The invaders brought with them two religious challenges that until then could have seemed to be a matter of the past: paganism and Arianism. Eventually, both pagans and Arians were converted to the faith of those whom they had conquered. This was the Nicene faith, also called “orthodox” or “catholic.” In the process of that conversion, and also in the effort to preserve the wisdom of ancient times, two institutions played a central role, and thus were strengthened. These two institutions, to which we now turn, were monasticism and the papacy.
