Ecclesiastical Myths

We live in a day of great knowledge. Knowledge flows freely through cyberspace and is accessible to all people as never before in history. Along with the "real" knowledge that is at our fingertips is a whole lot of pseudo-knowledge as well. Much of this pseudo-information is called urban myths.

Urban myths are not new; they have been around for millennia. One pre-cyberspace urban myth is that beforeChristopher Columbus people thought the world was flat. That is just plain false. Men have known the world was round for as long as there have been men.

The educated peoples of the ancient world knew the earth was round. In fact Eratosthenes (276BC-194BC) was, with amasing accuracy, able calculate the size of the earth. Eratosthenes calculated the earth to be 252,000 stadia around. 252,000 stadia equals 24,662 miles, which is only off the mark by a mere 250 miles.

So there goes one ancient myth. Men have always known that the earth was round.

Let’s move on to a couple of other myths. Protestants believe that the Pope in Rome was the dictator of Europe throughout the Middle ages. That is false. For much of the mediaeval period the bishop of Rome was dependent upon and beholden to secular Emperors, kings and princes. Nor could he control who was appointed bishop in most parts of the Christian world. Kings, Emperors and princes often controlled the church in the territories that they governed.

It was not until the Papal Revolution (11th and 12th century) that the Church was able to make the appointment of the Pope a wholly ecclesiastical affair, which denied secular control over the process. Even after this it was not unusual for a Pope to have to flee Rome to keep some emperor or king from capturing him just so that he could force his dictates on the Church.

It will probably shock many Protestants to know that there were a good number of very godly men who God made to be the Bishop of Rome through those years that we call the Middle Ages.

So no, the Popes were not the dictators of Europe during the Mediaeval period. Certainly there were great abuses and the Renaissance Popes, especially, were often very corrupt and decadent men. They did seek to control all of Europe. But we can’t apply these facts to the whole period of the Middle Ages.

Another common myth is a Roman Catholic myth. Many Roman Catholics believe that the Bishop of Rome was always hailed as the "Pope" or leader of all Christendom. They believe this was true until those nasty Greek Christians broke with Rome in the 1054 AD and the Protestants did the same in 1517 AD.

This too is a myth. The authority of the Bishop of Rome grew over time by both slow crawls and sizable leaps. The Eastern Church never recognised the overall authority that was eventually claimed by the Roman Pontiff and this brought about the Great Schism of 1054.

The other day I pulled a book off the shelf that I had read many years ago titled Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition by Harold Berman. I was looking at things I had underlined way back then (I always underline when I read) and some of what I had underlined got me to thinking about these myths about the Bishop of Rome.

We need to dispel all such myths when we are able.

Coram Deo,
Kenith