THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST TO 1054 A.D. [1]
120. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
A preceding chapter has traced the early history of Christianity. We there
saw how the new religion appeared in the Orient, how it spread rapidly
over the Roman Empire, how it engaged with the imperial government in the
long conflict called the Persecutions, how the emperor Constantine, after
his conversion, placed it on an equality with paganism, and how at the end
of the fourth century the emperor Theodosius made it the state religion.
By this time the Church had become a great and powerful organization, with
fixed laws, with a graded system of officers, and with councils attended
by clergy from all parts of the Roman world. To this organization the word
Catholic, that is, "universal," came to be applied. Membership in the
Catholic Church, secured only by baptism, was believed to be essential to
salvation. As St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, had said, "He can no longer
have God for his Father who has not the Church for his Mother."
THE EPISCOPATE
The first three centuries of Christianity witnessed the development of the
episcopal system in the Church. Each provincial city had its bishop,
assisted by priests and deacons. An archbishop (sometimes called a
metropolitan) presided over the bishops of each province, and a patriarch
had jurisdiction, in turn, over metropolitans. This graded arrangement of
ecclesiastical officers, from the lowest to the highest, helped to make
the Church centralized and strong. It appears to have been modeled, almost
unconsciously, on the government of the Roman Empire. [2]
THE PATRIARCHS
The development of the patriarchate calls for special notice. At the time
of the Council of Nicaea [3] there were three patriarchs, namely, the
bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria. These cities ranked among the
most important in the Roman world. It was only natural, therefore, that
the churches established in them should be singled out for preëminence.
Some years after the removal of the capital to Constantinople, the bishop
of that imperial city was recognized as a patriarch at a general council
of the Church. In the fifth century the bishop of Jerusalem received the
same dignity. Henceforth there were five patriarchs--four in the East but
only one in the West.
CLERGY AND LAITY
The Christian Church was a very democratic organization. Patriarchs,
archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons were drawn from all ranks of
life. No special training at first was considered necessary to fit them
for their duties, though the more celebrated ministers were often highly
educated. To eke out their salaries the clergy sometimes carried on
business as farmers and shopkeepers. Where, however, a church had
sufficient funds to support its bishop, his engagement in secular affairs
was discouraged and finally prohibited. In the fourth century, as earlier,
priests and bishops were generally married men. The sentiment in favor of
celibacy for the clergy became very pronounced during the early Middle
Ages, especially in the West, and led at length to the general abandonment
of priestly marriage in those parts of Europe where papal influence
prevailed. Distinctive garments for clergymen did not begin to come into
use until the fifth century, when some of them began to don clothing of a
more sober hue than was fashionable at the time. Clerical vestments were
developed from two pieces of ancient Roman dress--the tunic and the toga.
[4] Thus the clergy were gradually separated from the people, or laity, by
differences in dress, by their celibate lives, and by their abstention
from worldly occupations.
HERESIES
While the Church was perfecting her organization, she was also elaborating
her doctrines. Theologians engaged in many controversies upon such
subjects as the connection of Christ with God and the nature of the
Trinity. In order to obtain an authoritative expression of Christian
opinion, councils of the higher clergy were held, at which the opposing
views were debated and a decision was reached. The Council of Nicaea,
which condemned Arianism, formed the first, and one of the most important,
of these general gatherings of the Church. After the Church had once
expressed itself on any matter of Christian belief, it was regarded as
unlawful to maintain a contrary opinion. Those who did so were called
heretics, and their teachings, heresies. The emperor Theodosius, whose
severe laws finally shattered the ancient paganism, [5] devoted even more
attention to stamping out heresies among his Christian subjects. He
prohibited meetings of heretics, burned their books, and threatened them
with death if they persisted in their peculiar doctrines. During his reign
a Spanish bishop and six of his partisans were executed for holding
unorthodox beliefs. This was the beginning of the persecutions for heresy.
WORSHIP
As soon as Christianity had triumphed in the Roman Empire, thus becoming
the religion of the rich and powerful as well as the religion of the poor
and lowly, more attention was devoted to the conduct of worship.
Magnificent church buildings were often erected. Their architects seem to
have followed as models the basilicas, or public halls, which formed so
familiar a sight in Roman cities. [6] Church interiors were adorned with
paintings, mosaic pictures, images of saints and martyrs, and the figure
of the cross. Lighted candles on the altars and the burning of fragrant
incense lent an additional impressiveness to worship. Beautiful prayers
and hymns were composed. Some of the early Christian hymns, such as the
_Gloria in Excelsis_ and the _Te Deum Laudamus_, are still sung in our
churches. Organs did not come into use until the seventh century, and then
only in the West, but church bells, summoning the worshiper to divine
service, early became attached to Christian edifices.
[Illustration: RELIGIOUS MUSIC
From a window of the cathedral of Bourges, a city in central France. Shows
a pipe organ and chimes.]
SUNDAY
The Christians from the start appear to have observed "the first day of
the week" [7] in memory of Christ's resurrection. They attended public
worship on the Lord's Day, but otherwise did not rigidly abstain from
worldly business and amusements. The Jewish element in some churches, and
especially in the East, was strong enough to secure an additional
observance of Saturday as a weekly festival. Saturday long continued to be
marked by religious assemblies and feasting, though not by any compulsory
cessation of the ordinary occupations. During the fourth century Sunday,
as the Lord's Day was now generally called, came more and more to be kept
as a day of obligatory rest. Constantine's Sunday law [8] formed the first
of a long series of imperial edicts imposing the observance of that day as
a legal duty. In this manner Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath on the
seventh day of the week, was dedicated wholly to the exercises of
religion.
FESTIVALS
The great yearly festivals of the Church gradually took shape during the
early Christian centuries. The most important anniversary to be observed
was Easter, in memory of the resurrection of Christ. A period of fasting
(Lent), which finally lasted forty days, preceded the festival.
Whitsunday, or Pentecost, was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter.
[9] Two other festivals of later adoption were Christmas, the celebration
of which was finally assigned to the 25th of December, [10] and Epiphany
(January 6), commemorating the baptism of Christ. In course of time many
other feasts and fasts, together with numerous saints' days, were added to
the calendar of the "Christian Year."
121. EASTERN CHRISTIANITY
EXPANSION OF CHRISTIANITY IN THE EAST
By the time of Constantine, Christianity had spread widely throughout the
eastern half of the Roman Empire. Asia Minor was then largely Christian.
Thrace, Macedonia, Epirus, and Greece were all ecclesiastical provinces
with their own metropolitans. Many Christians were found in Syria and
Egypt. Churches also existed in Mesopotamia and Arabia, and even beyond
the boundaries of the empire in Armenia and Persia. Between the time of
Constantine and that of Justinian, Christianity continued to expand in the
East, until the gospel had been carried to such distant regions as
Abyssinia and India.
UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE
Most of the Christian communities in the Orient owed allegiance to the
patriarchs of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria. The
Roman emperor, however, was the supreme religious authority in the East.
He felt it as much his duty to maintain the doctrines and organization of
Christianity as to preserve the imperial dominions against foreign foes.
Since he presided over the Church, there could be no real independence for
its officers. Bishops, metropolitans, and patriarchs were in every respect
subordinate to his will. This union of Church and State formed one of the
most characteristic features of Christianity in the East.
THEOLOGICAL DISPUTES; HERESIES
Eastern Christians, far more than those in the West, devoted themselves to
theological speculations. Constantinople and the great Hellenistic cities
of Antioch and Alexandria contained many learned scholars who had
prolonged and heated arguments over subtle questions of belief. After the
Arian controversy had been settled in the fourth century, other disputes
concerning the true nature of Christ broke out. These gave rise to many
heresies.
NESTORIANISM
The heresy known as Nestorianism, from Nestorius, a patriarch of
Constantinople, spread widely in the East. Nestorian missionaries even
penetrated to India, China, and Mongolia. The churches which they
established were numerous and influential during the Middle Ages, but
since then most of them have been destroyed by the Mohammedans. Members of
this sect are still to be found, however, in eastern lands. [11]
[Illustration: THE NESTORIAN MONUMENT
Evidence of Nestorian missions in China is afforded by the famous monument
at Chang-an, province of Shensi. The stone, which was set up in 781 A.D.,
commemorates by an inscription in Chinese characters and the figure of a
cross the introduction of Christianity into northwestern China. A replica
of the Nestorian monument was taken to the United States in 1908 A.D. and
was deposited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.]
ORTHODOXY
After the formation of the Nestorian and other heretical sects, the
orthodox faith was preserved in the East only by the Greeks of Asia Minor
and Europe. The Greek Church, which calls itself the "Holy Orthodox
Church," for a time remained in unity with the Roman Church in the West.
The final separation of these two churches occurred in the eleventh
century. [12]
122. WESTERN CHRISTIANITY: RISE OF THE PAPACY
THE PAPACY
Christianity in the West presented two sharp contrasts to eastern
Christianity. In the first place, the great heresies which divided the
East scarcely affected the West. In the second place, no union of Church
and State existed among western Christians. Instead of acknowledging the
religious supremacy of the emperor at Constantinople, they yielded
obedience to the bishop of Rome, the head of the Roman Church. He is known
to us as the pope, and his office is called the Papacy. We shall now
inquire how the popes secured their unchallenged authority over western
Christendom.
[Illustration: PAPAL ARMS
According to the well-known passage in _Matthew_ (xvi, 19), Christ gave to
St. Peter the "keys of the kingdom of heaven," with the power "to bind and
to loose." These keys are always represented in the papal arms, together
with the tiara or headdress, worn by the popes on certain occasions.]
ROME AN APOSTOLIC CHURCH
A church in Rome must have been established at an early date, for it was
to Roman Christians that St. Paul addressed one of the _Epistles_ now
preserved in the New Testament. St. Paul visited Rome, as we know from the
_Acts of the Apostles_, and there he is said to have suffered martyrdom.
Christian tradition, very ancient and very generally received, declares
that St. Peter also labored in Rome, where he met a martyr's death,
perhaps during the reign of the emperor Nero. To the early Christians,
therefore, the Roman Church must have seemed in the highest degree sacred,
for it had been founded by the two greatest apostles and had been
nourished by their blood.
ROME A "MOTHER-CHURCH"
Another circumstance helped to give the Roman Church a superior position
in the West. It was a vigorous missionary church. Rome, the largest and
most flourishing city in the empire and the seat of the imperial
government, naturally became the center from which Christianity spread
over the western provinces. Many of the early Christian communities
planted in Spain, Gaul, and Africa owed their start to the missionary zeal
of the Roman Church. To Rome, as the great "Mother-church," her daughters
in western Europe would turn henceforth with reverence and affection; they
would readily acknowledge her leading place among the churches; and they
would seek her advice on disputed points of Christian belief or worship.
THE ROMAN CHURCH INDEPENDENT
The independence of the Roman Church also furthered its development. The
bishop of Rome was the sole patriarch in the West, while in the East there
were two, and later four patriarchs, each exercising authority in
religious matters. Furthermore, the removal of the capital from Rome to
Constantinople helped to free the Roman bishop from the close oversight of
the imperial government. He was able, henceforth, to promote the interests
of the church under his control without much interference on the part of
the eastern emperor.
THE ROMAN CHURCH ORTHODOX
Finally, it must be noted how much the development of the Roman Church was
aided by its attitude on disputed questions of belief. While eastern
Christendom was torn by theological controversies, the Church of Rome
stood firmly by the Nicene Creed. [13] After the Arian, Nestorian, and
other heresies were finally condemned, orthodox Christians felt indebted
to the Roman Church for its unwavering championship of "the faith once
delivered to the saints." They were all the more ready, therefore, to
defer to that church in matters of doctrine and to accept without question
its spiritual authority.
THE PETRINE SUPREMACY
The claim of the Roman bishops to supremacy over the Christian world had a
double basis. Certain passages in the New Testament, where St. Peter is
represented as the rock on which the Church is built, the pastor of the
sheep and lambs of the Lord, and the doorkeeper of the kingdom of heaven,
appear to indicate that he was regarded by Christ as the chief of the
Apostles. Furthermore, a well-established tradition made St. Peter the
founder of the Roman Church and its first bishop. It was then argued that
he passed to his successors, the popes, all his rights and dignity. As St.
Peter was the first among the Apostles, so the popes were to be the first
among bishops. Such was the doctrine of the Petrine supremacy, expressed
as far back as the second century, strongly asserted by many popes during
the Middle Ages, and maintained to-day by the Roman Church.
123. GROWTH OF THE PAPACY
PONTIFICATE OF LEO I, 440-461 A.D.
Up to the middle of the fifth century about forty-five bishops had
occupied St. Peter's chair at Rome. The most eminent these was Leo the
Great. When he became bishop, the Germans were overrunning the western
provinces of the empire. The invaders professed the Arian faith, as we
have seen, and often persecuted the orthodox Christians among whom they
settled. At such a time, when the imperial power was growing weaker,
faithful Catholics in the West naturally turned for support to the bishop
of Rome. Leo became their champion against the barbarians. Tradition
declares that he succeeded in diverting Attila from an attack on Rome, and
when the Vandals sacked the city Leo also intervened to prevent its
destruction. [14]
PONTIFICATE OF GREGORY I, 590-604 A.D.
After Leo, no important name occurs in the list of popes until we come to
Gregory the Great. Gregory, as the son of a rich and distinguished Roman
senator, enjoyed a good education in all the learning of the time. He
entered public life and at an early age became prefect of Rome. But now,
almost at the outset of his career, Gregory laid aside earthly ambition.
He gave up his honorable position and spent the fortune, inherited from
his father, in the foundation of monasteries and the relief of the poor.
He himself became a monk, turned his palace at Rome into a monastery, and
almost ruined his health by too great devotion to fasts and midnight
vigils. Gregory's conspicuous talents, however, soon called him from
retirement and led to his election as pope.
TEMPORAL POWER OF GREGORY
The work of Gregory lay principally in two directions. As a statesman he
did much to make the popes virtual sovereigns at Rome and in Italy. At
this time the Italian peninsula, overrun by the Lombards and neglected by
the eastern emperor, was in a deplorable condition. The bishop of Rome
seemed to be the only man who could protect the people and maintain order.
Gregory had very great success in this task. He appointed governors of
cities, issued orders to generals, drilled the Romans for military
defense, and sent ambassadors to treat with the king of the Lombards. It
was largely owing to Gregory's efforts that these barbarians were
prevented from conquering central Italy.
GREGORY'S SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY
Gregory was no less eminent as a churchman. His writings and his personal
influence greatly furthered the advancement of the Roman Church in the
West. We find him sternly repressing heresies wherever they arose, aiding
the conversion of Arian Visigoths in Spain and Arian Lombards in Italy,
and sending out monks as missionaries to distant Britain. [15] He well
deserved by these labors the title "Servant of the servants of God," [16]
which he assumed, and which the popes after him have retained. The
admiration felt for his character and abilities raised him, in later ages,
to the rank of a saint.
POSITION OF THE PAPACY
When Gregory the Great closed his remarkable career, the Papacy had
reached a commanding place in western Christendom. To their spiritual
authority the popes had now begun to add some measure of temporal power as
rulers at Rome and in Italy. During the eighth century, as we have already
learned, [17] the alliance of the popes and the Franks helped further to
establish the Papacy as an ecclesiastical monarchy, ruling over both the
souls and bodies of men. Henceforth it was to go forward from strength to
strength.
124. MONASTICISM
THE MONASTIC SPIRIT
The Papacy during the Middle Ages found its strongest supporters among the
monks. By the time of Gregory the Great monasticism [18] was well
established in the Christian Church. Its origin must be sought in the
need, often felt by spiritually-minded men, of withdrawing from the world
--from its temptations and its transitory pleasures--to a life of
solitude, prayer, and religious contemplation. Joined to this feeling has
been the conviction that the soul may be purified by subduing the desires
and passions of the body. Men, influenced by the monastic spirit, sought
a closer approach to God.
EARLY CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM
The monastic spirit in Christianity owed much to the example of its
founder, who was himself unmarried, poor, and without a place "where to
lay his head." Some of Christ's teachings, taken literally, also helped to
exalt the worth of the monastic life. At a very early period there were
Christian men and women who abstained from marriage, flesh meat, and the
use of wine, and gave themselves up to prayer, religious exercises, and
works of charity. This they did in their homes, without abandoning their
families and human society.
THE HERMITS
Another monastic movement began about the middle of the third century,
when many Christians in Egypt withdrew into the desert to live as hermits.
St. Anthony, who has been called the first Christian hermit, passed twenty
years in a deserted fort on the east bank of the Nile. During all this
time he never saw a human face. Some of the hermits, believing that pain
and suffering had a spiritual value, went to extremes of self-
mortification. They dwelt in wells, tombs, and on the summits of pillars,
deprived themselves of necessary food and sleep, wore no clothing, and
neglected to bathe or to care for the body in any way. Other hermits, who
did not practice such austerities, spent all day or all night in prayer.
The examples of these recluses found many imitators in Syria and other
eastern lands. [19]
[Illustration: ST. DANIEL THE STYLITE ON HIS COLUMN
From a Byzantine miniature in the Vatican.]
RULE OF ST. BASIL
A life shut off from all contact with one's fellows is difficult and
beyond the strength of ordinary men. The mere human need for social
intercourse gradually brought the hermits together, at first in small
groups and then in larger communities, or monasteries. The next step was
to give the scattered monasteries a common organization and government.
Those in the East gradually adopted the regulations which St. Basil, a
leading churchman of the fourth century, drew up for the guidance of the
monks under his direction. St. Basil's Rule, as it is called, has remained
to the present time the basis of monasticism in the Greek Church.
ST. BENEDICT
The monastic system, which early gained an entrance into western
Christendom, looked to St. Benedict as its organizer. While yet a young
man, St. Benedict had sought to escape from the vice about him by retiring
to a cave in the Sabine hills near Rome. Here he lived for three years as
a hermit, shutting himself off from all human intercourse, wearing a hair
shirt, and rolling in beds of thistles to subdue "the flesh." St.
Benedict's experience of the hermit's life convinced him that there was a
surer and better road to religious peace of mind. His fame as a holy man
had attracted to him many disciples, and these he now began to group in
monastic communities under his own supervision. St. Benedict's most
important monastery was at Monte Cassino, midway between Rome and Naples.
It became the capital of monasticism in the West.
[Illustration: PLAN OF KIRKSTALL ABBEY, YORKSHIRE]
RULE OF ST. BENEDICT, 529(?) A.D.
To control the monks of Monte Cassino St. Benedict framed a Rule, or
constitution, which was modeled in some respects upon the earlier Rule of
St. Basil. The monks formed a sort of corporation, presided over by an
abbot, [20] who held office for life. To the abbot every candidate for
admission took the vow of obedience. Any man, rich or poor, noble or
peasant, might enter the monastery, after a year's probation; having once
joined, however, he must remain a monk for the rest of his days. The monks
were to live under strict discipline. They could not own any property;
they could not go beyond the monastery walls without the abbot's consent;
they could not even receive letters from home; and they were sent to bed
early. A violation of the regulations brought punishment in the shape of
private admonitions, exclusion from common prayer, and, in extreme cases,
expulsion.
SPREAD OF THE BENEDICTINE RULE
The Rule of St. Benedict came to have the same wide influence in the West
which that of St. Basil exerted in the East. Gregory the Great established
it in many places in Italy, Sicily, and England. During Charlemagne's
reign it was made the only form of monasticism throughout his dominions.
By the tenth century the Rule prevailed everywhere in western Europe. [21]
125. LIFE AND WORK OF THE MONKS
A MONASTIC COMMUNITY
St. Benedict sought to draw a sharp line between the monastic life and
that of the outside world. Hence he required that, as far as possible,
each monastery should form an independent, self-supporting community whose
members had no need of going beyond its limits for anything. In course of
time, as a monastery increased in wealth and number of inmates, it might
come to form an enormous establishment, covering many acres and presenting
within its massive walls the appearance of a fortified town.
THE MONASTERY BUILDINGS
The principal buildings of a Benedictine monastery of the larger sort were
grouped around an inner court, called a cloister. These included a church,
a refectory, or dining room, with the kitchen and buttery near it, a
dormitory, where the monks slept, and a chapter house, where they
transacted business. There was also a library, a school, a hospital, and a
guest house for the reception of strangers, besides barns, bakeries,
laundries, workshops, and storerooms for provisions. Beyond these
buildings lay vegetable gardens, orchards, grain fields, and often a mill,
if the monastery was built on a stream. The high wall and ditch, usually
surrounding a monastery, shut it off from outsiders and in time of danger
protected it against attack.
[Illustration: ABBEY OF SAINT GERMAIN DES PRÉS, PARIS
This celebrated monastery was founded in the sixth century. Of the
original buildings only the abbey church remains. The illustration shows
the monastery as it was in 1361 A.D., with walls, towers, drawbridge, and
moat. Adjoining the church were the cloister, the refectory, and the
dormitory.]
MONASTIC OCCUPATIONS
St. Benedict defined a monastery as "a school for the service of the
Lord." The monks under his Rule occupied themselves with a regular round
of worship, reading, and manual labor. Each day was divided into seven
sacred offices, beginning and ending with services in the monastery
church. The first service came usually about two o'clock in the morning;
the last, just as evening set in, before the monks retired to rest. In
addition to their attendance at church, the monks spent several hours in
reading from the Bible, private prayer, and meditation. For most of the
day, however, they worked hard with their hands, doing the necessary
washing and cooking for the monastery, raising the necessary supplies of
vegetables and grain, and performing all the other tasks required to
maintain a large establishment. This emphasis on labor, as a religious
duty, was a characteristic feature of western monasticism. "To labor is to
pray" became a favorite motto of the Benedictines. [22]
[Illustration: A MONK COPYIST
From a manuscript in the British Museum, London.]
ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE MONASTIC LIFE
It is clear that life in a Benedictine monastery appealed to many
different kinds of people in the Middle Ages. Those of a spiritual turn of
mind found in the monastic life the opportunity of giving themselves
wholly to God. Studious and thoughtful persons, with no disposition for an
active career in the world, naturally turned to the monastery as a secure
retreat. The friendless and the disgraced often took refuge within its
walls. Many a troubled soul, to whom the trials of this world seemed
unendurable, sought to escape from them by seeking the peaceful shelter of
the cloister.
THE MONKS AS CIVILIZERS
The civilizing influence of the Benedictine monks during the early Middle
Ages can scarcely be over-emphasized. A monastery was often at once a
model farm, an inn, a hospital, a school, and a library. By the careful
cultivation of their lands the monks set an example of good farming
wherever they settled. They entertained pilgrims and travelers, at a
period when western Europe was almost destitute of inns. They performed
many works of charity, feeding the hungry, healing the sick who were
brought to their doors, and distributing their medicines freely to those
who needed them. In their schools they trained both boys who wished to
become priests and those who intended to lead active lives in the world.
The monks, too, were the only scholars of the age. By copying the
manuscripts of classical authors, they preserved valuable books that would
otherwise have been lost. By keeping records of the most striking events
of their time, they acted as chroniclers of medieval history. To all these
services must be added the work of the monks as missionaries to the
heathen peoples of Europe.
126. SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY OVER EUROPE
THE ROMAN CHURCH AND THE BARBARIANS
Almost all Europe had been won to Christianity by the end of the eleventh
century. In the direction of this great missionary campaign the Roman
Church took the leading part. [23] The officers of her armies were zealous
popes, bishops, and abbots; her private soldiers were equally zealous
monks, priests, and laymen. Pagan Rome had never succeeded in making a
complete and permanent conquest of the barbarians. Christian Rome,
however, was able to bring them all under her spiritual sway.
RECONVERSION OF THE ARIAN GERMANS
Christianity first reached the Germanic invaders in its Arian [24] form.
Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Burgundians, and Lombards were all Arians.
The Roman Church regarded them as heretics and labored with success to
reconvert them. This work was at last completed when the Lombards, in the
seventh century, accepted the Catholic faith.
FRANKS AND ANGLO-SAXONS CONVERTED TO ROMAN CATHOLICISM
The Franks and the Anglo-Saxons, whose kingdoms were to develop into the
chief states of medieval Europe, adopted from the outset the Catholic form
of Christianity. The conversion of the Franks provided the Roman Church
with its strongest and most faithful adherents among the Germanic tribes.
[25] The conversion of Anglo-Saxon Britain by Augustine and his monks,
followed later by the spread of Roman Catholicism in Ireland and Scotland,
firmly united the British Isles to the Papacy. [26] Thus Rome during the
Middle Ages came to be the one center of church life for the peoples of
western Europe.
ST. BONIFACE AND THE CONVERSION OF THE GERMANS
An Anglo-Saxon monk, St. Boniface, did more than any other missionary to
carry Christianity to the remote tribes of Germany. Like Augustine in
England, St. Boniface was sent by the pope, who created him missionary
bishop and ordered him to "carry the word of God to unbelievers." St.
Boniface also enjoyed the support of the Frankish rulers, Charles Martel
and Pepin the Short. Thanks to their assistance this intrepid monk was
able to penetrate into the heart of Germany. Here he labored for nearly
forty years, preaching, baptizing, and founding numerous churches,
monasteries, and schools. His boldness in attacking heathenism is
illustrated by the story of how he cut down with his own hands a certain
oak tree, much reverenced by the natives of Hesse as sacred to the god
Woden, and out of its wood built a chapel dedicated to St. Peter. St.
Boniface crowned a lifetime of missionary labor with a martyr's death,
probably in 754 A.D. His work was continued by Charlemagne, who forced the
Saxons to accept Christianity at the point of the sword. [27] All Germany
at length became a Christian land, devoted to the Papacy.
CONVERSION OF THE SLAVS
Roman Catholicism not only spread to Celtic and Germanic peoples, but it
also gained a foothold among the Slavs. Both Henry the Fowler and Otto the
Great attempted to Christianize the Slavic tribes between the Elbe of the
Slavs and the Vistula, by locating bishoprics in their territory. The work
of conversion encountered many setbacks and did not reach completion until
the middle of the twelfth century. The most eminent missionaries to the
Slavs were Cyril and Methodius. These brother-monks were sent from
Constantinople in 863 A.D. to convert the Moravians, who formed a kingdom
on the eastern boundary of Germany. Seeing their great success as
missionaries, the pope invited them to Rome and secured their consent to
an arrangement which brought the Moravian Christians under the control of
the Papacy. [28] From Moravia Christianity penetrated into Bohemia and
Poland. These countries still remain strongholds of the Roman Church. The
Serbians and Russians, as we have learned, [29] received Christianity by
way of Constantinople and so became adherents of the Greek Church.
FINAL EXTENSION OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM
Roman Catholicism gradually spread to most of the remaining peoples of
Europe. The conversion of the Norwegians and Swedes was well advanced by
the middle of the eleventh century. The Magyars, or Hungarians, accepted
Christianity at about the same date. The king of Hungary was such a devout
Catholic that in the year 1000 A.D. the pope sent to him a golden crown
and saluted him as "His Apostolic Majesty." The last parts of heathen
Europe to receive the message of the gospel were the districts south and
east of the Baltic, occupied by the Prussians, Lithuanians, and Finns.
Their conversion took place between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.
127. SEPARATION OF EASTERN AND WESTERN CHRISTIANITY
DIVERGENCE OF EAST AND WEST
Before the Christian conquest of Europe was finished, Christianity had
divided into two great communions--the Greek Church and the Roman Church.
Their separation was a long, slow process, arising from the deep-seated
differences between East and West. Though Rome had carried her conquering
arms throughout the Mediterranean basin, all the region east of the
Adriatic was imperfectly Romanized. [30] It remained Greek in language and
culture, and tended, as time went on, to grow more and more unlike the
West, which was truly Roman. The founding of Constantinople and the
transference of the capital from the banks of the Tiber to the shores of
the Bosporus still further widened the breach between the two halves of
the Roman world. After the Germans established their kingdoms in Italy,
Spain, Gaul, and Britain, western Europe was practically independent of
the rulers at Constantinople. The coronation of Charlemagne in 800 A.D.
marked the final severance of East and West.
THE PAPACY AND THE EASTERN EMPERORS
The division of the Roman Empire led naturally to a grouping of the
Christian Church about Rome and Constantinople, the two chief centers of
government. The popes, it has been seen, had always enjoyed spiritual
leadership in the West. In temporal matters they acknowledged the
authority of the eastern emperors, until the failure of the latter to
protect Rome and Italy from the barbarians showed clearly that the popes
must rely on their own efforts to defend Christian civilization. We have
already learned how well such men as Leo the Great and Gregory the Great
performed this task. Then in the eighth century came the alliance with the
Frankish king, Pepin the Short, which gave the Papacy a powerful and
generous protector beyond the Alps. Finally, by crowning Charlemagne, the
pope definitely broke with the emperor at Constantinople and transferred
his allegiance to the newly created western emperor.
RISE OF THE PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE
The patriarch of Constantinople, as bishop of the capital city, enjoyed an
excellent position from which to assert his preeminence over the bishops
of the other churches in the East. Justinian in 550 A.D. conferred on him
the privilege of receiving appeals from the other patriarchs, and a few
years later that dignitary assumed the high-sounding title of "Universal
Archbishop." The authority of the patriarch of Constantinople was
immensely strengthened when the Mohammedans, having conquered Syria and
Egypt, practically extinguished the three patriarchates of Antioch,
Jerusalem, and Alexandria. [31] The Church in the East now had a single
patriarch, just as that in the West had the one bishop of Rome. Rivalry
between them was inevitable.
RIVALRY BETWEEN POPE AND PATRIARCH
One source of strife between pope and patriarch was the controversy,
arising in the eighth century, over the use of images in the churches.
These images seem to have been, not statues, but pictures (icons) of the
apostles, saints, and martyrs. Many eastern Christians sought to strip the
churches of icons, on the ground that by the ignorant they were venerated
almost as idols. The Iconoclasts ("image-breakers") gained no support in
the West. The Papacy took the view that images were a help to true
devotion and might, therefore, be allowed. When a Roman emperor issued a
decree for the destruction of all images, the pope refused to obey the
order in the churches under his direction, and went so far as to exclude
the Iconoclasts from Christian fellowship. Although the iconoclastic
movement failed in the East, after a violent controversy, it helped still
further to sharpen the antagonism between the two branches of Christendom.
Other causes of dispute arose in later times, chiefly concerning fine
points of doctrine on which neither side would yield.
THE FINAL RUPTURE, 1054 A.D.
The final rupture of Christendom was delayed until the middle of the
eleventh century. In 1054 A.D. the pope sent his legates to Constantinople
to demand obedience to the Papacy. This being refused, they laid upon the
high altar of Sancta Sophia the pope's bill of excommunication. Against
the patriarch and his followers they pronounced a solemn curse, or
anathema, devoting them "to the eternal society of the Devil and his
angels." Then, we are told, they strode out of Sancta Sophia, shaking the
dust from their feet and crying, "Let God see and judge." The two branches
of the Christian Church, thus torn apart, were never afterward reunited.
[32]
128. THE GREEK CHURCH
THE GREEK AND ROMAN CHURCH COMPARED
The Greek and Roman churches, in some respects, are nearer together than
Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Both recognize three orders for the
ministry, namely, bishops, priests, and deacons. Priests of the Greek
Church may marry, but this privilege is not extended to bishops, who,
therefore, are chosen from the monks. Baptism, by both churches, is
administered to infants, but by the Greek Church under the form of total
immersion. Confirmation in the Greek Church follows immediately after
baptism; in the Roman Church it is postponed to the age of reason. In the
communion service the Greek Church gives leavened bread, dipped in wine.
The Roman Church withholds wine from the laity and uses only a dry,
unleavened wafer. While the services of the Roman Church are conducted in
Latin, for those of the Greek Church the national languages (Greek,
Russian, etc.) of the communicants are used. Its festivals do not coincide
in time of celebration with those of the Roman Church, since the "Julian
Calendar" followed in the East is now thirteen days behind the "Gregorian
Calendar." [33]
SPREAD OF THE GREEK CHURCH
The Greek Church has not lacked missionary zeal. Through her agency the
barbarians who entered southeastern Europe during the early Middle Ages
were converted to Christianity. At the present time nearly all the peoples
of the Balkan peninsula, including Greeks, Montenegrins, Serbians,
Bulgarians, and Rumanians, belong to the Greek Church. [34] Its greatest
victory was won toward the close of the tenth century, when the Russians
were induced to accept the Greek form of Christianity. Outlying branches
of the Greek Church are found also in the Turkish Empire. It now includes
about one hundred and thirty-five million adherents in European lands.
PRESENT ORGANIZATION OF THE GREEK CHURCH
The patriarch of Constantinople is the spiritual head of the Greek Church.
He enjoys, however, no such wide authority over eastern Christians as that
exercised by the pope over all Roman Catholics. There are as many as
sixteen branches of the Greek Church, each self-governing and under its
own officers. Despite the local independence of its branches, the Greek
Church remains unified in doctrine. It claims to be the only "Orthodox"
church and clings with almost Oriental conservatism to the traditions of
earlier ages. Nevertheless, as the official church of Russia, the largest
and most swiftly growing of European countries, the Greek Church has
before it a future of great importance.
129. THE ROMAN CHURCH
THE ROMAN CHURCH PROGRESSIVE
The separation of eastern and western Christianity naturally increased the
importance of the Papacy. The popes henceforth had a free hand to guide
the destinies of the Roman Church. That church under their direction was
to show itself vigorous and progressive, with a wonderful power of
adaptation to new and changed conditions.
THE ROMAN CHURCH SURVIVES THE EMPIRE
The Roman Empire in the West had gone down before the assaults of the
Germanic barbarians, but in its place had arisen a new creation--the Roman
Church. The chief city of the old empire became the capital of the Papacy.
The pope took, and has since retained, the title of Supreme Pontiff
(_Pontifex Maximus_), once given to the head of the Roman state religion.
[35] Latin has continued to be the official language of Roman Catholicism.
The Roman genius for law and government found a new expression in the
creation of the papal power. The true successors of the ancient Roman
statesmen were the popes of the Middle Ages. The idea of Rome, of her
universality and of her eternity, lived on in the Roman Church.
WORK OF THE ROMAN CHURCH
The Roman Church, as the successor of the Roman Empire in the West, formed
the chief center of civilization during the earlier part of the Middle
Ages. She stood between the conquering Germans and the Romanized
provincials and helped to join them both in lasting union. To the heathen
she sent out her missionaries, preaching a religion of love and charity
and introducing a higher morality than the barbarians had ever known
before. She multiplied hospitals, orphanages, and asylums. Her bishops
were the only protectors of the weak and the oppressed. She fostered
education, art, and learning within the walls of churches and monasteries.
Her priests and monks were the only teachers in an ignorant age. In an age
of bloodshed and violence, when might made right, she proclaimed the
superiority of the spirit to mere brute force. To sum up: the Roman Church
was an indispensable agent in the making of medieval Europe.
THE MENACE TO CHRISTENDOM
Christianity in its Greek and Roman forms was not the only great religion
of the Middle Ages. In the seventh century, before the separation of the
two churches had been completed and before all Europe had become
Christian, another religion arose. It grew with marvelous rapidity,
stripped the Church of much territory in western Asia, northern Africa,
and Spain, and promised for a time to become the dominant faith of the
world. This was Islam, or Mohammedanism, the religion of the Arabs.
STUDIES
1. In what different senses is the word "church" often used?
2. "The eastern patriarch was the shadow of the emperor, cast on the
spiritual world." Explain this statement.
3. Why did heresies develop in the East rather than in the West?
4. Look up in the New Testament the following texts relating to the
primacy of St. Peter: _Matthew_, xvi, 18-19; _Luke_, xxii, 31-32; and
_John_, xxi, 15-17.
5. What is "the power of the keys" which the popes claim to possess?
6. What reasons for the growth of the Papacy have been set forth in this
chapter?
7. In what non-Christian religions is monasticism an established
institution?
8. Look up in the New Testament the following texts quoted as favorable to
monasticism: _Matthew_, xix, 21; _Mark_, x, 29-30; and _Luke_, xiv, 26.
9. What is the origin of the words "monk," "hermit," "anchorite," and
"abbot"?
10. Summarize the principal benefits which the monastic system conferred
on Europe.
11. Give reasons for the rapid conversion of the Germans to Christianity.
12. In what sense is it true that "half Europe owes its Christianity to
women"?
13. Who was the "Apostle to the Germans"?
14. Who were the "Apostles to the Slavs"?
15. Comment on the significance to European civilization of the missionary
activity of the Christian Church in the Middle Ages.
16. Why has the separation of the Greek and Roman churches been described
as "the most momentous fact in the history of Christendom during the
Middle Ages"?
17. Why could not such an institution as the Papacy develop in the East?
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, _Readings in Medieval and Modern History_, chapter iii, "The
Benedictine Rule"; chapter iv, "The Reestablishment of Christianity in
Britain"; chapter v, "St. Boniface, Apostle to the Germans."
[2] The correspondence may be indicated as follows:
The Roman Empire The Christian Church
City--Municipal officials. Bishop.
Province--Governor. Archbishop, or Metropolitan.
Diocese--Vicar. Patriarch.
Prefecture--Prefect. (No corresponding division.)
[3] See page 235.
[4] See page 258.
[5] See page 236.
[6] See page 284.
[7] _John_, xx, i, 19; compare I _Corinthians_, xvi, 2.
[8] See page 235 and note 1.
[9] See _Acts_, ii, 1-4.
[10] See page 239, note 1.
[11] In modern India (Malabar) there are no less than 400,000 Syrian
Christians who owe their religion to Nestorian missionaries.
[12] See page 362.
[13] See page 236.
[14] See pages 248-249.
[15] See page 322.
[16] _Servus servorum Dei_.
[17] See pages 305-307.
[18] From a Greek word which means "living alone."
[19] See Tennyson's poem, _St. Simeon Stylites_.
[20] From a Syrian word, abba, meaning "father." Hence a monastery was
often called an abbey.
[21] Other monastic orders arose during the later Middle Ages (see pages
449, 452), but the Benedictines still exist, chiefly in Austria and Italy.
Their order was introduced into the United States during the nineteenth
century.
[22] _Laborare est orare._
[23] For the missionary work of Celtic Christians see page 323 and note 1.
[24] See page 236.
[25] See pages 304-305.
[26] See pages 322-325.
[27] See page 308.
[28] Cyril and Methodius were canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1881 A.D. A
millenial celebration of the two apostles was held in 1863 A.D. by the
people of Moravia and Bohemia.
[29] See page 335. The Bulgarians also got their Christianity from
Constantinople in the ninth century.
[30] See pages 217, 223.
[31] See page 376.
[32] Unsuccessful attempts to heal the schism between the two churches
took place in the Middle Ages. The latest movement in this direction was
made by Pope Leo XIII in 1894 A.D., but his efforts were not crowned with
success.
[33] See page 186, note 2.
[34] Many Roman Catholics are found in Croatia-Slavonia, Bosnia, Dalmatia,
and Albania.
[35] See page 148, note 2.