VIII - Razor Planet



VIII. Dark Ages: 6th-10th century

A. Political and cultural situation

1. Great cultural decline: from universal literacy to 2%

2. Lack of strong central governmen for law and order

3. Feudal system developed: estates fortified; serfdom

4. Theoretical continuance of Roman Empire

a. Pope responsible for continuance of Roman law, culture

b. in early 9th century the Pope begins crowning H.R. Emperor; Charlemagne is #1

5. Beginnings of Nationalism

a. similar languages, dialects

b. bonding of feudal tribes based on cultural similarities

6. Preservation of Culture

a. churchmen literate; monks engaged in copying manuscripts and scholarly activity

b. monasteries = citadels of learning (preserved 1/3 of all ancient Greek, Roman culture)

7. New Migrations

a. Slavic Migrations: settled in Eastern Europe

-Croatians, Bulgarians settled in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and became Catholic

-Serbians in East, became Greek Orthodox

b. Scandinavian (viz., “Viking”) migrations: colonized coasts of Brittany, Normandy, Sicily

8. Rise of Islam

a. “submission” -- Muslim = “one who submits”

b. Mohammed a trader/merchant

c. Allah, the regional god of henotheistic Arabia who may have had divine family members

d. preached in Mecca, ca A.D. 600, bounced out

e. A.D. 622, fled to Medina (“Hijra”) marking year 1 of Muslim calendar; formulated his ideas

f. conversion by force, not persuasion; conquered Mecca, Arabia, Palestine, Egypt

h. Islam stopped in A.D. 732 by Charles Martel at Battle of Tours, France

9. Eastern Empire (held off attackers, reconsolidated)

a. Justinian I, A.D. 527-565 (greatest Byzantine emperor)

- Orthodox Christian

- sought return to glory; recaptured a lot of land from Vandals, N. Africa

- completed revision of Roman Law Code, A.D. 534

- elementary text of jurisprudence holding philosophy of Roman justice

- catalogue, chronicle of all edicts

- influenced by law of Moses, Christ

- basis of American, British law

- rebuilt the Hagia Sophia

b. Leo III, the Isaurean (North Syrian), A.D. 680-741

- strong ruler, defeated Muslim Arabs

- tried to dialog with Arabs: began removal of statues and pictures to placate Muslim adversaries. This began the “iconoclastic controversy” that eventually ALLOWED PICTURES, NO IMAGES in the eastern empire

10. France and Germany

a. Merovingians (successors of Clovis)

b. Carolingians (Mayor of the Palace)

- viceroy of King, gradually grew in power

- Pepin the Short

(1) astute in military matters; defeated Lombards (“long beards”), German Arians

(2) son of Clovis, answered call of Pope Zacharias to turn Lombards back from Italy

(3) A.D. 752 Pepin is crowned King of France by Pope; = beginning of break from the Byzantine protection

- Charlemagne (son of Pepin the Short)

(1) brilliant general; defeated Lombards 3 times; expanded Frankish empire; pushed Muslims out of France

(2) Orthodox Christian; nicknamed self “[King] David”

*(3) interested in Latin & Greek: imported scholars like Alcuin to ignite the “Carolingian Renaissance”

*(4) Pope run out of Rome but returned by Charlemagne; A.D. 800, Pope comes to crown Charlie as King of “Holy Roman Empire” on Christmas Day

c. Hugh Capet

-a noble under Carolingians who lived near Paris

-at death of last Carolingian, chosen King of France: beginning of modern dynasty

11. England

a. Britons pushed out by savages; 600 missionaries come

* b. Alfred the Great, A.D. 871-900, consolidated England under Saxon rule; repelled invaders, and established many schools. Alfred was a nominal Christian.

B. Monasticism in the Middle Ages still have monks, hermits in caves

1. continuation of earlier monasteries; Augustinian order dies out however, to be reinstituted in 11th century

2. Benedictine order

a. predominant until 13th century

b. founded by Benedict (c.480-543) at Monte Cassino, a mountain stronghold in southern Italy

c. based on working, praying (physical and spiritual)

d. system of reasonable rules (“Benedictine Rule”) established for the order that influenced European monasticism: focus on spiritual life in God and rules of monastery administration

*e. Vows of chastity, poverty, obedience

3. Preservation of learning

* 4. Features of monasticism

a. GOOD

- Conducive to meditation and prayer

- bastion of culture and learning

- monasteries promoted civilization, stability

-provided refuge for persecuted

- independently stable (financially)

- preservation of mss.

b. BAD

- encouraged escapism, isolation

- idleness (in contrast to Benedictine rule against sloth)

- atmosphere of idleness conducive to sins of flesh

- some trusted monastic system for salvation

5. Cluny reform

Reform of monasteries began in Cluny, France, ca. A.D. 910, especially in Benedictine monasteries

a. first abbots were men of character, but laxity set in

b. reforms spread throughout France and the rest of Europe as 1000s of monasteries were made independent from secular control and brought under the papacy

C. Spirituality in Dark Ages

1. widespread poverty, ignorance, violence after A.D. 500; many spiritually-minded souls entered monasteries

2. growth of popular superstitions

a. Mariolatry

- based on pagan polytheism

- reaction against Nestorianism (which attacked theotokos)

Chronology of Mariolatry

A.D. 431.....approval of term, “Mother of God”

600….prayers to Mary

1508...Ave Maria completed

1854...“immaculate conception” of Mary

1950...“assumption of Mary”

1965...Mary declared “Mother of the church”

b. worship of saints

- no martyrs; memorials slowly became shrines with relics

- sacred cites became places for pilgrimages

- prayers to saints

c. image worship

- Bibles not available; images substituted

“Roman Catholics attempt to justify the use of images by making a distinction between what they term ‘latria,’ which is devotion given only to God, ‘hyper-dulia,’ which is given to Mary, and ‘dulia,’ a lower form of devotion which is given to the saints, images and relics.” -Boettner, Roman Catholicism, p. 282

Latria = worship, HyperDulia = veneration, dulia = affection

d. Purgatory - place for believing dead who did not do enough penance

- associated with prayers for the dead (2 Maccabees 12:42-45, found in LXX and then Vulgate)

“Next, the valiant Judas [Maccabeus] urged the soldiers to keep themselves free from all sin, having seen with their own eyes the effects of the sin of those who had fallen; 43 after this he took a collection from them individually, amounting to nearly two thousand drachmas, and sent it to Jerusalem to have a sacrifice for sin offered, an action altogether fine and noble, prompted by his belief in the resurrection.

44 For had he not expected the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead,

45 whereas if he had in view the splendid recompense reserved for those who make a pious end, the thought was holy and devout. Hence, he had this expiatory sacrifice offered for the dead, so that they might be released from their sin.”

- indulgences to reduce time in purgatory

- Gregory the Great made purgatory official, A.D. 593

e. Transubstantiation, 8th & 9th century

- Lord’s Supper was actual body and blood of Jesus

- a minority opposed this growing superstition and often were persecuted by the papacy

D. Missions in the Dark Ages

1. Irish Missions

a. Columba, A.D. 521-597, Irish royalty; hot tempered presbyter who in self-exile took 12 monks to the Isle of Iona after a bloody Irish civil war with the promise of evangelizing as many Druidic Picts in Scotland as were killed in the late Irish war.

b. Comgall, A.D. 517-601, friend of Columba

-remained in Ireland to establish school of high scholarship; 3000 students

c. Columbanus, A.D. 543-615, student of Comgall, master of Hebrew and Greek

- 50 yr old, became a missionary to Burgundy

- preached against vices of magistrates there

- established monasteries in Switzerland and N. Italy; asserted independence of Celtic church vs. Rome

2. Conversion of England, ca. 590 (Romans had left in 411)

a. Pope Gregory saw blond Angles being traded at a slave auction; called them “angels”

b. commissioned Augustine as Bishop of the Angles, and sent 40 monks with him to evangelize Britain

- Aug met with Ethelbert, King of England (married to Bertha, a Frankish Christian princess)

- church established near Kent (Canterbury); Ethelbert converted in 604

* 3. Boniface, A.D. 680-754, apostle to Germany (from England)

a. converted in England, he journeyed to Rome for his commission and training; he was able to defend Irish missions to the Pope; Boniface appointed bishop of Saxony, and protected by Charles Martel

b. joined Willibrord (also from England) in Frisia

c. paganism routed and many converted after turning sacred oak of Thor into a Christian chapel; martyred in Friesland

4. Conversion of Scandinavia

a. problem was in civilizing barbaric people: revenge for the Vikings was a noble sentiment, forgiveness was a sin

b. Willibrord, a missionary to Frisia and Denmark, is chronicles by Bede and Alcuin

5. Conversion of Slavs, Hungarians

a. many petty kingdoms, problems with language barrier

b. Cyril developed alphabet for Slavs and translated Bible; Methodius also did mission work

* 6. Conversion of Russia

a. Eusebius (3:1) says Russia was evangelized by St. Andrew who was martyred in Scythia

b. Russian empire founded in the 950s, ruling over the province of Rus (Kiev)

c. Grand duke Vladimir was appealed to in 989 by Byzantines, Jews, and Muslims (note onion towers in Moscow’s Red Square) to leave his old gods; he sent wise men to the three religious capitals, and the service and architecture of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople won out. Vladimir converted his nation at one stroke (with concessions; see Schaff, IV:140) through a mass baptism.

d. hence Russian Orthodox Church patterned after Greek Orthodox

E. Four More Church Councils

1. Fifth Ecumenical Council, A.D. 553, Constantinople

- rehashed monophysitism (one nature of Christ) at the call of Emperor Justinian, allowing diluted monophytism; decision protested by Theodore of Mopsuestia and the Western Church

2. Sixth Ecumenical Council, 680-681, Constantinople

- affirmed two wills of Christ and condemns monothelitism; had been growing in popularity as a compromise attempt to unite a divided Christendom against the threat of the Saracens: monothelitism allowed for two natures of Christ but said He had only one will, the divine will

- orthodox leaders realized that if Jesus did not have a human will, He could not truly be tempted by sin and the devil, and could not therefore be man’s perfect representative

- also denied claims of papal infallibility (later approved in 1870) asserted by the orthodox Pope Martin; previous Pope Honorius had been a monothelite

3. Seventh Ecumenical Council, 787, in Constantinople

- In reaction to her deceased husband’s (Leo III) iconoclastic campaign (AD 730ff.), Empress Irene, who liked pictures, called this council to condemn iconoclasm and approve the limited use of images. Pattern of worship in East and West is established

4. Eighth Council, A.D. 869, Constantinople

a. doctrinal question called the filioque dispute (“from the son”): does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father only, or also from the Son?

b. West wanted to add word “filioque” to Nicene Creed to undergird doctrine of Trinity against Arians, while the East claimed this idea was not an eternal relationship (John 15:26, for limited time; cf. John 14:26)

But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” (John 15:26)

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. (John 14:26)

c. Filioque officially accepted at the council to the delight of the western church, but condemned 10 years later in the Byzantine church as church politics changed

Nicene Creed of Eastern Church: “And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, from the Father proceeding…”

Nicene Creed of Western Church: “And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and giver of life, who from the Father and the Son proceeds…”

d. The eastern church came to call this doctrine “the mother of all heresies”; it served as one of the big wedges that would ultimately divide the Roman church from the Eastern Orthodox church

F. Summary of Key Popes of Dark Ages, A.D. 500-1000

1. Uniqueness of the two greatest Popes

a. Leo I (ca. 450) - strong in midst of controversy, saved Rome in time of chaos

b. Gregory I - great missionary emphasis; papal supremacy; Gregorian chants

2. Vigilius (ca. 550) - in favor of monophysitism, he attacked decision of Fifth Ecumenical council, yet waffled four times on the issue under duress from the emperor

* 3. Gregory the Great (ca. 600)

a. civil magistrate who rose to prefect of the city, then became monk, abbot, Pope

b. said on paper all bishops are equal (“the claim of being a universal bishop is the claim of antichrist”), but in reality he worked to cement Rome’s influence

c. introduced purgatory, masses for the dead

4. Honorius I (ca. 630): monothelite who was condemned by Sixth Ecumenical Council

5. Stephen VII: at the end of the 800s, he exhumed his assassinated predecessor (Formosus), tried him for crimes, had his body beheaded and cast into the Tiber River

6. Papacy in Tenth Century = Papal Pornocracy (darkest age for papacy)

By now the church at Rome was quite affluent and powerful. It grew wealthier as Rome approached the turn of the millennium and superstitious patricians bequeathed businesses and property to the church in preparation for judgment day in the year 1000.

During this century, the papacy was a political football largely controlled by one Italian family that turned the [proto] Vatican into a den of intrigue, murder, and fornication run by boy popes and anti-popes. (See Schaff, IV:284,287,295,781)

Roman church historians give the apology for this era that the Papal See must be from God otherwise it could not have risen from such depths!

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