Religious Divisions

Religious Divisions AP Euro

Religion in Today’s Europe

Religions of 15th century Europe: Islam, Roman Catholic Christianity, Eastern Orthodox Christianity

Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews

Religious Diversity: • Eastern Orthodox Christianity • Roman Catholic Christianity • Islam • Judaism

Eastern Europe and Religion • Eastern Europe was dominated by the Eastern Orthodox Church. It allows for different ethnic groups to have their own leader all while being part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Thus, there is a Greek Orthodox Church with its own leader called a patriarch. The Russians have one as well.

Beneath the Umbrella Of Eastern Orthodoxy… • There are branches of Eastern Orthodoxy throughout Europe. • At this point in time, there were two: • Russian Orthodoxy • Greek Orthodoxy • Each has a spiritual leader called a patriarch. • There is no one ruler of all Orthodox Christians. • Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism are quite similar in doctrine and practices.

The patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church lives in Constantinople. Eastern Orthodoxy started in Constantinople. Because of the latter reason, the patriarch of Constantinople has a great deal of influence among other Orthodox denominations, but he does NOT have the type of control that the Pope of Rome has over all of the Roman Catholic Church.

1453: fall of Constantinople

1453 • Prior to 1453, Constantinople had been part of the Byzantine Empire. • In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. The Byzantine Empire existed no longer. • In its place, rose the Ottoman Empire. It was Muslim. The Greek Orthodox Church was thus under Ottoman control.

There are two groupings for the followers of Judaism • Sephardic • Ashkenazi • The Jews expelled from Spain are Sephardic. • The Jews of Eastern Europe are Ashkenazi.

Before critiquing the Roman Catholic Church… • One must realize that the Roman Catholic Church had converted millions of Western Europeans to become Christians. • (The Eastern Orthodox Church had done the same for Eastern Europeans). • The only organization that provided religious teachings for over 1500 years was the Roman Catholic Church.

Problems Within the Roman Catholic Church • Centuries long struggle between Popes and monarchs over who had final say. Popes wanted God’s law, in the form of the Church, to be final. Monarchs wanted to control the vast lands given to the church over the centuries. Both sides meddled in the affairs of the other. • In 1309, the French king carted off the Pope to Avignon. From 1309 to 1377 this period is known as the Babylonian Captivitiy. Here, the pope had to heed the wishes of the French king. • Some parts of the Christian world refused to accept the authority of the Avignon poples. • Faith in the church began to erode.

Cracks Within Roman Catholicism • Ecclesiastical abuses of power led to strong reactions among Christians. • One reaction was a retreat into mysticism. Here lay an emphasis on religious ecstasy and on the experience of direct communion with God. • Another lay in the proliferation of popular sects. • Both shared a sense of betrayal by the established church.

Inquisition • Calls for Church reform would be dealt with by the Inquisition and its use of torture and sometimes death.

Calls for reform had both theological and organizational aspects. • Theological: the beliefs about the existence of God • Organizational: how the church would be run and organized

John Wyclif • Railed against the wealth of the Church. • He rejected papal supremacy. • He denied the doctrine of transubstantiation of the Eucharist. • He died in 1384. • His English followers were known as Lollards.

The Church later exhumed his grave and burned his bones.

Jan Hus • Wyclif’s ideas spread to the land of the Czechs in Central Europe. • The principal leader was Jan Hus. • He stressed the concept of predestination and the Church of the Elect. • His ideas gained attention because of Czech resentment over the Germans that typically held power in the land of the Czechs. • He was burned at the stake in 1415and all Czechs were excommunicated.

Pioneer Protestants • Both Wyclif and Hus have been known as pioneer Protestants.

Hussites • These were the followers of Jan Hus. • Their infuriation over Hus’ death and the excommunication of all Czechs led to a revolt and what some consider the “first Reformation”. • They believed that bread and wine of communion should be dispensed in both kinds. • The Hussites defeated Catholic German armies and had their own national church in Bohemia.

Thomas à Kempis • Mysticism give precedence to religious intuition over rational belief; that is, faith over reason. • Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) was one such mystic. • He and other mystics taught Christians to cultivate the inner life, and to shun the evil world which they could not control. • Their writings helped fan the embers which eventually fired the Reformation.

Witchcraft • It too developed in parallel to Christian mysticism and at the same time! • Some of its roots date to pagan times. • The systematic practice of witchcraft dates to the late medieval period. • In 1484, the Catholic Church launched a counter-offensive against witchcraft. In so doing, it fostered a climate of hysteria among Europeans that witches and sorceries existed. • Witchcraft and witch-hunting would take place for the next 300 years.

The standard handbook for witchhunters: Malleus Maleficarum(1484) The Hammer of Witches

Religious Divisions