Chapter 40 Chapter Six St. Benedict and Gregory the Great

The continuous wars in the sixth century and the following centuries led to the general decline of civilization. During this period, some cultural remnants of ancient Rome were mainly preserved by the church.But the Church did not do the job perfectly, for even the greatest priests of the time were inclined to fanaticism and superstition, and secular learning was considered evil.Nevertheless, the organizations of the Church created a stable system in which learning and the arts were later revived.In the age we are dealing with, there were three activities of the Christian Church which deserve special attention: first, the monastic movement; second, the influence of the papacy, especially under Gregory the Great; way to convert pagan barbarians to Christianity.Regarding the above three items, I will discuss them in turn.

Around the beginning of the fourth century, the monastic movement started in Egypt and Syria at the same time.Monasticism took two forms: the solitary hermit and the monastery-dwelling monk.St. Anthony, the first pious hermit, was born in Egypt around 250 AD and began to live in seclusion around 270 AD.After he lived alone in a hut not far from home for fifteen years, he lived in a remote desert for another twenty years.Yet his fame spread far and wide, and large crowds were eager to hear him preach.Therefore, he was born around 305 AD to preach and encouraged people to live in seclusion.He practices extremely assiduous practice, reducing food and sleep to the limit that can only sustain life.The devil often attacked him with pornographic visions, but he resolutely resisted Satan's vicious temptations.In his old age the land of Sebod was filled with hermits inspired by his example and teaching.

A few years later,—around 315 or 320 A.D., another Egyptian, Pachomias, founded the first monastery.The monks here live a collective life, have no private property, eat public meals, and observe common religious ceremonies.Monasticism won Christendom not in the manner of St. Anthony, but in this way.In the Pacomian monasteries the monks performed many jobs, chiefly agricultural labor, so as not to devote all their time to resisting the temptations of the flesh. Around the same time, monasticism also arose in Syria and Mesopotamia.Here, asceticism was practiced far more than in Egypt.St. Semian, the ascetic, and the other leading hermits were Syrians.The spread of monasticism from the East to the Greek-speaking countries is largely due to Saint Bashall (c. 360 AD).His monastery is less ascetic; it also has an orphanage and a boys' school. (Not specifically for boys preparing to become monks).

Monasticism started out as a spontaneous movement completely independent of ecclesiastical organization.It was Saint Athanasius who united monasticism and priesthood.At the same time, partly due to his influence, it was established that monks must also serve as priests.When he lived in Rome in 339 AD, he spread the movement to Western Europe.St. Jerome did much to promote the movement, and St. Augustine spread it in Africa.St. Martin of Tours also founded monasteries in Gaul, and St. Patrick in Ireland.The monastery of Iona was founded by St. Columba in AD 566.In the beginning, before the monks were incorporated into the church organization, they were a source of religious disputes.First of all, among the monks it is impossible to distinguish between sincere ascetics and those who have become ascetics because of the hardships of life and seeing that life in the monastery is more comfortable.There was another difficulty; the frenzied support often given by the monks to the bishops they favored led local synods (and even almost all Christian synods) into heresy.The Monophysite Ephesian Synod (not the Ecumenical Synod) was under a reign of terror by the monks.Had it not been for the disapproval of the Pope, the Monophysites might have won a permanent victory.But in later generations, such riots never happened again.

There seem to have been nuns as early as the middle of the third century AD, before there were no male monks. Cleanliness was considered an abomination, and lice were called "the pearls of God" and became a sign of holiness.Saints and saints pride themselves on never having water on their feet except when they have to wade across the river.In the centuries that followed, monks did many good things: they excelled in agriculture, and some maintained or revived learning.But in the early days, especially among the hermit classes, this was not the case at all.At that time, most monks did not engage in labor, did not read any books except those prescribed by religion, and treated morality with a completely negative attitude, viewing morality as avoiding crimes, especially sins of the flesh.St. Jerome did take his library to the desert, but he later considered it a crime.

In the Western monastic system, the most important figure is St. Benedict, the founder of the Benedict Order.He was born in a noble family in Umbria near Spoleto around 480 AD.At twenty he left the luxuries and pleasures of Rome, and went to a lonely cave, where he lived for three years.Since then, his life has never been so lonely.He also founded the famous Monte Cassino Monastery around 530 AD, for which he drafted the "Benedict Canon." As strict as those popular in Egypt and Syria.There was then an uneducated contest in excess of asceticism.The more extreme the austerity he practiced, the more holy he was.Benedict put an end to this competition, and declared that any austerity beyond the canons should be practiced without the permission of the abbot.The abbot is vested with great powers; his election is for life. (Within canon and orthodoxy) he ruled almost despotically over his monks.Monks can no longer transfer from one monastery to another at will, as before.Although the Benedictine monks were famous for their erudition in later generations, at first their reading was limited to books for devotional purposes.Every organization has its own life, independent of the will of its creators.The most striking example of this is the Catholic Church, which would have surprised Jesus and even Paul.The Benedictine order is a smaller example.Monks had to take a vow of poverty, obedience and chastity.Gibbon criticizes this: "Somewhere I have heard or seen a Benedictine abbot frankly confess: 'My vows of poverty bring me a hundred thousand crowns a year; His oath elevates me to a monarchical position,' but I forget the consequences of his oath of chastity." Even so, it is not all regrettable that the order has departed from the wishes of its founder, especially in academic matters. .The library of Monte Cassino was famous, and the penchant for scholarship of the late Benedictine monks contributed in many ways to the world.

St. Benedict lived at the monastery of Monte Cassino from its founding until his death in 543 AD.The abbey of Monte Cassino was sacked by the Lombards shortly before Gregory the Great, who belonged to the Benedictine order, was made pope.The monks fled to Rome; but when the fury of the Lombards subsided, they returned to Monte Cassino. We know a great deal about Benedict from the dialogues written by Pope Gregory the Great in AD 593. "He was educated in classical literature in Rome. But when he saw that many people had fallen into dissolute and dissolute lives because of the study of this kind of knowledge, he turned around and withdrew his feet that had just stepped into the world, lest he would learn too much and fall into the same trap. into the perilous abyss of godlessness: therefore he cast aside his books and his father's fortune, and with a single determination to serve God he sought some place where he might accomplish his holy desire: so he thus Learned and ignorant and unlearned and wise left home."

Immediately he acquired the power to perform miracles, the first of which was repairing a broken sieve by prayer.The townspeople hung the sieve over the church door, and "it still hung there many years later, even in the time of the Lombard invasion." He threw the sieve away and went into his cave.The place was known only to a friend, who secretly tied the food to him with a rope, to which was attached a bell to notify the saint when the food was delivered.But Satan threw a stone at the rope, which broke the rope and even the bell.Even so, the vain attempt of the enemy of mankind to cut off the food supply of the saints was unsuccessful.

After Benedict had dwelled in the cave for the number of days required by the providence of God, our Lord appeared to a certain priest on Easter; revealed to him the place of the hermit; and commanded him and the saint Have an Easter feast.About the same time; some shepherds also found him. "At first, when they stumbled upon him from the bushes, he was wearing clothes made of animal skins, and they really thought it was some kind of wild beast, but after they got acquainted with the servant of God, Many of them, through him, changed their brutish life into a life of grace, piety, and consecration."

Benedict, like other hermits, was tempted by carnal desires. "The devil brought to him a memory of a woman whom he had seen before, and this memory aroused in the soul of the servant of God a strong lust. It increased so much that it almost yielded him to pleasure, and inspired him to leave the wilderness. However, with the help of God's grace, he suddenly regained consciousness; when he saw many thick thorns and clumps of nettles growing nearby, he immediately took off his clothes, threw himself into the inside and rolled for a long time, so that when he got up , he has wretchedly stripped his body of flesh: thus he heals the wounds of the soul by the wounds of the body."

After his fame had spread far and wide, the monks of a certain monastery invited him to preside over their abbey because of the recent death of their abbot.After he took over, he forced them to abide by strict precepts, so that all the monks decided to poison him with a cup of poisoned wine in a fit of anger.However, the cup shattered as soon as he made a cross on the rim.So he went back into the wilderness again. The miracle of the sieve was not the only useful miracle performed by St. Benedict.One day, a kind-hearted Goth used a hooked sickle to slash thorns, and the sickle suddenly fell off the handle and fell into the deep water.After Benedict learned about it, he put the handle of the sickle into the water, and the head of the sickle immediately floated up and automatically connected to the handle. A neighboring priest, jealous of the saint's fame, gave him a piece of poisoned bread.But Benedict learned strangely that it was a piece of poison.He is used to feeding a crow.When the crow came on the day of the trouble, the saint said to it, "I command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to take this loaf of bread and leave it somewhere where no human can go." He did, and when it flew back he fed it the usual food for the day.The wicked priest, seeing that he could not kill Benedict's body, decided to kill his soul, and sent seven naked young women into his monastery.Fearful that some young monks might be tempted to sin, the saint went away, so that the wicked priest would no longer have a motive for such evil.Later, the vicious priest was crushed to death when the ceiling of his house collapsed.At this time a monk tracked down Benedict to tell him the news, and while expressing his pleasure, the monk begged him to return to his former monastery.Benedict mourned the death of the perpetrator, and taught penance to the rejoicing monk. Gregory not only talked about some of the miracles performed by St. Benedict, but also took pleasure in describing some deeds in St. Benedict's life from time to time.When he finally returned to Monte Cassino after founding twelve monasteries, there was a chapel in honor of Apollo, still used by the villagers for pagan worship. "Even then, these mad heathen hordes still offered their sinful sacrifices." Benedict destroyed their altar, replaced it with a church, and converted the nearby heathen Christianity.At this point Satan was troubled: "This old enemy of mankind, who did not regard this as a good thing, now appears not in private, or in dreams, but in public before the eyes of the Holy Father, and speaks out that he has hurt it. Monks Although its noise was heard, its form was not seen: but when the venerable godfather spoke to them, Satan appeared in front of him in a fierce and cruel posture, with teeth and claws, steam from his mouth, and flames from his eyes. As if to tear him apart: all the monks heard what the devil said to him; first he called the name of the saint, but we, the servant of God, did not bother to answer it, so it began There was a burst of cynicism: it called 'Blessed Bennett' first, but seeing that he never answered it, it changed its tone and said, 'Cursed, not Blessed Bennett' T: What have you to do with me? Why do you persecute me like this?'” This ends the story; from this it is inferred that Satan finally gave up his struggle in despair. I have included longer quotes from these conversations.Their importance is threefold.First, the canons of St. Benedict, which later became the model for all monasteries in Western Europe (except those in Ireland, or some monasteries founded by the Irish).Yet these dialogues are our main source of knowledge about the life of St. Benedict.Second, these dialogues paint the most vivid picture of the spiritual realm of the most civilized peoples at the end of the sixth century AD.Thirdly, these dialogues were written by Pope Gregory the Great, the fourth and last Doctor of the Church in Western Europe, and the most eminent pope in politics.We will focus on him below. Deputy Superintendent of Northampton, W. H．Rev. Hutton asserted that Gregory the Great was the greatest man of the sixth century; he said that only the Emperor Justinian and St. Benedict were his rivals.The three of them certainly had a profound influence on future ages: Justinian by his code, (not by his martial arts, for those were temporary); Benedict by his canons; and Gregory the Great was due to the increase in the power of the Holy See brought about by him.In those dialogues I have quoted, he appears childish and gullible though.But as a statesman he was shrewd, expert and clearly aware of what he could achieve in the face of a complex, ever-changing world.The contrast is rather surprising: the most powerful in action are often second in spirit. Gregory the Great, the first Pope named after Gregory, was born in a wealthy noble family in Rome around 540 AD. His grandfather seemed to have been Pope after he became widowed.He himself had a palace and great property in his youth.He had what was considered a good education at the time, although this did not include a knowledge of Greek, which he never learned, although he lived in Constantinople for six years.In 573 AD, he was the mayor of Rome, but because religion needed him, he resigned as mayor and donated all his family wealth to build monasteries and help the poor.He turned his palace into a monastery, and himself a Benedictine priest.He devoted himself to piety and asceticism to the detriment of his health for a long time.Pope Peracuse II took a fancy to his political genius and sent him to live in Constantinople as his plenipotentiary.Because Rome has surrendered to Constantinople in name since the time of Justinian.Gregory lived in Constantinople from 579 to 585 AD. In the court of the Eastern Roman emperor, he represented the interests of the Holy See on the one hand, and on the other hand represented the theology of the Holy See in constant discussions with the monks of the Eastern Roman Empire. The monks of the Western Roman Empire were more prone to heresy.At this time the Archbishop of Constantinople asserted the false view that our resurrected bodies would be untouchable.Gregory the Great finally saved the Emperor from straying from his true faith.Even so, he failed to persuade the emperor to send troops to attack the Lombards, thereby accomplishing the main purpose of his mission. For five years from 585 to 590 AD Gregory was Abbot of his monastery.After the Pope died, Gregory succeeded him as the new Pope.Those were tough times.But it is precisely because of the chaos of the times that an able statesman is given great opportunity.The Lombards are plundering Italy; Spain and Africa, with Byzantine decay, Visigoth slump, and Moorish plunder, are plunged into a state of anarchy.In France there is a war between North and South.Although Britain believed in Christianity under Roman rule, it turned to paganism after the invasion.There are still remnants of the Arians, and the heresy of the "Three Prohibitions" has not yet been wiped out.These troubled times affected even a group of bishops, and made many of them far from being role models for the people.Priesthood buying and selling prevailed everywhere, and until the second half of the eleventh century A.D. was still an evil in desperate need of correction. Gregory wrestled with all his vigor and intelligence to the root of all these difficulties.Before his succession as Pope, the Bishop of Rome, though recognized as the highest figure in the hierarchy, was not considered to have any jurisdiction outside his diocese.For example, St. Ambrose had gotten along very well with the Pope, but he obviously did not regard himself as a subordinate of the Pope's authority.Gregory, partly by his own moral character, and partly by the prevailing anarchy of the time, managed to assert his authority, not only recognized by all Western clergy, but even, to a lesser extent, Recognition of Eastern priests.Throughout the Roman world he exercised his authority chiefly by means of correspondence with bishops and secular rulers, but sometimes by other means.His canonical canons, containing exhortations to bishops, exerted great influence throughout the early Middle Ages.This canon was intended as a guide to the office of the bishops, and was accepted by them as such.The book was originally written for the bishop of Ravenna, but at the same time he sent it to the bishop of Sabija.Under Charlemagne, bishops were only granted this book at the time of their ordination.Alfred the Great translated the book into Anglo-Saxon.In Eastern Rome, it was published in Greek, and it gave sound, if not surprising, advice to bishops, such as admonishing them not to neglect their duties.At the same time, the book also tells them not to criticize those rulers, if they do not follow the advice of the church, then they must be constantly threatened by the fire of hell. The letters of Gregory the Great are very interesting, they not only reveal his character, but also describe his time.Except for the emperor and the ladies of the Byzantine court, his tone was like that of a headmaster—sometimes praising, often reprimanding, never having the slightest hesitation about his authority to issue orders. Let us take for example his letter written in AD 599.The first was his letter to the bishop of Cagliari on the island of Sardinia.Although the man is old, he is morally corrupt.Part of the letter goes like this: "I was told that you went out with the plow to turn up the giver's crops before the solemn mass on Sunday... and after the solemn mass you unscrupulously pulled up the landmarks of the land...if You realize that we forgive you for your gray hair, so, old man, do yourself a favor in the future, and don't be rash in your conduct, or insolent in your manner." He also wrote to the Sardinian secular circles on this subject at the same time. authority figures.The bishop was reprimanded for charging funeral expenses; later he was reprimanded for allowing a converted Jew to place a cross and a statue of the Virgin in a synagogue.In addition, Gregory learned that the bishop and another bishop of Sardinia traveled without the permission of the archbishop; of course, this must be forbidden.Then came a very severe letter to the governor of Dalmacia, which said: "We do not see where you can please God or man"; "Since you want to please us, you should In such a thing, satisfy your Savior with all your heart and tears." What the poor man did, I know nothing. The following letter is addressed to the Governor of Italy, Carinix.The letter congratulated him on his victory over the Slavs and instructed him how to deal with the heretics in Istria who violated the three prohibitions.He also wrote to Bishop Ravenna on this subject.Once, as an exception, we have a letter written by Gregory to the Bishop of Syracuse, in his own defence, without accusations of others.The issues discussed this time are of great significance.The question is whether to say hallelujah at a certain point in the mass.Gregory says that his usage was not the result of submission to the Byzantine government, as the Bishop of Syracuse suggested, but that it originated in St. James via Jerome the Blessed.So those who assume that he yields too much to Greek usage are mistaken. (A question similar to this, one of the reasons for the division of Russian Old Christians) There are many letters to barbarian rulers and rulers, male and female.The Empress Brunighild of the Franks asked for herself a cassock of white wool like that given to a bishop of France.Gregory was willing to grant her request; but unfortunately the messengers she sent belonged to the secessionists.He wrote to the Lombard king Aguilulev congratulating him on his peace with the enemy.He wrote: "For, if there is no peace, what is to be gained but the continued bloodshed of the poor peasants, whose labors are profitable to both; The result?" At the same time, he also wrote to Ajilulev's wife, Empress Theodlinda, asking her to persuade her husband to persist in doing good.He wrote again to Bruni Hillard condemning two events in her country.One is that laymen can be promoted to bishops immediately without the probationary period of ordinary priests; the other is to allow Jews to own Christians as slaves.He wrote to Theodoric and Theodebert, two kings of the Frankish kingdom, that, with the exemplary piety of the Franks, he would have said only consoling things, but he could not help but must Point out that the sin of priesthood commerce was prevalent in their kingdom.He also wrote to the Bishop of Turin about his wrongs.He wrote a letter of downright flattery to the barbarian ruler; it was addressed to Richard, king of the Visigoths, a former Arian who converted to Catholicism in A.D. 587.For this, the Pope awarded him a small key, "This small key contains the iron from the chain with which the Holy Apostle Peter was imprisoned, and it can bring blessings from the most holy body of the Holy Apostle Peter blessed by God. The chains that bound his neck and made him martyrdom absolve your family from all sin." I hope that His Majesty the King accepts this gift. Concerning the Heretic Synod at Ephesus, he gave the following instructions to the Bishop of Antioch, in which he said: "We have heard that in the Eastern Church no one can be ordained unless he is bribed with money." —The bishop must do everything in his power to rectify this state of affairs.The bishop of Marseilles was reprimanded for destroying some revered idols: it is true that idolatry is wrong, but idols are useful things, and therefore should be respected.Two bishops of Gaul were condemned for a woman who had been made a nun and then forced into marriage. "If this is the case,...you two should engage in wage labor, because you are not worthy to be pastors." The above is a small part of the letters he sent during the year.As he lamented in a letter this year (cXXI), it is no wonder that he cannot find time for religious meditation. Gregory did not appreciate worldly learning.In his letter to Desiderius, Bishop of Viennese, France, he said: "We have heard a piece of news that is ashamed to mention. It is said that your 'brothers' [which are you] are accustomed to Some people explain grammar. We are not only displeased with this, but are so irritated that we turn all that has been said before into sighs and lamentations, for Jupiter can never be spoken of in praise of Christ. . . . It is because this kind of thing is extremely cursed when it is related to priests, so it is even more necessary to thoroughly investigate the truth of this matter through real evidence." Hostility to pagan learning in the church persisted for at least four centuries until the time of Gelbert, Sylvester II.From the eleventh century onwards, the church had a good impression of secular scholarship. Gregory's attitude towards the emperor was more reverent than that of the barbarian kings.He wrote to a correspondent in Constantinople: "Whatsoever the most pious emperor loves, whatever he commands, is within his power. How he decides, Do what you want. As long as he doesn't implicate us in dismissal [in relation to orthodox bishops]. And then, if what he's doing is legal, we're going to follow. If it's not, we're going to suffer. , but only as long as we ourselves do not commit crimes." Emperor Maurice was deposed by a rebellion led by Phocas, an unknown centurion.So the upstart won the throne.Not only did he kill his five princes in front of Moris, but he also killed the elderly father afterwards.The Archbishop of Constantinople, who had no other choice but to die in his post, of course had to crown Phocas.But it is even more astonishing that Gregory, who lived far from the safety of life in Rome, should write disgusting flattery to the usurper and his wife.In his letter he wrote: "There is this difference between kings of nations who are masters of slaves, and emperors of republics who are masters of free men...May the Almighty God keeps your godly heart [that is, you] abiding in his favor in every thought and deed; may the Holy Spirit who dwells in your heart guide you in every cause that should be pursued with justice and mercy." In The letter to Phocas's wife, Queen Lienza, said: "The burden that has been on our necks for a long time has been lifted, and the fetters of the emperor's power and gentleness have been replaced. For the peace of your empire, what tongue is there? What heart can express all the gratitude we owe to God." One might think that Maurice was a wicked man; but he was a very good old man.Those who excuse Gregory's apologists prevaricate that he did not know Phocas' atrocities; but he did know the customary conduct of Byzantine usurpers, and he did not wait to find out whether Phocas was an exception or not. The conversion of pagans was important to the growth of the church's influence.Before the end of the fourth century A.D. Urephaeras or Urephaera had converted the Goths—but, unfortunately, they were converted to the Arius sect of the Vandals.After Theodoric's death, however, the Goths gradually converted to Catholicism: the king of the Visigoths, as we have seen, adopted the Orthodox faith during Gregory's time.The Franks had converted to Catholicism from the time of Clovis.The Irish were also converted by St. Patrick before the fall of the Western Roman Empire.Patrick, a Somerset squire, lived among them from A.D. 432 until his death in 461.The Irish did much missionary work in Scotland and in the north of England in succession.The greatest missionary in these works was St. Columba; then there was Columbane, who wrote a long letter to Pope Gregory on the date of Easter and other important questions.Apart from Northumbria, Gregory noted the conversion of England in particular.Everyone knows how he saw two boys with blond hair and blue beads in the slave market in Rome before he became Pope.When he was told that the boys were Angles, he promptly replied, "No, it is Angel." After he became Pope, he sent St. Augustine to Kent to persuade them.In regard to this occasion he wrote many letters to Augustine, to Albert Dilbert, the Anglo king, and others.He forbade the destruction of pagan temples in England, but ordered that their idols be destroyed and dedicated to God for churches.St. Augustine consulted the Pope on matters such as whether cousins ​​could marry, whether couples who had sex at night could enter church (Yes, Gregory said, provided they had been washed), and so on.The mission was a success as far as we know, and that is why we are Christians to this day.The period under consideration is characterized by the fact that the great men of our time, though lesser than those of other ages, have had a more profound influence on the future.The long and far-reaching influence of Roman law, monasticism, and the Holy See is mainly due to Justinian, Benedict, and Gregory.The men of the sixth century, though less civilized than their predecessors, were far more civilized than those of the next four centuries, and succeeded in instituting many institutions which at last tamed the barbarians.It is worth our attention that two of the above three people were born in the nobility of Rome, while the third one was the Roman emperor.Gregory was, in a correct sense, the last of the Romans.His commanding tone, though dictated by his office, had its instinctive roots in the pride of the Roman nobility.After him, the city of Rome produced no great man for many ages.But in the decline of the city of Rome, it succeeded in chaining the souls of its conquerors: the reverence they felt for the seat of Peter stemmed from their awe of the throne of Caesar.In the East, the course of history is different.The year Muhammad was born coincided with Gregory's nearly thirty years of age.