According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, the first Christians were the disciples of Christ. It is obvious to all of us, but what if we are grossly mistaken? According to some German theologians, the first follower of the new religion was ... a Roman legionnaire named Longinus. And if that wasn't enough, Aryan blood was flowing in his veins!
Perhaps some of you know that it was a certain Longinus who was supposed to pierce the side of Christ hanging on the cross, from which blood and water flowed out. Okay, but what does a Roman legionnaire have to do with the Aryans? Well, why not the apostles, but he would be the first Christian? As Sidney D. Kirkpatrick writes in his book "Hitler and the Sacred Insignia":
The name Longinus appears for the first time in a collection of early Christian apocrypha that refers to a centurion who served faithfully in one of the Roman legions until problems with his eyesight interrupted his military career.
Despite the progressive disease, his superiors did not abandon him. In recognition of his merits, the centurion was delegated by Pontius Pilate to less demanding duties on Mount Calvary, where he assisted in the execution of garbage sentences (because it is such an easy job!). It was in this way that he became a participant in the passion and crucifixion of Jesus.
The "First Christian" in all its glory.
Longinus enters the scene
The Apocrypha also states that after Longinus pierced the side of the Nazarene, the blood and water running down the spear shaft washed away his sins and restored his sight. After this event, Inspired by the peace and courage of Jesus, internally transformed by a miraculous healing, he knelt before the cross and loudly professed his faith in the divinity of Christ.
He then left the legions and traveled throughout the Roman Empire for 28 years - as a Roman, unlike most of the apostles, he had a free hand in this regard - preaching the good news. Eventually, however, he came into conflict with the law and was arrested. He was subjected to torture, and after he had not renounced his faith, he was shortened by a head, which was put on a spear and carried to Jerusalem. As a martyr, he was declared a saint after several centuries.
So much for the "official" version. German specialists had a "more interesting" view of the whole story ...
Aryan Longinus became the first Christian
According to theologians, and even the late medieval ones, Longinus was an Aryan, descended from a Germanic tribe inhabiting Cappadocia, which was conquered by the Romans. Moreover, according to this interpretation, the centurion was to be the first Christian!
How is this even possible? This was explained by the fact that Christianity only began with the death of Christ and the fulfillment by Longinus of the Old Testament prophecy that the Messiah's bones would not be broken, but would be pierced with a spear. Therefore the centurion, recognizing the divinity of Jesus under the cross, became, as it were, automatically the first follower of the new religion . You have to admit, quite original approach to the subject…
Beheading of St. Longinus. Illustration from the 14th century "Lives of the Saints" by Richard de Monbaston
This version - disseminated from the pulpits of German churches, both before and after the Luther reform - obviously convinced all the proponents of the special historical role of the German nation. At the same time, as Sidney D. Kirkpatrick notes in her book, she spoke especially to:
Those Christians who wanted to detach the history of Christ from Judaism and focus on Jesus' messianism and the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. The path to purification and redemption of sins - as the case of the Aryan Longinus showed - leads only through struggle and bloodshed.
I do not think it will surprise anyone that such an interpretation - sanctified by a centuries-old tradition - perfectly suited the Nazi vision of world history and found recognition among the party tops. Especially that Longinus, as a martyr for the faith, inspired the successive rulers of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the centuries-long bloody wars with their neighbors with whom the Wehrmacht fought now ...
It even got to the point where some of the Protestant theologians associated with the brown regime put forward a theory that was that Longinus intended to save the Aryan Savior from the hands of Jewish persecutors . In the end, he failed and, as a result, remained "just" the first Christian ...
Sources:
Basic:
- Sidney D. Kirkpatrick, Hitler and the holy insignia , Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2012
Complementary:
- Life of Saint Longinus, soldier and martyr