Relax and Read.

In spite of the efforts of the Christian churches to black out the life and message of Barnabas, the message of Barnabas has survived. How can it blackout when his name and activities have been enshrined, although partially, in the Holy Bible?

A Jew born in Cyprus, his name was Joses, and due to his devotion to the cause of Jesus, the other apostles had given him the surname Barnabas; this term is variously translated as “ son of consolation” or “son of Exhortation”. He was a successful preacher with a magnetic personality. Anyone tormented by the clash of Creeds fond solace and peace in his company. His eminence as a man who had been close to Jesus had made him a prominent member of the small group of disciple in Jerusalem who had gathered together after the disappearance of Jesus. They observed the law of the prophets, which Jesus had came, not to destroy but to fulfill (Mathews 5:17). They continued to live as Jews and practiced what Jesus had taught them. That Christianity could ever be regarded as a new religion and did not occur to any of them.

They were devote and practicing Jews and they were distinguished from their neighbours, only by their faith in the message of Jesus. In the beginning, they did not organize themselves as a separate sect and did not have a synagogue of their own. There was nothing in the message of Jesus as understood by them, to necessitate a break with Judaism. However, they incurred the enmity of the vasted interest among the Jewish higher echelon. The conflict between the Jews and the follower s of Jesus was started by the Jews because they felt that the Christians would undermine their authority.

The government progressively began to widen. During the siege of Jerusalem in 79A.D, the Christians left the city and refused to take part in the Bar Coachaba rebellion in 132A.D. Those two events brought to the surface the difference between the Christians and the Jews.

The question of the origin of Jesus, his nature and relation to God, which later became so important was not raised among those early disciples. That Jesus was a man supernaturally endowed by God was accepted without question. Nothing in the words of Jesus or the event in his life led them to modify this view. According to Aristides, one of the earliest apostles, the worship of the early Christians was more purely monotheistic even than of the Jews.

With the conversion of Paul a new period opened in the Christian theology. Paul’s theology was based on his personal experience interpreted in the light of contemporary Greek thought. The theory of redemption was the child of his brain, a belief entirely unknown to the disciples of Jesus. Paul’s theory involved the deification of Jesus.

The Pauline period in the history of the Christian church saw a change of scene and principles. In place of the disciples, who had sat at the feet of Jesus, a new figure who had not known Jesus had come to forefront. In place of Palestine, the Roman Empire became the scene of Christian activity. Instead of being a mere sect of Judaism, Christianity not only became independent of Judaism but also became independent of Jesus himself.

Paul was a Jew and an inhabitant of Tarsus. He had spent a longtime in Rome and was a Roman Christian. He realized that the stronghold which the Roman religion had on the masses. The intellectuals were under the influence of Plato and Aristotle. Paul seems to have felt that it would not be possible to convert the masses in Roman Empire without making natural adjustments. But his practiced wisdom was not acceptable to those who had seen and heard Jesus. However, in spite of their difference, they decided to work together for the common cause.

As recorded in the Acts, Barnabas, represent those who had become personal disciples and Paul cooperated with them for sometime. But finally they fell out. Paul wanted to give up the commandments given through Moses about the things to eat, he wanted to give up the commandments given through Abraham regarding circumcision. Barnabas and the other personal disciples disagreed. The following sentences in the Act give a hint of the rift:

“And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, ‘Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved”. “When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas should go up to Jerusalem unto the Apostles and elders about this question” (Acts 14:1 and 2).


After this rift, there was a parting of ways. In the Acts, Barnabas disappears after the rift, because the recording of the Acts of the Apostles were done by the followers of Paul.

Because of Paul’s compromise with the Roman beliefs and legends. Pauline Christians grew in number and grew in strength. A stage was later reached when Kings were used a spawn to further the end of the church.

The followers of Barnabas never developed a central organisation. Yet due to the devotion of their leaders, number increased very fast. Those Christians incurred the wrath of the church and systematic effort was made to destroy them and to obliterate all trace of their existence including books and churches. Those lessons of history, however is that it is very difficult to destroy faith by force.

Their lack of organization became a source of strength because it was not easy to pick them up one by one.

Modern research has brought to light odd fact about hose Christians. They are like the crest of wave and looking at them one can visualize a whole body of ocean not yet visible.

We notice that up to 4th century A.D, there existed a sect known as Hypisistarians, who refused to worship God as father. They revered Him as an All Might Ruler of the world. He was the Highest of all and on one was equal to Him.

Paul of Samasata was a Bishop of Antioch. He was of the view that Christ was not God but a man and a prophet. He differed only in degree from prophets who come before him and that God could not have become man substantially.

Then we come across another Bishop of Antioch Viz Lucian. As a Bishop his reputation for sancitity was not less that his as a scholar. He came down strongly against the belief of Trinity. He deleted all mention of Trinity from the Bible as he believed it to a later interpolation not found in the earlier Gospels. He was martyred in 312A.D.

Next we come to the famous disciple of Lucian Viz Arius (250-336A.D). He was a Libyan by birth. Peter Bishop of Alexandria ordained him a Deacon but later excommunicated him. Achilles the successor of Peter again ordained Arius as priest. Alexander the next Bishop of Alexandria once again excommunicated him. Arius however had gathered such a large following that he a headache for the church. If kept out of church he could be a great danger to her but he could not be accommodated within the church as he wanted to establish the unity and simplicity of the External God. He believed that how so ever much Christ may surpass other created being he himself was not of the same substance as God. He was human being as any other man. The teaching of Arius spread like wild fire and shook the very foundation of Pauline church. The controversy that was simmering for three hundred years suddenly became conflagration. No man dared to oppose the organized church but Arius did, and remained a headache for her. Whether he was ordained a priest or was excommunicated. During this time two events changed the history of Europe.

Emperor Constantine brought a greater part of Europe under his rule and secondly he began to support the Christian without accepting Christianity. To the solder Prince the different creed within the Christian faith was confusing. In the imperial palace itself the controversy was raging not less fiercely. It appears that perhaps the Queen Mother was inclined toward Pauline Christianity while his sister Princess Constantina was a disciple of Arius. The Emperor was waving between the two faiths. As an administrator, he was interested only in uniting all the Christians within one church. It was at this time that the conflict between Arius and Bishop Alexander became so widespread and so violent that it became a law and order problem. So that Emperor anxious to maintain peace in the newly unified Europe had to intervene.

In 325A.D a meeting of all denomination of Christianity was called at Nicea (Now Isnik, a village). Bishop Alexander was not able to attend the conference and he deputed his lieutenant Athanasius, who subsequently succeeded Alexander as Bishop of Alexandria.

The conference had many prolonged sessions. Emperor Constantine could not grasp the full implication of the ecclesiastical confrontation, but he was very clear in his mind that for maintaining peace in his realm the support and cooperation of the church was necessary. Accordingly, he threw his weight behind Athanasius and banished Arius from the realm. Thus the belief of Trinity became the official religion of the empire. Fearful massacre of Christian who did not believe in Trinity followed. It became a panel offence to possess a Bible not authorized by the church and according to some estimates as many as 270 different versions of the Bible were burnt. Princess Constantina was not happy at the turn of events. The Emperor ultimately was persuaded to accept the faith of the men he killed. The result was that Arius was called back in 346A.D. The day Arius was scheduled to visit the cathedral of Constantinople in triumph, he died suddenly. The church called it a miracle. The Emperor knew it was murder. He banished Athanasius and two other Bishops. The Emperor then formally accepted Christianity and was baptized by an Arian Bishop. Thus monotheism became the official religion. Constantine died in 337A.D. The next Emperor Constantanius also accepted the faith of Arius. In 341A.D a conference was held in Antioch and Monotheism was accepted as a correct interpretation of Christian faith. This view was confirmed by another council held in Sirmium in 351A.D, as a result Arianism was accepted by an overwhelming magnitude of Christian. St Jerome wrote in 359A.D that the whole groaned and marveled to find itself Arian.

In this context the next important figure is that of Pope Honorius. A contemporary of Prophet Mohammed (Peace be on him) he saw the rising tide of Islam whose tenants very much resembled those of Arius. As the mutual killing of Christians was still fresh in his memory he perhaps thought of finding a via media between Islam and Christianity. In his letter he began to support the doctrine of “one mind” because if God has three independent minds the result would be chaos. The logical conclusion pointed to the belief in the existence of One God. This doctrine was not officially challenged for about half a century. Pope Honorius died in October 638. In 680, i.e. 42years after his death, a council was held in Constantinople where Pope Honorius was anathematized. This event is unique in history of Papacy when a pope was denounced by a succeeding pope and the church.

The next two personalities of his faith that deserve mention were members of the family L.F.M Sozzini (1525-1565 A.D) was a native of Siena. In 1547A.D he came under the influence of Camillo s Sicillian Mystic. His fame spread in Switzerland. He challenged Calvin on the doctrine of Trinity. He amplified the doctrine of Arius, denied the divinity of Christ and repudiated the doctrine of original sin and atonement. The object of adoration according to him could only be the one and only one God. He was followed by his nephew F.P.Sozzini (1539-1604A.D). In 1562 he published a work on St. John’s Gospel denying the divinity of Jesus. In 1578A.D he went to Klausenburg in Transylvania whose ruler John Sigisumud, was against the doctrine of trinity. Here Bishop Francis David (1510-1598) was fiercely anti Trinitarian. This led to the formation of a sect known as Racovian Catchism. It drives it’s name in Poland. The city became the stronghold of the faith of Arius.

Among the present day Christians a large number of men and women still believed in one God. They are not always vocal. Due to the crushing power of the churches they cannot express themselves and there is not much communication between them. In the end it will be of interest to quote Athanasius the champion of Trinity. He say that whenever he forced his understanding to mediate on the divinity of Jesus his toilsome and unavailing effort recoil on themselves, that the more he wrote the less capable was he expressing his thoughts. At another place he pronounces his creed as : There is not three but “ONE GOD”.

BABA ALI MUSTAPHA is with the Department of Planning and Research, Ministry of Environment Maiduguri, Borno state, Nigeria.

Reference:
For more knowledge, and on how THE GOSPEL OF BARNABAS SURVIVED Consult the Book, GOSPEL OF BARNABAS Published by: SHEBIOTIMA PUBLICATION (1995) Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria.