1. Church History for Dummies CHAPTER 6: The Dark Ages… (450-750 A.D.) Bringing Order out of Chaos in a Crumbling Empire

2. The Dark Ages… (450-750 A.D.) Bringing Order to Chaos in a Crumbling Empire 1. 2. 3. The Western Roman Empire crumbles, but through strong Popes like Gregory the Great, the Church takes over. The Church grows through monasteries and missionaries like St. Patrick. A new religion (Islam) is born in Arabia and threatens Christianity.

3. The Dark Ages… (450-750 A.D.) Bringing Order to Chaos in a Crumbling Empire 1. Barbarian tribes from Germany and elsewhere threaten the Western Roman Empire. Pope Gregory helps run Rome, maintain order and help the poor. He is an able political and religious leader, earning the title “the Great.” He also promoted education & music (Gregorian chant). As Pope, he called himself “servant of the servants of God,” a phrase still used today by the Pope.

4. Important Note: East vs. West The Western Roman Empire was crumbling into chaos, allowing the Pope and Roman Catholic Church to grow in its influence & power. The Eastern Roman Empire (also called the Byzantine Empire) did not crumble. Its Emperor continued to rule from his capital, Constantinople. The Eastern Church often was controlled by the Emperor. Justinian was the most powerful Eastern Emperor at this time. He created a law based on Christianity called the “Justinian Code.” He persecuted Jews. Anti-Jewish discrimination and persecution is called “anti-Semitism.”

5. The Dark Ages… (450-750 A.D.) Bringing Order to Chaos in a Crumbling Empire 2. St. Patrick, from England, spreads Christianity to Ireland as a missionary. He uses the three- leaf-clover to teach about God as Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). As a teen, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and made a slave, but he escaped, returning to England and becoming a monk. His monastery sent him back to Ireland as a missionary.

6. Another Irish Saint… St. Brigid She lived near end of Patrick’s life. In Ireland, she founded Kildare – a double monastery, one for men and one for women.

7. In Italy… The Father of Western Monasticism… St. Benedict In 529, St. Benedict built one of the most famous monasteries at Monte Cassino in Italy. St. Benedict is considered the “Father of Western Monasticism,” even though in the East, other monasteries existed. Today, followers of St. Benedict are called “Benedictines.”

8. St. Benedict (continued)… Benedict wrote the “Rule of St. Benedict” to govern life in his monasteries. It created a sensible balance between prayer, work and recreation. The monks grew their own food, prayed often throughout the day, copies sacred books and preserved ancient Greek & Roman writing, etc. Benedict’s sister, St. Scholastica, founded a monastic community for women. During World War II, Hitler occupied Monte Cassino, so the Allies bombed it.

10. In the Dark Ages… (450-750 A.D.) Bringing Order to Chaos in a Crumbling Empire 3. A new religion, Islam, is started in Arabia by Muhammad. In the 600s and 700s, it spreads rapidly, taking over the Holy Land, Egypt and the rest of North Africa, and Spain. Christians led by Charles Martel (“the Hammer”) stop its spread into Europe in 732 at the Battle of Tours in France (Gaul).