Church History (part five):

919     Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony

• The Duke of Saxony, Henry the Fowler, was made ruler of these divided Germanic people
•  He drove back the Vikings.

936     Otto the Great

• In 936, Henry’s Son, Otto, became king or ruler over the Germanic tribes 
• Otto made the dukes his vassals
• Otto  took over the church and began appointing the bishops and abbots.

• Otto over extended his interest by becoming involved in affairs over the Alps in the church in Rome.
• Otto went to Italy to aid the pope in battle and was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 962 which united all of central Europe until Napoleon in 1806.
• For the next 200 years the Roman church had weak leaders and the German emperors crossed the Alps to help bring order out of the Chaos.

996     Otto III

• In 996 Otto III put down a faction of Roman nobles and forced the election of his cousin Bruno as Pope Gregory V.
• Eventually Innocent III will humiliate the German emperor.

1009   Muslims Sack the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem

1054               The East-West Schism

The History and Cause of the Schism of the Eastern and Western Church

• In 330 Constantine moved the Roman Empire capital to Constantinople.
• In 395 Theodosius place East and West administration under different heads.
• In 490 the Roman Empire falls in the West
• The fall of the West left the Emperors in the Est with no Emperor in the West.  The pope (bishop of Rome) alone was left in the West and was too far away to be controlled by the East.
• In the East . . .the emperor was almost a pope
• In the West. . .the pope was almost an emperor
• Intellectual outlooks were different:

• Latin West spent time considering practical matters of polity.  They had little trouble formulating orthodox doctrine.
• Greek mind in the East was more interested in solving theological problems along philosophical lines.  Between 325-451 most theological problems arose in the East.  The same issues were not problems in the West.

• Cultural differences:

• Celibacy differed – Eastern clergy married
• Beards –clergy in East had to wear a beard.
• Language – East was Greek, West was Latin.  This led to misunderstandings.

• Theological differences: The “filoque” conflict - In 867 Photius, patriarch in Egypt, charged Nicholas I and church in West with heresy because the West had the “filoque” clause in its Nicene Creed.  (In 589 at the Council of Toledo III the words “and the Son” or “filoque” were added to the Nicene Creed after “Holy Spirit that proceeded from the father and the Son.”  The Western church since had insisted on the deity of the Holy Spirit.)
• The church in the east and the church in the west had a history of conflict:

• Easter Conflict, 150 AD
• Iconoclastic Controversy, 700 AD
• East destroyed or limited the power of monks
• Pope Nicholas tried to interfere with a church appointment in the East around 850
• Unleaven bread conflict in 1054

• In 1054 Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople condemned the West for using unleaven bread in the Eucharist.  Pope Leo IX sent Cardinal Humbert to end the dispute.  During discussion the differences widened between the church in Rome and the Church in Constantinople.  On July 16, 1054, Cardinal Humbert excommunicated the East.  Not to be outdone the patriarch anathematized the pope of Rome and his followers.  For the first time universal unity was broken.
• On Dec. 7, 1965 the mutual excommunication was removed by Pope Paul VI and Athenagoras.

1066   William the Conqueror King of England

• The Vikings conquered England under the leadership of William the conqueror.

1075   Seljuk Turks (Muslims) occupy the Holy Land

1054-1305     Great Temporal Power of the Pope

• Papacy had great temporal power between 1054-1305 that included:

• Hildebrand                
• Innocent III                  
• Crusades                                          
• Universities               
• Scholasticism                       
• Obedient Monks

• The downfall of this temporal power is going to be nationalism in France and England

1073   Pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand)  

• Hildebrand spent 20 years (five popes in 1053-1073) as a humble servant of the pope trying to obtain powers for the pope. 
• Hildebrand will then spent the next 12 years (1073-1085) reigning as the pope with those powers.
• In the 300’s certain churches had been designated as exclusive baptism sites.  The pastors became known as Cardinal Priest at these locations.
• In the 200’s Rome had been divided into districts to do charity work.  These pastors became known as Cardinal Deacons.
• Bishops near Rome were called Cardinal Bishops.
• These three groups became the Pope’s College of Cardinals.

• Cardinal Priests
• Cardinal Deacons
• Cardinal Bishops

• Under Pope Leo IX, Hildebrand was placed in charge of the Roman Finances, and thus over the Cardinals.
• Under Nicholas II, Hildebrand helped remove the ecclesiastical legislation from the population of Rome.  The Cardinal Bishops would choose a candidate (while consulting the Cardinal priests and deacons) for a new pope.  Then the people could vote.  This prevented corruption from the German emperors, etc.
• In 1073, Hildebrand was unanimously elected as Pope Gregory VII as a result of the people shouting “Let Hildebrand be bishop.”
• Pope Gregory VII’s (Hildebrand) goal: The pope as absolute theocracy in spiritual and temporal power.
• Pope Gregory VII wanted no civil power to dominate the church.
• Pope Gregory VII wanted the church to control civil power.
• He stopped these practices:                                                                      

• Lay investiture – where church leaders where appointed by their feudal                                   lords.                                                              
• Simony (buying and selling church offices)                                   
• Failure to enforce celibacy, to help men focus on and reform the                                   church

• After the death of Gregory VII they found his writing “Dictatus Papae” which was a document with his letters that develops papal supremacy over temporal rulers and over the Roman Church.
• The “Dictatus Papae” said:

• Roman church founded by God alone
• Pontiff alone to be called “universal”
• Pope had full power over all bishops
• Only the popes feet should be kissed by “all princes”
• Pope could “depose emperors”
• Pope could release all subjects of evil rulers

1093   Anselm

• Archbishop of Canterbury, England
• Writer and thinker in the church who advanced the idea of both faith and reason in the Christian faith.
• In his writing he clearly communicated the rational necessity of atonement through Christ to unbelievers and believers
• Consider the greatest theologian between Augustine and Aquinas
• An abundance of his writings have been preserved including four hundred letters, twelve treatises and nineteen prayers.

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