The Barracks Emperors

Chapter 2 

Crisis of the Third Century

325 AD - We ended the last segment with the assassination of Emperor Alexander Severus by his own troops and the rise of Maximinus Thrax. 

Good Emperor Bad Emperor 

Whilst one could conceivably understand the demise of the murderous and cruel Caracalla the murder of Alexander Severus was totally uncalled for especially as he demonstrated good rulership skills even when still young. 

This heralded a period of time which was to last for the next 50 years in which there were at least 26 claimants to the title of Emperor, mostly prominent Roman army generals, assuming imperial power over all or part of the Empire.
Also known as the Military Anarchy, the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression. 

In what was surely a most tragic event in Roman History when Alexander Severus who seemed to be an enlightened and wise ruler albeit under the direction of his mother Julia Mamaea, receives the same fate as so many much more deserving emperors.

So now in place of this educated aristocrat ruling Rome the pendulum swings about as far away from this position as it possibly get .

Maximinus Thrax had never even been to Rome was born in Thrace and was originally a Shepherd who had risen through the ranks because of his enormous size and strength and ferocity in battle. 

He was reportedly 2.6m in height and could pull an ox cart on his own. 
The senate, once again, were powerless to prevent him from being confirmed as emperor. However, it was not all plain sailing for Maximinus.
He still had to deal with several plots against him and after a brief and bloody power struggle he emerged victorious but remained deeply suspicious of just about everyone.

He felt most threatened by the Senators in Rome since any rival to his rule would most likely come from within their ranks so he had them all removed from the army, replacing them with loyal soldiers who owed their previous promotions to him.

He then got to work using his greatest asset which was his military skill and legendary strength and managed to subdue the Alemanni after a tough and brutal campaign deep into the German provinces.

The Alemanni - ("all men")
 Previously a group of several Germanic tribes were name "seuvi" they were united by a strong leader for the purpose of war or migration, but consisted of several distinctly different groups.  They still had a grudge against the Romans since the time of Caracalla who had come aid them when they called for help but instead used this as a pretext to annex their territory.

They had, by the time of Maximinus, become quite Romanised living in Roman type homes and adopting Roman customs, not really the popular image of the 'barbarian'. They were not to be subdued for long and in 268 a major threat appeared in Gaul just as the Goths were invading in the East. The Roman Empire was beginning to look as if it was under siege with another rising in the Dacian Kingdom at this time.


The Dacian uprising in 236 AD was successfully quelled for now by Maximinus. 

The Dacian Campaign led by Emperor Trajan early in the 2nd Century AD described in detail on Trajan's column which documents their progress

Trajan’s Column

Built in 113 A.D. to commemorate the emperor’s victories over the Dacians in two wars (101–102 and 105–106 A.D.), has a 625 foot-long frieze that winds around the 98 foot-high column shaft 23 times. 

Maximinus victories

These victories, one would imagine would surely have been enough to strengthen his position but unfortunately,for Maximinus, wars were costly. To fund these wars he plundered funds from the wealthy landowners and when this was not enough he used money set aside for the poor and dug into a 'corn dole'. This made him increasingly unpopular with the populace who had not forgotten Maximinus's  lowly beginnings. 
“After reducing most of the noble houses to poverty, and finding the income obtained thereby small and insufficient for his purpose, Maximinus began to lay hands on the public treasures” (Herodian).

The tragic tale of the Gordian's

The voracious hunger of Maximinus's army caused so much dissension among the provinces that matters eventually come to a head. 

AD 237 - In the province of Africa the disgruntled populace rose up against an imperial official charged with the business of collecting the exorbitant taxes and murdered him. They then persuaded their own prefect Gordianus I to assume the throne. He was getting old and asked his son Gordianus II to help him. 

The Gordians were not at all thrilled about this dangerous "appointment" and not wanting to be seen as usurpers made haste to report these proceedings to the senate, submitting themselves to its decision as the constitutional authority. 

The senate was in fact quite delighted and responded by confirming their election and declaring Maximinus Thrax a public enemy.

But opposition arose from the neighbouring province of Numidia.
238 - Capelianus, was the governor of Numidia and loyal supporter of Maximinus Thrax. More importantly he also had the only available legion in the area. He therefore easily defeated Gordianus II in the one sided battle of Carthage. His despairing father chose to commit suicide, they had ruled the empire for 36 days.

Ryse son of Rome

Another sad day for the ailing Roman Empire. Father and son Gordianus loved literature and art and lived cultivated aristocratic lives, not really suited to the manoeuvrings and power play of Roman rulers. The senate had already given them their blessing and were forced to continue the struggle against Maximinus. 

They then proceeded to appoint Pupienus and Balbinus, members of the senate as joint emperors. Gordian and his son were deified by the Senate. The public were angry at the brutal treatment of the peace-loving and literate men, as victims of Maximinus' oppression. Pupienus and Balbinus were not popular candidates and the senatedecided to take the teenager Gordian, rename him Marcus Antonius Gordianus as his grandfather, and raise him to the rank of Caesar and imperial heir. 

But there still was the problem of Maximinus, he was busy marching on Rome, but Aquileia closed its gates against him. His troops became disaffected during the unexpected siege of the city, during which they suffered from famine and disease.

In May 238, soldiers of the II Parthica in his camp assassinated him, his son, and his chief ministers.Their heads were cut off, placed on poles, and carried to Rome by cavalrymen. Pupienus and Balbinus breathed a sigh of relief. But their joint reign was doomed from the start with popular riots, military discontent and an enormous fire that consumed Rome in June 238. 

On July 29, Pupienus and Balbinus were killed by the Praetorian Guard and Gordian III proclaimed sole emperor.

The Genius of the Senate Pointing to Gordianus III
Carved marble sarcophagus from Acilia near Ostia
 

The insecurity in the third century is perhaps demonstrated in this marble carving from a sarcophagus. The burial customs had changed already in the 2nd Century, from funerary urns as incineration was replaced by burial.
The boy Gordianus III is shown on the left perhaps shortly after the death of Maximinus and Pupienus and Balbinus. 

There is a marked shift in the approach to sculpture observable in this piece. The folds are carved in a far more generalised and meaningless manner when compared to the firm structuring seen in the Ara Pacis monument shown above. The restrained dignity poise and strength of the Hellenistic style has been totally abandoned and replaced by the typically Roman matter of factness and function and necessity have replaced elegance and sophistication. There is a marked element of insecurity and turbulence,understandably  reflected in the art of the 3rd Century. 

Gordianus III was forced to become emperor at age 13 beating the previous record (Elagabalus) by a year. The senate no doubt thought he would be compliant and they could use this figurehead to push their own agendas.
But he too was dead at age 20 after being supplanted by another head of the Praetorian guard. 

Philip the Arab

Came from obscure beginnings originally from the middle east near Damascus, hence Arab. His connection to the court was through his brother Gaius Julius Priscus, a member of the Praetorian Guard under Gordian III. It was his brother that got him the job of Praetorian prefect, it seems the two of them felt they could rule the empire with Gordian III as their puppet. 

But Gordian died during a Parthian campaign in mysterious circumstances and of course the suspicion must fall on the two brothers. 
One can only wonder at the logic that inspired Philip to take on the ailing Roman Empire. There were no finances left to assist in the continued threats from Barbarian tribes in the west as well as the east. The Persians were appeased but only after the payment of a heavy tribute. 


248 AD Philip had to try and consolidate his popularity with the populace by celebrating the  1000th Anniversary of the Roman empire, which according to tradition was founded on April 21, 753 BC by Romulus. A  'Ludi Saeculares' or secular games was held at great expense with theatrical celebrations accompanied by much blood and slaughter in gladiatorial contests in the coliseum. 

http://www.greendragonsociety.com/images/Gladiators_24.jpg

But this was not and never could be enough to sustain Philip's rule in a crumbling economy with renewed Barbarian invasions and a number of usurpers claiming they could do better. 

Philip was overwhelmed and even volunteered to resign. However the senate decided to back him, a senator by name of Gaius Messius Quintus Decius made such an impression on Philip that he entrusted him with the quelling of a rebellion in the Pannonian and Moesian provinces (map).

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Roman_Empire_with_dioceses_in_300_AD.png

The fickle Roman army decided that Decius was a better option than Philip and immediately proclaimed him emperor. Decius, it seems was not averse to the idea although he did apparently try to come to terms with Philip, whatever that means, a clash of armies was inevitable.

Philip marched out from Rome to face the approaching troops of Decius. In late summer, the two armies met outside Verona. Decius won a crushing victory and Philip was killed either in battle or by his own troops. When news of Philip's defeat and death reached Rome, the praetorian guard murdered Philip's son, as for his brother Priscus he seems to have completely vanished without a trace.

Taken from the Opening scene in Gladiator

Eusebius the christian chronicler writing during the reign of constantine records that Philip had converted to Christianity, a claim that is disputed but nevertheless is interesting since detractors of Eusebius claim his 'history' is distorted in order to paint a partisan view of the Christianisation of Rome in the 4th Century. 

Of course the secular writers of the day could be accused of the same thing since the victors always write the history, which makes us wonder about the veracity of most history we study, but that's another topic. Lets just assume the hard work and dedication of our history scholars and the ancient texts give us at least a reasonably accurate depiction of events from days gone by.

By 268, the Empire had split into three competing states: the Gallic Empire including the Roman Provinces of Gaul, Britannia and (briefly) Hispania ; the Palmyrene Empire , including the eastern provinces of Syria Palestine and Aegyptus; and the Italian-centered and independent Roman Empire, proper, between them. Later, Aurelian (270 -77) reunited the empire.

End of the Severan Dynasty

Crisis of the Third Century: introduction
 

VIDEO: THE BARRACKS EMPERORS Part 1

In the year 217 Caracalla is murdered by the head of his Praetorian guard Macrinus.

It was perhaps a befitting end to a cruel and evil tyrant but still we must ask
Was this a typical army coup in which a disgruntled and ambitious leader takes over control because he has the support of the troops?

Marcus Opellius Macrinus was born in AD 164 in Caesarea, a harbour town in Mauretania.

pre-emptive strike?

Well it does appear that this murder could have been a pre-emptive strike since according to the Historian cassius Dio Macrinus had been given a prophecy that he would depose the emperor and take over the leadership. 

It may be that Caracalla had gotten wind of this and there were indications of a "staff reshuffle". Given Caracalla’s murderous track record this did not bode well for Macrinus.  
So if we go along with this account Macrinus was possibly a somewhat reluctant usurper.

There were no obvious heirs to Caracalla and after three days Macrinus was offered the job. The senate did not object, only too pleased to get rid of the murderous Caracalla.

The Severan Ladies from "Caracalla and Geta
By Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadeema 

Lesson one for Usurpers - Kill everybody remotely connected to your predecessor 

The female survivors of the Severan dynasty were to become the downfall of Macrinus 

In hindsight Macrinus should have had them discretely disposed of but maybe he  thought women were harmless enough and he sent them far away to what he hoped was a safe distance.  He ordered to return to their  home near Emesa in Syria.

Never underestimate the fairer sex in the tough and  violent world of Roman politics.

A Woman Scorned 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Severan_dynasty_family_tree.jpg

The Godmother

Julia Maesa 

Limestone portrait of a woman (Julia Maesa?).
Marble. 3rd century CE

The sister of Caricalla's mother Julia Domna who had previously committed suicide after the assassination of her son. She took it upon herself to regain the throne. . .  

But - she was a woman and this was a major problem in politics in those times. 

She had been married to Syrian noble Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus  

They had two daughters Julia Soaemias Bassiana and Julia Avita Mamaea. 

(Her husband had been sent by Caracalla to Cyprus early in 217 as an emissary and died on the way there, of natural causes.)This left Julia Maesa heading up a family alone.

It was the trio of mother and two daughters that became the chief protagonists of the revolt against usurper Macrinus.   



Her Oldest daughter was 

Julia Soaemias

Statue of Iulia Soaemias ( 3rd century AD )

Her husband was the Syrian Roman Equestrian and Politician Sextus Varius Marcellus. 

As members of the imperial Roman family of the Severan dynasty, they lived in Rome. Julia Soaemias, was a cousin of emperor Caracalla

Julia bore Marcellus two children: one son whose name is unknown and another son called Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, who became the Roman emperor Elagabalus. 

Her husband died in c.215, during his time as Roman governor in Numidia. 

Our attention is now fixed upon her son who we now know as Elagabalus, (as he was derisively named posthumously). 

The Plot 

As we have established, in order to overthrow Macrinus they needed a male Emperor to promote as the champion for the throne. Elagabalus was only 14 but he was the the oldest male available and accordingly was  groomed for the role.


In order to legitimise this, mother and daughter fomented the rumor that he was Caracalla's illegitimate son. (This would firstly lay a 'legitimate' claim to the loyalties of Roman soldiers and senators who had sworn allegiance to Caracalla.)

He was then trained in the Imperial cult of Emesa which was the worship of Elagabal (seems this was a variation on the Canaanite God, Baal (El-aga-Baal) This would ensure the loyalty and by extension the continued financial support of the people of Emesa in Syria.

Next Julia bribed the third Legion at Raphana and they swore allegiance to Elagabalus. At sunrise on 16 May 218, Publius Valerius Comazon, commander of the legion, declared him emperor.

To strengthen his legitimacy through further propaganda, Elagabalus assumed Caracalla's names, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

The City of Emesa (Modern day Homs)

Macrinus has to act 

He sends a contingent of troops to crush the rebellion but they switched loyalties and joined Elagabalus.
Things began to look very bad for Macrinus, his next move was to get the blessing of the senate and strengthen his position in Rome. But in spite of the support of the senate, lucrative bribes and propaganda had lost him the support of the army and a much weakened Macrinus set off to confront Julia and her rebellion. A showdown took place in June 218 AD and in the ensuing struggle both Macrinus and his son lost their lives. Julia Maesa's desperate gamble  to re-establish the Severan Dynasty was triumphant. 

The senate was next and they were pacified with letters of reconciliation and obedience to the law but a condemnation of the usurper Macrinus, the senate agreed and proceeded to condemn Macrinus, Caracalla and Julia Domna were deified and both Julia Maesa and Julia Soaemias were elevated to the rank of Augustae.

The next hurdle to overcome was the new religion

Back in Rome was . . . the Imperial Cult 

Augustus Caesar as Pontifex Maximus

The Chief Deity of Rome was Jupiter and the upon accession the Emperor automatically became the Pontifex Maximus or chief high priest of the Cult. 

But it was also customary for Military and political leaders to adopt their own Patron God so importing a new religion was not unheard of in Rome. 

Sun worship was popular at this time and so the Syrian deity was assimilated in true Roman syncretistic tradition with the Roman sun god known as Sol Invictus ("the Undefeated Sun) 

The God Elagabal, it seems, did enjoy some precedence in Rome, apparently Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) was also at some stage the hereditary high priest at Emesa, this would be exploited to give the new God more credibility.

Elagabalus had a Temple constructed on the Palatine Hill (which housed a meteorite which was venerated since it obviously fell from heaven.)

Meteorites falling from the sky
are pretty common objects in
religions . . . as well shall see

 Herodian wrote "this stone is worshipped as though it were sent from heaven; on it there are some small projecting pieces and markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because this is how they see them".
Before the construction of the temple Elagabalus placed this meteor next to the statue of Jupiter. After he built the temple he then place all the most sacred religious artefacts of Rome into the temple so that nobody could give obeisance to another God without first acknowledging Egalabal. 

The Roman populace did not appreciate this departure from tradition they could accept a new patron God but a usurper of Jupiter might be a little hard to swallow. But perhaps this could have been tolerated had not Elagabalus caused a great many other offences as well which was to cause his downfall.


So it would seem for the moment,  the Severan's were back in power at last , the pretender to the throne had been dealt with and at last Julia Maesa could relax and enjoy her hard earned victory.

But it was not long before the cracks were beginning to show.

Elagabalus the Weird

We have established that Julia Maesa was the decision maker in the new administration, but the title and privileges that went with it were being throughly enjoyed by the still (very) young Elagabalus. He had some strange personal tendencies which soon began to surface to the ever growing alarm of the court of Severus.   

He had strange cross dressing tendencies together with some rather unorthodox religious practices. He married more than 5 times and had numerous alleged relationships with male courtiers just for starters. . .

Elagabalus tried to have his presumed lover, the charioteer Hierocles, declared Caesar,while another alleged lover, the athlete Aurelius Zoticus, was appointed to the non-administrative but influential position of Master of the Chamber, or Cubicularius. He stirred further discontent when he himself married the Vestal Virgin Aquilia Severa, claiming the marriage would produce "godlike children" this was in flagrant disregard for roman religious law.

The Vestal virgin who lost her virginity was reportedly buried alive or more accurately holed up in an enclosed space where she died of starvation. 

It was not unusual for emperors to have homosexual lovers, but the issue was the effect on the troops having to see their emperor dressing up like a girl, This was going too far and  totally unacceptable in a tough militaristic world where leaders had to be able to demonstrate their toughness. 

Cassius Dio reported that Elagabalus would "paint his eyes, epilate his hair and wear wigs before prostituting himself in taverns, brothels, and even in the imperial palace". According to Cassius Dio, his most stable relationship seems to have been with his chariot driver, a blond slave from Caria named Hierocles, whom he referred to as his husband.

There was the very real danger of losing the support of the Praetorian guard which any Emperor depended totally upon for their physical protection. In the vipers nest of roman political machinations nobody could afford this. 

The Roses of Elagabalus Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadeema 1888

Taken from the "Augustan History" a compilation of 'apocryphal' works by six different authors (collectively known as the Scriptores Historiae Augustae), written in the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine I.

The true authorship of the work, its actual date, and its purpose, have long been matters for controversy. 

In this Painting Alma-Tadema depicts a story in which Elagabalus plays an ironic and deadly prank on his unsuspecting guests smothering them with a huge barrage of rose petals released from a false ceiling, the delicate and sweet smelling roses overcome them and slowly crush and asphyxiate them.  

The original reference is this: In a banqueting-room with a reversible ceiling he once buried his parasites in violets and other flowers, so that some were actually smothered to death, being unable to crawl out to the top. 

It is unknown whether this is a true event or not although it would appear that Elagabalus was quite capable of such bizarre and cruel behaviour. 

Plan B

Perhaps he had been warned, maybe several times, and one can easily picture an exasperated Julia Maesa trying to talk sense into an out of control adolescent refusing to listen. 

The stakes are very high and Julia must have seen her great plan of restoration evaporating in front of her eyes. She had to formulate a desperate plan, and soon, before the incensed Praetorian guard took the law in their own hands. If her family was going to survive, she needed Elagabalus out of the way, but who would rule in his stead?

Fortunately she had another daughter who also had a son so a new plot was hatched this time against her own family. Her second daughter Julia Mamaea also had a son. . . Severus Alexander who was getting older. . .

First she made sure that Elagabalus named his cousin Severus as his heir. He was younger than Elagabalus but had by now turned 14 which was the age his cousin was when he took the throne. That was good enough for Julia Maesa. 

Elagabalus not being a complete idiot, suspected something was up, and tried to have Severus removed several times, eventually a confrontation took place in which the Praetorian guard knowing Julia Maesa had already given her consent murdered Elagabalus with his mother Julia Soaemias in 222 AD

Cassius Dio reports . . ."So he made an attempt to flee, and would have got away somewhere by being placed in a chest, had he not been discovered and slain, at the age of 18. His mother, who embraced him and clung tightly to him, perished with him; their heads were cut off and their bodies, after being stripped naked, were first dragged all over the city, then the mother's body was cast aside somewhere or other while his was thrown into the Tiber."

Julia Maesa's work was largely done and she died in 226 AD it is hard to imagine if she died confident in the future consolidation of the Severan dynasty, it seems that Alexander was doomed from the start. Which certainly is a pity because he was quite different in character and behaviour to his deranged cousin in every possible way. His Mother was Julia Mamaea and she stepped confidently into the shoes of her mother as de facto ruler of the empire.  

Severus Alexander becomes emperor at age 14

 His education had been carefully conducted by Mamaea at Antioch, and it is reported that she invited sometime in 228 AD, from the Egyptian School, the great Scholar Origen to educate her and her son.  
Eusebius relates (Church History VI.21-28) that she was "a very religious woman", and that Origen remained some time with her, "instructing her in all that could serve to glorify the Lord and confirm His Divine teachings." 

The Historian Lampridius gives a record of Alexander's very favourable dealings with Christianity.  
"He placed in his private oratory (lararium) images of Abraham and Christ before those of other renowned persons, like Orpheus and Apollonius of Tyana (Vita Alex., xxix); he tolerated the free exercise of the Christian faith ("Christianos esse passus est", ibid., xxii); he recommended in the appointment of imperial governors the prudence and solicitude of the Christians in the selection of their bishops (ibid., xiv);" He even went so far as to suggest the building of a temple to Jesus Christ but his advisors persuaded him against the idea. 
whilst Severus it seems had the makings of a good Emperor, his mother went everywhere with him and as he got older perhaps this could have been instrumental in the decisions made that eventually led to both her and her son’s demise. 
Severus was a well educated and enlightened man it would seem and apparently surrounded himself with wise and prudent advisors.

https://placeduluxembourg.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/structure-of-the-principate.png

The Military 

The problem was the relationship between the ruling class and the military who had by now already tasted power and was quite conscious of their collective ability to appoint and depose rulers as and when they chose to.  

Perhaps it is more accurate to say that Severus was simply living in an impossible situation in which trying bringing the military to heel was inviting one’s own demise.

Which is exactly what happened 

234, the barbarians crossed the Rhine and Danube in hordes that even caused panic at the gates of Rome. Roman troops had only just managed to contain a resurgent Parthian invasion in the east.

http://www.just-gamers.fr/pc/king-arthur-the-saxons.html

Alexander tried to negotiate with the invading Germans perhaps trying to avoid a bloody battle after the tremendous cost of the Persian wars. His troops were unimpressed with this decision and probably it made Alexander look weak in their eyes. 
They had by this time already nominated their choice of leader in the person of Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus who had worked his way through the ranks through sheer determination and strength, quite obviously the kind of qualities much admired by the legionaries.
Predictably and tragically Alexander was murdered together with his mother in 235 by his own troops on the Rhine. 

This is officially the end of the Severan Dynasty 

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The Age of the Barracks Emperors

The soldiers elect their choice of ruler and Maximinus Thrax is crowned.
He was of low birth and not even a true Roman
Which of course is totally unheard of until this time.
Apparently a brute of a man famous for his huge size and raw strength.

 Maximinus of Thrace (Bulgaria) began life as a simple shepherd and a legend tells how Septimus Severus elevated him in his army after witnessing his immense strength and formidable size. What is fascinating to observe here is how this powerful and brutal leader becomes the archetype for the army,  depicting respect for prowess on the battlefield. . . which was the very antithesis of Severus Alexander. 

Upon elevation to ruler however, it does not take long to see the administration of the vast Roman Empire took a bit more than brute strength. This deplorable  lack of skill would inevitably reveal itself in foolish blunders which caused much ill will and the Emperor subsequently fell from favour.

So this predictable cycle of events begins to repeat itself again and again throughout the third century right up until the accession of Diocletian. 

Maximinus Thrax

Maximinus had joined the army during the reign of Septimus Severus and had risen from common foot soldier through the ranks. 
He is the first of the era we know as the “barracks emperors” meaning a completely militarised empire ruled and governed by the army
The reign of Maximinus ushered in a half century of civil wars,  compounded by barbarian invasions, financial collapse, famine and recurring plague. 



Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, Routledge, 2001
• Herodian, Roman History, Book 7
• Historia Augusta, Life of Maximinus

Gnosticism 2

Gnosticism and the Church

• This painting by Jusepe Rivera was made in the 17th C and demonstrates a powerful obsession in the Catholic church in Spain at this time, that believed this deprivation of the body as something spiritual and admirable.
• Where does this idea come from?

Jusepe de Ribera - lived in Naples in Italy during the Spanish occupation great admirer of Caravaggio's chiaroscuro . Seems strange that his principle buyers who were the rich and wealthy rulers, somehow loved paintings of suffering and pain and martyrdom. 

This was seen as somehow 'ennobling' and an example of true spirituality that rejects the wealth and love of material goods of the world. 

Biblical references such as 'pick up your cross and follow me' (matthew 16:24) and Matthew 19:21 - Jesus says to a rich young ruler, 'sell all your possessions and follow me' are seen as biblical injunctions to a life of poverty and a rejection of the trappings of a material world.

• In order to give this a Christian context, references are made to Jesus in the Wilderness or Elijah living in a cave and John the Baptist living in the desert, these seem more justifications rather than the norm for the Christian. 
• Nowhere are these examples meant to be understood as prototypes for others to follow specifically as THE means to becoming a more spiritual person.

This way of thinking was integrated into the Church

• This is not originally a Christian teaching but rather it infiltrated into the Church from various pagan practices common at the time. 
• It is fairly common in other religious traditons  such as Hinduism and Buddhism who all uniformly advocate restraint with respect to actions of body, speech, and mind.

•  The founders and earliest practitioners of these religions eschewed worldly pleasures and led an abstinent lifestyle, not as a rejection of the enjoyment of life or because the practices themselves are virtuous, but as an aid in the pursuit of such inner peace.
• This is different to the Gnostic principle in Christianity which is essentially a persons effort to make themselves worthy by extreme discipline and deprivation to some-how attain a higher state of spirituality. When one considers the Gnostics rejection of the material realm as evil it is simple to make this connection. 

• This becomes even more obvious when one looks at some influential Christians in the third century who were overtly Gnostic in their thinking.

For example:  Evagrius Ponticus,also called Evagrius the Solitary (345-399 AD) 

Evagrius the Solitary, sometimes known as Evagrius Ponticus, was a disciple of the Cappadocian Fathers, ordained reader by St. Basil the Great and deacon by St. Gregory the Theologian. He became a monk of the Egyptian desert, and is the most prolific author of the Desert Fathers. He exercised a tremendous influence on both Eastern and Western monasticism. 

 source  - https://patristicnectar.org/bookstore_120724_1.html

• Evagrius, was a highly educated monastic teacher who produced a large theological body of work, mainly ascetic
• His second  work was called somewhat blatantly, 'The Gnostic:(Gnostikos) To the One Made Worthy of Gnosis. 
• Here he teaches young monks how to reach a state of 'apatheia' basically a meditative calm through which the acquisition of 'Gnosis' which is to separate the mind from the 'material' body in order to reach the hidden truth in all things.
• His next book the Kephalaia Gnostika , was an advanced book on meditation for experienced monks and this was a widely recognised work on Asceticism.
• In her study of Evagrius , Julia Konstantinovsky (a post-doctoral fellow at Christ Church Oxford).  Evagrius Ponticus: the Making of a Gnostic (Ashgate, 2008)he is automatically assumed to be Gnostic in his teaching.

• She makes an argument (as do all modern Scholars when referring to the Gnostics) for a re-examination of his contribution to scholarship since his work later became largely discredited. 
• But it seems this rejection was not about asceticism, but rather his view point on re-incarnation, (there were other points of difference mostly levelled at the ideas of Origen, who Evagrius greatly admired) which was (understandably) declared heretical by the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 AD 
• It is important to also acknowledge the fact that the Christian Church had not at this stage set a standard for Christian beliefs and teachings. There was no 'Canon' of Scripture at this time. 
• The often heard criticism is that the gnostic teachings were there first and were later crowded out at the Council of Nicaea, that is far too simplistic a view.
• There is more to this than a clearly definable and visible polarisation of ideas. 
• It seems clear that the gnostic ideas about the material world as being evil as well as all pleasure, (simeon Stylite would hurl abuse at women who came to him for 'enlightenment' , since in his belief they were evil just because they were women and therefore a source of temptation.) 
• It is fair to say that these ideas tended to muddy the waters and produced a lot of confusion.
• The council of Nicaea was the first of many that was an attempt to clarify and settle many disputes and controversies , but we will discuss this in more detail. 

• The point I am making for now is the whole basis for the Monastic movement right from the beginning was based on ideas that were essentially Gnostic. 

"Christ and the rich young ruler" by Heinrich Hofmann. 

The Story

A rich young ruler comes toJesus and asks him how he can achieve eternal life. Jesus asks him about the 10 commandments and the young man immediately says he has kept all of these. Jesus then tells him to go and sell all he has and follow him. The young man leaves 'because he had great possessions' 

What is the lesson here? If you are poor and reject wealth then you will be able to become more enlightened? 
Actually it depicts a lesson on where the young man's heart lies, his love of wealth and all that accompanies it was the Focus of his life. 

One can link this to Matthew 6:21 where Jesus explains "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." In the previous two verses Jesus shows why one should store one's treasure in heaven rather than on earth. 

Is that because the earth is the corrupt creation of an evil Demiurge, and we need to resist the temptation to accept its pleasures in order to fiend true enlightenment?That would be a Gnostic response.

• We will discuss the rise of desert monasteries and Monasticism in greater depth later and this is not to say they were Gnostic on every level, But there certainly is a strong connection to Gnostic thinking 

• This is seen in certain ideas ideas like. . . 
• celibacy
• withdrawing from the world into a life of deprivation 
• self imposed hardship 
• rejection of fellowship with other people 
• rejection of all that pleasures the flesh including food and drink.
• rejection in partaking of sex and even marriage.

• These are essentially and originally Gnostic in concept, not Christian. 

The Mortification of the Flesh

There is a scene in the movie The Da Vinci Code where Silas, the mad Opus Dei monk is seen whipping himself in imitation of the flogging of Christ, and using the cilice, this is a chain wrapped tightly around one's thigh or stomach deliberately to cause discomfort, but is meant to be done secretly, to increase your spirituality of course.

Asceticism 

The word is derived from Greek askesis meaning 'exercise' or 'training'. The term can be traced back to Stoics, Cynics, and to eastern religions including Buddhism.

How is it seen in Christianity?

"If anyone would come after me let them deny self and take up the cross and follow me". 

In the gospels it contains two elements: Leaving the self behind, and following Christ. The call to follow Christ involves a constant watchfulness — "Keep awake for the Lord is coming", a commitment to the poor, and fasting. In the case of some followers it also involves renunciation of possessions and celibacy. The same ideal can be found in St Paul: "I punish my body and enslave it so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified".

One can see how this is so attractive to the mentality of the Gnostic who then equates suffering and depravation as a core of the faith rather than a discipline.

The essence of this thinking is to earn one's salvation by strict discipline and depravation.

GUILT

Not to mention Guilt, what does a saint do when plagued with desire for a woman's embrace (we must resist this evil desire of the flesh) and as so often happens FAILS. The answer to many was 'MORTIFY' in other words to reject the evil material realm by doing the opposite of pleasure which means . . . pain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8V_6M4lmgY

There is such irony here, as the saints all compete for higher and higher spirituality the measure is made through comparison and in the end we have a game of one-upmanship that produces superior beings who are at various levels of enlightenment the more they suffer the more they can demonstrate their superiority. The irony is this is a demonstration to elevate myself in the eye of man 

Brings to mind Paul's reference it seems directed towards Asceticism

in Colossians 2:23. . . Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

1 Timothy 4:3

They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.

That doesn't sound too Gnostic does it?

• Remember the material world with its fleshly pursuits was part of a deception of the demiurge and so to deprive oneself of pleasure and just eat enough to keep the body barely alive became an obsessive game of one-upmanship as ascetics went to bizarre extremes to outdo each other in increasingly ridiculous acts of self-denial.

By the end of the fourth century, there were hundreds of monasteries, and thousands of cells and caves scattered throughout the Egyptian hills.

Simeon Stylite: 390 AD, Kozan, Turkey - 459 AD, Aleppo, Syria

• Perhaps the most famous example is Simeon stylites  who lived for 37 years atop a column in Aleppo Syria. His memory is much revered and his excesses are regarded as great examples of his holiness and purity. 
• Stylites comes from the Greek word stylos, which means pillar, or column. 
• His story goes like this: When he was just 13-years-old, he heard the Gospel passage: “Blessed are they that mourn; blessed are the clean of heart.” He went to a wise old man and asked him the meaning of these words.

 50 years after Simeon’s death, the Byzantine emperor Zeno had a large octagonal church and monastery complex constructed around the pillar. The sanctuary was the largest in the Christian world, surpassed only by the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople more than two generations later. 

He explained to the boy that eternal happiness can only be achieved with suffering, and that solitude is the most secure way to attain it. 

Impressed with this explanation, the young man joined some hermits who lived in a nearby monastery.

• As a means of demonstrating his religious devotion Simeon began sitting on top of a 10-foot pillar in a remote area outside the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. Over the next 30-plus years he increased the pillar’s height to almost 50 feet.
• He added to his suffering by wearing an iron collar; he was tied to the pillar, and food was brought up by a 
• basket on a rope. 
• Simeon preached to the crowds who, as his fame spread, made pilgrimages to see and hear the famous ascetic. 
• So revered was he a huge Church was build around his pillar after his death, the ruins survive to this day.
• It's not that hard to understand why these people did this to themselves, there is a kind of self centred satisfaction in achieving a higher level than all the others around you which Paul called 'self imposed worship' 
• But one wonders at the adulation of the crowds
• Why did they flock to these people for guidance and wisdom?
• As if a person sitting on top a column in the desert had anything practical to teach.
• It was simple an idea engendered in the Church that had accepted an element of Gnostic teaching that created a sense of adulation and awe in ordinary people who marvelled at these heavyweight contenders for the ascetic awards.

In Conclusion 

• It may be easy to criticise on the one hand but there was no centralised belief and people were influenced by many viewpoints all claiming to be Christian.
• The third century was quite a melting pot of divergent points of view which had simply not yet crystallised.
• These are in fact still in evidence today 

Next:

• What other areas of the Church were influenced by Gnostic thinking?
• Quite a few as we shall see