Reincarnation

69 The proceedings of Theodora and Justinian were indeed devilish: To be able to realise their plans, Theodora had to bring the Western Church (The fallen West-Roman empire) under control. Belisars 27 armies helped her to secure the Byzantine influence over Rome and it allowed the Perfidie of Theodora, to depose the pope. His place was taken by a favourite of the Empress. In the 5th century, Reincarnation was still an undisputed fact within the Christian Church. But one fought over the question of: how much was Jesus a human or a God. Nestorius, Abbott of Antioch, was of the opinion that one shouldn’t call Maria the mother of God, because she only gave birth to a “human” Jesus. But a council convicted Nestorius as a heretic. One of Nestorius’s antagonists was Eutyches, who himself insisted that Jesus was only of divine nature, because his humanity was absorbed in the divinity. This doctrine was called “ Monophysitism”. In 451 A.D., the IV General Council condemned Monophysitism also as heresy and persecuted its followers. After the Empress had gotten rid of the opposition of the Western Church, Theodora once again concentrated on Constantinople and called, with the help of the besotted Patriarch Mennas, the Synod of Constantinople of the Eastern Church (in 543 A.D.) It revoked the conviction of Monophysitism and also the ratification of the doctrine of reincarnation from the year 451 A.D. This was the first death-blow dished out to the doctrine of reincarnation. The synod was for the nearly 3.000 bishops, scattered throughout the whole empire, not binding . This is why a council was called that should ratify the prepared resolutions. Letters of invitations were send to all bishops and they were worded in such a fashion, that one could hope, that none of the bishops of the Western Church would participate at the council. Pope Virgilius, the ally of Theodora, criticised the letters most emphatically and through this encouraged many bishops from staying away from the council. 2.5.2.3 A prearranged affair Even the qprinces of the Church of the Eastern Church didn’t seem to want to accept the invitation. Therefore it took 10 years (553A.D.) for the V. general council to get together.  From the more than 3.000 bishops, exactly 165 were present, amongst them only 6 from the West. Theodora in the mean time died at the age of 39 (547A.D.). But Justinian was so captivated by the dark forces and the ambition of Theodora, that he continued to take the inevitable step of the deification of his wife. Under pressure from Caesar, the handful of bishops, representing the whole Church, decided that from then on, the doctrine of reincarnation had to be considered heresy and anyone advocating it, would be damned.  With this they also cursed men like Origen, the founder of Church-science and theology, who’s writings Theodora feared the most. Origen taught the pre-existence of the soul, that the souls of humans existed before the creation of the world. For him, the reason of all life in the material world was, that all soul, through incarnation, 27 Belisar , born in Germaneia (Border of Thrak. -Ilyr., near the present Sofia) around 505 A.D., Died Constantinople, March 565 A.D., East-Roman general. The most famous general of Caesar Justinian; conquered amongst other the Empire of the Vandals in North-Africa, fought in 535-540 A.D. and 544-548 A.D. against the East-Goths.