The second chief vice concerning church reformers, clerical marriages and fornication, was referred to as nicolaitism. The term derived from the Nicolaitans, a heretical sect accused of sexual promiscuity referred to in the book of Revelation (2:6, 2:14–15). The eleventh-century reformers, in turn, used the term Nicolaites to refer indiscriminately to married clergymen, clerics who kept concubines or frequented prostitutes, and, in general, to all monks, priests, or other members of the clergy who were in any way sexually active. A resurgence in calls for clerical celibacy can be seen as early as the 1022 synod of Pavia held jointly by Pope Benedict VII and Emperor Henry II. There, all women were excluded from the houses of priests, and married clergy, including bishops, were deposed. The children and possibly the wives of clerics were to become serfs of the cleric’s manor. Behind such legislation lay a concern regarding the loss of church property to the families of priests.
Church
Erken Hristiyanlıkta Köleliğe Yaklaşım
Christian religious teachers, like some of their pagan counterparts, particularly among the Stoics, affirmed that slavery was unnatural, and that in an ideal world all human beings ought to be free. Since this present terrestrial world was far from ideal, however, both the law and the practice of early Christian communities sought to limit the exploitation of slaves, rather than to abolish an institution so central to the society and economy of their age. Christian law, although it did not attack the institution of slavery, did insist that Christians must treat their slaves humanely and admonished owners to make every effort to provide for the religious needs of their slaves.
Avignon Papalığının Para Toplama Yöntemleri
Most of the hostility aimed at the Avignon papacy complained of the use and abuse of money. The decline in revenues from the Papal States in Italy had brought the papal court to bankruptcy. To replace these funds and raise new ones, the Avignon popes resorted to a host of moneymaking schemes, some old, some new. There were fees for this privilege and taxes for that. For example, the popes introduced the rule that whenever a bishop was appointed, the first year’s income—called an annat—should go to the pope. To fill a vacancy, popes often transferred a bishop from another city and thus created more annates. Or perhaps the pope delayed the appointment and received all the income in the interim. This was called a reservation. The most lucrative practice, however, was the granting of indulgences. These were dispensed for the most minor reasons—from building bridges to waging war—and extravagant claims of their spiritual benefits mounted with each generation.
Dominicans
The popes tried sending preachers among the Cathari, but they were notoriously ineffective, at least until a Spaniard named Dominic Guzman (1170–1221) struck upon the reason. In 1206 Dominic was helping in efforts to convert the Albigenses when he realized that the papally assigned preachers were depending on their ecclesiastical pomp and dignity. The Albigenses considered such show a sure sign of false religion. Dominic believed that the heretics would listen if the preachers themselves were committed to poverty. To win the heretics, Dominic went forth among them as a poor man, barefoot and begging.
In 1220 the Dominican mission and lifestyle gained official approval. The new preaching order that we know as Dominicans was called mendicant, meaning “begging,” and the term friar (or brother) distinguished them from monks because, unlike monks, they went forth to live among people to preach and teach. Just as monastic houses had once arisen to minister in the countryside, so the mendicant friars now emerged to meet the spiritual needs of townspeople.
Cluny Reformu ve Hedefleri
The Cluniac program began as a movement for monastic reform, but in time it called for the enforcement of clerical celibacy and the abolition of simony, the purchase or sale of a church office. (The term simony comes from Simon the magician, who tried to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit from the apostles [Acts 8:9–25].) The ultimate goal of the Cluniac reformers was to free the entire church from secular control and subject it to papal authority. Some three hundred Cluniac houses were freed from lay control, and in 1059 the papacy itself was removed from secular interference by the creation of the College of Cardinals, which henceforth elected the popes.
Kilisenin Feodal Sisteme Dahil Olması
Since the church was so much a part of medieval life, it could not escape inclusion in the feudal system. The unsettled conditions caused by new invaders—Vikings from the north and Magyars from Asia—forced church officials to enter into close relations with the only power able to offer them protection: the feudal barons in France and the kings in Germany. Bishops and abbots thus became vassals, receiving fiefs for which they were obligated to provide the usual feudal services.
Gregory’nin Angel-Angle Benzetmesi
A story circulated, probably part fact and part fiction, that Gregory, before he assumed the papal office, happened upon three young English boys for sale in the Roman marketplace. Gregory was immediately attracted to them. “Alas! Alas!” he exclaimed, “that such bright faces should be the slaves of an inward darkness. So beautiful they are and yet their minds are sick and without God’s grace.” He asked the slave owner what nation they came from. “They are Angles,” answered the man. “Yes, indeed,” Gregory went on, “they have the appearance of angels and they should be co-heirs of the angels in Heaven. What province do they come from?” “From Deira,” said the slave owner, mentioning the ancient name for what is now Northumberland. “From Deira? Then indeed they should be saved from God’s anger [dei ira] and called to the mercy of Christ. Who is their King?” “Aella.” “Then,” said Gregory, “must Alleluia be sung in Aella’s land.” Gregory attempted to go to England himself as a missionary monk but was hindered by God and the pope. But once on the papal throne himself, he sent the Benedictine Augustine and forty monks to replant the gospel on English soil. The success of that mission in Kent, as we have seen, provides a direct link for all Anglo-American Christianity with the early church.
Papa Gregory’nin Manastır Etkisi
With Gregory, monasticism for the first time ascended the papal throne. He continued the austere simplicity of monastic life, surrounded himself with monks, made them bishops and legates, confirmed the Rule of St. Benedict at a council of Rome, guaranteed the liberty and property of convents, and by his example and influence rendered the highest service to the monastic life.
Kilisedeki Güç ve Liyakat Mücadelesi
Whatever Constantine’s motives for adopting the Christian faith, the result was a minimal level of Christian commitment among the general population. The stalwart believers whom Diocletian killed were replaced by a mixed multitude of half-converted pagans, Christian in name only. Once Christians had laid down their lives for the truth; now they plotted against each other to secure the prizes of the church. Gregory of Nazianzus complained, “The chief seat is gained by evil doing, not by virtue; and the sees belong, not to the more worthy, but to the more powerful.”
Dört Büyük Patriklik Arasındaki Rekabet
The bishops in the chief towns of the imperial provinces came to be called archbishops. The term for the official center of a bishop’s jurisdiction and authority is see. Those bishops in the premier cities of the empire—Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch—were considered highest of all and were called patriarchs. Throughout the fourth and fifth centuries, these four patriarchs were attempting to extend the prestige and influence of their spiritual offices. Generally speaking, Alexandria and Rome tended to support each other, and Antioch tended to align with Constantinople. On Alexandria’s part this reflected the jealousy that the proud and ancient city felt at the rise of Constantinople, the upstart capital in the East. Rome, too, while for the time content to extend its influence over the imperial dominions in the West, was not happy with the growing arrogance of the “New Rome” in the East. On the other hand, Antioch and Alexandria had long been rivals in the East. If Antioch could not gain preeminence, it preferred to see it go to the church in the new capital rather than to its old rival on the Nile.