Week 9 · AD 801–900
Words, Councils, and Rivals
Slavonic worship, rival councils, and debates over the Lord’s Supper
This week
Worship, the Supper, and rival councils
- Worship in Slavonic, approved by a pope in 880
- Baptism of a Bulgarian khan and a Danish king
- Debates over the Lord’s Supper and predestination
- Five councils, and the rivalry of Photius and Ignatius
- The Treaty of Verdun and the wider world
Christ in Majesty
Unknown illuminator at Tours, about 849–851. Christ with the four Evangelist symbols, from the Gospels of Lothair.
Church life
Worship in a known language, and Baptism of rulers.
Church life
Worship in the people’s language
- In June 880, Pope John VIII approves Mass and Bible readings in Slavonic
- Constantine (Cyril) made the Slavonic alphabet, and Slavs proclaim Christ’s deeds in their own tongue
- The Gospel is read first in Latin, then in Slavonic
- Ordinary people hear Christ preached in words they know
Christ and the sacraments
Two rulers and Baptism
- Khan Boris of Bulgaria accepts Baptism from Greek clergy, about 865
- In 866, Pope Nicholas I answers 106 Bulgarian questions, and a Baptism in the Trinity’s name stands
- After Alfred beats his army at Edington in 878, the Danish king Guthrum accepts Baptism
- Alfred is his godfather and lifts him from the font at Aller
Controversy
Christ in the Supper, and predestination
Christ and the sacraments
Two monks on the Lord’s Supper
- Paschasius of Corbie: Christ gives his real flesh and blood in the Supper
- He ties the gift to Christ’s words, “given for you”
- Ratramnus of Corbie: the bread and wine are a “figure” and a “pledge”
- Ratramnus calls the risen body “the truth”
Controversy
Gottschalk and predestination
- Gottschalk, a Saxon monk, taught “double predestination”: God chose some for life, others for death
- The Synod of Mainz condemns him on 1 October 848, and Hincmar holds him prisoner
- A synod at Quierzy in 849 beats him, removes him from the priesthood, and orders his books burned
- Hincmar taught that God wills all to be saved, and that Christ died for all
Councils and events
Five councils, and two claims to be the eighth.
Councils and events
Constantinople, 843
- Empress Theodora and Patriarch (chief bishop) Methodios end the ban on icons (holy pictures)
- A local synod (church meeting) renews the decree of Nicaea II (787)
- The East keeps the Feast of Orthodoxy on the first Sunday of Lent
- Lutheran classification: Mixed
Councils and events
Two regional synods on predestination
- Quierzy, 853: four chapters by Hincmar say God chose some for life
- Quierzy, 853: Christ died for all, though unbelief keeps some from his gift
- Valence, 855: refuses to approve Hincmar’s chapters, and teaches a two-fold predestination
- Lutheran classification: Mixed for both Quierzy, 853 and Valence, 855
Councils and events
Constantinople, 869–870 and 879–880
- 869–870: Pope Hadrian II’s envoys (legates) condemn Photius and uphold Ignatius
- Canon 3 honors Christ’s icon as the Gospel book, and canon 21 names the pope first in honor
- Lutheran classification for 869–870: Mixed
- 879–880: this council restores Photius and confirms Nicaea II (787)
- Its Horos (rule of faith) bans changing the Creed, but never names the Filioque (“and from the Son”)
- Lutheran classification for 879–880: Mixed
Major people
Missionaries, patriarchs, popes, and monks
Major people
Key figures of the century
- Cyril and Methodius, brothers from Thessalonica, sent to Moravia in 863
- Photius, patriarch of Constantinople in 858–867 and 877–886, a scholar
- Ignatius, Photius’s rival, restored to office by Emperor Basil I
- Nicholas I, pope 858–867, who claimed the right to judge Eastern patriarchs
- Theodora, empress, who ended the ban on icons with Methodios I
- Ansgar, “apostle of the North,” first bishop of Hamburg in 831
- Gottschalk, Saxon monk who taught double predestination
- Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, who held Gottschalk prisoner
Major people
The Photian dispute
- 858: Photius becomes patriarch, and Ignatius loses the office
- Pope Nicholas I backs Ignatius and claims the right to judge the case
- A Roman synod in 863 deposes Photius, and in 867 Photius’s council deposes Nicholas
- Emperor Basil I restores Ignatius, and a council meets in 869–870
Wider world
Empire, learning, and print in the same century
Wider world
Verdun and the emperor’s title
- 843: the Treaty of Verdun divides Charlemagne’s empire among his three grandsons
- Lothair takes Italy, the middle lands, and the emperor’s title
- Louis the German takes the east, and Charles the Bald takes the west
- Lothair’s Gospels, painted at Tours about 849–851, show him enthroned
Confessional Lutheran connection
How the Lutheran Confessions judge these debates
Confessional Lutheran connection
Christ alone rules the church
- Augsburg III confesses one Christ
- Photius and Nicholas each claimed the right to depose the other
- Smalcald Articles II: Christ alone is head of the church
- Winning a church fight does not prove a doctrine right
Confessional Lutheran connection
Baptism and the Supper
- The Trinity’s name and Christ’s word make a Baptism, not the baptizer’s rank or war pressure
- Lutherans confess the true body and blood of Christ in the Supper
- Ask how the union of Christ’s two natures bears on the gift he promises
For discussion
Why does winning a church fight not prove a doctrine right?