Governments and Heretics: The Failure of Pre-Lutheran Reformation Efforts
By Archdruid
"It is frequently stated that the Reformation would have been impossible or would have had little chance of popular acceptance without the rapid spread of typography." Popular scholarly opinion regarding the success of the Reformation has been that it succeeded because of the proliferation of printed documents, allowing the word to get out to the public and others who may have been dissatisfied with the Church. The purpose of this essay is to dispute this popular opinion by showing that government support, and not the printing press, was the key to the success of the Lutheran Reformation. By looking at other groups formerly declared heretical by the Church, it will be shown that in fact the printing press was not the catalyst most scholars believe it was. The Arians, Donatists, Nestorians, and Albigenses all achieved substantial success without the assistance of a printing press until the government was turned against them, and in several cases even survived into modern times after escaping the grasp of oppressive regimes. The Lutheran Reformation was the first to gain almost immediate support from the government, with many of the foremost Lutherans of the time being German princes. Not only did government support allow Luther and his efforts to succeed brilliantly, the lack thereof was the key component in the failure of previous attempts throughout Christianity's long and turbulent history. As this essay will demonstrate, the lack of printing did not significantly hinder the likes of the Arians, Donatists, Nestorians, or even the Albigenses, as each group achieved moderate or even resounding success for some period of time spreading merely by word of mouth, prior to government interference. These groups will each be examined, and evidence used to disprove popular theory regarding the cause of their failure. The Lutheran Reformation will then be studied, and it will be shown that government support was far more instrumental in its spread than the printing press. The Arians, one of the most successful of the previous heresies, will be the first examined in detail.
The Arian heresy began with a debate about the nature of Jesus. Arius and his followers argued that God was completely separate in nature from his creations, that is, Jesus cannot be of the same essence as God and therefore there can be no Trinity . Arius himself was a Bishop from Alexandria, and his Archbishop, one Alexander, began teaching in direct opposition to Arius. Eventually the debate spread throughout the Roman Empire, and in 324 the Emperor Constantine I decreed that a Church Council be held at Nicea to determine whether Arius' doctrines were correct or heretical . As a direct result of this council, Arianism was condemned, Arius himself was exiled to Illyricum, and Christianity adopted the Nicene Creed. Arianism had not yet met its end, however, and thanks to the influence of Bishops who sympathized with Arius, his exile lasted only a few years . Arianism began to slowly regain strength despite the Council's decision against it, and it is of significance that Eusebius of Nicomedia, who baptized Constantine I on his deathbed, became one of Arianism's strongest leaders under more tolerant Emperors . Not only were the Emperors following Constantine I tolerant of Arianism, several even adopted it almost fanatically. The direct result of this was that under the Emperor Valens, a Gothic request for their own Bishop was answered by Valens sending them an Arian. This was a crucial event, for it began a long trend of the Germanic invaders of the Empire adopting the Arian form of Christianity rather than the orthodox Nicene. The Vandals, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Burgundians, and Suevi were all noted as Arian by Gregory of Tours, a zealous Nicene, and many scholars have argued that the Lombards also may have been Arian heretics . Arian Churches had their own hierarchy, which while loosely based on that of the Nicene, was different in several significant respects. Most substantial was that Arian bishops were usually formed into councils advising the barbarian kings and traveling with their armies, where Nicene bishops had clearly defined sees of authority, the Arians were bishops of tribes rather than areas. This led to their bishops serving a somewhat different purpose than those of the Nicene, including more general 'priestly' duties . An Emperor after Valens, Theodisius the Great, held another Ecumenical Council in Constantinople, and once again Nicene Christianity proved victorious. After this Arianism was effectively dead as a political force within the Empire, although it continued to thrive within the barbarian multitudes. The Vandals who took North Africa from Rome proceeded to persecute Nicene Christians, while the Goths who settled in Italy proved extremely tolerant. The Visigoths who settled in Spain maintained their Arianism for the longest period, but in the 6th Century the Arian and Nicene churches united, and Arianism was not revived until modern times. Currently there are several small Protestant groups which deny the Trinity, but the vast majority of Christians accept the Nicene Creed . Of the pre-Reformation heresies considered in this essay, only Arianism and Nestorianism enjoyed any kind of long-term success. The key reason is that both Arianism and Nestorianism had the support of their governments at some point, Arianists managed to convert several Emperors and Archbishops to their cause and gained the support of entire tribes of barbarians, while Nestorians, as will be shown later, gained the support of governments rivaling the Romans, and thus spread well beyond the reach of the Empire's persecutions. This proves that government support is the key to the spread of any religious reform movement.
At approximately the same time as the Arian controversy was overtaking the Church, another important group arose, known as the Donatists. This was an almost exclusively North African heresy, but due to its direct influence on St. Augustine has long been considered one of the most important in Christian history. This particular heresy began as a result of one of the most extreme Roman persecutions of Christianity, that under Diocletian. Many Christians died for their faith, but others, who became known as traditors, actively participated and cooperated in the handing over of Christian books and scriptures to be burned . After the persecution ended, a Bishop was appointed to Carthage who was allegedly one of these traditors. A group arguing that this Bishop's proven moral corruption made sacraments he issued invalid, even corrupting, quickly became known as Donatists after their leader, Donatus. A Church Council convened regarding the topic ruled against the Donatists, and this is where the split truly began. The Donatists maintained their position, and both sides began petitioning the Emperor Constantine for his support. Eventually Constantine himself got tired of this, and began a persecution of the Donatists, ordering the seizure of Donatist Churches and Basilicas, and placing Imperial troops at the disposal of the Catholic Church . The Donatists reacted in a way that becomes familiar to any student of Church history. They became even more Orthodox in their basic teachings, accusing the Catholic Church of corruption and thereby gaining support among the populace. The persecution ended in 321, with Constantine deciding to 'leave vengeance to God' . It is important to note that even with the end of this first official persecution, the Donatists still did not receive any kind of support from the government. They were merely tolerated, grudgingly. Later governments reversed, and then reinstated, this policy of tolerance, and alongside it the fortunes of Donatists waned and waxed, but as a heresy it survived until the Muslim conquest of Africa. Such a long-lived heresy obviously had some public support, and it is important that it failed not due specifically due to the actions of the mainstream Church or government, but due to foreign invasion. The Muslim invaders were strongly opposed to any religion not their own, and Christianity on the whole, Donatists included, was eradicated in North Africa as the common people quickly adopted Islam. The complete lack of support from those outside of Africa can be explained by the condemnation of the heresy by the Church which controlled the bulk of the Empire, thus preventing the word from spreading where there were no Donatists to spread it. It was not an inability to preach or argue their point that destroyed the Donatists, it was that they lacked any kind of support from the government. The Nestorians, on the other hand, managed to escape the grasp of the Church and its government supporters, and it is they who shall be examined next.
The Nestorian controversy was rooted in the debate over whether Jesus, as the son of God and Mary, was in fact of divine nature, human nature, or both. In 427 a priest named Nestorius was appointed Bishop of Constantinople, and he began to preach that Christ had two separate natures: one divine and one human . This ran contrary to the position of the Church, and the debate quickly escalated, with Nestorius' formidable oratory skills being rivaled by those of the Bishop Cyril of Alexandria. The debate came to a head at the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, after which Nestorius was branded a heretic and banished; the substantial Christian community in Persia however rejected these decisions and declared their own Patriarch, becoming permanently separated from the Church of Rome . While the Nestorians in Roman territory did not survive as a group, this separate group in the domain of the Sassanid Persians did. Up until the Muslim Arab conquest they suffered mixed fortunes under the Zoroastrian rulers of Persia, but never were they persecuted the way their compatriots in Roman lands were. Some Persian Kings, notably Chosroes II, even persecuted the more Orthodox Catholic groups, supporting the Nestorians by turning over some churches and destroying others . Upon the Muslim conquest, the Nestorians in Persia fled East, where they were effectively the only form of Christianity known to most of Asia. There remain records of Catholic emissaries in the thirteenth Century reporting that the Mongol Empire was permeated with Nestorians . Marco Polo also records that sections of the Mongol Empire were dominated by Nestorians, though he records that there were Muslims living in these areas as well . In addition to establishing themselves in Persia and the far East, Nestorian traces have been found around the Persian Gulf, most notably in a monastery recently uncovered in Abu Dhabi . The Nestorians in fact survive until the modern day in the Middle East, known as Assyrians, although since the fall of the Mongol Empire they have not enjoyed government support and in several cases have even been massacred, leaving their numbers substantially smaller than they once were . The fact that a heresy which was discovered and persecuted so early by the major authorities in Rome has survived until the modern day is remarkable. The Nestorians cannot be described as successful, however, for spreading their word in modern times is virtually impossible due to previous government actions against them, and the population around them is hostile to their beliefs. Such a persistent heresy surely would have thrived in the West, had it not been for such substantial government and Church opposition at the time of its inception, as even the lack of the printing press could not prevent it from becoming dominant in the East.
The final unsuccessful heretical movement to be considered will be that of the Albigenses (or Cathars) in France. This particular movement found its base in the beliefs of numerous dualistic heresies from the late Classical Period and early Middle Ages, such as the Manicheans and Bogomils. The Albigenses believed that there were two Gods: the God who created the spirit was a being of good, while the God who created matter and therefore temptation was by necessity evil. The Albigenses are also often connected to the Paulicians, a group of dualistic heretics who caused problems for the Byzantine Empire ; regardless of their origins, however, the Albigenses found their greatest strength in Southern France. Despite the lack of a printing press or indeed any reliable method of spreading their beliefs other than word of mouth and example, Albigensianism was popular among all classes of society. Organizationally, they were divided into two major groups: regular believers, and the 'perfecti' . Perfecti lived in poverty, abstaining from sexual relations, certain foods, and as much temptation as they could possibly avoid. There was a particular cleansing rite associated with becoming one of the perfecti, hence the alternate name for the Albigenses: Cathari. The majority of believers would aim towards becoming part of this blessed group, which served as the Albigensian equivalent of the priesthood. Regular believers lived as austerely as possible, and it was in part this which led to their popularity. The Church at this time was particularly wealthy and regarded with some suspicion. Initially Church response to the Albigenses was peaceful but firm, the heretics were opposed. Several Church orders were created in part to combat the Albigenses through good example, foremost among them being the Dominicans and Franciscans. These mendicant orders led by example in much the same manner as the Albigensian perfecti. They were poor, took vows against various temptations, and wandered the countryside demonstrating their faith as Friars. While the mendicant orders found great support among disillusioned Catholics, their efforts met with mixed success among the heretics they were trying to convert . As a direct result of this, Pope Innocent III declared the Albigensian Crusade . Lasting from approximately 1208 to 1229, this Crusade succeeded in forcing the Albigenses from their strongholds in Southern France, decimating much of the land and population in the process. Despite this, many Albigenses escaped into isolated areas, and records exist of Inquisitions against them well into the fourteenth and even slightly the fifteenth century . The fact that it was armed opposition which finally forced out the Albigenses is significant, as is their success as a group in Southern France. At this time Southern France was under little or no central political control. There was no government to directly oppose the heresy. The Church failed to reconvert the Albigenses through peaceful means, and finally resorted to violence. The heresy was flourishing until the declaration of the Albigensian Crusade finally got the aristocracy and people of France involved. Thus it can be seen that a lack of government support was the key stumbling block of this heresy, which managed to spread its beliefs across a large portion of France even without the assistance of the printing press, which leads into the next significant Reformation effort within the Church, that of Martin Luther's followers.
It should be noted initially that Martin Luther himself had no intention of formally separating from the Church. The results of his posting his theses were unpredicted and in fact distressing to him. Regardless of this, he sparked off the most successful Reformation movement in the history of the Church. Luther's initial doubt in the Church began shortly after his entry into a monastery, and it is prevalent throughout his writings that he was motivated primarily by concern over his own salvation . The Reformation truly began with his posting, in 1517, his Ninety-Five Theses, traditionally held to have been put on the door of the local Church. The Theses dealt specifically with the practice of indulgences in the Church , effectively people buying their way out of temporal punishment; indulgences strongly favored the rich and Luther himself was of middle-class origins. The printing press aided in the rapid spread of Luther's teachings, and he wrote many pamphlets and sermons with the specific intention of having them published, but as has been shown by the Arians, Nestorians, Donatists, and Albigenses, his teachings would have reached the people one way or another. Luther's teachings began to cause concern for the Church over the next four years, and he was excommunicated by the Edict of Worms in 1521. Despite this, Luther subsequently found a surprising amount of support among the German princes, although this may have merely been opportunism . The rest of the history of the Reformation is not relevant to the topic of this essay, as this is the turning point, despite the best efforts of the Church, the Reformation was from this point forward never in danger of being truly stopped, even during the infamous Thirty Years' War. The establishment of several German states as sanctuaries for what became known as Protestantism, especially after the Peace of Augsburg recognized them, ensured that Protestants would survive in the West regardless of what the Church or rival governments did about it.
With the success of Luther's movement, many other Protestant groups began to rise, and today there are hundreds if not thousands of small movements in the Western world which survive, and in some cases, thrive, because they are not persecuted by the countries in which they live. The Church can no longer violently stifle them, and has been forced to turn to more peaceful means which have met with mixed success. Unfortunately for the Arians, Donatists, Nestorians, and Albigenses, they arose in times when the Church and governments were under no such restriction, and as such many of their members were killed for what they believed. The Arians eventually failed because their governments no longer protected and supported them against the Catholic Church, which managed to move in and effectively destroy the movement. The Donatists survived until a rival religion with violent government support conquered their lands, after which they quickly went into hiding or were killed, leading to the movement's eventual demise. The Nestorians enjoyed the most success, surviving into modern times due largely to the fact that so many escaped the grasp of the Church and the Empire, and they found themselves supported by Persian monarchs more as a foil to Rome than anything else. This allowed them to spread into the Far East, but once they lost the support of the governments under which they had thrived, they too dwindled and only a few thousand remain today. As for the Albigenses, they were perhaps the most brutally destroyed of all the groups examined in this essay, having suffered greatly from the Albigensian Crusade and the subsequent Inquisition. In all of these cases, the groups in question managed to spread their teachings successfully without the use of the printing press, but found themselves lacking government support and were subsequently diminished and in most cases obliterated. While the printing press has no doubt aided in the spread of many smaller groups, it was not the key requirement for a successful movement. As has been shown, government support is the main component to a successful movement. Even in modern times, while almost any Christian group can gain government recognition (and therefore support to some extent), many other religious movements (usually referred to as cults) find some success before being deemed dangerous by the government. Despite the assistance of easy publishing and mass media, these groups cannot survive without some kind of assistance from the government, the public turn against them quite quickly. Across the Middle East are the remnants of hundreds of heretical groups of both Christians and Muslims, and even Zoroastrians, many of which are completely unknown to the outside world because of their government's stance on religions other than Islam. Because of this, most are doomed to die a quiet death, despite the proliferation of the printed word.
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