Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Reformation (The Story of Christianity)

by Justo L. González

Secondly, western monasticism did not place the premium on solitude that was typical in the East. From the beginning, western monasticism sought ways to organize life in community.

Finally, western monasticism did not live in the constant tension with the hierarchy of the church that was typical of eastern monasticism. Except in times of extreme corruption of the hierarchy, monasticism in the West has been the ...

Benedict,

he grew up under the rule of the Ostrogoths.

Benedict and his followers cut the grove, overturned the pagan altar, and built a monastic foundation in that very place.

Eventually, Benedict’s fame was such that the Ostrogoth king went to visit him. But the monk had nothing but harsh words and dire prophecies for the man whom he considered a tyrant.

Rather than extreme asceticism, what the Rule seeks is a wise ordering of the monastic life, with strict discipline, but without undue harshness.

There are, however, two elements of the monastic life that are crucial for Benedict. These are permanence and obedience. The first means that monks are not free to go from one monastery to another as they please. Each monk must remain for the rest of his life in the monastery that he has initially joined, unless ordered to go to another place. The commitment to permanence on the part of Benedictine monks proved one of the sources of the institution’s great stability in a time of chaos.

If what is commanded is impossible, the monk is to explain to the abbot why it is so. If, after such explanation, the superior insists on the command, it is to be obeyed as well as possible.

An errant monk is to be admonished secretly. If after two such admonitions he does not repent, he is to be reprimanded before the community. The next step is excommunication, which means being barred, not only from communion, but also from the meals in common and from every contact with the other monks. If he is still unrepentant, he is to be whipped. If even this is to no avail, he is to be sorrowfully expelled from the community.

In short, the Rule is not written for venerable saints, such as the heroes of the desert, but for fallible human beings.

Thus, whereas poverty for earlier monasticism was a form of private renunciation, Benedict sought to achieve through it the creation of a new order within the community.

The core of the monastic life as Benedict conceived it was prayer.

There the monks were to gather eight times a day, seven during daytime, and once in the middle of the night, for the Psalmist says: “seven times a day I praise thee” (Ps. 119:164) and “at midnight I rise to praise thee” (Ps. 119:62).

The Psalms were distributed so that all would be recited in the course of a week. The other readings depended on the time of day, the day of the week, and the liturgical season. As a result, most monks came to know the entire Psalter by heart, as well as other portions of Scripture.

Although Benedict himself had little to say about study, soon this was one of the main occupations of Benedictine monks.

Monks became adept at copying both the Bible and other books, and thus preserved them for later generations.

Eventually, monasteries also had a profound economic impact, for many were established on marginal lands that were brought into production by the labor of the monks.

Furthermore, in a society where the wealthy considered manual labor demeaning, the monasteries showed that the highest intellectual and spiritual achievements could be coupled with hard physical labor.

Although the monastic movement had many followers in western Europe before Benedict’s time, it was Benedict’s Rule t...

Most of the monks fled to Rome, taking their Rule with them. It was there that Gregory, who would later become pope, came to know them. Soon their Rule was followed by many in the city of Rome.

The word “pope” simply means “father,” and in early times was used to refer to any important and respected bishop. Thus, there are documents refering to “Pope Cyprian” of Carthage, or to “Pope Athanasius” of Alexandria. Whereas in the West it eventually was reserved for the bishop of Rome, in the East it continued to be used with more liberality.

The origins of episcopacy in Rome are not altogether clear.

But the various lists of the early bishops of Rome, mostly dating from late in the second century, do not agree among themselves. While some claim that Clement was Peter’s successor, others name him as the third bishop after the Apostle’s death.

This has led some scholars to suggest the possibility that in the beginning Rome did not have a single bishop, but rather a “collegiate episcopacy”—a group of bishops who jointly led the church.

But in the West the church became the guardian of what was left of ancient civilization, as well as of order and justice. Thus, the most prestigious bishop in the West, that of Rome, became the focal point for regaining a unity that had been shattered by the invasions.

A prime example of this is Leo “the Great,” who has been called the first “pope” in the modern sense.

In the West, however, things were different. In 452 Italy was invaded by Attila and his Huns, who took and sacked the city of Aquileia.

It was then that Leo left Rome and marched to meet “the Scourge of God.” What was said in that interview is not known. Legend has it that Attila saw Saints Peter and Paul marching with the Pope, and threatening the Hun. Whatever was said, Attila decided not to attack Rome, and turned towards the north, where he died shortly thereafter.

But in Leo’s mind there was a deeper reason. He was convinced that Jesus had made Peter and his successors the rock on which the church was to be built, and that therefore the bishop of Rome, Peter’s direct successor, is the head of the church. Thus, in Leo’s writings one finds all the traditional arguments that would repeatedly be mustered in favor of papal authority.

start of the view of pope as head of the church.

In theory, Italy was now part of the eastern Roman Empire. But there were constant tensions between the popes and the eastern emperors, mostly having to do with the theological controversies to which we shall shortly return.

By 498, these tensions resulted in the existence of two rival popes, one supported by the Ostrogoths and the other by

Constantinople.

The next few popes, for as long as Byzantium held sway, were mere puppets of Justinian and of his empress, Theodora. Those who dared follow an independent policy soon felt the consequences of imperial wrath.

In Rome, the popes became responsible for the preservation of the city against the Lombard threat.

Pelagius II, saved it by buying the Lombards off. Then, since no help was forthcoming from Constantinople, he turned to the Franks, whom he hoped would attack the Lombards from the north. Although these initial negotiations did not come to fruition, they pointed to the future, when the Franks would become the main support of the papacy.

After years of neglect and repeated sieges, the city was in a grave state of chaos and mismanagement.

Thus, by default, the Pope was acting as ruler of Rome and the surrounding area, which soon came to be known as “Saint Peter’s Patrimony.” Much later, in the eighth century, someone forged a document, the so-called Donation of Constantine, which claimed that the great emperor had granted these lands to Saint Peter’s successors.

He also took measures to promote clerical celibacy, which was slowly becoming the norm throughout Italy, and which many claimed to follow but did not.

the Frankish rulers wished to have control of the church, and saw no reason to yield to the pope’s entreaties.

To him, it sufficed to be a disciple of the great bishop of Hippo, a teacher of his teachings.

Gregory lived in a time of obscurantism, superstition, and credulity, and to a degree he reflected his age. By making Augustine an infallible teacher, he contradicted the spirit of that teacher, whose genius was, at least in part, in his inquiring spirit and venturesome mind.

Thus, for instance, the theologian of Hippo had suggested the possibility that there was a place of purification for those who died in sin, where they would spend some time before going to heaven. On the basis of these speculations of Augustine, Gregory affirmed the existence of such a p...

The Augustinian doctrines of predestination and irresistible grace were set aside by Gregory, who was more concerned with the question of how we are to offer satisfaction to God for sins committed. This is done through penance, which consists of contrition, confession, and the actual punishment or satisfaction. To these must be added priestly absolution, which confirms the forgiveness granted by God.

Those who die in the faith and communion of the church, but

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without having offered satisfaction for all their sins, will go to purgatory before they attain their final salvation. The living can help the dead out of p...

Gr...

much of what I disagree with Catholicism comes from Gregory the Great

This notion of the mass as sacrifice eventually became standard doctrine of the Western church—until it was rejected by Protestants in the sixteenth century.

This and similar stories were not Gregory’s invention.

But, while earlier Christian teachers had sought to preserve Christian faith free of popular superstition, Gregory readily accepted the stories circulating at his time as if they were simple and direct confirmation of Christian faith.