The Rise of the Papacy

15 February 2009

The Rise of the Papacy

One of the most important aspects of the history of Christianity is the rise of the church government, controlled by the Pope. Though evangelical Protestants believe that the Catholic Church is in great error in most areas of its institution, the fact is that the universal church holds a great deal of history for the Protestants, when we are reminded that Martin Luther hung his 95 Theses on the church door the 31st of October, 1517 at the All Saints Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Due to this being the era in between Christ’s incarnation, in which He first taught the Gospel, with the very early church stemming from that time, and the Protestant Evangelical Church we know today, bifurcating from the extensive reach of the Catholic Church, we need to know exactly where we came from and what were the processes in which it was developed.
From the time which Constantine adopted Christianity as his belief, and applied it to his kingdom, the church grew to great authority, both in the religious sphere and in the political realm. Let us now examine the many steps, people and events in which made this enormous establishment what it is today.
In 324 A.D. Constantine established Christianity as the religion of the State, and in 324 A.D. he made the Byzantium the capital of the Empire, wherein he reconstructed the city and changed the name to Constantinople.# This action assisted the split up of the Empire between the East and the West, and created a refuge for Greco-Roman culture, which would come about later in the history of the Papacy.# He also issued several edicts during this time that allowed confiscated property to be restored and used by the church.# During his reign great intellectual powers and theological thought came to exist in the empire. He died in 337 A.D.; however, and at this time his sons inherited the empire, which was in a state of upheaval and civil war. # They did, however, ban paganism and the attendance of any Pagan temples.# The Emperor Gratian even went as far as to renounce the title of Pontifex Maximux, which means “Greatest Pontiff.”# In 360 A.D. the empire came under the rule of Julian, a descendent of Constantine, who was raised Christian, but denounced his faith in order to declare himself Pagan, and once again, Christianity was put to flight.# However his term was short, and Jovian, his successor, restored the religion in 363 A.D.# During the period of 392 A.D. to 395 A.D. Theodosius reigned over the empire, and in this time the Christian Church really increased in authority.# This is demonstrated by the action of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who when Theodosius ordered the persecution of Christians in Thessalonica, approached the emperor and besought him to, in public, admit his shame.# At this time, Theodosius obeyed St. Ambrose’s humble advice and made Paganism illegal, and anyone who continued to venerate false idols faced stern consequences.# Later, in 529 A.D. Justinian ordered all schools of philosophy closed in Athens to curtail the infiltration of paganism.#
During this time and shortly after, the Goths, Germanics, Lombards, Vandals, Burgundians, Franks and Saxons invaded Italy and converted to Christianity.# Throughout this period of history, the Roman Empire fell or was absorbed into these nations, and this became a melting pot of culture, and at the same time, Greek culture also was being distributed and the advancement of Christianity was massive.# As Arnold Toynbee put it, “A landslide sets in towards the rising institution, and its speed and scope is regulated by the pace at which the disintegrating society collapses.”# The preaching and teaching of Christianity was now reaching territories, which it would have never otherwise been accessible. The church councils had previously set doctrine and governments, which the church did go by, but with the emersion of the Roman Empire with that of its conquerors, the foundation of reconciliation of Church and State was laid. #
Toynbee also proceeds to say:
The roles of church and civilization are now reversed, and the church, which previously, in the ‘conceptive’ phase, had drawn vitality from an old civilization, and, in the ‘gestative’ phase, had navigated the course through the storms of the interregnum, proceeds to give out vitality to the new civilization conceived within its womb. We can watch this creative energy flowing out, under religious auspices, into secular channels on the economic and political, as well as the cultural planes of social life.#
The economic plane, according to Toynbee, is credited with the churches belief in hard work.# He also refers to St. Benedict’s Rule, which states, “Idleness is the enemy of the soul” in Chapter 48 of the document, entitled “On the Daily Manuel Labor.”# And he also recognizes that the Order of Saint Benedict led to the foundation of an “agricultural and industrial superstructure” piloting the way to the Modern Western capitalist economy we have experienced for so many years.# Certainly, this stimulated economy, within the Catholic governed vicinity helped the Papacy grow.
We have examined the positive ramifications of the growth of the papacy, such as the freedom to worship without fear of persecution, as the Edict of Milan, set forth by Constantine legalized Christianity, and the prohibition of paganism in the Empire with Constantine’s sons banning Paganism and attendance of Pagan temples, and Theodosius making Paganism illegal with the punishment of severe punishment. Christianity actually was spread very far; much farther than could have been done without the emersion of the Roman Empire with other kingdoms, and their conversion. The rise of the Papacy actually benefited the economy of the West by the increase of agriculturalism and industrialism, which was the equivalent to modern capitalism, the politics was benefited in that the Papacy offered religious freedom and at the same time advantages from the State without any negative aspects, and the cultural facet provided the best of all cultures in the great Western melting pot.
There are, however, disadvantages to such a central authoritative power. The administration, in exchange for rank, security and assistance required the entitlement to meddle in sacred and theological affairs.# Also, after gaining such control, frequently became such a condescending tormenter of Paganism as the Pagan religious system had been of the Christian faith.#
As with all sects of all things, there are beneficial and corrupt aspects of each. The Bible is full of opposites – darkness and light, good and evil, life and death, etc., and so there must be opposite poles of the Papacy. I mentioned above some of the bad aspects of the institution, but as I mentioned in my introduction, the best benefit, which came from the Papacy is the Protestant Church, wherein the candor of Scriptures is proclaimed.

© 2010 Kimberly Padilla, A.A Religion