Early European History Part 66

church and clings with almost Oriental conservatism to the traditions of earlier ages. Nevertheless, as the official church of Russia, the largest and most swiftly growing of European countries, the Greek Church has before it a future of great importance.

129. THE ROMAN CHURCH

THE ROMAN CHURCH PROGRESSIVE

The separation of eastern and western Christianity naturally increased the importance of the Papacy. The popes henceforth had a free hand to guide the destinies of the Roman Church. That church under their direction was to show itself vigorous and progressive, with a wonderful power of adaptation to new and changed conditions.

THE ROMAN CHURCH SURVIVES THE EMPIRE

The Roman Empire in the West had gone down before the a.s.saults of the Germanic barbarians, but in its place had arisen a new creation--the Roman Church. The chief city of the old empire became the capital of the Papacy.

The pope took, and has since retained, the t.i.tle of Supreme Pontiff (_Pontifex Maximus_), once given to the head of the Roman state religion.

[35] Latin has continued to be the official language of Roman Catholicism.

The Roman genius for law and government found a new expression in the creation of the papal power. The true successors of the ancient Roman statesmen were the popes of the Middle Ages. The idea of Rome, of her universality and of her eternity, lived on in the Roman Church.

WORK OF THE ROMAN CHURCH

The Roman Church, as the successor of the Roman Empire in the West, formed the chief center of civilization during the earlier part of the Middle Ages. She stood between the conquering Germans and the Romanized provincials and helped to join them both in lasting union. To the heathen she sent out her missionaries, preaching a religion of love and charity and introducing a higher morality than the barbarians had ever known before. She multiplied hospitals, orphanages, and asylums. Her bishops were the only protectors of the weak and the oppressed. She fostered education, art, and learning within the walls of churches and monasteries.

Her priests and monks were the only teachers in an ignorant age. In an age of bloodshed and violence, when might made right, she proclaimed the superiority of the spirit to mere brute force. To sum up: the Roman Church was an indispensable agent in the making of medieval Europe.

THE MENACE TO CHRISTENDOM

Christianity in its Greek and Roman forms was not the only great religion of the Middle Ages. In the seventh century, before the separation of the two churches had been completed and before all Europe had become Christian, another religion arose. It grew with marvelous rapidity, stripped the Church of much territory in western Asia, northern Africa, and Spain, and promised for a time to become the dominant faith of the world. This was Islam, or Mohammedanism, the religion of the Arabs.

STUDIES

1. In what different senses is the word "church" often used?

2. "The eastern patriarch was the shadow of the emperor, cast on the spiritual world." Explain this statement.

3. Why did heresies develop in the East rather than in the West?

4. Look up in the New Testament the following texts relating to the primacy of St. Peter: _Matthew_, xvi, 18-19; _Luke_, xxii, 31-32; and _John_, xxi, 15-17.

5. What is "the power of the keys" which the popes claim to possess?

6. What reasons for the growth of the Papacy have been set forth in this chapter?

7. In what non-Christian religions is monasticism an established inst.i.tution?

8. Look up in the New Testament the following texts quoted as favorable to monasticism: _Matthew_, xix, 21; _Mark_, x, 29-30; and _Luke_, xiv, 26.

9. What is the origin of the words "monk," "hermit," "anchorite," and "abbot"?

10. Summarize the princ.i.p.al benefits which the monastic system conferred on Europe.

11. Give reasons for the rapid conversion of the Germans to Christianity.

12. In what sense is it true that "half Europe owes its Christianity to women"?

13. Who was the "Apostle to the Germans"?

14. Who were the "Apostles to the Slavs"?

15. Comment on the significance to European civilization of the missionary activity of the Christian Church in the Middle Ages.

16. Why has the separation of the Greek and Roman churches been described as "the most momentous fact in the history of Christendom during the Middle Ages"?

17. Why could not such an inst.i.tution as the Papacy develop in the East?

FOOTNOTES

[1] Webster, _Readings in Medieval and Modern History_, chapter iii, "The Benedictine Rule"; chapter iv, "The Reestablishment of Christianity in Britain"; chapter v, "St. Boniface, Apostle to the Germans."

[2] The correspondence may be indicated as follows:

The Roman Empire The Christian Church City--Munic.i.p.al officials. Bishop.

Province--Governor. Archbishop, or Metropolitan.

Diocese--Vicar. Patriarch.

Prefecture--Prefect. (No corresponding division.)

[3] See page 235.

[4] See page 258.

[5] See page 236.

[6] See page 284.

[7] _John_, xx, i, 19; compare I _Corinthians_, xvi, 2.

[8] See page 235 and note 1.

[9] See _Acts_, ii, 1-4.

[10] See page 239, note 1.

[11] In modern India (Malabar) there are no less than 400,000 Syrian Christians who owe their religion to Nestorian missionaries.

[12] See page 362.

[13] See page 236.

[14] See pages 248-249.

[15] See page 322.