Green Shoots, Dead Branches: 900–1000

I. Introductory Matters

A. For the West

1. A century of bad popes

a) “…reconciliation was hampered by the reputation of the hierarchy of the Western Church, which was suffering under a series of corrupt, worldly, or simply incompetent popes.”[1]

2. The continuation of Christianity through godly Monks

B. For the East

1. Continued Christianization of the Slavic People

2. Christianization of Russia

C. Conflict between Muslims and Christians continue—setting the stage for the Crusades

II. West

A. Disastrous Popes

a) The papal corruption began with Pope Sergius (pope from 844–847)

(1) Elected pope by Roman nobility, not by the population[2]

(2) Used “dubious methods of fund-raising” for papal construction projects (such as simony)[3]

b) The corruption continued under Pope John VIII

The following popes ruled in between Pope Sergius II and Pope John VIII: Leo IV (847–855), Benedict III 855–858), Nicholas I (858–867), Hadrian [or, Adrian] II (867–872)

(1) Pope John VIII compromised on Catholic doctrine in order to avoid attacks from the Saracens

c) Pope Stephen VI 885–891 (also called Stephen V)[4]

(1) He pushed the Slavs away from Rome and into Orthodoxy

(2) He refused the Slavs to use “Old Slavonic liturgy” for worship[5]

(3) He was strangled to death in 897 after the “Cadaver Synod”[6]

d) Pope Leo V held the papal office for less than two months and was “imprisoned, and murdered”[7]

e) Pope Sergius III

(1) McBrien states, “Few other popes in history can vie with the murderous Sergius III”[8]

(2) Serguis III killed both his predecessor and predecessor’s rival

(3) Sergius III imprisoned and then had Leo and Christopher strangled to death

(4) He apparently had an illegitimate son by Marozia, a wealthy member of the family of Theophylact[9]

f) Other “ineffectual or political popes including John X (914–928), Stephen VII (c. 929–931), and Stephen VIII (939–942)”[10]

B. Pope John XII

1. “The reputation of the papacy reached one of many low points with the career of Pope John XII.”[11]

2. Born Octavian (?–964), he was promised the papacy by the working of his father, Alberic II “absolute ruler of Rome”[12]

3. Octavian become pope in 955, when he was only 18 years old (some records indicate he was 16).[13]

4. Pope John XII’s life was more akin to Nero’s than the “head of Christ’s Church”[14]

5. Facing fighting from the king of Italy in the north, Pope John XII used political maneuvering and the granting of special titles to Otto I

6. This maneuvering established Otto I as first emperor of “the Holy Roman Empire, which was to last until 1806.”[15]

7. The agreement between Pope John XII and Otto I is found in the Privilegium Ottonianum

8. This document “offered Otto effective control over the papal states”[16]

C. Subordination of the Papacy

1. Several “unsuitable popes” were placed in power by Otto and his successors

2. These included: Benedict VI, John XIV, John XV, and Gregory V

3. These popes were installed “without consultation of the clergy or thought for the church”[17]

D. Monastic Reform

1. The wedding of church and state, and the combining of temporal power to the Emperor led to the disarray and mutation of monasteries

2. A monumental shift occurred with the work of William, Duke of Aquitaine

3. William founded a monastery in Burgundy between 909–910 called Cluny Abbey (or, Abby)

E. Cluny Abbey

1. The Cluny Abbey had excellent abbots: William the Pious, Odo (c. 927–942), Maieul (943–994), Odilo (994–1049), Hugh the Great (1049–1109), and Peter the Venerable (1122–1157)[18]

2. The Cluny Abbey was marked by several distinctives:

a) Strict adherence to the Benedictine Rule

b) A high value on education and learning

c) Cultivation “of a pure spiritual life”

d) Emphasis on excellent administration and organization[19]

3. Cluny influenced multiple monasteries, including ones in France and Italy

4. “Cluny’s role in restoring the vigour and purity of the Western monasteries, and in helping to shape a new Christian West, has been described as the ‘Cluniac Revival.’”[20]

5. Abbot Odilo was the most influential of these abbots.

6. It was through Odilo’s administration that the Cluniac Order was established[21]

F. Glastonbury Abbey

1. Although Celtic Christianity had thrived for centuries, attacks by the Danes weakened monasteries.

2. Under Abbot Dunstan (c. 909–988), the Glastonbury Abbey grew and brought a “revival of learning, piety, and organizational excellence”[22]

3. Dunstan was great at music, theology, metal working, and organization.[23]

4. Several key figures in Christian history came to be attached to this Abbey, including: Joseph of Arimathea, St. Patrick, and King Arthur[24]

G. Codes of Conduct

1. King Edgar appointed Dunstan archbishop of Canterbury in 959

2. The work of King Edgar and Dunstan produced the Regularis Concordia (c. 973)

III. East

A. The East differed greatly from the East.

B. Mount Athos

1. “The ‘Holy Mountain’ was already home to some monks before Athanasius (c. 920–1003) founded the Great Lavra community in 961.”[25]

2. Athanasius, through his friendship with Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, helped established and spread the coenobitic rule of St. Basil the Great[26]

3. Through friendship with another emperor, John Tzimisces, Athanasius helped Athos achieve a greater significance than Stoudios

C. Bulgarians

1. Bulgaria grew “to be a major power” under the kingship of Symeon I (c. 864–927)[27]

2. Backhouse notes that Symeon was the first Bulgarian ruler to take the name “Tsar”[28]

3. It was under the rule of Symeon that the Bulgarian Church received its independence from Constantinople

4. Through the use of Slavic in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the Serbs and Eastern Slavic people enjoyed access to many works in their own language

D. Bogomils

1. The Bogomils have roots all the way back to Gnosticism in the first century

2. The Paulicians seemed to have made their way into the Balkan region, sowing seeds for the growth of the Bogomils

3. Bogomils taught that matter was evil, that God had “two angel-sons, Satanael the elder; and Christ the younger”[29]

4. Although Backhouse describes them as immoral, it seems that Bogomils led incredibly pure lives.[30]

5. Cosmas (or, Cosmos), “They are gentle, humble, peaceful, and pale from all their insincere fasts. They do not speak an idle word, nor laugh abrasively, nor indulge in smutty jokes. When people see their great humility they imagine they are Orthodox and able to show them the way of salvation.”[31]

6. Others record that the Bogomils recited the Lord’s Prayer 120 times a day, observed frequent fasting, avoided marriage, and rejected the Old Testament[32]

7. The Bogomils influenced vast areas of Bulgaria and the Balkan regions, as will be seen on coming centuries.

E. Russians

1. Although Christianity had made its way to Russian before, Olga made the greatest (though not long-lasting) impact

2. After her husband, Igor, was killed, Olga took over until their son, Sviatoslav could assume rule

3. “Olga [Helga] was one of the wisest and most energetic of Russian rulers.”[33]

4. Sickened by the heathenism of her people, Olga traveled to Constantinople to be baptized in 955

5. When Sviatoslav ascended the throne, heathenism once again became the dominant “religion”

F. Prince Vladimir

1. The son of Sviatoslav, Vladimir began as a wicked tsar

2. Pares refers to Vladimir as “a savage and zealous heathen”[34]

3. After raising idols of his gods and goddesses, Vladimir sacrificed a thousand people to them

4. Eventually he requested the adherents of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity to hear of their beliefs.

5. It was not until his envoys returned from St. Sophia in Constantinople that Vladimir embraced Christianity[35]

6. The embracing of Christianity served primarily political purposes, although moral benefits accompanied this decision for years to come.

[1]Stephen Backhouse, Zondervan Essential Companion to Christian History (Grand Rapids, Zondervan: 2019), 80. [2]https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sergius-II-pope, accessed 8 January 2024. [3]Simony is “buying or selling of something spiritual or closely connected with the spiritual. More widely, it is any contract of this kind forbidden by divine or ecclesiastical law.” Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "simony". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Feb. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/simony. Accessed 8 January 2024. [4]The reason for the differences in numbers (i.e., V or VI) is due to Pope Stephen II (III). According to McBrien, “In those years (as again today) consecration as a bishop (as well as the acceptance of one’s valid election) was the essential canonical requirement, because the pope is the Bishop of Rome.” Richard P McBrien, The Pocket Guide to the Popes (San Francisco, Harper Collins: 2006), 109. [5]McBrien, The Pocket Guide to the Popes, 128–129. [6]McBrien, Pocket Guide, 130. Pope Formosus’s body was exhumed and placed, in full vestments, on the throne in a mock trial. McBrien, 130, “the dead pope was found guilty of perjury and of coveting the papacy. His body was mutilated and thrown into the Tiber River.” [7]McBrien, Pocket Guide, 135. [8]McBriend, Pocket Guide, 136. [9]Williston Walker, et. al., A History of the Christian Church (New York, Scribner’s Sons: 1985), 252–263. [10]Backhouse, Zondervan Essential Companion to Christian History, 81. [11]Backhouse, Zondervan Essential Companion to Christian History, 81. [12]McBrien, The Pocket Guide to the Popes, 145. [13]Walker, A History of the Christian Church, 254 [14]McBrien, The Pocket Guide to the Popes, 145, “He is known for establishing the Holy Roman Empire and for the gross immorality of his private life.” Thomas Bokenkotter, A Concise History of the Catholic Church (New York, Doubleday: 1990), 101, “It [the loss of moral and spiritual authority] reached the nadir in the pontificate of John XII (d. 964), who ascended the throne at the age of eighteen and recalled by his dissolute style of life the age of the Roman Emperor Nero.” [15]McBriend, The Pocket Guide to the Popes, 145; [16]Backhouse, Zondervan Essential Companion to Christian History, 81. [17]Backhouse, Zondervan Essential Companion to Christian History, 81. [18]Abbots were overseers of the monastery. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "abbot". Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 Dec. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/abbot. Accessed 15 January 2024. [19]Backhouse, Zondervan Essential Companion to Christian History, 82. [20]Nick Needham, 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power Volume 2: The Middle Ages (London, Christian Focus Press: 2016), 162. [21]Needham notes that, up until this point, there were no monastic orders. After the establishment of the Cluniac Order, other orders followed. Needham, 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power Volume 2: The Middle Ages, 162–163. [22]Backhouse, Zondervan Essential Companion to Christian History, 83. [23]Walker, et. al., A History of the Christian Church, 254–255. “At Glastonbury, Dunstan—a thorough ascetic who was at the same time a learned theologian, a noted musician, an accomplished illuminator of manuscripts, and a worker in metals—recreated apparently from almost nothing, a strict Benedictine community, which became the model for later foundations and reforms carried out by his pupil and colleague Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester.” [24]Backhouse, Zondervan Essential Companion to Christian History, 83. [25]Backhouse, Zondervan Essential Companion to Christian History, 84. [26]Or, cenobite. “A member of a religious group living together in a monastic community.” “Coenobite.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coenobite. Accessed 15 Jan. 2024. [27]Backhouse, Zondervan Essential Companion to Christian History, 84–85. [28]Tsar (tzar), “a form of the ancient Roman imperial title Caesar, generated a series of derivatives in Russian. In medieval Russia the title tsar referred to a supreme ruler, particularly the Byzantine emperor, who was considered the head of the Orthodox Christian world.” Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "tsar". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Dec. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/tsar. Accessed 15 January 2024. It is sometimes used interchangeably with king. [29]Needham, 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power Volume 2: The Middle Ages, 126. [30]Needham, 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power Volume 2: The Middle Ages, 127; cf. Backhouse, Zondervan Essential Companion to Christian History, 85. [31]Needham, 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power Volume 2: The Middle Ages, 127. [32]Norman Davies, Europe: A History (Oxford, Oxford University Press: 1996), 322. Davies notes, “One branch, the followers of Cyril the Barefoot, practiced nudism in an attempt to regain the Garden of Eden. [33]Bernard Pares, A History of Russia (New York, Dorset Press: 1953), 28. [34]Pares, A History of Russia, 30. [35]Davies, Europe: A History, 326.