• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

SCHISM beach at Ostia, sailed up the Tiber, and pillaged the areas these grounds by the inhabitants of the March of Ancona of Rome outside the Aurelian wall, including the basili- (Registres, no. 73) and the diocese of Tarragona (no. cas of ST. PETER’S and ST. PAUL’S OUTSIDE THE WALLS. 3731), and gave out authorizations for trading to the in- The response was swift and effective. After GREGORY IV habitants of the diocese of Cuenca (no. 3303), Mallorca built, unsuccessfully, a fortress at Ostia (Gregoriopolis), (no. 3731), and the Latin Empire of Constantinople (nos. LEO IV fortified the Leonine City in Rome and in 854 re- 6586 and 6831). built and fortified Centumcellae on the present site of Religious and intellectual relations had to be ap- Civitavecchia (Leopolis). JOHN VIII fortified St. Paul’s proached with similar subtlety. Any attempt at mission- Outside the Walls and acquired a navy. In 849, another ary activity was vain, but a better acquaintance with raid was checked by the fleets of Naples and Amalfi off Islam was soon acquired. The Qur’an was translated on Ostia. the initiative of the abbot of Cluny in 1141–3. Ignorance The danger was more serious in southern Italy, whose was rife, and on both sides. Yet for all the Christians who political dismemberment would later ensure the Nor- continued to believe that Muhammad worshiped Venus mans’ success. Here the Saracens settled in. In 838, they and Apollo and that the “Mohammedans” were pagans occupied Brindisi and Taranto; from there, the au- or heretics, there were many intellectuals of the 13th tonomous Byzantine duchy of Naples called on their help century who proclaimed their admiration for Arab sci- against the Lombards of Benevento. In 841, they de- ence. stroyed Capua and settled in Bari for some 30 years. The The real contacts were through Spain rather than emperor’s son, Louis II, came down to fight them, aided Rome, yet the papal court was in a good position to be- by the Byzantines. The results were mixed. Pope John come acquainted with Islam. Anasthasius Bibliothecar- VIII pursued the struggle, with the agreement and in the ius in the 9th century was still receiving Byzantine place of the new emperor, Charles the Bald. He suc- works of uneven reliability. Nonetheless, GREGORY VII ceeded in drawing the bishop of Naples away from the wrote in 1076 to Prince Al-Nasir on the consecration of a Saracen camp. Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi paid them trib- bishop in the Algerian port of Bougie: “We owe this ute. Various Saracen bands set up camp as far as Sabina charity, you and I, to each other even more than we owe and the mouth of the Garigliano. it to other peoples, since we recognize and confess, in a The great abbeys were sacked: San Vicenzo of the different way it is true, one God whom we praise and Volturno in 881, Monte Cassino in 883, Farfa in 897. worship each day as the creator of the ages and master of Pressure came to a head in the years 880–910, threaten- this world.” Words written for the occasion, certainly, but ing Roman pilgrimages and devastating the great estates. which nevertheless reflect the clear-eyed consciousness The papacy reacted with the aid of the Roman barons, the of a common Abrahamic origin. Byzantine fleet, and the cities of the Campagna, brought Olivier Guyotjeannin together by JOHN X. In August 915, the raiders’ lair at Garigliano was attacked and destroyed and the area Bibliography around it mopped up. The danger moved toward northern Cahen, C. Orient et Occident au temps des croisades, Italy and Provence and pulled back to the extreme south Paris, 1983 (with bibliography). of Italy. Cilento, N. “I Saraceni nell’Italia meridionale nei secoli In the 11th century, the papacy supported various oper- IX e X,” Archivo storico per le provincie napoletani, ations in which “reconquest” contested with piracy. In 77 (1959), 109–22, repr. in Italia meridionale 1016, BENEDICT VIII personally took part in the naval longabarda, Milan-Naples, 1971, 135–66. battle of Luni, which allowed the forces of Pisa and Toubert, P. Les Structures du Latium médiéval, Rome, 2 Genoa to win Sardinia. Papal consent may have been vols., 1973 (BEFAR, 221), 311–12, 970–3. given in 1087 to the short-lived sack of Mahdia (Tunisia) von Wartburg, W. Franzözisches etymologisches and certainly, in 1092, to the Pisan seizure of Corsica. In Wöprterbuch, 11 (1964), 217–21. 1113–14, Paschal II gave the Cross to the participants in a raid, organized by Pisa, against the Balearics. Now cru- sade was in the air. SCHISM. Throughout the history of the Catholic From then on, the papacy had to act on another front. It Church, and, as defined by it, schism has in its broadest had to continually renew the basically ineffective prohibi- sense meant a separation from the ecclesiastical commu- tion against Christian trade with Islam: wood, arms, tex- nion. However, it differs from APOSTASY and HERESY in tiles, horses, slaves (Slavs, who were also Christians— that the separation does not involve a question of truth of one cannot always be particular), as well as spices, belief or a doctrine demanding submission. In the re- precious textiles, and gold. Letters registered by the papal stricted sense that has prevailed in canon law, the term chancery under INNOCENT IV (1243–54), demonstrate signifies refusal to submit to the pope or to be in com- how the pope lifted the excommunication incurred on munion with the members of the Church subject to him 1393 SCHISM (canon 751 of the 1983 CODE OF CANON LAW). In short, Church. The bishop of Carthage, St. Cyprian, believed and as a practical matter, the offense of schism, for one that they should be reconciled, after a strict penance, baptized, consists in separating oneself from the unity of basing his argument on the power Christ conferred on the Church. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the unity the Church to bind and unbind on earth. On this point, he of the Church comes about from the union of its members opposed the Roman theologian Novatian, who advocated among themselves and their union with their head, the uncompromising severity. Condemned by a council pope (Summa theologica, IIa-IIae. Q.39, art. 1). There- summoned by Pope CORNELIUS (251–3) and held in fore, a schismatic is one who separates himself from one Rome in 251, Novatian refused to submit and founded a or the other of these unions, and does so knowingly and schismatic Church that survived up to the 7th century, doggedly (pertinaciter). some of its communities extending to Alexandria. Thus, a clearly declared intention and a demonstration Donatism. Bishop of Numidia in North Africa, Dona- of seriousness are demanded. The baptized person must tus disputed the validity of the accession of Caecilian to give evidence, by clear actions, of his desire for separa- the bishopric of Carthage (312), accusing him of turning tion (unlike schismatic thinking, which is simply a fault, the Scriptures over to Emperor Diocletian during the not an offense incurring censure), and he or she must ex- persecutions of the early 4th century. Donatus had an- press a repeated and systematic refusal to acknowledge other bishop elected to the position, to which he himself the authority of the Church (unlike disobedience, which soon succeeded. Condemned by the Council of Arles in can be merely a transitory act). For Catholic schismatics, 314, Donatus attracted a large part of the then important the penalty provided is EXCOMMUNICATION latae senten- Numidian Church into a schismatic movement. This be- tiae (today formulated in canon 1364 of the Code of came even stronger after his exile and his death in 355. 1983). At a colloquy organized by Emperor Honorius in Carthage, St. Augustine won the debate with the Do- Schisms of the First Centuries A.D. The early centuries natists, whose last remnants were annihilated in the Van- of the history of the Church were a time of considerable dals’ raids on North Africa from 430. doctrinal and theological turmoil, in which orthodox opinion—which in those days was chiefly that of the The Byzantine Schism. The first great historic rupture most powerful—could be imposed only gradually. As it of the unity of the Church took place in the mid-11th encountered the diverse ideas about heresy coming from century, when the Roman West and Byzantine East—the many quarters, orthodox opinion was able to formulate a Latin and Greek Churches—broke apart. Even today the number of dogmatic positions; at the same time, it was influence of the schism is still felt, despite the efforts obliged to describe its faith in detail. Certain heterodox made by ECUMENISM since the pontificate of JOHN XXIII movements, which gained strength as they gained num- (1958–63). bers, had from the 2nd and 3rd centuries been able to find Deep cultural differences between the two groups— institutional expression and to form communities. Thus the use of the Latin or Greek language, the rise of a the first schisms came into being, some of which were northwestern Europe that was largely alien to Byzan- far-ranging in effect. tium, and the opposition of two societies that were Marcionism. Marcion (a. 85–a. 160) came from Asia closed and close to autarchy—unquestionably played a Minor and taught in Rome. A complex personality, he es- major part in this rupture. Yet they cannot be considered poused the ideas of the Docetics (from the Greek dokein, among the immediate causes for separation.

Load more

  6

Copy Link