Europe at Present [Spring 2003]

Dark Ages

The eighth century left Europe more united on one side – the Saint Roman Empire stretched on the terrains of today’s France and Germany. It was a counterweight for the increasing power of the Popes.

On the other hand, the tensions between the Greek speaking eastern churches, based around Constantinople, and the Latin speaking western churches based around Rome, culminated in the 11th century over the issue of the relative importance of Rome and Constantinople within the Christian world. The church in Rome claimed seniority over the church at Constantinople. The Constantinople church, however, refused to acknowledge the authority of Rome, a decision that led both churches to excommunicate one another in 1054. This schism has never been healed.²⁸³

Palestine was a sacred ground for the Christians and since the second century many pilgrims have travelled there. When the new rulers of the Palestine forbade Christians to come, the Pope – Urban II – called for a holy crusade. The first crusade did not even get to Palestine, but the second conquered the land. In the thirteenth century Christians were fought back. The fourth crusade sacked Constantinople. In 1212 there was a crusade of Children, but it also did not get to Palestine. When somebody’s tomb was decorated with a picture or a sculpture, which has crossed legs – it means he was a crusader. ²⁸⁴

Season for monasteries

Monastic communities expanded after the turn of millennia. Two motives inspired the establishment of these orders: the desire to return to a more austere form of monasticism characteristic of the early Benedictine orders and the desire to spread the Christian faith within and beyond Europe. The earliest of the medieval orders, the Carthusians, was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084. The Carthusians are distinguished by their austere lifestyle and based on isolation and almost perpetual silence.

The second order, the Cistercians, was founded in 1098 by twenty-one Benedictine monks. Like the Carthusians, the Cistercians sought a simple austere lifestyle which was symbolised by their robes made of cheap, undyed wool.

Equally austere were the Carmelites, an order founded by Christian settlers on Mount Carmel in Palestine towards the end of the twelfth century. Carmelite life combined both solitude and community; each member of the community lived in an individual cell, meeting other monks only for the Eucharist and communal work. In 1452 a Carmelite order of women was established. ²⁸⁷

These early orders were located far away from cities, as they were self sufficient. But the new begging orders needed cities as sources of their material existence. ²⁸⁸

The Franciscan order (the friars) was founded by Francis of Assissi, one of the greatest medieval saints. He decided to leave behind his life of wealth and pleasure and devote himself to the sick and the poor. In 1206 he rebuilt the ruined church of San Damiano and over time gathered a group of followers. In 1209 the order received papal approval, and in 1212 an order of Franciscan nuns was set up by St Clare, an early convert of St Francis.

The Dominicans were an order of priests founded in 1216 by Dominic de Guzman with the purpose of preaching and teaching the Gospel in the new cities of Europe. The Dominicans contributed greatly to medieval university life by using science and philosophy to present Christian theology in a systematic way. The order suffered during the reformation and French revolution, but revived in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to a point at which it now has 7,500 members working in 86 countries.

Like the Dominicans, the Jesuit order was founded with the purpose of propagating the Christian faith. Their founder, Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), was inspired by a work on the life of Christ to entirely devote himself to the church. In 1540 Loyola established the Society of Jesus (or Jesuits), an order distinguished from others by its members wearing ordinary clothes rather than a distinctive religious habit and their expressed commitment to total obedience to the pope. As a result of missions to Asia, Latin America, North America and Africa, the order has now established itself worldwide. ²⁸⁹

Times of change

In the thirteenth century Lateran Council encouraged the people to confess their sins once a year, the penance was small, the religion should have been closer to people, the entrance to a church became bigger and opposed the altar. ²⁹⁰

The end of fourteenth century brought a Great Schism to Christian church. In 1309 Clemens V moved to Sauvignon, because of demolishing wars in Italy. In 1377 Gregory returned to Rome. The conclave argued about the election of a new pope and elected two of them. The whole Europe split and fell in conflicts. In 1409 both the popes were cancelled and a new (the third) was elected. Finally in 1417 one of them – Martin VI) was declared the only pope, which brought the Schism to the end. ²⁹¹

At the beginning of the sixteenth century the new ideas of renaissance encouraged many people to oppose the teaching of the roman church. The priests, their style of life and organisation of the church were strongly criticised. With his 95 theses Luther wanted to start a discussion in the church but was declared a heretic and excommunicated.²⁹² This is how the dominance of Rome in Western Europe came to an end in the sixteenth century through the Protestant reformation. At this time the majority of countries in Central and Northern Europe broke away from the authority of Rome and established churches which placed themselves under the jurisdiction of the local prince, monarch or government. These churches, which came to be known as Protestant, sought to return to the early style of Christianity practiced by the churches of the New Testament and to rid themselves of the non-biblical accretions which they believed to have sullied the church. ²⁹³

In 1522 the pope declared that the church had many problems but he died before he could introduce any reforms. They began in 1534, under the rule of Paul III. He supported the Capuchins, who focused on teaching and converting. 1540 Jesuits were officially approved. In 1545 began the Trident Council. They decided to raise the level of education of priests and underlined the importance of poverty. ²⁹⁴The reform process, known as the counter-reformation, clarified and elaborated church doctrine and allowed for the enforcement of doctrine through the establishment of the Roman Inquisition. ²⁹⁵The Inquisition spread over Europe. At the same time witches and all the magic were hunted and burnt alive.

In the seventeenth century people still believed that everything what happened on earth resulted from the God and His will. Good crops were a price while bad – a punishment from the God.

The families prayed every day and attended Sunday masses. They believed in devils and witches. Many people were buried as witches. Most countries followed the rule: whose power - their religion.²⁹⁶