The history of Christianity. The sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth centuries

THE SIXTH CENTURY

In this period the conversion of Britain and Ireland was completed. Afterwards missionaries from these countries played a major role in the conversion of Northern Europe. As regards church-organization a development was continued which had started earlier: local parishes were no longer governed by groups of older men, but by professional priests, who soon began to form a special class. In the first few centuries bishops had just been leaders of local councils of elders, but now they formed the top of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and every bishop was in command of many fellow-priests and many local congregations. Within the Church hierarchy the bishop of Rome more and more manifested himself as a true monarch. In addition: the way sacraments like baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist were administered got strongly standardized. About the year 530 Benedict founded the religious order that bears his name. The way of life and the rules of this order have permanently put a stamp on Western monastic life. This century also marks the transition to the Middle Ages, in which the Church started to play a predominating role in all aspects of everybody’s personal and social life.

THE SEVENTH CENTURY

At the beginning of the century Mohammed founded an important new world-religion in Arabia: Islam. Propelled by the tremendous religious zeal of its followers Islam succeeded in converting all Christian areas in Africa and Asia within a few decades. Of course this caused great distress among the European Christians, who for many centuries considered Islam a great rival and a serious threat.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire of the West at the end of the fifth century Europe was struck by a period of decline and chaos, especially in the realm of government and administration. This period of deterioration lasted for centuries. Before long the emperors of nations and the princes of federal states possessed only one centrally controlled and well functioning administrative machinery: the Church. However, starting from the middle of the seventh century, serious moral decadence also invaded the Church, particularly the clergy. As a result of the fact that from the fourth century onward rich people had donated a lot of land and estates to local churches, dioceses, and monasteries, these had gradually become extremely rich and powerful. Many priests abused their wealth by indulging themselves with liquor, food, women, hunting and magic. As a matter of fact both the common people and the religious leaders strongly protested against this.

More than in former centuries the priests became a special class during this period. Priests began to wear special clothes which distinguished them from laymen. In addition: from this century onward it was considered an established fact that priests possessed special, God-given, abilities and powers. Priests were now viewed as holy men, appointed by God, who had the capacity to bless water and ointment to make them holy and who could use the holy water and the holy ointment to ordain and sanctify new priests. But also church buildings, images of saints, relics and portraits of Christ and Mary could be blessed and sanctified by them. As substitutes of God they could also forgive sins. Starting from this century Christians were strongly advised to confess their sins to priests so that their sins could be forgiven them.

THE EIGHTH CENTURY

In 711 the constantly victorious Muslims invaded Spain, conquered the country and in 720 they continued their advance by invading France. Here they were beaten in 732 by Charles Martel, the founder of the Frankish dynasty of the Carolingians. In 751 the Carolingian prince Pippin was anointed King. In 756 he gave the bishop of Rome a very large area of land, nearly one third of present day Italy, and thus he created the Papal State. This made the popes worldly princes, who soon started to behave as such. In 771 Charlemagne succeeded his son Pippin as King of the Franks. The popes of those days were very much dependent on the Byzantine emperors, both in political and in religious matters. These Byzantine emperors resided in Constantinople. To free himself from their grip the pope concluded an alliance with Charlemagne by the end of the century. Their great ideal was a restoration of the Old Roman Empire in the form of a new Christian Empire with the pope as the spiritual head and the emperor as the worldly head.

In this century there was a widening of the gap that separated the Latin speaking Church in Western Europe from the Greek speaking Church in Eastern Europe. The latter is also called the Eastern Orthodox Church or Byzantine Church. In 717 the powerful emperor of Byzantium forbade the use of images and icons (representations of Christ, Mary or saints) in Church services. Many people viewed this worship of images and icons as idolatry. The pope disagreed with this view and the result was a conflict which strongly disturbed the peace of mind of Christians for over a century. In addition the age-old doubts and conflicts regarding the doctrine of the Trinity flared up again. The Eastern Church was of the opinion that the holy spirit proceeded from JHWH only, the Western Church considered the holy spirit a power which both the Father and the Son possessed and which both could send forth. Another point of controversy arose when the Western Church began to put pressure on their priests to remain unmarried and the Eastern Church did not do this. In addition the first signs became visible of what many centuries later would become big controversial issues within the Christian Church: the virginity of Mary, the doctrine of predestination, and the part that the offering of a sacrifice should play during the Communion-service.

THE NINTH CENTURY

Also during this century the Church did not have an effective central government in Rome yet. The bishops of Rome, the popes, were much dependent on Roman aristocratic families and the German princes. They also spent much more time on governing the Papal State than on serving the interests of the Church. Also outside Rome bishops and priests were highly dependent on powerful families which appointed them and paid them. As a matter of fact this situation led to a lot of mutual tension.

---The fact that the pope, the bishops and the priests were so dependent on worldly rulers strongly affected their authority in those days. As a result of this poor prestige it was often not the most suitable sort of persons who pursued religious offices. Ecclesiastical offices were often just sold by worldly rulers to those who were willing to pay them the most money and the buyers were often more interested in the revenues they could earn with their office than in the spiritual welfare of the parishioners entrusted to them (for this buying and selling of ecclesiastical offices the word simony is used). The only positive development that can be discovered in this period of serious decline of the Church and the priests is formed by the fact that monastic schools were built near monasteries and cathedrals, where young people could receive a relatively good education. Of course these monastic schools were primarily meant for future monks and priests. In this period of European history these were the only ones who were still reasonably well-educated. In the course of time people started to use the word scholastics for the teachers of these educational institutions (the words means schoolmasters).

THE TENTH CENTURY

In the whole of Europe, both in worldly matters and in Church matters, a period of unprecedented decline. A period of decadence, degeneration, anarchy and chaos both inside and outside the Church. A period that witnessed the total collapse of all forms of ecclesiastical and worldly government. The priests were appointed by wealthy laymen and most of them were incompetent, immoral, poorly educated and obscene. Most of them neglected their duties and were mainly interested in money. The popes were the puppets of, usually criminal, Roman families. Some of them were extremely corrupt, cruel and violent.

--- In an attempt to restore order the German emperor Otto the First founded the Holy Roman Empire in 962: an alliance between the emperors of a big German nation in Central Europe and the popes. Its main purpose was the strengthening of each other’s position.

---Hardly controlled by competent priests popular devotion went its own way during this period. Often more guided by unbridled imagination than by knowledge of the Bible. On a massive scale the common people resorted to the worship of saints, Mary, relics, and all sorts of pre-Christian religious practices which were Christianized.