Paulicians

Those who history has called the Paulicians (pôlish'unz), were among the first significant numbers of Christians that appear on the scene, outside of institutional Christianity, after the time of Constantine.  
 
This in and of itself makes them extremely significant.
 
I do want to point out again that these people, along with the others mentioned in the history section, would never have thought of calling themselves anything other than ‘brethren’ or Christians. There was never a concept of considering themselves some type of denominational group of people that centered on anything but Christ.  
What was truly remarkable about them was that they saw that the practices of the church had gone completely off base. What many are seeing today concerning the practices of present-day Christianity, they saw approximately 1400 years ago.
 
While there were many things that they refused to partake in and exposed as wrong ways of doing things, I am going to mention just a few of them as inspiration to what God is doing among His people today.  
 
No Special Buildings
 
First and foremost they challenged the idea of special buildings having any type of uniqueness or ‘holy’ quality. To them, like us today, the home was much more suitable and scriptural to the ways of God.  
They realized that we are the temple of God. Their insight into this truth was a great step forward into learning how to live our lives together.
 
No Clergy
 
With this they repudiated the pagan concept of the supposed establishment of a ‘clergy’ by God. They knew that this had come from the time of Constantine and was based upon the pagan priests of that time. They seemed to even suggest what many of us are seeing today; that there is really no need for ‘appointed’ special people to run things.
 
No Special Rituals or Relics
 
One of the underlying themes of their lives was the exposing of the veneration of rituals or items as having any type of significance. All of the paganistic application of spirituality to objects, relics, or rituals was rejected by these godly people.
 
They have a revelation of and appreciation for the deep, inner workings of the Spirit of God within our spirits. This practical way of life and understanding put them at great odds with the outwardly religious way of doing things that had escalated for the previous 300 years.
 
Everyone was a saint
 
Lastly, they put no importance upon individuals being considered more important than anyone else. There was no elevating to ‘sainthood’ of the followers of Christ. Everyone that believed was a saint; there was no special class of people that were superior to others.
 
While there were many things like these that were embraced by these followers of Christ, this is meant to be a short introduction into the reality that there has always been a testimony of Christ among a people in the earth.
 
We stand on the shoulders of giants that have lived throughout the generations. While the testimony has been attempted to be silenced, it has never been able to be overcome by its enemies.
 
Let us grab hold of the torch and continue on, without fainting, unto our purpose in the generation we live in, remaining faithful, that we may pass the torch to the next.