Archangel Ariel Department of Historical Review Current Assignment: Christian Progress Lord Jesus Ruler of Earth, Master of the Universe Heavenly Heights, Paradise Your Magnificent Majesty, King of Heaven, Master of the World, and Distinguished Lord of Unbelievable Greatness and Inconceivable Preeminence, IN 366 C.E. First, a brief but honorable mention of Damasus who hired a band of assassins to kill Bishop Ursinis's party in the Basilica. 137 died, not counting those murdered in a street fight previous to the attack at the Basilica. Ursinis was not willing to use the power of his office to establish church domination. Among other faults, he simply lacked imagination. Contrast that against Damasus who had no fear of modifying your Holy Word. Inadvertently you are quoted in the Holy Bible admonishing no man should be called father, save The Father. Damasus, wise beyond other mortals, knew this restriction acted to slow the growth of clerical power. Adapting "pappas", a Greek word for father he invented the title of Pope, or Papa, as is the affectionate term, and Bishops of the church were referred to as fathers. Damasus was a man of initiative and, knowing your aspiration was to encourage the growth of your church and to increase the power of your kids, he took it upon himself to defy the canon. His initiative, coupled with political perspicacity and a ruthless ferociousness were executed on your behalf. Surely he has earned an honorable mention in this chronicle. However, with Damasus disposed of ... the main focus of this epistle takes place twenty-five years later, and concerns Library of Alexandria. IN 391 C.E. The Library of Alexandria became almost mythic in stature, even during its own era. Founded by Demetrius, with the patronage of Ptolemy I, Soter in 283 B.C.E, it grew in importance and prominence. From the first it attracted scholars, teachers, and students and was, without doubt, the greatest source of knowledge in the ancient world. The monarchs even housed and funded intellectuals in the pursuit of erudition. Literary competitions, festivals, literary societies, lecture halls, laboratories, concerts, dissertations, all were embraced in a complex of buildings including the Library, a Museum, a zoo, observatories, living quarters, colonnades for discussions while walking, a dining hall, and a garden. These structures, in turn, were contained within the walls of the Royal Palace grounds. At various times over 100 scholars were housed as they carried out research and were involved in the search for knowledge. Scrolls, translations from Assyrian, Persian, Egyptian, Jewish, Indian and others, came to nearly a million works during the late Ptolemaic reign. A second library, the Serapeion, was soon constructed in the temple of Serapis, a god invented as a synthesis of Zeus, Pluto, Osiris, and the Apis bull. This library, unlike the main library, was open to all. Education, learning, and scholarship have ever been the enemies of the Catholic church and your kids, and here was an institution, not only for academicians, but for the commoner. It was intolerable! Containing the wisdom accumulated over centuries, these colleges threatened the church. If truth were free for the taking, how could bishops parcel it out in exchange for tithing and loyalty? These cretins would have had everyone educated. What need then for the priesthood, for the church, or for you, m'Lord? During the time of Anthony, Caesar and Cleopatra VI, about 48 B.C.E., the Great Library was said to have been devastated when Caesar set fire to the docks to protect Cleopatra's interests. We have endeavored, your Eminence, to spread this prevarication but, to much evidence exists to the contrary, and it simply hasn't caught on. Oh true, there were a few thousand scrolls which burned, copies only, that were being prepared to ship to private collectors and other libraries. Some of the problems which reveal the Great Library wasn't consumed at this time are, Didymus, Tryphon, and Theon were researching in the Museum and Library not long after the alleged destruction, and even Caesar spent time in the Library after the dock fire. It was then he co-opted the "Julian" calendar with twelve months, 365 days, and a leap year, all identical to the Aristarchus calendar of 239 B.C., kept in the Great Library. Try as we might, we were unable to shift the blame to Julius Caesar. Please forgive your kid's inadequacy in this matter. They have tried. The fame of the Library of Alexandria spread into Rome and Roman libraries began to reflect the practices and even the structure of the Great Library. Roman libraries, originally divided into ten halls devoted to literature, science, and philosophy, were now divided into Greek and Roman sections. Wooden chests to protect the scrolls, and more important scrolls transcribed to linen or leather, were kept in wooden chests, armaria. However, one practice of the Roman libraries introduced into the Great Library was simply intolerable. It was made available to the public. Scholarship and knowledge of the world have ever been our most feared nemesis. Critical thinking and skepticism provide a foundation for scientific development and tear at the walls of faith and religiosity. Your kids, in the form of the Catholic fathers, knew such learning could not be permitted to spread. Meanwhile, the old Gods had not died out or been entirely replaced. Festivals to the Muses and other pagan deities were sometimes held in the Museum and the Roman Gods became a Greek- Egyptian mix, worshipped with Egyptian aspects and Egyptian names, but with Greek attributes. The Jews were also a significant part of this mix and Asherah, the Queen of Heaven was still the consort of their God El, the God who would eventually become your facet as God, the Father, God the One and Only. A fascinating colloquy between Pagan and Jewish thought, later to include Christian thought, grew among the scholars at Alexandria. Sophia, aspected as a mother goddess figure, was reintroduced as the intermediary between Yahwah, God the incomprehensible and mortal man. This was a portentous improvement. When your kids would come on the scene, the demotion of the Goddess, Mother of the Gods, would be partially in place. When Augustus was emperor, knowing Alexandria's reputation for disturbances, which is what happens when mortals know too much, he issued an order that no Roman citizen could visit Egypt without his consent. At the same time he appointed a prefect to rule Egypt and stripped all power from the Ptolemaic magistrates. Furthermore, Jews were granted the right to self-government over their own affairs, the power of priests was diminished, and Egyptian taxes began to fill the Roman treasury. Roman occupation seemed, at first, to be a stabilizing element which brought peace, prosperity, and growth to Alexandria. Mob rule, a serious problem for most of the Ptolemies, was weakened, although not entirely eliminated. Introducing Caeserium, the controversial idea of worshipping the emperor as a God, and the empowerment of Jews, was not well received by the prejudiced natives. In the midst of all these growth traumas that damnable Library thrived, grew, prospered, brought new cultures, new traditions, and new vigor to Alexandria. A fishmonger named Didymus, in the first century of the Common Era, demonstrated that now even a person of humble birth could become a brilliant scholar. Something needed to be done, and swiftly, before science and reason prevailed over superstition and dogma. Not to worry, your kids were on the scene and making their presence known. Christianity, woven from the fabric of older religions, springing from adaptations of the Mithraic myth was a troublesome offshoot of the cult of Serapis. Indeed the Eucharist, Resurrection, and Reverence to the Mother, are virtually identical to the worship of Serapis and his consort Cybele. Emperor Hadrian knew of this connection and revealed it, but our damage control experts have managed to dismiss his conjectures as inaccurate speculation. As for the cult of Cybele, m'Lord, you might recall it was a religion which had endured for thousands of years in the Pleistocene period, eventually to become the state religion of Rome. During that process, She would be demoted by the evolving patriarchy from Creatrix of the Universe, to consort of the vastly more important male deities. Still, She wasn't obliterated from memory and She was served, as were many of the Goddesses, by those outrageous semivirs, the Gallae. Intellectuals and scholars of Alexandria debated the more philosophical parts of the religion, paving the way for theological debates of other religions. Branches of thought such as Arianism and Gnosticism developed out of such discussions and, although later declared heretical, grew side by side with orthodox Christianity. Gnosticism nearly upset our apple cart with its claim that you were a mere Demiurge, and with Sophia created the world. Moreover that it was a mistake. Ophites took it one step further, claiming that the snake was sent by Sophia to warn Adam and Eve against you, that you weren't the true God and to tell them that only through wisdom and knowledge could they bypass you and link with the one True God. Oh Jesus, Lord of All, it took everything that conventional Christianity, your kids, could do to suppress this information. Then, as reported in an earlier letter, Constantine became Emperor and declared Christianity the official religion of Rome. By 391 C.E., our Emperor Theodosius, one of your all time favorite kids, commanded paganism be stamped out. Practicing a pagan religion was punishable by death, had been since 345 C.E., but it was lackadaisically enforced. Theodosius was Christian through and through, and had no intention of being lenient on heathens. It was during this period an army of Christian monks enforced the will of Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria. Theophilus leading his Christian Monks to the Library, burned it and the Museum to the ground. The scrolls were the accumulated knowledge, wisdom, science, and philosophy of pagan peoples and had to be destroyed. Scholars, philosophers, and scientists found on the premises were beaten or murdered. Oh Lord, you would have been so proud of your kids. In your name, Theodosius rewarded them handsomely and proclaimed them heroes. Having destroyed the dreaded Great Library, eliminating the acumen of the ages was, perhaps, the most important stroke in establishing Christian dominance. In 412 Theophilus' nephew Cyril succeeded him and three years later the conflict between secular and religious authority was manifestly decided. Exercising ever more power, Cyril, representing religious authority over secular authority, deposed the Roman prefect, Orestes, when he objected to Cyril expelling Jews from the city. Cyril's army of monks murdered Orestes, an act for which they were canonized; as they marauded through the city they came across Hypatia, a philosopher and teacher, and advisor to Orestes, driving her chariot home from a lecture. They dragged her from her chariot, stripped her, whipped her, and then using pottery shards they tore her flesh from her body. Gathering the still quivering pieces they burnt them and what remained of her. Cyril was sainted. The prejudice we needed to build against scientific and classical knowledge was complete and the Dark Ages, the height of your glory had begun. Praise in the Highest, Eternally, your Faithful Servant, Archangel Ariel Ramadan Cardova

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