Namaste Bryon,
Just watched the trailer, and that movie looks awesome! There needs to be more movies and documentaries about that period in history. Or maybe there are, but I just don't hear about them.Originally Posted by BryonMorrigan
Jai Sri Ram
Brahmachari
Namaste Bryon,
Just watched the trailer, and that movie looks awesome! There needs to be more movies and documentaries about that period in history. Or maybe there are, but I just don't hear about them.
Jai Sri Ram
Internet Hindu
Bryon, I don't know a lot about Christian history, so the questions may seem silly, but were these people from the movie Greek orthodox's or Roman catholics? I'd really like to hear some trash of the Greek orthodox history. Was there ever a lineage of Christians who opposed themselves to the Bible (the hebrew old testament/ the greek new testament) as we know it today and if so what happened to them? New age christians base their faith on stories of so called "early christians" who didn't believe in the bible, is there any historical basis for this? And what was the real religion of Hypatia if she was not an atheist? I have googled this and most websites mention that her religion was unknown or that she was called pagan, because she was a scientist.
Last edited by Sahasranama; 26 March 2011 at 07:11 AM.
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The people from the movie were to my knowledge lead by Cyril of Alexandria who went on a moral crusades to end so called "heresies" such as Nestorianism among others.
As for whether there was a lineage of Christians opposing the bible that depends on what you call a Christian. If you accept the modern definition of a Christian then no but groups such as Gnostics, Nestorians and Assyrians if you read "heretical" books such as Gospel of Thomas, Matthew, and Judas you will see a lot more teachings that are in line with Dharma.
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Cyril of Alexandria, the leader of the villains, was the "Pope" of Alexandria at the time, and therefore part of the hierarchy of the Roman church. So he was basically "Catholic," though I don't believe they were calling themselves as such just yet.
Well, the Bible was essentially "created" at the Council of Nicaea, by a group of Christians overseen by the Roman Emperor Constantine I. At this council, they decided which books were "worthy" of inclusion in the Bible, and which were not. Many of the "Lost Books" of the Bible, sometimes referred to as "Apocryphal" texts, can be found today. I seem to remember one which has a story of a "Young Jesus" murdering someone out of spite, but I can't recall it off the top of my head. There was also a lot of violence between Christian sects during this time period, as I've mentioned before.
For the record, the term "Atheist," was coined by the Greeks to describe the Christians...as the general consensus of Polytheists during the time was that all gods are "universal" to other Polytheist religions...whereas the Christians (and Jews) denied the existence of all gods but their own.
Hypatia would have been a Greco-Egyptian Polytheist, which is what most of the "Pagans" of Egypt were at that time. The Library of Alexandria at that time was also a temple to the god Serapis, who was a syncretic god, combining the Egyptian Osiris/Apis with the Greek Hades, and she would have essentially been part of the religious hierarchy of the temple. Worship of Serapis actually is a major plot point in the movie, with the Christians desecrating his statues and performing clearly-rigged "tricks" to "prove" that their "god" is more powerful. (A common trick used by Christians...) Furthermore, she is often described as a "philosopher," which was a word that essentially meant, "Pagan" at that time period.
Anyways, syncreticism was very "big" in Pagan Europe. Essentially, it was the idea that all of the pantheons of the different religions were the same gods and goddesses, just worshiped under different names and in different ways. So, to a Greek living in Egypt (like Hypatia), there was no essential difference between the Greek gods, the Egyptian gods, the Roman gods, et cetera. In ancient Greece and Rome, there were temples to many of the Egyptian gods, and vice-versa. We see this most obviously with the similarity between the Greek and Roman pantheon, but it's also there for all of the other "Paganisms." Hypatia was a descendant of the Ptolemaic Greeks who had settled there after Alexander the Great "conquered" Egypt. (In reality, he was greeted as a "liberator," since the Egyptians hated their Persian overlords so much. The Persians didn't even fight.) In many cases, the Egyptian Greeks used hyphenated names to describe most of the syncretic gods, like Zeus-Ammon, but they decided to make up a new name for Hades-Osiris, and called him "Serapis." (Note: Hades did not have the negative connotations that he has in modern society...which is mostly due to the fact that the early Christian bibles were written in Greek and referred to "Satan" as "Hades.")
This concept of syncreticism can also be seen among the Kalash people of northern Pakistan, who consider themselves to be the descendants of soldiers from Alexander the Great's army, and practice a religion that is a syncretic mash-up of Vedic Hinduism and Greek Polytheism.
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If I recall correctly, the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches only split in 1054. According to Catholics, the Christians were united under Catholicism before then, and according to the Orthodox it is the Catholics who are the splinter group. It's almost amusing how divisive Christians are, even amongst themselves.
Internet Hindu
Interesting Bryon, so these lost gnostic texts are not all they are made out to be by new age Christians. When I have arguments with a jesus lover and talk about the flaws of the Bible, I have heard the following arguments:
1)The translations of the churches are corrupted
2)Not all Christian sects have taken the Bible literally or were violent war mongerers
3)There are gnostic texts which are similar to the upanishads/ dharmic literature
It's good to hear that Hypatia was a pagan worshipping deities. Unfortunately modern atheist like to portray that all science came from people who were not religious at all.
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In that case, I wish the atheists good luck in claiming that the Hindu mathematicians and scientists throughout history belong to their crowd!
What one must be aware of when speaking about Christianity is the paramount importance of 'belief'. For Christianity it is a matter of salvation. What one 'believes' is therefore important.
All those splits and murders which took place in the Church were all about 'belief'. Simply stated, if you do not accept the Church's dogma then one is not a Christian.
This puts people like me a situation where for the sake of 'worshipping' I attend a Christian church but do not accept what the Church teaches. But then I am far from alone in this matter.
Not all those who wander are lost
Internet Hindu
I am not going to trash you for going to church, but why go to a group of people you heavily disagree with spiritually to do prayers? A lot of Hindus have their home altar.
Point taken.
Not all those who wander are lost
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