Third Era (527-800 A. D.)
26. In the year 533, Justinian issued a decree in which he united all the priests "in the Orient" to the Apostolic See of Rome.
27. "The emperor's letter must have been sent before the 25th of March, 533. For in his letter of that date to Epiphanius he speaks of its having been already dispatched, and repeats his decision, that all affairs touching the church shall be referred to the Pope, 'Head of all bishops, and the true and effective corrector of heretics.' ['Vel eo maxime, quod quoties in his locis haeretici pullularunt, et sententia et recto judicio illius venerabilis sedis correct! sunt.']"1"
28. In the year 535, Epiphanius, who was patriarch of Constantinople, died; but before he died Justinian bestowed the same honor upon him that he had given to the bishop of Rome, and made him the head of the Eastern churches. This is the title Justinian gave to the archbishop of Constantinople, "The Emperor Justinian to Epiphanius, Most Reverend and Blessed Archbishop of this Imperial City, and Universal Patriarch." 2 This title is repeated in the Novella, 7, 16, 42, and applied to the successors of Epiphanius as well.
29. The emperor Justinian assumed the same position that all his predecessors had done; namely, he claimed that he was ruling by divine appointment, and that all his laws were of divine origin and must be obeyed. Each iml ortant code, law, or constitution had this preface, "The Code of our Lord the Most Holy Emperor Justinian." We here give an example of his legislation for the church as found in the "Third New Constitution, Title III:"
"We have ascertained that on this account the principal church of this Imperial City, the Mother of Our Empire, is oppressed with indebtedness, and cannot pay the clergy without borrowing large sums of money, to obtain which the best of its real property both in the country and in the suburbs must be hypothecated and pledged. . . . Wherefore We order that not more than sixty priests, a hundred deacons, forty deaconesses, ninety subdeacons, a hundred and ten readers, or twenty-five choristers, shall be attached to the Most Holy Principal Church, so that the entire number of most reverend ecclesiastics belonging thereto shall not exceed four hundred and twenty in all, without including the hundred other members of the clergy who are called porters."
30. He kept the obstinate Pope Vigilius almost a prisoner in Constantinople from 542 to 554, and during that time the pope changed his mind three times in regard to the "Three Chapters." The African church excommunicated Pope Vigilius in 550. He died on his way home, 554.
31. Pelagius, his successor, could not find three bishops in all Italy to ordain him as a pope, the entire West being against him because of his having been such a strong supporter of Pope Vigilius. He appealed to Jutinian, and finally was ordained by two bishops and one presbyter, supported by the imperial arms of Narses, commander of the imperial army. Pelagius was a pliant creature under Justinian throughout his whole reign in the chair of Peter, 555-560.
32. Pelagius's successor, Pope John III, 560574, was also subservient to the emperor Justinian and his successor. Justinian died 565, after a reign of thirty-eight years, which reign marked the imperial restoration of church and state in Italy.
33. The prophetic demand of Daniel 7:24, 25, is that it—the "little horn"—shall root up three of the ten horns which had divided the Western Roman Empire. There were two reasons for the rooting up of these horns; one was political and the other was religious. The aim of the Eastern emperors was to restore Italy to the imperial scepter and to liberate the Catholic Church in the West, which was under Arian control, and unite it with the Eastern church and with the empire.
34. The Ostrogothic king, Theodoric, proposed to the emperor Zeno to direct him against the Heruli, who governed Italy, and if successful he would govern, in the emperor's name and to his glory, the Roman Senate and the part of the republic delivered from slavery by his aims. The Eastern emperor accepted the terms, and in 493 the Heruli were defeated by Theodoric's arms. Whether the pope had anything to do with this arrangement between Zeno and Theodoric is immaterial, because the emperors often acted on their own initiative for the supposed good of the church.
35. The Vandals in Africa were defeated 534535 by Belisarius, Justinian's general. The Ostrogoths were defeated, and surrendered their supremacy over the Catholic Church, 538 A. D.; and this is the only logical and authentic date for the beginning of the supremacy of the "little horn" of Daniel 7, for that year marked the union of the Western Catholic Church, with the pope at its head, to the imperial Eastern Catholic Church, thus making the "little horn" organically complete, never again to be separated for 1260 years.
36. The Visigoths were not one of the three horns plucked up by the "little horn," for this reason: After they had been defeated by Clovis in the year 508, they passed the Pyrenees into Spain and founded a kingdom there. In the years 589-595 they renounced Arianism and became Catholic. In the year 711, they fought a six-day battle with the Moors, and were vanquished. Roderic, their last king, was killed in the battle. This ended the Gothic monarchy in Spain.
37. The Lombards were part pagan and part Arian in religious belief. Justinian gave them the provinces of Pannonia and Noricum, 528 A. D. In the year 568 they invaded and settled around Milan in northern Italy. They were converted to Roman Catholicism in the years 592-595, under Gregory the Great. They tried to conquer Italy and take the exarchate of Ravenna from the Eastern emperor. They besieged Rome and threatened to take the city and the duchy of Rome. But this whole u.nipaign was political and not religious, since the entire nation was Catholic, and had been so for over 150 years. This in no way involved the domination of the Catholic Church by the Lombards.
Charlemagne defeated them and became their king, 776-784. In the year 1176, the Lombardic League defeated Frederic of Barbarossa and gained their independence from the empire. In the years 1236-37 the emperor Frederic II conquered them for the last time. They lost their independence, and like the other barbarian tribes, amalgamated with the native population and in time lost their national identity. The province of Lombardy was established by the Lombards and bears that name today. Hence the Lombards cannot be one of the horns plucked up by the "little horn."
38. Prophecy explicitly points out that this power or supremacy was given, not to the pope and the church alone, nor to the emperor and the state alone, but to the "little horn," which is the church and state united in one goternment. To illustrate: Babylon was overthrown by Media and Persia, 538 B. c., which marks the date of her political supremacy, but she existed as a nation (or, more accurately, nations) long before that date. Medo-Persia was overthrown by Greece, 331 D. c., which marks the date of Grecian political supremacy over Persia, but she was a kingdom before that date. Greece was conquered by Rome at the battle of Pydna (Macedonia), 168 D. c., which date marks her political supremacy over the Macedonian kingdom; but Rome was a nation centuries before that date.
By the same logic and parity of reasoning, on a spiritual basis, the "little horn" became spiritually supreme when the last of the three horns, the Ostrogoths, surrendered their power over the pope and the Western Catholic Church through their defeat, 538 A. D., although the "little horn" as a government had existed since the days of Constantine.
39. Prophecy declares (Daniel 7:24, 25) that the "little horn" should speak words against the Most High, which finds its fulfillment in the historic fact that the officers of the state, as well as of the church, conferred the most extravagant titles on the pope, in addition to his own declarations of power.
40. Prophecy demands that the "little horn" should think to change times and the law.
History again speaks, proving that the "little horn" changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday between the years 321 and 500 A. D., particularly in the East, prior to the prophetically allotted period of its domination, beginning 538 A. D.
41. Prophecy indicates that the "little horn" should wear out the saints of the Most High.
History once more confirms the fact. This began to take place long before the period of domination, even beginning with the founder of the "little horn," the emperor Constantine, and reaching a climax in the days of Justinian, whose decree of persecution drove the "woman" (the true church) into the "wilderness" in 538 A. D. All are familiar with the frightful persecutions of the Middle Ages, which fulfilled the prophesied wearing out of the saints during the 1260 years.
42. Prophecy says that the "little horn" should come after the ten horns. This likewise finds its fulfillment in history. Nearly half of the ten horns were established within the Roman Empire upwards of a century before the "little horn," as such, came into being. And the "little horn" continued in existence for 1260 years, whereas the ten horns of barbarian tribes lost their identity, amalgamating with the nations which they had invaded, which are perpetuated in certain of the present nations of Europe.
43. During the supremacy of the "little horn," for 1260 years, there was a ceaseless struggle for power between the popes and the emperors. In the days of Charlemagne, the historian says:
"An Imperial Diet, indeed, boldly affirmed that the emperor's power over the church was superior to that of the pope himself." Pimperialem majestatem plus posse in administranda ecclesia quam pontificiam.—Goldast. I. 188.1 4
44. Irrespective of whether the emperor acted as the legislator and executor in the church and state,—like Justinian in the Eastern Empire and Charlemagne in the Holy Roman Empire, or whether popes, such as Innocent III, assumed to legislate in church and state,—the system, the government of the "little horn," functioned to perfection for 1260 years in suppressing heresies and enforcing religious laws.
45. When the Eastern emperor ceased to protect the church, the kings of the Franks, Pepin and Charlemagne, laid the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire, which became the successor of the Eastern Empire. The emperors of the Holy Roman Empire took the title, "Romanorum Imperator semper Augustus"—Emperor of Rome (or the Romans), always Augustus.
46. It was fully understood by the popes that the Holy Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire were united in one indissoluble government, and that the empire was the legitimate successor to the Eastern Grecian Empire. During the disputed election of Frederick II, of Philip of Suabia, and of Otto of Brunswick, in 1201 A. n., Pope Innocent III decided who should be emperor. Here is an extract from his mandate:
"In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:"
"It is the business of the pope to look after the interests of the Roman Empire, since the empire derives its origin and its final authority from the Papacy; its origin, because it was originally transferred from Greece by and for the sake of the Papacy, the popes making the transfer in order that the church might be better protected; its final authority, because the emperor is raised to his position by the pope who blesses him, crowns him, and invests him with the empire, . . . therefore we decree that he [Otto] ought to be accepted and supported as king, and ought to be given the crown of the empire, after the rights of the Roman Church have been secured."
(To be continued)
1 Croly, "The Apocalypse of St. John," p. 170, second edition ; London, 1828. (Quoted in "Source Book for Bible Students," revised edition, p. 383 ; Review and Herald.)
2 "Code" of Justinian. in "The Civil Law," a translation by S. P. Scott, Vol. 16, pp. 16-18.
3 Idem.
4 Lea, "Studies in Church History." p. 66.
5 Thatcher & McNeal, "A Source Book for Medieval History," pp. 220-226.
