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August 11 - October 9, 2017
Thus, it was as they became assimilated into Roman culture and traditions that most of them abandoned Arianism and converted to Nicene Christianity.
by the time the Western Roman Empire came to an end there were already Christians as far east as India, as far south as Ethiopia, and as far north as Ireland.
The ancient empire, or rather its Western half, was crumbling.
Germanic hordes crossed the frontiers of the empire, sacked towns and cities, and finally settled in areas that had been part of the Roman Empire.
The Western Roman Empire had come to an end, even though most of its conquerors would eventually speak languages derived from the Latin of the empire, and even though various European leaders would claim to be the true successors of the ancient caesars for another fifteen centuries.
The imperial church, which Constantine had inaugurated, continued existing for another thousand years in the Byzantine Empire.
it was the church that provided continuity with the past. It became the guardian of civilization and of order.
Slowly, through the unrecorded witness of thousands of Christians, the invaders accepted the Christian faith, and eventually from their stock came new generations of leaders of the church.
Eventually, yielding to the influence of those whom they had conquered, all of these Arian people would come to accept the Nicene faith.
It also gave new functions and power to two institutions that had begun to develop earlier: monasticism and the papacy.
most of them really aspired to settle within the borders of the Roman Empire, and there to enjoy some of the benefits of a civilization that until then they had only known from afar.
under their rule repeated persecutions broke out against both Catholics and Donatists—
when North Africa was conquered by the Muslims late in the seventh century, they found Christianity badly divided, and it eventually disappeared.
The political history of their kingdom was chaotic. Only fifteen of their thirty-four kings died of natural causes or in the field of battle. The rest were either murdered or deposed.
It soon became evident that the orthodox descendants of the conquered inhabitants were the guardians of ancient culture, and that their participation was necessary in order to provide the kingdom with a measure of stability.
it was through the works of scholars such as Isidore that the Middle Ages learned of the glories and the wisdom of antiquity.
the church played the role of legislator for the Visigothic kingdom. In this it provided a measure of order, although in reading the decrees of its councils one cannot but cringe at the injustice and the inequalities that reigned.
the Visigothic kingdom continued to be politically unstable and plagued with violence and arbitrariness.
Christianity had become so rooted in the country, that it became the rallying point in the long struggle to re-conquer the peninsula from the Muslim Moors.
they imitated their customs, and soon many Burgundians had accepted the Nicene faith of their Catholic subjects.
He was then anointed king by Bishop Boniface, who was acting under papal instructions. This was of paramount importance for the subsequent history of Christianity,
Throughout this process, the role of the church was often compromised.
These invaders were pagans, although there always remained a part of the earlier population that retained the Christian faith of Roman times.
Since it retained much of its earlier faith and culture, Ireland soon began sending missionaries to other countries, most notably to Scotland.
An important and lasting consequence of the influence of Irish Christianity on the rest of Europe was the spread of the practice of private or auricular confession to a priest,
there were a number of differences between this Scotch-Irish Christianity and that which had evolved in the former territories of the Roman Empire.
it gained momentum when Christians on the continent became interested in Great Britain.
it is certain that Gregory was interested in the land of the Angles,
One by one, the various kingdoms became Christian, and Canterbury became the ecclesiastical capital for all of England.
the Synod of Whitby decided in favor of the European tradition, and against the Scotch-Irish.
Although in theory there were emperors in Rome until 476, these in truth were no more than puppets of various Germanic generals.
the orthodox were often persecuted, although usually not on religious grounds, but rather on charges of conspiracy.
by the middle of the eighth century, the popes, aware that they could expect little help from Constantinople, began to look to the north for help. Thus developed the alliance between the papacy and the Frankish kingdom
from the fifth to the eighth century Western Europe was swept by a series of invasions that brought chaos to the land, and destroyed a great deal of the learning of antiquity.
Eventually, both pagans and Arians were converted to the faith of those whom they conquered. This was the Nicene faith, also called “orthodox” or “catholic.”
Western monasticism tended to be more practical.
Western monasticism did not place the premium on solitude that was typical in the East.
Western monasticism did not live in the constant tension with the hierarchy of the church that was typical of Eastern monasticism.
The main figure of Western monasticism in its formative years—in many ways, its founder—was Benedict,
Benedict’s greatest significance, however, was in the Rule that he gave to his community.
what the Rule seeks is a wise ordering of the monastic life, with strict discipline, but without undue harshness.
monks are not free to go from one monastery to another as they please.
the Rule insists on obedience.
The abbot, however, must not be a tyrant, but is himself subject to God and to the Rule.
the Rule is not written for venerable saints, such as the heroes of the desert, but for fallible human beings.
The Rule also insists on physical labor, which is to be shared by all.
the ill, the elderly, and the very young will receive special consideration in the assignment of tasks.
A monk’s poverty welds him to the community, in which all are of equal poverty, and on which all must depend for all their needs.
The core of the monastic life as Benedict conceived it was prayer.
The eight hours of prayer came to be called canonical hours, and their celebration the Divine Office.
