The reason why I have not posted anything in the past week or so will soon become obvious. As I’ve been looking at the next section of my “Ways of the Worldviews” manuscript, I see that it is somewhat of a hodgepodge of material, and quite frankly, I haven’t been in the mood to try to smooth out the rough edges. But today, it got me thinking: this hodgepodge of material is actually a good metaphor for what was going on in both the Eastern and Western parts of the Byzantine Empire. In fact, this “mess” is probably one of the reasons why many Christians don’t delve into Church history that much: at certain times in history, things get rather tangled and messy.
But sometimes, if you don’t want to completely comb out that bed-head mess, you do the next best thing: you comb it out enough, then put a hat on for the day, and go on with the business at hand. The next post or two will be precisely that: a bit messy, but let’s just put a hat on and move on.
The Rise of Christianity and the End of Ancient Slavery
The first thing I want to briefly touch upon is in regards to the ancient institution of slavery. It was the rise of Christianity, in both the Byzantine Age (313-1054 AD) and the later High Catholic Age (1054-1517 AD), that was responsible for bringing about the gradual end to slavery. In the ancient pagan world, slavery was no doubt a fundamental staple in pagan society. It was simply a given. Past Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle argued for it, and the Roman Empire was dependent on it. In fact, throughout history, slavery was the way great empires built their great monuments: the Egyptian pyramids, the ziggurats of Babylon, the great temples and coliseums of ancient Greece and Rome—all of it was made possible because of the ancient institution of slavery.
Although slavery was still sanctioned in the Old Testament, the system of slavery in Israel was significantly different from its pagan neighbors. Well, according to the Torah, it was supposed to be different (in reality, most times it wasn’t). But it was only with the rise of Christianity that the age old assumptions about the legitimacy of slavery itself began to be questioned. Christianity appealed greatly to slaves, for it proclaimed that in Christ, there was slave or free, Jew or Gentile, male or female—all were one in Christ, and therefore equal. Not surprisingly, early Christianity under the Roman Empire was derided for being a religion for slaves and women because it preached the equality of all human beings, regardless of class, race, or sex—that everyone was made in the image of God.
And so, with the conversion of Constantine and the dramatic rise in the influence of Christianity, it should not be surprising at all to find that the ancient practice of slavery was slowly choked out. It didn’t happen all at once, but little by little, beginning in the Byzantine Age and culminating in the High Catholic Age, Christianity killed off the ancient pagan institution of slavery. Step one was started in the early days of Christianity, when the Church accepted slaves and women in their community as equals. This equality was seen in extending the sacraments to both slaves and women. This undoubtedly attracted slaves and women to the Christian faith.
Step two came about slowly, after the conversion of the empire as a whole. The Church was able to get the State to agree to prohibit a ban on the enslavement of all Christians and Jews. As Rodney Stark points out in his book, The Victory of Reason, since so many slaves had become Christians, “…within the context of medieval Europe, that prohibition was effectively a rule of universal abolition” (28).
By the tenth century, slavery had been largely eliminated throughout Europe, all due to the Church’s efforts at social reform and justice, in light of the moral conviction stemming from the Christian faith that all human beings were created in God’s image. Simply put, the philosophical worldview and the theological convictions of the Christian faith led to a radical moral revolution in society that was able to overturn the centuries’ old practice of slavery throughout the Roman Empire. The circumstances that led to a resurgence of slavery came about later, with the discovery of the new world and the age of colonization, will be addressed at a later date.
The Different Developments of Byzantine Christianity in the East and West
Despite the many philosophical, societal, and cultural advances that came about during the Byzantine Age, it certainly was no golden age—no age ever is. For Christianity proclaims that not only are human beings created in the image of God, but they are also at the same time woefully sinful and corrupt. And power, especially political power, carries with it the seeds of corruption.
There are a number of moving parts to hold together when trying to understand the Byzantine Age. The first thing to keep in mind is that the eastern part of the Byzantine Empire continued and enjoyed the imperial legacy of the Roman Empire. Therefore, as Christianity took hold, it proceeded to transform a very secure, cultured and educated society. Furthermore, being a primarily Greek-influenced culture, the Byzantine Empire was steeped in the philosophical tradition. In the Byzantine Empire, a very imperial, and very Greek, Christianity was formed.
By contrast, a second thing to consider is that the fortunes of the western part of the empire were vastly different. With all the imperial power moved to Constantinople in the east, Western Europe became a backwater afterthought. With no strong central government to maintain stability, Western Europe was ripped apart by countless raiding barbarian tribes. Some were purely pagan, others had been converted to the heresy of Arianism and were therefore Arian Christians. With such chaos, people turned to the only person in Western Europe who still held any kind of real administrative position: the Bishop of Rome (aka. the Pope).
Therefore, while Christianity was transforming a thriving imperial culture in the east, Christianity was forging a path through the wilderness in the west. The pagan world had died, so the Church in the West set about the task of the re-creation of Europe. Yet because of the chaotic political situation, and because it was a Latin-influenced culture (and Latin had long been the language of the courts), the Christianity that developed in the West had a distinct difference from the Christianity in the East. The Western form of Christianity came to be couched in terms that resembled the more practical and legal-minded language of the courts, whereas the Eastern from of Christianity continued to be influenced by the more philosophical/mystical traditions of Greek thought.
A third thing to keep in mind is that the rise of Islam in the 7th century changed things drastically for both Eastern and Western Christianity. In the East, the Byzantines had to deal with the slow but steady shrinking of their empire, due to the advances by Islam. In the West, the armies of Islam never succeeded in taking over Europe, and that left breathing room for a western culture that was slowly rebuilding itself. Eventually, the aggressiveness of Islam ultimately convinced Europe to finally push back. The resulting Crusades marked the beginning of the end for the Byzantine Empire, and the rise of Western Europe under the power of the pope (i.e. the High Catholic Age).
A Bit More about Christianity in the West: Oh my, the Corruption!
While Christianity in the East was developing and transforming a still-existing imperial culture, Christianity in the West found itself on the wild frontier. From Alaric’s sack of Rome in 410 AD to the rise of Charlemagne in 800 AD, there was no over-arching central authority in Western Europe: numerous kings ruled over their own fiefdoms of limited territory. What this eventually meant was that the ecclesiastical authority of the Pope eventually morphed into a political power in its own right, in constant tension with the minor kings around him.
Now, there were a few good popes during this time who did much good. The most obvious one was Pope Leo I, who saved Rome from destruction at the hands of Attila the Hun in 452 AD. The same Pope Leo I also convinced Gaeseric the Vandal king in 455 AD to keep his pillaging of Rome to a minimum. Nevertheless, throughout this time of over 600 years in the West (410-1054 AD), the fact is that the political power invested in the papal throne lead to deep corruption, with many popes being nothing more than corrupt, petty nobles in and of themselves.
Things got so bad that by the end of the Byzantine Age, it is safe to say that the ecclesiastical institution of the Catholic Church in Western Europe was completely overrun with political corruption and moral decadence. Popes, priests, and bishops indulged in the kind of sexual decadence that would make Hugh Hefner take notice. Since religious offices were treated as plumb political positions with all the perks one could hope for, simony became a generally accepted practice, with religious positions in the church going to the highest bidder.
In The Triumph of Christianity, Rodney Stark gives two examples that illustrate the utter moral corruption within the Western Church during this time. First, he writes:
“Consider the making and unmaking of popes by Marozia (890-937), a promiscuous and domineering Roman noblewoman of the powerful Theophylact family. When she was fifteen, Marozia became the mistress of Pope Sergius III (served 904-911), who had murdered Pope Leo V (served 903) to gain the papal throne and by whom Marozia had an illegitimate son. Marozia’s mother was the mistress of Pope John X (served 914-928), whom Marozia conspired to have suffocated and replaced by Pope Leo VI (served 928), whom she quickly replaced with Stephen VII (served 928-931). At this point Marozia managed to get her illegitimate son—fathered by Pope Sergius—placed on the papal throne as Pope John XI (served 931-936).” (302)
Stark then writes:
“That so many young men with no prior religious service became popes helps explain why the moral condition of the papacy in this era can best be described as ‘squalid.’ Thus, John XII assembled a harem of young women—‘some accused him of converting the Lateran Palace into a brothel.’ He also consecrated a ten-year-old as bishop, had a cardinal castrated, and loudly invoked pagan gods when he gambled. At age 28 he died in bed with a married woman, probably killed by her irate husband. Benedict IX was an even more notorious pope. When he succeeded two of his uncles as pope, there followed the ‘spectacle of the Pope carousing and whoring his way around Rome,’ displaying himself as ‘unblushingly and arrogantly dissolute.’” (302)
Simply put, in the West during the Byzantine Age, church officials were hopelessly corrupt. If you wanted to find examples of godliness, you didn’t go to Rome. Instead, you’d go “out to the wilderness,” where thousands of monks and nuns were quietly rebuilding Europe from the ground up. But that will be the topic of the next post.
