BY PRAGYAN SHARMA POLAVARAPU
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My writing in this part of my blog is out of my interest in old classical English dramas, poems ,novels etc that possess such indescribable beauty of style. My writing is thus focused on the ancient history of English language . The quest to know history of the language led to curiosity about the people who speak it and about their philosophic and spiritual orientation. So, examined here is a very ancient period in history of Europe. There is a well known saying of some historians that though England (i.e. total Britain ) is not geographically in Europe it is of Europe. It is culturally part of Europe and is a leading player. The old Greek culture and philosophic tradition and the later Roman philosophic tradition dominated Europe since around 2500 years . The ancient culture and philosophy are reflected in Iliad and Odyssey the beautiful old Greek mythological works.
I write only with a very limited understanding of such history . The study is not of religion(the holy light) but of English literature ( old classical English poems, dramas, novels, short stories and essays) based in that spirituality. Such study of ancient history,culture and philosophy helps one to understand the minds and sensitivities of the distinguished literary people.
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The earliest phase of European Christianity was deeply colored with the ancient Greco-Roman philosophy. In those ancient times,before birth of Christianity in Europe, the distant European regions like Germany , Scandinavia and central and eastern Europe followed their own nature-oriented religious philosophies . Only after perhaps 6th/7th/8th centuries AD etc the light and radiance of Christianity(already flourishing in the Roman Empire) shone on them . The distant European lands including parts of England 2000 years ago had a simple beautiful rural culture –just as anywhere in world. Those periods were far on the Time Scale---(perhaps a thousand years far)-- from the epochs and imagery of modern Europe. All great civilizations undergo such changes .In the history of later Europe there are many stages -- dynastic wars among royal families , wars for naval supremacy among nations, wars among European nations for spices and silks of the East, , competition for industrial dominance, rise of vast standing armed forces in many countries with highly destructive weapons , engaging in slave trade, establishing colonies to get raw materials and to export finished goods, continent-wide and world-wide wars etc. There are similar milestones in all old civilizations on a lesser scale . However ancient Europe 2000 years ago was not a picture of breakneck competition as we see today in modern jet age. The ancient kings and the nobles lived in their palaces aloof, separate from the common people and ever busy with their dynastic wars. The hard working commoners lived in a conservative rural agricultural environment and led their slow lives with spiritual religious minds . They, just as in all ancient rural societies anywhere, feared the invisible angry gods for fear of award of harsh punishments in afterlife. Seaside European communities must have had great sea going traditions and large scale organized fishing trade.
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Nowa days some countries speak of several “modernizations”—the first modernization, the second modernization etc.If we take such a view about ancient Europe of 2000 or 3000 years ,the first modernization of Europe is surely the arrival of light of Christianity-- first in the ancient Roman empire and then in all Europe by stages. It was like a brilliant light shone on Europe from outer space. The arrival of ancient Christianity must have brought great change in the minds of people and made them contemplative ,serious and disciplined. This first European Christianity, protected by mighty Roman emperors, is known as Roman Catholic religion.
Students of distant countries may not be aware that Christianity was originally an Asiatic religion. It was followed by the Asiatic rural societies of the Mediterranean region and west Asia. Lord Jesus Christ preached a crystallized philosophy of pure love and hope to a poverty ridden complex rural society living under harsh Roman rule . Lord Jesus preached unbelievably sweet new philosophy --“Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise” .Lord Jesus preached about showing compassion to the poor , about following a philosophy of forgiveness with a magnanimous heart , about loving even the enemies by understanding their deficiencies . Most importantly Lord Jesus pointed that even the poorest, helpless common person has great divinity inside him. Lord Jesus had a devoted group of twelve disciples, the “Apostles”. They were very simple people without much learning but were inspired men with feeling hearts and great philosophic minds and feeling sad about the suffering poor people. They were contemporaries and close disciples of Lord Jesus Christ. They were deeply inspired by the wonderful philosophy of love preached by Lord Jesus christ . The Apostles are greatly revered because they spent their entire lives daringly preaching the philosophy of Lord Jesus disregarding the criticism and jeering and the later harsh punishments and torture they faced from the Roman rulers. Of the twelve Apostles, ten were most cruelly killed by Roman rulers by methods like crucifixion and beheading and stoning to death. The only reason for the harsh punishments was their extreme devotion to Lord Jesus and their fearless part in propagating those teachings of divine love and compassion. Of the remaining two, one disciple Judas Iscariot in a weak moment disclosed the whereabouts and identity of Lord Jesus resulting in the horrific crucifixion of Lord Jesus. He soon repented and committed suicide. Another Apostle St John could luckily escape the wrath of Roman rulers and preached the message of Lord Jesus till ripe old age. Many Christians revere the Apostles by taking their names as the first part of their personal names .
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The contribution of the two saints St. Peter and St. Paul ---both of whom lived in first century AD and were contemporaries of Lord Jesus ---is central to the spread of Christianity in Europe in the very ancient times . They were his most devoted followers.
(a) St Peter is famous as the "Rock" upon which the early Christianity was founded in Europe .He first preached only to Asiatic people in the Mediterranean region but later started preaching also in Rome city (capital of roman empire) and also in other nearby parts of Europe to the gentiles (Europeans).Above all he created a permanent church organization and permanent church practices at the places which he visited . He was the first saint who attracted Europeans into Christian religion and established the main Christian church organization in the capital city of Rome. St Peter is called the first Pope of the Roman Catholic church.
(b)St Paul contributed equally in giving a strong foundation to Christianity in ancient Europe. He was not a direct disciple of Lord Jesus like St Peter and other Apostles and was first strongly opposed spread of Christianity in Roman lands . But he underwent a great spiritual change and became the most devoted follower of Lord Jesus realizing the moral depth of teachings of Lord Jesus . He is revered next only to St Peter .He made extensive journeys in the European areas of Roman empire and being a great scholar preached the teachings of Lord Jesus in a masterly way and discussed it with big Roman and Greek scholars .He declared that Europeans(Gentiles) could follow some of their old pre-Christian customs even after coming to Christian religion.He provided moral and spiritual guidance to the gentiles and helped in amicably solving differences between European and Asian scholars about the philosophy of Lord Jesus. He wrote philosophic and moral works known as “Epistles” which are even now treated as very important in both Roman Catholic and Protestant Christianity. St Paul's contributions were fundamental to making Christianity all pervasive in Europe and becoming accepted by intellectuals and royal families. St Paul is the most important saint in European Christianity next only to St Peter.
Every year the feasts of St Peter and St Paul are celebrated all over Europe with great reverence and love.
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The ancient Roman rulers of the times of first century AD,seeing that the simple Christian religion was growing popular day by day among the Mediterranean Asian people, felt that it as a kind of secret anti-Roman subversive movement . The Roman people were accustomed to an urban and military oriented life . Their daily life ,economy, customs and culture were rooted since centuries in the ancient Greco- Roman way of life. The Roman governors treated Lord Jesus and his bold dedicated disciples as subversive people. The result was one of the greatest tragedies of humanity. Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. Even while dying Lord Jesus gave a sublime message of love and declared that his tormentors were not capable of understanding their cruelty and asked god to forgive them ! The most cruel tragedy of crucifixion of Lord Jesus only made his followers more ready to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of preaching love,high morality and non-violence in a backward violence prone society. The military rulers gave to the Apostles also most cruel punishments. Some were crucified and some were beheaded. But the horrific punishments had only the opposite effect . The love and respect for Lord Jesus increased by leaps and bounds not only among the Mediterranean Asian people but also among Greek and Roman scholars and intellectuals and also common people among the Romans. In course of time, within a few centuries, the Roman emperors showed their great liking and reverence of the crystallized moral ideas and love preached by Lord Jesus Christ . The Roman scholars and intellectuals were deeply impressed by the core moral principles . The later Roman emperors made Christianity as the state religion of the empire. With the support of Roman emperors and the support of new European kingdoms , Christianity became a majestic spiritual structure encompassing all Europe commanding respect of emperors, kings and military generals. The Pope the head of Roman Catholic church in Rome became the supreme head of all Christians from religious and spiritual view point. In course of centuries ,hundreds of thousands of churches and monasteries(places of high spirituality) were built in town and villages .Majestic cathedrals adorned every big European city .
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History tells us that during the fifth century BC Lord Buddha the founder of Buddhism preached in India a great message of love, compassion, non-violence and uplift of poor . He was the crown prince of a large kingdom in north east India and lived in great comfort and luxury . But he was since childhood very contemplative and was greatly affected by the sorrows of poor people. At age of twenty nine he left the kingdom and left all the wealth and palaces and and became an ascetic and devoted his life to uplifting poor. He had a highly inspired band of devotees. For next 50 years Lord Buddha toured the country on foot with his disciples and taught sublime philosophy of love, morality and service to the poor until he died at age of 80. He and his great disciples just lived on alms and lived as ascetics preaching high morality, love and compassion . Many kings,princes and scholars were moved by his teachings and became Buddhists and helped in spreading his noble teachings .His teachings and philosophy attracted great intellectuals and developed into the religion of Buddhism and is spread now in many countries of the world. Lord Buddha is greatly revered by Hindus and is treated by them as an earthly incarnation of god almighty of the universe.
In modern days,during India’s freedom struggle agaiainst British empire, the great philosopher- patriot and India’s “Father of the Nation” Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) strictly applied a philosophy of love,non violence and uplift of the down trodden and won political freedom for India . He was a person of high western education and lived in England for his legal studies. He went to south Africa to argue legal cases and always fought for justice and truth. He associated with western scholars, philosophers and statesmen in south Africa during the period 1893-1914 and ably guided a big human rights movement there to help Indian labourers secure their rights and drew the attention of entire world. Later while leading India’s freedom struggle Mahatma Gandhi always adopted a strict non-violent way for more than 30 years and inspired thousands of Indian freedom fighters with his high moral principles. He forsook the western style of life and western dressing and wore only a loin cloth like the poor struggling Indian rural farmer of those days. His philosophy of non-violence ,truthfulness and love came from depths of his heart. His philosophy is much appreciated by thinkers in this modern world of highly destructive modern wars and of nuclear weapons .
We should take an optimistic view of life in this golden age of science and technology, in this age of jet travel and computers and think positively about building a new world order of great prosperity and friendship between all races, religions, philosophies of the world . In this modern age it is wrong to think on narrow lines and we should treat all people of earth as equal.The modern global world requires only great love --love for the poor people who still exist in millions and are spread in all countries of the world. It is heartening to note that in spite of hurdles at every step thousands of scholars and technocrats patiently and selflessly work hard to build a new global world of peace and prosperity.
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