What had been the western half of the Roman Empire was now ruled by peoples such as the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals and others. By the time they settled in the west, these peoples already professed a form of Christianity, but their Arian Christian faith denied the Trinity and viewed Christ merely as an exalted creature (see chapter V). The incoming “Barbarians” (uncivilised tribespeople, in the eyes of the Romans) occupied churches and, in some cases, persecuted the Nicene Christians (those who believed in the Trinity). On the other hand, churchmen such as Caesarius of Arles (d. 542) found it possible to cooperate with the new rulers without compromising on belief. In any case, the fall of the Roman Empire did leave behind a void, and it was the Christian church which, in many respects, filled that void.
The place that represents this phase in the developing history of the church is Monte Cassino, a hill in northern Italy with a pre-Christian past, which became the location for what was arguably the most influential monastery in the western world. The monastic movement was, indeed, the backbone of the church. "Monastic movement" refers to those Christians, men and women, who chose to live under stricter standards than other Christians, voluntarily choosing not to marry, giving up wealth, obeying a superior etc. These stricter standards were called the "counsels of perfection" (as opposed to “commandments” to be obeyed by all), and were written down as a set of instructions (“rule”) to be followed. The monastic movement was called the “regular” church (church living under a rule), as opposed to the "secular" church (which lived in the world). The monastic movement represented something akin to a "spiritual army" within the people of God. Monasticism spread from the East in the 300s (see chapter V), and key figures in western monasticism included Martin of Tours, Jerome, Augustine of Hippo, and John Cassian.
It was Benedict of Nursia who founded the monastery at Monte Cassino in 529. This represents the beginning of the Benedictine monastic order. Based on Eastern Christian monasticism, the monastic Rule written by Benedict prescribes moderate communal life of prayer and work. Monks gave a threefold commitment (“vow”), namely, to remain at the same monastery, to follow their superior and the Rule, and the "conversion of morals" (in particular, celibacy and poverty). Some people have called the 500s to the 900s the "Benedictine centuries".
One of the functions of monasteries was to preserve and pass on knowledge. It is estimated that, in 550, the entire extant body of human knowledge in Latin boiled down to just 226 texts. Key figures, such as Boethius (died 525) and Cassiodorus (died 580), known as the “Latin transmitters”, made sure this ancient knowledge was preserved, and they and others set up a Christian course of education, based on Augustine’s book “On Christian Doctrine”, to replace the earlier Roman one. The old Roman institutions of learning were replaced by Christian "schools" attached to monasteries and cathedrals, where future monks and priests could train (later also future secular rulers).
From the 400s onwards, Christianity also thrived in the monasteries of Ireland and Wales (and also in what is now France). In Ireland and Wales, the 500s represent an "age of saints". It was at this time that Iltud founded a Christian college from which many leading figures in the Welsh church "graduated". There were major monasteries at Armagh, Bangor, Iona and Lindisfarne. Somewhat later, a major Christian scholar in England was the Venerable Bede (+736).
Beginning in 563, monks from Ireland began to move out to found monasteries in other lands, a phenomenon known as "pilgrimage for Christ's sake" (peregrinatio pro Christo): a voluntary exile as an act of repentance and also as form of outreach. Monks evangelised the Picts of what is now Scotland, and later the Angles of Northumbria. Others travelled to Europe, evangelising but also reviving nominal Christians. The Irish monk, Columbanus (+615) travelled around Europe, meeting kings and bishops, founding monasteries such as Luxeuil, Corbie and Bobbio. Columban's monastic rule was strict: the main principle was to “mortify the flesh” (i.e. to fight against sinful desires we experience in our fallen body and mind). In due course, it was the more moderate Rule of Benedict which came to be universally accepted.
Beginning in 674, there was a similar movement from the newly converted Anglo-Saxons in England to their ancestral homelands in what is now the Netherlands and Germany. Missionaries included Willibrord to the Frisians, and Winfrid-Boniface to the Hessians and Thuringians. The latter, in particular, also contributed to a further centralisation of the western church under the authority of the Roman Pope (see below for an explanation of what “Pope” means).
Another place where Christianity flourished was what is now Spain, with a large longstanding Nicene Christian population, but ruled by the incoming Visigoth people since 409. At the Third Council of Toledo in 589, the previously Arian Visigoths confessed the divinity of the Son and the faith of the Nicene creed. From that point onwards, the Visigoth state professed the Nicene faith. Isidore of Seville (+636) was the leading Christian bishop, a scholar and public figure, who, in 633, oversaw the alliance between the church and the Visigoth kingdom. Other “Barbarian” peoples elsewhere, who had likewise previously believed in Arian Christianity, such as the Suevi and Burgundians, converted to Nicene Christianity around the same time.
The most important issue in western theology was the relationship between God's grace and human free will. At the start of the 400s, church father Augustine of Hippo had rejected the teaching of Pelagius, which said that a person has to make their own journey of salvation guided only by God’s commands and the example of Christ, but without the assistance of God's grace. In the 500s the church returned to these same issues. Semi-Pelagianism taught that a person does need God's grace to be saved, but they themselves have to "take the first step" by calling on God for help. According to Semi-Pelagianism, it is only after this first step that God gives his grace. At the time of Caesarius of Arles (d. 542), the western church rejected what is known Semi-Pelagianism. Meanwhile, the Eastern Orthodox Church taught a very similar doctrine calling it "synergy", i.e. cooperation between human free will and God's grace. At very least, Eastern and Western churches have different emphases on these points. In any case, in the 500s the western church confirmed the position of Caesarius: "God 's grace comes to each one, enabling them to choose and fulfil what is required for salvation." (This position could be described as Semi-Augustinian.)
While Caesarius of Arles taught that God’s grace is required to enable someone to "choose and fulfil what is required for salvation", Augustine himself had earlier gone further than that (and later thinkers, such as Gottschalk, likewise). They taught that grace represents an "invincible power" which draws someone to God, and ensures they remain faithful to God to the end. Underlying this teaching is the belief that God unconditionally chooses those who will obtain eternal salvation. There was much controversy surrounding these issues.
At the head of the western church was the bishop of Rome, the "Pope". “Pope” simply means "patriarch". Since the 300s and 400s church councils had identified five leading bishops in the church: those at Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem. The bishops of these five cities were the most senior bishops of the whole church. Since the Pope was the bishop of what had been the capital of the western Empire, Rome, that meant the Pope was the patriarch of the entire western church. All bishops and the entire western church submitted to his authority. Moreover, the Pope considered himself to be the "first" among the patriarchs of the Christian church and increasingly claimed authority throughout the whole church (not just the west).
In the vaccuum created by the fall of the western empire, besides other aspects such as education (see above), the church, represented by her leaders with the Pope at her head, also took on some political functions. Back in the 400s, Pope Leo the Great had talked Attila the Hun down from sacking Rome. Around the year 600, Pope Gregory the Great concluded peace with the invading Lombard people, and maintained relations with the Frankish kingdom.
That same Gregory the Great (d. 604) was one of the greatest Popes. He came from a noble Roman family, and served as Prefect of Rome (similar to mayor) at the age of 30. Gregory then became a monk and founded monasteries. Still being a deacon, he was sent to Constantinople as an envoy from the Pope. Incidentally, since the Emperor of Constantinople was considered Emperor of all Christians, right up until 754, his approval was required for someone to be appointed Pope. During his time in Constantinople, Gregory held his own in theological debate with the Patriarch of Constantinople. On his return to Rome, Gregory became a priest and then, having taken monastic vows, bishop of Rome, and thus patriarch of the entire western church ("Pope").
Gregory's time as Pope was very productive. He tidied up the order of service for the western Christian (what is called the "mass"), which centred around the celebration of the Communion (also known as the Eucharist). The celebration of Communion was understood as the priest offering Christ to God as a bloodless sacrifice. It was Gregory’s order of service that became the one used throughout the western Christian world. What is called "Gregorian chant" may well be much later (800s), but also bears his name.
Gregory the Great also sent Christian missionaries to preach the gospel to the Angles and Saxons in what is now England. At the later Synod of Whitby in 664, the Irish monks, who previously had their own customs, agreed to follow the Roman way of doing things.
Gregory also made a major contribution to the development of theology, combining teaching on grace with teaching on good deeds: "the elect attain the everlasting kingdom by their own effort". The way Gregory understood it, when, aided by God’s grace, believers do good works, they "satisfy" the requirements of God and the church. Gregory also approved of revering saints and images, and teaching on purgatory. Purgatory is an imagined place between heaven and hell, where believers are purified after death before entering God’s presence. Gregory also wrote an entire work on pastoral care. He is considered the last of the church fathers in the western church, and the first Pope of the Middle Ages (the Age between Antiquity and the Modern Age).
Around the same time, in 622, a new religion appeared, namely Islam. Islam would conquer what had previously been heartlands of the Christian faith in the west, namely north Africa (698) and Spain (711). The church did have some limited freedom under Islam, but was constrained in what could be said and done. Over time, in that environment, many people abandoned Christianity and became Muslim.
At the battle of Poitiers in 732, invading Muslim forces were defeated by Frankish ruler, Charles Martel. Back in 496, the Frankish ruler, Clovis, had converted to Nicene Christianity. Since that time, the Frankish kingdom expanded from a small area in what is now the Netherlands, Belgium and part of Germany to control the whole of what is now France. The Frankish kingdom would come to fill the void left by the fall of the western Roman Empire in 476, and would become the new “centre of gravity” of the western Christian world.
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