THE BARBARIANS INVADE THE EMPIRE
The Roman Empire [click here for a map of the Roman Empire] fell from internal weakness (corruption and immorality) on one hand, and the onslaught of the Barbarians on the other. The Barbarians had started to threaten the Roman empire around 400 AD. [Click here for a map showing the barbarian invasions.]
The VISIGOTHS sacked Rome in 410 AD and left it in ruins. They respected the Church, however, and spared the lives of those who took refuge inside the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul.
The VANDALS waged war in France and Spain, destroying and killing as they advanced. They went all the way to northern Africa. St Augustine died (429) while they were laying siege to the city of Hippo, of which he was bishop.
The HUNS were the most terrible of all these peoples who invaded and plundered. But when Attila, their leader, was about to attack Rome, Pope Leo the Great challenged him with a cross and persuaded him to turn back.
The LONGOBARDS (LOMBARDS) attacked Italy. They caused famine and a deadly pestilence (568). Pope Saint Gregory the Great organised charitable relief and military resistance.
Instead of being cowed by the Barbarians, the Christians evangelised them while protecting the people from their attacks. Eventually, many barbarians converted.
MONASTERIES PRESERVE THE FAITH AND CULTURE
The monks (or nuns) who lived by themselves recognised the need for guidance provided by a community, since one monk living by himself can commit excesses. So they gathered around monks who could lead them--abbots (remember Hebrew "Abba", which means "father").
EASTERN MONASTICISM
The first monk in all history is Saint Anthony of Egypt (270-356). By the time of Saint Basil (330-379), there were already a good number of monks in the East. Basil carried on the struggle of Athanasius against Arianism, organised his monks (with monasteries in Asia Minor, present-day Turkey) under a rule which would be used in Eastern Monasticism down the centuries, and also had a great influence in Eastern liturgy.
WESTERN MONASTICISM
IRELAND: CELTIC MONASTICISM
Saint Patrick (389-460) planted the Faith in Ireland; by 600 AD, there were already a hundred monasteries which also served as parish churches. [Click here for a video clip on Saint Patrick.] [Here is a very informative clip on the story of Saint Patrick. It is especially good for children.] The Father of Celtic monasticism is Finnian (549). The Irish monks developed a peculiar way of evangelising--rather than wait for crowds to come, they roamed the countryside. It is from this that the practice of individual confession and spiritual direction developed. In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council, private confession became the norm. Other characteristics: heroic asceticism, penance and sacrifice; simple prayer
ITALY: BENEDICTINE SPIRITUALITY
Benedict of Nursia (480-547) attracted followers to a communal lifestyle. His monks worked among the peasants and develop agricultural methods such as crop rotation. Other characteristics: prayer, work, study, rest. [Click here for a video clip of the Benedictine monastery in Subiaco, the place where St Benedict began.]
Life in the monasteries consisted of attending Mass in common and some common prayers. They also were expected to do reading and prayer on their own. With the invasions, however, the monasteries also had to provide for themselves, not only food, but other human needs as well. Thus it happened that the monks also specialised in several trades.
Another result of the invasions was that educational centres shifted towards the monasteries.
As monasteries began to be more organised, they also grew to be centres of preservation of the Faith, culture and knowledge. There were no printing presses during those times, so the monks painstakingly copied texts by hand using indigo dye on papyrus or sheepskin.
POPE ST GREGORY THE GREAT (540-604)
Here is a description of Saint Gregory (from www.catholic.org):
St. Gregory, born at Rome about the year 540, was the son of Gordianus, a wealthy senator, who later renounced the world and became one of the seven deacons of Rome. After he had acquired the usual thorough education, Emperor Justin the Younger appointed him, in 574, Chief Magistrate of Rome, though he was only thirty-four years of age.
After the death of his father, he built six monasteries in Sicily and founded a seventh in his own house in Rome, which became the Benedictine Monastery of St. Andrew. Here, he himself assumed the monastic habit in 575, at the age of thirty-five.
After the death of Pelagius, St. Gregory was chosen Pope by the unanimous consent of priests and people. Now began those labors which merited for him the title of Great. His zeal extended over the entire known world, he was in contact with all the Churches of Christendom and, in spite of his bodily sufferings, and innumerable labors, he found time to compose a great number of works. He is known above all for his magnificent contributions to the Liturgy of the Mass and Office. He is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church. He died March 12, 604. He is the patron of teachers.
ISLAM
In 610, a young Arabian man in Mecca [click here for map] named MOHAMMAD believed he has received a revelation from the one God, Allah, to preach submission to Allah. He moves from Mecca to Medina and establishes the beginning of the Islamic era with his followers in 622. By the time of Mohammad's death in 632, most of the Arabian Peninsula has been conquered. From there it spread to northern Africa, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Spain (712). (The Moors would be expelled from Spain only in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella. The Moslem occupation left its mark in Spanish culture and architecture.)
Mohammad was probably acquainted with Christians and Jews. Along with Moslems, Mohammad regarded these as "people of the Book," with Abraham as common ancestor. Their holy book, the Qur'an (Koran), contains similarities to both the Old and New Testaments.
The tenets of the Moslem faith are based on five pillars:
profession of faith in Allah and in Mohammad as his prophet
five daily prayers facing towards Mecca and public prayer in the mosque on Fridays
fasting during the month of Ramadan from daybreak to sunset
almsgiving
pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime to kiss the black stone in the Kabal
Mohammad preached and waged the holy war (Jihad) against unbelievers. Those he met along the way had to choose between conversion or death. Christians in Europe offered prayers in all churches for protection and peace. In 732, Charles Martel, King of France, stopped the advance of the Moslems in the battle of Poitiers.
Then they tried to attach Italy. In 831, they captured Sicily. They tried to attack Rome in 846 and again in 847. In the first attack, the people of Rome joined the Christian soldiers in defeating the Moslem armies. In the second attack, Christian warships intercepted them in the Mediterranean Sea.
Islam totally overcame the Byzantine Empire in 1453. [Click here to see a map of the spread of Islam.]
THE FRANKS AND CHARLEMAGNE (742-814)
The Franks led by Clovis, ruler from 481, created the first great barbarian kingdom north of the Alps (present-day France). He married a Christian, converted to Roman Christianity in 496, and had the entire kingdom receive baptism as well (other barbarian rulers in Gaul are at this time all Arians). As mentioned above, it was a Frank, Charles Martel (727-741), who stopped the Islamic advance into France in 732. Charles' son, Pepin III, would also help the Pope repel the Longobards from Italy, and gave the Pope a portion of central Italy.
Charlemagne (768-814), the grandson of Charles Martel and son of Pepin III ruled the only empire which has ever united France and Germany (apart from a few years under Napoleon) which he established in the 8th century. The name Charlemagne comes from Latin Carolus Magnus (Charles the Great) inherited a portion of the Frankish empire (southwest France up through the Netherlands into Northern Germany) from his father, but with the death of his brother Carloman, he annexes central France and southwest Germany. By the time he died in 814, the empire included the rest of Germany with northern Italy.
Charlemagne was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day of the year 800 at St Peter's Basilica. This public alliance between the pope and the ruler of a confederation of Germanic tribes launches the concept of the new Holy Roman Empire which will play an important role throughout the Middle Ages. The title Charlemagne adopts is: 'Charles, most serene Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific emperor, governing the Roman empire.'
Fr Paolo Pirlo (My First History of the Church, pp 62-63) explains:
As a powerful warrior and skillful politician, Charlemagne wiped away the Longobard Kingdom from the map of Italy, halted the Viking sea raids in northern Europe, and defeated the Moslems in Spain.
Charlemagne not only restored peace and independence to the Church, but also promoted missions, arts, and schools. His first concern was to create an educated clergy with the proper understanding of the Bible and of the Christian faith. ...
Charlemagne was indeed a great hero, blessed with extraordinary faith and energy, which he put at the service of the Church and of all men. He attended Mass daily, prayed frequently, and protected the poor. He will be forever remembered as an upright emperor, a faithful friend, and a holy Christian.
[Click here to watch a video clip about Charlemagne.]
FEUDALISM
Charlene Altemose (What You Should Know About Church History, pp 36-37) explains the socio-political setting of the age.
Charlemagne's reign and the dream of a unified Christian kingdom is short-lived. After his death in 814, Charlemagne's empire is divided into many principalities, each governed by individual lords. Without a central government, chaos and strife abound as nobles vie for territory and control. This situation leads to the political and social system of feudalism, which brings to Europe some peace and order at a time when trade and money are scarce. Under the feudal system, various levels of society emerge--nobles, clergy, warriors and serfs.
Suppose you are living on the landed estate of a wealthy landowner or noble at this time. You receive lodging and security for your family. You in turn promise allegiance and military service to the owner. As a vassal to the lord, you pledge to protect him and if necessary go to war. You oversee serfs who work the land.
This feudal system greatly affects the faith. Because the Church and monasteries have much land, some bishops become lords of the estate, assume temporal leadership, and often lose sight of their spiritual role. Other bishops become vassals to the overlord, who controls Church affairs, even to the appointment of bishops and clergy. Such an arrangement leads to serious abuses.
Nepotism, the appointment of relatives and friends to clerical offices, diminishes the religious spirit. Those who pay for clerical appointments and privileges become guilty of simony. Lay investiture, the practice of secular rulers controlling church affairs and clerical appointments, threatens the Church and in time the Church loses its prestige and influence.
The papacy, too, suffers setbacks in feudal times. With all the separate kingdoms in Europe, the pope no longer provides unified support. Popes acquiesce to political ambitions of the nobility, and many of the popes from the ninth to the eleventh centuries have short reigns, meet violent deaths, or are ill-treated. When absolute monarchies assume power, feudalism disappears, and towns replace the nobles' landed estates. But a feudal hierarchy continues in the structure of Church administration into later centuries.
TENSIONS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST
Constantine's creation of a "New Rome" in Byzantium (Constantinople) provided the occasion for the creation and growth of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. (Note that unlike Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, this patriarchate arose out of a political cause; it was not founded on one of the apostles.) After the Council of Chalcedon (451) there were five patriarchates: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Rome, to be sure, was the first among these, and held authority over the rest. But with the growth of importance of Constantinople, there emerged a rift between Rome in the west and Constantinople (together with Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem) in the east, which would later result in the break-up of Christendom. There were several factors that led to these tensions.
One important factor that we take for granted in the present age of instant communications was the immense physical distance between Rome and Constantinople. At that time, there was no videoconferencing, e-mail was non-existent, the fax machine had yet to be invented, no one had even thought about the telephone yet! A meeting of minds is only possible where there is constant communication and sharing of ideas, but in those times, this was simply not possible.
On the political side, the empire was governed by two rulers. The church in the east pertained to the Byzantine empire, and their patriarchs had less independence than the bishops of the west. Political tensions escalated when Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800 which dragged the church of the east into taking sides.
Then there were the differences between the way the Pope effectively exercised his power. In Rome, the Pope was not only the Supreme Pontiff, but also the bishop of his own patriarchate. In the east, however, while the Pope was considered Supreme Pontiff, each patriarchate had its own bishop on whom the people depended. In Rome, the Pope and the Patriarch were one and the same; elsewhere, the Patriarch could override what the Pope had declared. Eventually, the Patriarchs would treat the Pope as just one more Patriarch and the Patriarch of Constantinople would slowly ease into the role of the Roman Pontiff.
Another difference was that of rite. The liturgy began to develop and unfold after the 313 AD Edict of Milan, but liturgies in the east and west, while retaining the essential elements of Scripture and Sacrifice), developed independently of each other. [Click here for a Youtube sample of an Orthodox service.]
Then there was the basic problem of language. The west spoke Latin and the east Greek. How were two tongues to meet? Many people were not bilingual and so expressions of the same truth diverged in the two languages.
These tensions developed further with two theological controversies: iconoclasm and the filioque controversy.
ICONOCLASM
Iconoclasm (Eikonoklasmos, "Image-breaking") began when Emperor Leo III, in 717, banned the use of icons and images in churches, citing the first commandment as a reason for his opposition to their use. He says that use of icons is idolatry. Monks who produced icons as a means of livelihood were put to death.
Church authorities (e.g. Saint John Damascene, Pope Gregory II) argued against this doctrine, clarifying that images enhance devotion but are not themselves the object of worship. In Rome images are encouraged because they aid devotion and also are helpful for educating illiterate catechumens and converts. Empress Irene is able to correct the error by distinguishing between worship and veneration.
Emperor Leo V revives the argument in 814, but in 843 Empress Theodora is able to put an end to the controversy. Orthodox churches celebrate this event as the "Feast of Orthodoxy" on the first Sunday of Lent.
FILIOQUE CONTROVERSY
This is a controversy over words, but the division it caused contributed to the Schism of 1054. Both east and west profess that God is one and there are three Persons in God. This controversy is about the way the Holy Spirit proceeds. In the west, the Father and the Son ("Filioque") are regarded as one principle from which the Holy Spirit proceeds. For the east, the procession was from the Father by way of the Son ("per Filium"). These two expressions are not actually contradictory but it opened the way for the division between the east and the west.
IMMEDIATE CAUSES OF THE SCHISM OF 1054
Charlene Altemose (What You Should Know About Church History, pp 40-41) summarises the events that led to the final separation as follows:
In 967 Photius, a lay scholar, becomes patriarch of the East. Vehemently opposed to the Roman Church, he summons a synod and decries the supposed errors of the West, especially its stance on iconoclasm and the filioque. Pope Nicholas rejects the accusations and excommunicates Photius, who in turn excommunicates the Pope. This issue in due time is resolved but not forgotten as East-West tensions mount.
The climax occurs when Michael Cerularius (1005-1059), the Patriarch of Constantinople, lists thirty-three grievances against the Roman Church and the pope. He also closes the Latin-rite churches in the East. Cerularius rejects the pope as head of the universal church, clerical celibacy, the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist, and the filioque. When Humbert, the papal legate, delivers a summons of excommunication, Cerularius mutually excommunicates the pope. The break is not definitive until a Latin Crusade sacks Constantinople in 1205. A final attempt to reconcile the churches at the Council of Florence in 1439 fails.
Efforts to mend the rift between the Roman and Orthodox Churches result in some Eastern Churches united with Rome under the authority of the pope. These "Eastern Catholic Churches," formerly "uniates," retain their allegiance to the pope and their own national identities, liturgies, customs, languages, patriarchs and dioceses. Although rituals differ, Catholics may fulfill Mass obligation and receive sacraments in Eastern Catholic Churches united with Rome. Some Eastern Catholic Churches are the Byzantine, Greek, Melkite, Russian, Ruthenian, Serbian, and Ukrainian.
THE CHURCH AFTER A THOUSAND YEARS
Charlene Altemose (What You Should Know About Church History, pp 41) explains:
At the close of the eleventh century, the Roman Catholic Church stands alone in the West. The Church of the East, the Orthodox, closely allied with the emperor, continues its style of worship, liturgy, traditions, and cultural outlook until 1453 when the Ottoman Turks conquer Constantinople. The spiritual centre of the Orthodox Church then moves to Moscow and continues after 1453 as the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate and other national churches with various rites.