Formation of Christendom, The
Judith Herrin
Number of quotes: 70
Book ID: 225 Page: 21
Section: 3A1,3C
[After it] was brought to power by the imperial structures themselves, the Christian faith was both non-Roman and Roman. It’s precise role in perpetuating the life of the empire is much debated.”
Quote ID: 5633
Time Periods: 456
Book ID: 225 Page: 29
Section: 3C
“by the end of the fourth century, Germanic leaders non-Roman “barbarians” held nearly all the highest military positions in the empire.”
Quote ID: 5634
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 225 Page: 31
Section: 3C
Arians were not considered pagan, just heretics. Their martyrs at least the ones that pagans killed) were celebrated throughout the empire.
Quote ID: 5635
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 225 Page: 34
Section: 3D2
By 431, Geneseric, a vandal general had captured Hippo. Eight years later, Carthage. This damaged the western empire more than the prolonged warfare in Italy and Gaul. It was an “aggressive Arian power that persecuted orthodox Xty and pagans alike.” Sicily fell in 468. And when Geneseric sacked Rome (in 455, 45 years after Alaric), he inflicted a destruction commemorated in western vocabulary as “vandalism”.
Quote ID: 5636
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 225 Page: 36
Section: 3D2
“In Italy, Gaul, Burgundy, Spain, and central North Africa, barbarian kings ruled, sometimes in the name of Rome, but with unrestricted independence in fact.”
Quote ID: 5637
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 225 Page: 36/37
Section: 3D2
“They pursued what has been called a “sub-Roman” way of life.” This was a continuation of elements of their own native cultures, the use of Latin as the official language, and the adoption of Xty. “Paradoxically, alien forces . . . were perpetuating many ancient Roman traditions . . . The most striking feature of their settlement in the West became its Roman nature.”
Quote ID: 5638
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 225 Page: 45
Section: 3D2
“All those who successfully set up their States in the West” had successfully passed through “the essential stages of acquiring Latin and adopting Xty.”
Quote ID: 5639
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 225 Page: 51
Section: 4B
“New social relations based on imperial and Christian patterns replaced tribal organization.” In the 6th century
Quote ID: 5641
Time Periods: 67
Book ID: 225 Page: 51
Section: 3C
The episcopacy were “frequently recruited from the aristocracy” and “played a major role in promoting” the integration of roles and customs in the West.
Quote ID: 5642
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 225 Page: 53
Section: 4B
“The striking persistence of pagan images into the sixth century serves as a reminder that early Christian art by no means obliterated its Greco-Roman predecessor.”
Quote ID: 5643
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 225 Page: 56
Section: 3C1
footnote Nicean counsel did not issue any recording of its proceedings. We must depend upon Eusebius and Athanasius for info.
Quote ID: 5644
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 225 Page: 60
Section: 2E2
for info on the roots of asceticism.
Quote ID: 5645
Time Periods: 34
Book ID: 225 Page: 62
Section: 2E2
One Egyptian “holy man”, upon being informed by a delegation from a city that he had been selected as their bishop, cut off his ear, claiming that no mutilated man could qualify to be a church leader. When some criticized for this dip into the Old Testament standard for the priesthood, he threatened to cut out his tongue as well.
Quote ID: 5646
Time Periods: 345
Book ID: 225 Page: 63
Section: 2E2
Sometimes hermits were forcibly taken to be bishops, and had to adjust to the political entanglements and ecclesiastical administration which necessarily followed.
Quote ID: 5647
Time Periods: 345
Book ID: 225 Page: 63
Section: 2C
Since Constantine, the emperor held the final say in the selection of the bishop of Constantinople. Normally, local clergy would submit three names to the emperor, but sometimes he ignored their recommendations for a candidate of his own choosing. “The foremost episcopal sees in the late antique world, those of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Roma, and Constantinople, were almost always occupied by men who were acceptable to the emperor.
Quote ID: 5648
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 225 Page: 64
Section: 3A1
Ambrose: a truly Roman leader. Milan, 374. By acclamation made bishop, and he was not even a baptized Christian! The decision of the populace of Milan “reflects the fusion of imperial and Christian concerns that was taking place within society.
Quote ID: 5649
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 225 Page: 64
Section: 3A1,3D
Ambrose won a showdown with Theodosius. Forced him to do public penance for a massacre of 7,000 in reprisal for an insurrection.
Quote ID: 5650
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 225 Page: 64
Section: 2E2
. . . celibacy “came to dominate the Christian world”
Quote ID: 5651
Time Periods: 34
Book ID: 225 Page: 70
Section: 2E2
Most bishops and monks of the fourth and fifth centuries were married men with “family responsibilities that antedated their adoption of the celibate life.” A number of wives joined their husbands in celibacy, but some were sent to nunneries “not always in an entirely voluntary manner.”
Quote ID: 5652
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 225 Page: 72
Section: 2E2
By late Antiquity, the monastic life no longer as appealing to the masses.
Quote ID: 5653
Time Periods: 56
Book ID: 225 Page: 72
Section: 3A1
“The fate of urban Xty was intimately connected with the fate of Roman rule.” “Ecclesiastical leaders played an important role in the survival of this traditional form of government, for it was in their interest also to protect the major urban centers from attack, in order to preserve their economic role and ruling character.”
Quote ID: 5654
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 225 Page: 72/73
Section: 3A3,3A4C
“As provincial government and city councils declined, instances would be multiplied when church leaders took over civilian duties, organizing military forces, negotiating with the enemy, ransoming prisoners through the sale of ecclesiastical plate, and even leading the city population into combat. In addition, when the imperial authorities failed to repair damage to public utilities, bishops assumed yet another duty.”
Quote ID: 5655
Time Periods: 3
Book ID: 225 Page: 73
Section: 3A3B
In 535-6, Bishop Darius of Milan was instructed to arrange the distribution of grain from the stores of Milan and to establish fixed prices for other commodities during the Gothic War.”
Quote ID: 5656
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 225 Page: 73
Section: 3A1,3A3
The capacity of Church leaders to stand in for their civilian counterparts “constituted a vital link between the ancient and medieval worlds . . .”
Quote ID: 5657
Time Periods: 47
Book ID: 225 Page: 74
Section: 3A3A
During the fifth century, the bishops of Rome were responsible for grand basilicas, as well as for the care of “public monuments, as the Senate failed to repair and maintain older buildings.”
Quote ID: 5658
Time Periods: 5
Book ID: 225 Page: 74
Section: 3A3A
There was a gap in leadership, and the bishops stepped into it, “rebuilding the banks of the Tiber to prevent flooding and restoring of hostels when they fell into ruin. They also began to participate in diplomatic activity on Rome’s behalf.”
Quote ID: 5659
Time Periods: 5
Book ID: 225 Page: 74
Section: 3A3
“Innocent I accompanied the Senatorial embassy to Alaric in 409, and in 452 Leo I led the mission that went out to negotiate with Attila. By a familiar mixture of bribery and promises of an imperial bride, the threat to the city was removed. On this occasion, however the bishop was responsible, and the poorer Christian population rejoiced in their papa (pope).”
Quote ID: 5660
Time Periods: 5
Book ID: 225 Page: 75
Section: 3A3
“In general, church leaders found it natural to work for the survival of their close relationship with the Roman civil authorities, even when the latter were doomed to defeat.”
Quote ID: 5661
Time Periods: 5
Book ID: 225 Page: 75
Section: 4B
“Secular education in Gaul was replaced by a new ‘proto-medieval’ syllabus, directed by and for the needs of the church. Christian learning replaced pagan, but very slowly, and without ever eradicating a Roman attachment to Latin poets and classical rhetoric.
Quote ID: 5662
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 225 Page: 75
Section: 4B
By the seventh century, the church was the chief administrator of public education. It was also the principal force in the employment of artists, and an main source of patronage. As this public influence grew, so Xty’s stand against open paganism grew sterner.
Quote ID: 5663
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 225 Page: 77
Section: 3A2B,4B
In 529, Justinian made it illegal for pagans to hold public teaching positions. The Academy at Athens was doomed, its property confiscated. To replace all such educational systems with Christian education was his goal.
Quote ID: 5664
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 225 Page: 79
Section: 1A,4B
. . . author speaks of a “complex synthesis of pagan and Christian elements” in the educational system of the sixth century. Only the most “dangerous” elements of paganism were cast aside outright. Clement and Origen argued from a philosophical point of view that was a mixture of Platonic and Christian thought, and in doing so “protected the teaching of pagan thought, mythology, and literature to a degree. But by the sixth century, Christians were much less receptive to ancient philosophy . . . .”
Quote ID: 5665
Time Periods: 347
Book ID: 225 Page: 84
Section: 4B
Carolingian poets attempted to revive classical verse forms.
Quote ID: 5666
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 225 Page: 89
Section: 2A4
“. . . the Christian faith had gradually established itself as . . . an integral part of Late Antique culture. The imperial cult had been adapted to fit, and the worship of ancient gods was all but obliterated. In many cases, particular rituals of pagans were taken over and made innocuous by Xty.”
Quote ID: 5667
Time Periods: 567
Book ID: 225 Page: 89
Section: 4B
“The formation of Late Antique cultural unity through widespread acceptance of the Christian faith . . . created a medium whereby ancient skills and techniques could be inherited, in education, oratory, and rhetoric, legal practice, and artistic traditions.”
Quote ID: 5668
Time Periods: 567
Book ID: 225 Page: 89
Section: 4B
Because of Xty, the classical heritage had been preserved and could flourish. . . . Equally, Xty was actively shaping, restricting, and reworking this inheritance, which it also transmitted to non-Mediterranean regions.”
Quote ID: 5669
Time Periods: 567
Book ID: 225 Page: 99
Section: 3C1
matters of importance at the Nicean council: Arius and the date of Easter. Council called by Constantine, protected by Roman soldiers.
Quote ID: 5670
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 225 Page: 114
Section: 4B
“Early Christian architecture was designed to impress . . .”
Quote ID: 5671
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 225 Page: 117
Section: 2C
Remember “St Sophia in Constantinople. “holy wisdom” who was she? anybody at all? or the Roman goddess?
Quote ID: 5672
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 225 Page: 119
Section: 3E
Justinian’s concern with correct Christian dogma made him very hostile to non-believers of many varieties; he persecuted Jews, Samaritans, pagans, and heretical Christian sects with equal vigor.”
Quote ID: 5673
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 225 Page: 120
Section: 3E
Justinian strong-armed the high-ranking clerics around him into making edicts, condemning previously uncondemned material, and replacing those cleric who opposed him. His edict condemning the Three Chapters, and the three bishops who had written them, was more easily rejected by bishops in the West, who were at a greater distance from Constantinople.
Quote ID: 5674
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 225 Page: 121
Section: 3E
vis a vis Justinian’s Edict, “African antagonism was so strong that civil government removed some bishops from their positions and replaced them with manipulable clerics.” Opposition grew as more opposed the Edict. There were martyrs. It was too much of an intrusion into a church matter that had already been voted on and decided long ago.
Quote ID: 5675
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 225 Page: 122
Section: 3E
Pope Vigilius caused problems by finally giving in to Imperial pressure (house arrest in Constantinople, threats, harassment, and bodily violence) and signing a document supporting the council called because of the controversy (553), a council which he never even attended (and which ratified the emperor’s edict). He died on the return trip to Rome, probably in part because of his physical sufferings in Constantinople, to which he had been forcibly taken by eastern soldiers (p. 147).
Quote ID: 5676
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 225 Page: 123/124
Section: 3E
The next Pope felt obliged to endorse the previous Pope’s decision, but stood virtually alone. Through the years, Pope Vigilius apparent support for the Fifth Ecumenical Council was an embarrassment for the Catholic Church and her leaders. “Even Gregory I (594-605) on occasion advised acceptance of the first four ecumenical councils only.”
Quote ID: 5677
Time Periods: 67
Book ID: 225 Page: 124
Section: 3E
Hereafter, the West lost much respect for the eastern Christian leadership, leaving them to their Greek quibbling over theological minutiae. They turned more than ever to Augustine. (“all things eastern” fell in stature - p. 149)
Quote ID: 5678
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 225 Page: 126
Section: 1A,3C
“As the political unity of the empire became a thing of the past, Christian unity took its place. In the same way, it replaced the obnoxious aspects of Greco-Roman scholarship with its own brand of theological learning. Because it had developed in a manner designed to preserve so many features of the imperial heritage, it appeared as its natural extension. There is a sense in which the Christian faith, rather than the barbarian kingdoms, constituted the successor to the Roman Empire in the West.”
Quote ID: 5679
Time Periods: 156
Book ID: 225 Page: 133
Section: 4B
Beginning with the 7th cent, we have a real “dark age”.
Quote ID: 5681
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 225 Page: 134
Section: 1A
“Although the Christian faith provided a common bond, spiritual unity could not compensate for the disappearance of empire; it was too fragile, and subject to local pressures and secular manipulation.”PJ: This author is ignorant of the power of the internal consciousness of the Empire.
Quote ID: 5682
Time Periods: 456
Book ID: 225 Page: 138
Section: 3C
Those in the “Queen City”, Constantinople, continued into the medieval era to call themselves Romans, “even if they used the Greek term Romaioi.
Quote ID: 5683
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 225 Page: 144
Section: 3F
Pope Gregory’s reorganization in Rome was key to Rome’s survival. “In place of the ancient pattern of civic philanthropy, based on the generosity of local benefactors, senators philosophers, and pagan holy men, Christian charity now dominated the same spheres of welfare, hospitality, poor relief, medical aid, and even education. . . . “private wealth was increasingly channeled to Christian rather than city authorities, and a new system of distribution developed based on donations. . . . The resources of St Peter’s far outstripped any other in the West. The farsighted arrangements of Pope Gregory I permitted the city to make a successful move from ancient political capital to ecclesiastical center.”
Quote ID: 5684
Time Periods: 67
Book ID: 225 Page: 144
Section: 1A,2E2,4B
Gibbon lamented that “Soldier’s pay was lavished on a useless multitude of both sexes, who could only plead the merits of abstinence and chastity.”Decline and Fall, 4:175.
Pastor John’s Note: What Gibbon failed to acknowledge is the powerful effect that such claims had on the minds of people; it proved to be more effective in permanently subduing the masses to the will of those who would rule over them than any army of soldiers could have.
Quote ID: 5688
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 225 Page: 144
Section: 1A,2E2,4B
Footnote “The huge army of clergy and monks were for the most part idle mouths, living upon offerings, endowments and state subsidies.”from a “Jones”, a quoted scholar.
Quote ID: 5689
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 225 Page: 145
Section: 4B
“western Christians rejected the exclusively Latin culture of a clerical elite, which emerged in all the successor states of the West.”
Quote ID: 5685
Time Periods: 67
Book ID: 225 Page: 145
Section: 3A1,3A4C
footnote 25 In replacing paganism, Xty provided a career choice: imperial consulship or Christian bishopric.Pastor John’s Note: Xty provided more power at a much lower cost. It was an easy choice. And it was the choices people made, preferring spiritual dominance over men, backed with military might, to physical dominance endorsed by religious dogma, that altered the empire.
Pastor John’s Note: earlier, (in Cults of the Roman Empire book) a comparison of pagan ways (political policy supported by religion) to Christian ways (religious policy supported by political policy).
Quote ID: 5686
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 225 Page: 145
Section: 2C
Footnote 25 curiales = local civic leaders, apparently
Quote ID: 5687
Time Periods: 3456
Book ID: 225 Page: 148
Section: 4B
In the 580s the Senate ceased to meet. large parts of Rome turned to waste, or vineyards, etc. Ravenna was the functioning capital.
Quote ID: 5690
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 225 Page: 150
Section: 3A1,3A3,3A4C
In the vacuum left by senatorial flight to the East for jobs - p. 148, the church became a directing force in and around Rome.” As bishops had been involved in civic administration to some extent “since the fifth century at least, . . . it was expected by the local population. But the failure of other authorities to assist was more marked. During this time, “It was to their bishop that Romans looked for the city’s protection and their own well-being. When other, older traditions failed, the city turned to its Christian past and apostolic foundation.”
Quote ID: 5691
Time Periods: 35
Book ID: 225 Page: 151
Section: 3F
In 540, Gregory (Pope Gregory the Great) was born into a city (Rome) that was “full of ruins and empty buildings, temples, baths, and theaters no longer used.” He was born into a family of senatorial rank and had an appreciation for the city’s civic past and St Peter’s power. His background was similar to Ambrose. His civic career was brief, because of limited possibilities. By the time he was middle aged, the senate was not even meeting any more.
Quote ID: 5692
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 225 Page: 152
Section: 3A1,3A3,3A4C
absence of political power, the bishop is expected to move in and take charge.
Quote ID: 5693
Time Periods: 35
Book ID: 225 Page: 152
Section: 3F
as papal legate to Constantinople (580-586), Gregory was standing on an established rung of the ladder to the papacy itself.
Quote ID: 5694
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 225 Page: 164
Section: 3F
priesthood was for sale.
Quote ID: 5695
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 225 Page: 171
Section: 3F
In dealing with the newly converted Anglo-Saxons, Gregory recommended “preaching, missionary work, threats, bribes, and finally direct force.”Pastor John notes: John’s Note: This Christian way gives new meaning to Jesus’s words, “Compel them to come in.”
Quote ID: 5696
Time Periods: 67
Book ID: 225 Page: 182
Section: 3F
Gregory “was the harbinger of a purely Latin and clerical culture of the medieval West”.
Quote ID: 5697
Time Periods: 67
Book ID: 225 Page: 390
Section: 3G
Charlemagne is claimed by both France and Germany as a founding father
Quote ID: 5698
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 225 Page: 390
Section: 2C
Charlemagne inspired the term and the dream of a “Holy Roman Emperor”
Quote ID: 5699
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 225 Page: 447
Section: 2A3
Charlemagne had in his palace chapel “numerous relics”.
Quote ID: 5700
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 225 Page: 449
Section: 3A1,3A3
The territory around Rome in Italy was called “the holy Roman republic”. Farms established by the Popes were called “apostolic farmland”. These estates were decreed by their charters to be “forever and absolutely inalienable”.
Quote ID: 5701
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 225 Page: 476
Section: 3A1,3A4C
The pontiffs of Rome “made their sacral authority an essential element in the assumption of imperial power.”Pastor John’s Note: Satan’s wisdom: It is safer to anoint another as secular ruler than to assume the title. Better to have an expendable servant than to have the disgrace of being conquered in a contest of military power.
Quote ID: 5702
Time Periods: 567
Book ID: 225 Page: 476
Section: 3A1,3G
Charlemagne’s and Pope Leo III’s vision of a “Holy Roman Empire”, formalized in the king’s coronation in Rome on Christmas day, AD 800, endured through the centuries, indeed for a millennium, for it was only in 1806 that the title was last abandoned (by Francis II of Austria) in the face of the reality of national sovereignties that could not be denied or undone with military might. Even Napoleon assumed the simpler title “Emperor of France”, and Francis II chose as more fitting to his real stature among nations the title, “Emperor of Austria”. Until this day in Europe, ethnic identifications and national military strengths have prevented any ruler from developing the power or prestige to bear the most prized title in Christendom, the august title of Holy Roman Emperor.Pastor John’s Note: The dream is still being dreamed, and Christendom sleeps a fitful sleep. Fleeting bits of the Great Whore’s dreams have been glimpsed as they came and went across her mind: the Tzar of Russia, as well as Germany’s Kaiser, owed their exalted titles to her dreams of Roman glory, for “caesar” is the root of them both.
But the man of her dreams is coming, the man for whom she long ago forsook her Lord, but he will be, for both her and the world, the greatest nightmare ever experienced.
Meanwhile, the words of Isaiah call out to the children of God who lounge in the warm shadows of the Whore’s scarlet colored skirts: “Awake thou that sleepest, and Christ shall give thee light!” Translated into New Testament wisdom, this plaintive cry is, and has been for almost 1700 years, “Come out of her, My people!”*
Quote ID: 5703
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 225 Page: 477
Section: 5D
The use of Latin facilitated commerce throughout Europe.
Quote ID: 5704
Time Periods: ?
End of quotes