Part 63 (1/2)

[9] See page 302.

[10] See page 219.

[11] So named from one of their leaders.

[12] The word _slova_ means ”speech”; the Slavs are those who speak the same language.

[13] See pages 309, 315.

[14] A more accurate designation than Servia. Originally, all Slavic peoples called themselves Serbs.

[15] See page 284.

[16] Of the eight sieges to which Constantinople was subjected in medieval times, only two succeeded. In 1204 A.D. it was captured by the Venetians and in 1453 A.D., by the Ottoman Turks. See pages 477 and 492.

CHAPTER XV

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST TO 1054 A.D. [1]

120. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

A preceding chapter has traced the early history of Christianity. We there saw how the new religion appeared in the Orient, how it spread rapidly over the Roman Empire, how it engaged with the imperial government in the long conflict called the Persecutions, how the emperor Constantine, after his conversion, placed it on an equality with paganism, and how at the end of the fourth century the emperor Theodosius made it the state religion.

By this time the Church had become a great and powerful organization, with fixed laws, with a graded system of officers, and with councils attended by clergy from all parts of the Roman world. To this organization the word Catholic, that is, ”universal,” came to be applied. Members.h.i.+p in the Catholic Church, secured only by baptism, was believed to be essential to salvation. As St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, had said, ”He can no longer have G.o.d for his Father who has not the Church for his Mother.”

THE EPISCOPATE

The first three centuries of Christianity witnessed the development of the episcopal system in the Church. Each provincial city had its bishop, a.s.sisted by priests and deacons. An archbishop (sometimes called a metropolitan) presided over the bishops of each province, and a patriarch had jurisdiction, in turn, over metropolitans. This graded arrangement of ecclesiastical officers, from the lowest to the highest, helped to make the Church centralized and strong. It appears to have been modeled, almost unconsciously, on the government of the Roman Empire. [2]

THE PATRIARCHS

The development of the patriarchate calls for special notice. At the time of the Council of Nicaea [3] there were three patriarchs, namely, the bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria. These cities ranked among the most important in the Roman world. It was only natural, therefore, that the churches established in them should be singled out for preeminence.

Some years after the removal of the capital to Constantinople, the bishop of that imperial city was recognized as a patriarch at a general council of the Church. In the fifth century the bishop of Jerusalem received the same dignity. Henceforth there were five patriarchs--four in the East but only one in the West.

CLERGY AND LAITY

The Christian Church was a very democratic organization. Patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons were drawn from all ranks of life. No special training at first was considered necessary to fit them for their duties, though the more celebrated ministers were often highly educated. To eke out their salaries the clergy sometimes carried on business as farmers and shopkeepers. Where, however, a church had sufficient funds to support its bishop, his engagement in secular affairs was discouraged and finally prohibited. In the fourth century, as earlier, priests and bishops were generally married men. The sentiment in favor of celibacy for the clergy became very p.r.o.nounced during the early Middle Ages, especially in the West, and led at length to the general abandonment of priestly marriage in those parts of Europe where papal influence prevailed. Distinctive garments for clergymen did not begin to come into use until the fifth century, when some of them began to don clothing of a more sober hue than was fas.h.i.+onable at the time. Clerical vestments were developed from two pieces of ancient Roman dress--the tunic and the toga.

[4] Thus the clergy were gradually separated from the people, or laity, by differences in dress, by their celibate lives, and by their abstention from worldly occupations.

HERESIES

While the Church was perfecting her organization, she was also elaborating her doctrines. Theologians engaged in many controversies upon such subjects as the connection of Christ with G.o.d and the nature of the Trinity. In order to obtain an authoritative expression of Christian opinion, councils of the higher clergy were held, at which the opposing views were debated and a decision was reached. The Council of Nicaea, which condemned Arianism, formed the first, and one of the most important, of these general gatherings of the Church. After the Church had once expressed itself on any matter of Christian belief, it was regarded as unlawful to maintain a contrary opinion. Those who did so were called heretics, and their teachings, heresies. The emperor Theodosius, whose severe laws finally shattered the ancient paganism, [5] devoted even more attention to stamping out heresies among his Christian subjects. He prohibited meetings of heretics, burned their books, and threatened them with death if they persisted in their peculiar doctrines. During his reign a Spanish bishop and six of his partisans were executed for holding unorthodox beliefs. This was the beginning of the persecutions for heresy.

WORs.h.i.+P

As soon as Christianity had triumphed in the Roman Empire, thus becoming the religion of the rich and powerful as well as the religion of the poor and lowly, more attention was devoted to the conduct of wors.h.i.+p.

Magnificent church buildings were often erected. Their architects seem to have followed as models the basilicas, or public halls, which formed so familiar a sight in Roman cities. [6] Church interiors were adorned with paintings, mosaic pictures, images of saints and martyrs, and the figure of the cross. Lighted candles on the altars and the burning of fragrant incense lent an additional impressiveness to wors.h.i.+p. Beautiful prayers and hymns were composed. Some of the early Christian hymns, such as the _Gloria in Excelsis_ and the _Te Deum Laudamus_, are still sung in our churches. Organs did not come into use until the seventh century, and then only in the West, but church bells, summoning the wors.h.i.+per to divine service, early became attached to Christian edifices.