy waiting for the
unpredictable time when Rome should follow the path of Egypt, Assyria,
and other world powers who in their several ages had subjugated the
children of Abraham. This party would perhaps have been willing to take
advantage of any condition of affairs which offered a reasonably safe
opportunity of successful revolt but under existing conditions they were
opposed to armed resistance to the mistress of the world.
At the other end of the scale was a party of bigotedly and fanatically
zealous patriots obsessed with the idea that immediate supernatural
assistance would be forthcoming in the event of armed revolt. Between
these two parties was another party--if it may be called such--partaking
in various degrees of the characteristics of these two extremists
parties. The Apocaliptic and Chiliastic literature of the period was
extensive. It would be possible to arrange even such fragments as
remain, according to the preponderance of supernal elements. It would
seem to be a rational deduction that if we possessed this literature in
its completeness we should be able (bearing in mind that we are dealing
with a relatively considerable period of time) to follow the whole
process of the supersession of more rational Chiliastic concepts in
favor of the more crudely supernaturalistic ones. Rome was at once
strongly repressive of movements for political liberty and tolerant of
religious liberty. Those writings in which Chiliastic expectations took
the form of advocating the active preparing for and co-operating with
the expected Messiah would suffer extinction. On the other hand those
Chiliastic beliefs which inculcated absolute and entire dependence upon
supernatural aid for the achievement of national independence would be
politically harmless and exuberance in such imaginings might flourish
unhindered. The more fantastic and absurd the expectations the less
likely they were to be suppressed by the imperial authorities. Whatever
the measure of truth in the above conjecture it is certain that Jewish
Chiliasm developed to the last extreme of extravagance. With the
doubtful exception of some Hindu legends, there is nothing, which more
exceeds the bounds of reason and common sense, in the literature of the
world. It is perhaps not too much to say that Jewish Chiliasm died of
excess development--a method of extinction of which nature makes liberal
use.
The later history of Jewish Chiliasm does not concern us. Under the
constantly repeated blows of disappointment it changed its form and
content into the more rational concept of salvation and glorification of
the individual human soul after death. What does concern us is that this
Jewish Chiliasm in all but its most extreme form was taken over by
Christianity. The intellectual background of Hebrew patriotism of course
persisted in the Christians of the first generation who were largely
Jews or Proselytes. The imminent divine kingdom of Christ does indeed
take the place of the lower concept of a rigidly nationalistic kingdom.
The kingdom of Christ even to the first generation of Christians must
have had a larger content than the previous Jewish belief which it
fulfilled and supplemented. Yet the essential thing to remember is that
so far at least as the Jewish Christians were concerned Chiliastic
expectations, though somewhat further extended, were still a form of
expression for the forces of Hebrew nationalistic patriotism. The
kingdom of the Jews had been transformed, or perhaps better,
transmogrified, into the Kingdom of Christ and his saints[2] but its
essential content was unchanged and so long at least as a considerable
proportion of Christians were converted Jews this condition of affairs
persisted. The constant criticism of Chiliasm by Gentile Christians is
that it is Judaizing. It is perhaps not exceeding the limits of
permissable hypothesis to suppose that one of the reasons why Chiliasm
failed to make a permanent place for itself in the belief of the
universal church is to be found in this very fact that it was in essence
a form of political, Jewish, nationalistic patriotism, to which the
other portions of the Christian world, perhaps unconsciously, but not
the less effectively, objected.
The success of Roman imperialism in denationalizing conquered peoples
was truly remarkable. In this most difficult task of practical
statesmanship its accomplishments far surpass those of any other empire,
ancient or modern. But this success, great and unparalleled as it was,
nevertheless was not absolute. Except in particular cases it was never
really complete. The measure of its accomplishment was very different in
different parts of the empire. In Italy, Gaul, Spain, and perhaps
Britain its success may fairly be considered complete, but these were
countries where the proportion of Roman settlers and colonists was
very large. They were countries, furthermore, which were early
conquered--countries, which, at the time of the Roman conquest, had not
advanced a great distance toward the attainment of national solidarity
in politics, religion, art, literature, war or social intercourse. This
lack of development of local, national institutions and psychology left
the ground relatively free for the development of distinctively Roman
civilization and habits of thought. The comparative freedom of these
Western provinces of the empire from religious heresies at the time
that the Eastern provinces were so prolific of them, is commonly
ascribed to inferior aptitude of these Western peoples for metaphysical
speculation. We do not attempt to deny such inferiority, though the
subsequent development of metaphysical speculation in Western Europe
during the time that the reviving sense of nationality first began to be
felt in the Middle Ages and Reformation Era, suggests another cause as
operative.
If we consider three regions where Chiliasm, and also unquestionable
heresies, were particularly rife; i.e., Phrygia, Egypt, and Roman Africa
we see at once that these regions were seats of old, deeply rooted, and
thoroughly developed civilizations. To go into the subject merely a
little way we find that a nationalistic tradition existed in Phrygia at
the time of the composition of the Iliad.[3] This nationalistic
tradition was considerably more than a thousand years old at the time of
the introduction of Christianity. Roman political power had by this time
been thoroughly established in the country and there is no reason to
believe that political rebellion was contemplated at the time of the
rise of Chiliasm and the heresies. But while armed revolt may not have
been considered as practicable, or even as desirable, the fundamental,
nationalistic characteristics of the underlying strata of the population
do not seem to have been very greatly altered. Long before the advent
either of the Roman political power or the Christian religion a
homogenous, national psychology had become characteristic of the
Phrygian population. The Phrygian seems to have put on Christianity very
much as he put on the toga. He wore the toga regularly and easily enough
it may be, but in gestures and action, in speech and manner, he was
still a Phrygian. This typical Phrygian seems to have been commonly
regarded in the contemporary world as a bucolic sort of individual, much
perhaps as a Kansan is regarded in the United States, and with perhaps
as much or as little reason. The fact is that while ancient Phrygia
without question possessed a large rural population, it also possessed
numerous cities where the graces and amenities of life were as fully
developed as in any of the neighboring provinces which did not suffer
from the attribution of rusticity. The human instinct to botanize a
neighboring people while doubtless adding to the gaiety of nations has
to be taken _magno_ cum grano salis by the historian.
Whatever may be said of their other cultural institutions it is a fact
that the Phrygians at the time of the introduction of Christianity
had already developed certain distinctively national, religious
characteristics which marked them off from their neighbors.
The Phrygian Mysteries while doubtless in certain broad characteristics
similar to the Eleusinian Mysteries had peculiarities of their own and
were cherished by the people as something particularly expressive of
their especial form of the philosophy of life. In spite of any decay and
degradation which may have overtaken these mysteries in the course of a
long history, it is certain that their primary object was the elevation
and enhancement of life.
The national religious consciousness of Phrygia was peculiar in the
prominent place given to women. To this day it is impossible to say with
certainty whether the superior place in their religious system is held
by the male or female concepts of deity. Perhaps on the whole the female
concept preponderates.[4] What is true of theology is also true of
cultus. Priestesses and prophetesses held a position of marked
prominence and importance. Possibly the most pronouncedly distinctive
mark of Phrygian religion was the emphasis upon inspiration, immediate
divine revelation, exstatic conditions of religious excitation, the well
known "Phrygian Frenzy." If now, with even this meagre, historical,
nationalistic background in view, we examine the expression of Chiliasm
in Phrygia we see at once how it took the form and color of the national
psychology. The most pronounced Chiliastic expectations are found in
Montanism, which was so strongly marked by characteristics of its place
of origin that it was known throughout the rest of the Christian world
as the 'Phrygian Heresy.' So strong was the influence of national
sentiment that a very marked change was introduced in one, most
important particular. Christian Chiliasm, originating as a Jewish form
of nationalistic patriotism, emphasized the fact that in the Millennium
Christ was to reign in Jerusalem, which was to supplant Rome as the
center and ruler of the world. In this respect Phrygian Chiliasm makes a
complete break with the Hebrew tradition. Christ was to appear and
reign, not in Jerusalem, but in Pepuza. An insignificant town of
Phrygia was to become the capital of the world wide kingdom of Christ on
earth, displacing both Rome and Jerusalem. Nationalistic patriotism--not
to say megalomania--could scarcely go farther.
So too Phrygian Chiliasm is remarkable for the prominence and importance
of the position of women in the movement. The women, Prisca and the
others, seem to have been fully as prominent in the movement as Montanus
himself and they exercised a degree of influence to which it would be
difficult to find a parallel in contemporary Christian movements in
other countries.
Similarly, visions, revelations, inspirations, extraordinary conditions
of religious excitation are a marked feature of Phrygian Chiliasm. They
are of course the old 'Phrygian Frenzy' in Christian guise.
Not to pursue this phase of the subject in more detail, it is evident
that Phrygian Chiliasm bore in a marked degree the impress of the
national, religious psychology. Those bishops of Pontus and Syria who
persuaded their people to settle all their worldly affairs and go out
into neighboring deserts to await the coming of Christ in glory, exhibit
in a more naïve form the power of local group habits of thought to
transform concepts intruded from outside the group.
In the case of Egypt it is gratuitous labor to dwell upon the fact that
the native population at the advent of Christianity had developed a
nationalistic like-mindedness. This nation even in the year 1 A.D. had
an historical antiquity greater than any other nation can show
today--with the doubtful exception of China. In no other nation in the
world has there been such an opportunity for climatic and geographic
influences to work their full effect in producing psychological
homogeneity among a population on the whole remarkably little disturbed
in demotic composition. It is to be remarked also that the climatic and
geographic environments are themselves remarkably homogeneous throughout
the whole extent of the nation. The deterministic school of historians
have a model made to hand in the history of Egypt--a model of which it
must be confessed they have made very skillful use.[5] This is not the
place, even if the writer had the requisite knowledge, to enter into any
extended discussion of the national psychology of the Egyptian populace.
It is sufficient to mention one predominating feature of that
psychology, a feature so persistent and ubiquitous that the study of it
alone, enables the investigator to obtain a true insight into much that
is otherwise obscure in almost every variety of social expression among
the Egyptians; law, politics, government, art, science, literature, and
religion. This predominating feature can perhaps be best defined as a
certain low estimate of the value of individuality in the common man, a
cheap appraisal of the worthwhileness of the life of the ordinary
person. It seems to have a relatively slight ethnic element--if indeed
it can be truthfully said to have any. It makes its appearance
substantially unchanged in all subtropical countries situated in the
same general physical environment as Egypt; e.g., Southern China, India,
Mesopotamia, Mexico and Yucatan; in all countries that is, where the
natural conditions for sustaining and propagating human life are
relatively easy and where the economic surplus of productive physical,
as opposed to intellectual, labor is unusually great. Nevertheless the
fact that Egypt is in this category is due to a highly special
geographic phenomenon, the overflow of the river Nile. So that by
comparison with the nations immediately contiguous to Egypt, this
psychology may be truly said to be distinctively national in spite of
its similarity to that of other peoples more remote geographically.
It is perhaps unnecessary to do more than mention a very few of the ways
in which this characteristic of Egyptian psychology has affected the
national life. It has rendered the population largely passive under the
successive yolks of Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, and
Englishmen, to mention only some of the more prominent exploiters. It
has made possible the erection of those vast pyramids of stone, devoid
alike of necessity or use, which remain to this day one of the wonders
of the world. It has enabled religions at once superstitious and
debasing to flourish in the midst of a high degree of material
civilization.
For our purpose it is sufficient to call attention to the fact that this
mental bias makes any change, even in the acquired concepts of the
people, especially difficult of accomplishment. This is very well
illustrated, in the study of Egyptian Chiliasm. In no other country were
the efforts necessary to overthrow Chiliastic concepts so long drawn
out, so persistent, so futile of immediate success. Indeed they did not
finally succeed till long after the period embraced in this study. When
the good bishop Dionysius of Alexandria 247-264 A.D., held his
conference with the village Chiliasts of the Arsinoite nome, some of
them were indeed won over, but we are told that 'others expressed their
gratification at the conference'. It is evident that they were 'of the
same opinion still', Dionysius himself[6] was not the first of the
Alexandrians to oppose Chiliasm. There was much effort, both by him and
others, to eradicate the concept before and after this Arsinoite
conference. Yet we know that later on, villagers from this region became
monks in the Thebiad, and manuscripts still surviving from the Thebiad,
show that apocalyptic and Chiliastic literature was popular with the
monks, generations, and even centuries, after the death of Dionysius. It
is a notable example of the national character of the Egyptians. They
let their aggressive and dominating superiors have their own way in
appearance--but in appearance only. The underlying currents of thought
remained essentially unchanged among the commonality. The resistance was
passive--perhaps almost imperceptible--but it was real and persistent.
In the case of Roman Africa--the country north of the Sahara Desert and
west of Egypt--the problem is more complicated. In Roman times down to
the Vandal invasion, the population of this region, leaving out of
account certain small and relatively negligible numbers of Greeks,
Egyptians and others found mainly in the larger cities, the population
was composed of three distinct strata. At the top were the dominant
Romans, insignificant in point of numbers but having the monopoly of
government, law, and administration. They were practically undisguised
exploiters; government officials whose main business was to forward corn
and oil to Rome and incidentally enrich themselves; agents of the great
Roman landlords intent on transmitting rents to their patrician
employers--already in the time of Nero the Senatorial Province of Africa
was owned by as few as nine landlords--absentee landlords living in
Rome,--and finally, the numerous body of inferior agents; lawyers, money
lenders, and estate managers whose services were indispensable to the
carrying on of the vast system of economic exploitation.
Beneath this thin, dominant, Roman upper crust was a vast population of
artisans, tradesmen, agricultural and other laborers, serfs, and
slaves. This great body of the commonality was to a remarkable degree
still very purely Punic even in late Roman times. They differed
ethnically, linguistically, religiously, and otherwise from their
rulers.[7] We find St. Augustine, centuries after the Roman conquest,
writing a letter in Latin to one of his clergy, but requesting him to
translate it into Punic and communicate it to his congregation. It is
useful to remind ourselves of the fact that the population of north
Africa in the first centuries of the Christian era was much greater than
it is now. Centuries of Mohammedan mis-government account for this in
part but the chief cause is to be found in those profound climatic
changes, the origins of which are still obscure, that have reduced to
desolate and barren wilderness whole regions which in Roman times
abounded in populous cities and in rich and fertile agricultural lands.
This large population had the cohesion which results from centuries of
similar and essentially unchanged social habits and it had also that
sense of strength which comes from large numbers, and that pride which
results from the inheritance of a proud history. They never wholly lost
that spirit which had made their ancestors great. They never forgot that
in former ages they had competed as the equals of Rome for the lordship
of the world.
To the South toward the Desert and the Atlas Mountains dwelt a third
section of the population. They were nomads or semi-nomads, troglodytes,
and mountain peoples. Their manner of life remains essentially the same
today as it was in Roman times and as it was for centuries before Rome
set foot in Africa. The Romans never succeeded in subduing this
population except temporarily and for short periods. The imperial
government did what it could, and by means of military posts and patrols
kept a kind of order, but its success was only moderate.
Christianity in Roman Africa reflects this threefold division of the
population, as is to be expected. Cyprian, in spite of the sincere
religious faith and high moral character which elevates him so high
above the social class to which he belonged, is still the most typical
hierarch of his age. In his writings we find the whole philosophy of the
governing class translated into ecclesiastical language. It is highly
significant that in all the numerous and voluminous writings of this
Father there is not a line about Chiliasm. Ideas of such a nature found
little reception in the minds of men daily engaged in the practical
duties of making as much as possible out of the management and control
of a vast population economically and politically subordinated to them.
It would seem that Chiliasm was in fact very largely confined to the
Punic commonality. Tertullian is the great representative of this class.
The very considerable success of his views can only be ascribed to their
being acceptable to the general body of his local, Christian
contemporaries. It is at least imaginable this success was due to the
fact that the personal characteristics of this great African; his
impetuosity, his boldness, his sternness, his pride, his vengeful spirit
were truly representative of the psychology of the people whose
spokesman he was. It is notable that he was perhaps the greatest of the
Chiliasts.
The reader who has followed the argument thus far may be saying to
himself at this point: "If it be granted that the national characters of
the peoples of Phrygia, Egypt, North Africa or elsewhere, conditioned
their acceptance of Chiliastic beliefs and the ways in which these
beliefs found expression, what has that to do with the subject of this
chapter which is Chiliasm and Patriotism?" It is to that point we shall
now direct our attention, but what has been said above is necessary to
the proper consideration of the matter. We have endeavored to show that
in Phrygia, Egypt, and North Africa there existed nationalistic
psychologies in the commonality. It will be recalled that we have shown
in an earlier chapter the curious fact that Chiliasm, though originally
a perfectly orthodox doctrine--indeed one of the most important portions
of the true faith, nevertheless in the course of its historical
development, became mixed up with heresies to a degree beyond any
rational explanation by the law of chance or the rule of average. It
would seem almost as though there was some natural affinity between this
particular orthodox doctrine and almost any heresy; which finally
resulted in its being itself condemned as heretical.
The reason for this was that Chiliasm, like the heresies, was a psychic
equivalent for patriotism. No stranger or more unwarranted delusion is
to be found in the whole range of church history than the one still
unfortunately common, to the effect that for several centuries at the
beginning of the Christian era the populace of whole religions were
obsessed with incredible zeal over the most abstruse, metaphysical
speculations. It is indeed true that the ostensible objects of the
conflict were philosophical ideas but the realities behind these symbols
were tangibles of a very genuinely mundane order; economic exploitation,
social inequality, and suppressed national patriotism. This is evident
enough in cases like the Donatists in Africa, but a little consideration
of the evidence in the light of the developments of the Freudian
psychology, will make it clear in almost all of the heresies, and in the
case of orthodoxy also, when the imperial government chanced to be
itself heretical. So far as the writer is aware no study of any great
length has been made of this matter, which would richly repay
investigation; but our concern is more directly with Chiliasm and the
larger problem must be left to others for solution.
Freud has shown beyond reasonable hope of successful refutation, that
experiences which the mind has completely forgotten leave emotional
'tones' which remain active and are the determining cause of physical
and mental conditions. A thought 'complex' is a system of ideas or
associations with an especially strong emotional tone. A complex may be
of extreme interest to an individual by reason of his social education
and hereditary mentality and yet be out of harmony with e.g., security
of life and property: so a conflict arises in the mind. This conflicting
complex is gotten rid of in various ways; rationalization, repression,
disassociation, or what not, but the energy or interest which initiated
the complex remains none the less and something must become of its
force. This undirected emotional force is the cause of dreams, neuroses,
and psychic trauma.[8] Such in the most sketchy outline is Freud's idea.
The application to the case under consideration is obvious. Patriotism
was a repressed 'complex' to the peoples of Phrygia, Egypt, and Roman
Africa. The mental conflict brought on by the repression was
rationalized easily enough, no doubt, so far as the conscious mind of
the populace was concerned, but the disassociated emotional energy was
let loose on other concepts with which it had no proper connection
originally, i.e., problems of philosophical speculation. Chiliasm was a
speculative concept of a sort to make an especial appeal under the
circumstances. So far as his conscious mind was concerned the Phrygian
might be perfectly reconciled to Roman political supremacy. He might
rationally prove to his own satisfaction that such political supremacy
was really to his own advantage in the long run. Any idea of resistance
was sure to be repressed by the certainty of losing his property and
life. Yet the emotional energy of his patriotism remained and it
naturally associated itself with any idea that lay at hand. Chiliasm
happened to be at hand. The glorified, divine kingdom of the Saints of
God on earth was the psychic equivalent of that Phrygian kingdom whose
national existence had been forever extinguished by Rome. Similarly that
national patriotism which under other historical circumstances might
have found satisfaction in the glory of an independent Egypt now found
expression in the borrowed phraseology of Jewish and Christian
apocalyptical literature. The same is true of course of the Punic and
Nomadic strata of the population of Roman Africa. To the new Jerusalem
which was to come down out of heaven from God, these peoples transferred
their now useless and hopeless longing for the Carthage of the days of
Hannibal and for Jugurthan Numidia.
If, as we have endeavored to show, Chiliasm represented the strivings of
repressed, national patriotisms, we can readily understand the
increasing opposition it encountered on the part of the great
dignitaries of the Church. As the Christian hierarchy became
increasingly perfected, the desire of the prelates for unity and
cohesion in the Church became correspondingly greater. But national
patriotism is essentially a disrupting and disintegrating force to any
imperialistic organization, civil or ecclesiastical. Chiliasm being
associated with this separatist tendency, naturally came to be regarded
as heretical, and as such, was suppressed.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Cf. R. Charles, Doctrine of a Future Life.
[2] Cf. S. J. Case, The Messianic Hope.
[3] Cf. Il., III, 187.
[4] Cf. W. M. Ramsay., Art. _Phrygians_, Enc. of Religion and Ethics.
[5] Cf. Buckle, Intro. to the Hist. of Civilization in England.
[6] Cf. Eusebius, Eccl. Hist., VII, 24 seq.
[7] Cf. Alex. Graham, Roman Africa.
[8] Cf. A. H. Ring, Psychoanalysis.