Thursday, November 02, 2017

The Pontifex Maximus


.... Under this fiendish Emperor every form of torture was imagined and having been imagined was visited upon the Church of God, sparing neither the Holy Apostles themselves or clergy, man or women, even little children, widow or orphan, all were subject to the rapacious will of this Pontifex Maximus ....
... The sycophants about him, who should have stayed his hand as true friends, encouraged not only his violence but his viciousness which spared none. How low his court fell, and with them the morals of the people of Rome. For once the ruler becomes vile and corrupt soon the whole edifice is weakened and crumbles and is plunged into hatred, yes, of the Church and Christian people but also of goodness itself, so that virtue is lost and vice extolled  ...
From a sermon for St Peter and Paul by one of my predecessors, not quite sure who, in the 1920s/30

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Looks like a case of history repeating itself. ...

I wonder if the people living at that time felt they were living in the end times as some do now?

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