THE Catholic church established itself as an institution in the final centuries of the Roman Empire. Initially a Jewish sect persecuted in the first centuries after Christ, Christianity saw the persecution ended with the signing of the Milan edict, in 313 d. a., by Emperor Constantino. Decades later, Christianity was made official as the religion of the Roman Empire by the Edict of Thessalonica, signed by Emperor Theodosius in 380 d. Ç.
Once established as an official religion, the Catholic Church faced the challenges of heresies, which threatened to fragment the Church into diverse groups, each advocating a different theological vision. Heresies, in the understanding of the Catholic Church, are doctrines that are not in accordance with traditional orthodoxy.established by the Fathers of the Church.
During this period, one of these most prominent heretical groups was the Arianism. Arising from the preachings of Arius, Arianism denied the existence of the concept of Trinity – concept of Christianity which states that the Father, the Son (Christ) and the Holy Spirit share the same substance, that is, the concept of the Trinity states that there is one God, but manifested in three people.
Arius, on the contrary, asserted that Christ did not originate in the same substance as the Father. Even considering Christ a divine figure, Arius established that he was inferior to the Father. Arianism was such a problem that important church fathers such as St. Athanasius were persecuted by the Arians.
Arianism had great popular appeal and was considered a threat to the Catholic Church for many centuries, including after the germanic peoples have been converted by the preaching of Úfilas. Ulfilas was a bishop of Goth origin (of the Goth people) and converted to Arianism during his lifetime (approximately year 360). From then on, he began to preach as a missionary to various Germanic peoples and managed to convert several of these peoples (such as the Visigoths, for example) to Arianism.
The growth of Arianism was only contained after the conversion of the francs to Catholicism. The establishment of the concepts and doctrine of the Catholic Church at that time was attributed to the Church Fathers, standing out HolyAugustine, Irenaeusinlion, JoãoChrysostom, himself HolyAthanasius etc.
Emergence of Islam
the christanism suffered another setback with the emergence and growth of Islam. Emerging in 622, in the Arabian Peninsula, Islam grew rapidly and conquered countless regions based on its concept of Saint war, the Jihad. Thus, regions of strong Christian influence, such as Palestine and North Africa, were conquered and had any trace of Christian influence erased.O. The threat to IgCatholic reja became larger when the Moors (peoples of North Africa who were Islamicized) invaded the Iberian Peninsula, conquering it in 711.
Muslim expansion in Europe came to threaten the Franks and was only contained in the Battle of Poitiers, when Carlos Martel defeated the Moors in 732 and definitively ended the expansion of Muslims across Europe. The Iberian Peninsula was under Muslim control until the 15th century.
Great Schism
to measurethe one that the Catholic Church was establishing itself, thedoctrinal ferocity with the Church of the East Byzantine were increasing. The Byzantine Church did not accept recognizing the ecclesiastical authority instituted in Rome and defended the Church installed in Constantinople. In addition to “political” issues, there were strong theological differences between the Churches established in Rome and Constantinople. This friction between the two Churches led to the Great Schism of the East in 1054, when the Church of Constantinople made official its disassociation from the Church established in Rome and founded the Church Orthodox.
Crusades
At Crusades they were military undertakings carried out by Christian Western Europe against Muslim-controlled possessions in the East, above all in Palestine. The main objective of the Crusades, from a religious point of view, was to ensure control of the holy sepulcher and from some regions to enable the arrival of Christian pilgrims. Until then, Christian pilgrims traveling to Palestine were subject to numerous risks and tolls imposed by Muslims.
Furthermore, there was a political issue in calling the Crusades. The Catholic Church was looking for a way to channel the growing violence displayed by the nobility in European courts. There were, in the period, manythe land disputes between the nobles and by theother futile reasons. Thus, the concept of WarFair, in which the Church permitted and justified war, provided it was against the infidels. The Church still guaranteed eternal salvation for those who participated in the Crusades.
These Crusades were called by the pope Uhorseradish II in 1095. The First Crusade was the only one that generated a positive balance for Christians, mainly due to the conquest of the city of Jerusalem by the Frankish troops in 1099. However, Jerusalem would be reconquered by Muslims led by Saladin in 1187. The last Christian strongholds in the East were reconquered by the Muslims in 1291.
Medieval Heresies
Castle of Lastours, where many Cathars took refuge during the Albigensian Crusade
From the 12th century onwards, a new flow of heresies it developed in Europe to the point where some historians call the thirteenth century the heretical century. These movements were strongly supported by the popular strata of Western Europe and, in general, questioned the Church's accumulation of wealth, in addition to the countless demonstrations of corruption.
Heresies, at first, were fought peacefully by the Church, especially through preaching, exhortation and excommunication. However, these measures had little influence and, from Gregory IX onwards, the Court of the Holy Office, in 1229. The function of the Inquisitorial Court was to investigate, judge and condemn those involved in heretical movements.
To this end, the Church authorized the use of techniques of torture against the accused in order to obtain forced confessions. Those who were found guilty and showed no repentance were condemned to death at the stake. Historians claim that the Inquisition was responsible for thousands of deaths, but it is unclear how many were killed.
One of the main heresies of the medieval period was the catharism, which was badvery popular in the south of France and spread to such an extent that it was necessary to convene a Crusade (Albigensian Crusade) by the Church. For 20 years, this Crusade attacked the Cathar majority regions. Catharism completely disappeared from France during the 14th century.
Medieval heresies announced, in part, the movement of Protestant Reformation, which was mainly motivated by the corruption of the Catholic Church and took place in the 16th century.
By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History
