Heresies are teachings that are in conflict with the prevailing creed. As a rule, in the Middle Ages they did not go beyond religious outlook. Heresies, peasant-plebeian or burgher, urban, were imbued with the spirit of anti-clericalism directed against the church as a feudal institution. They often contained pantheistic ideas that made it possible to proclaim the possibility of man's merging with God, regardless of the church, and even the possibility of man becoming God. Pantheism interprets the concept of God in a special way: in essence, it excludes his participation in the creation of the world and in human affairs. In contrast to the theistic interpretation of God as a person, a providence, transcendent in relation to the world created by him from nothing, pantheism taught about the unity of the world and God: in the so-called mystical pantheism, the world was dissolved in God, in the naturalistic one, moving even further away from theism, - God dissolved in the world, representing the soul of the world or identifying himself with the world, with nature. Pantheistic teachings contained the idea of ​​the infinity of the universe, the independence of nature and man, the eternity of God and the world.

Mystical-pantheistic ideas were often used by heretics to substantiate the real claims of the masses to freedom from the church - in line with these claims, thoughts were preached about the uselessness of the church and church rites. At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII century. In Europe, a sect of Amalricans appeared, led by teachers from the University of Paris. Their ideologue, teacher of philosophy and theology, Amalrik (Amory) Bensky (d. 1206), argued that everything in the world is one, for everything is God; creator and creature are one and the same. The Amalricans did not recognize the authority of the church and the clergy, they rejected the pope-“antichrist”, Catholic rites, asceticism; they understood hell as ignorance, and heaven as possession of their teachings. The church publicly burned the leaders of the heresy (1210).

At the beginning of the XIII century. the pantheist philosopher David of Dinantsky was radically at odds with theistic doctrine. "The world is God himself... - David wrote, - the matter of the world is God himself", "there is only one substance not only of all bodies, but also of all souls, and it is nothing but God himself" (Anthology of the World philosophy, vol. 1, part 2, pp. 811-812). Pantheistic views were closely connected with the idea of ​​human dignity, came into conflict Christian teaching about the original sinfulness of the human race. Supporters of the heresy of Begards and Beguins, which arose in the 13th century. spread in Germany in the 14th century. among part of the rural population and the plebeian sections of the city, it was believed that a person could achieve a high degree of perfection in this world - such that there would be no need for prayer or fasting, and it would be possible to surpass even the merits of Christ.

Anti-clericalism was an essential feature of heretical movements and teachings in Russia, reflecting the mood of the peasants, townspeople, and part of the ordinary clergy. In the first centuries after the adoption of Christianity in Russia, anti-church movements acted as a defense of pre-Christian beliefs. At the head of the uprisings in Russia (in Suzdal in 1024, in Kyiv in 1068), the purpose of which was to seize the property of the rich, were the Magi. The first influential heresy in Russia was strigolism, the founder of which was the Pskov deacon Karp. The heresy soon spread to Novgorod, and this is no coincidence: Pskov and Novgorod are cities with developed handicrafts and trade, with an atmosphere of liberty and freedom. In 1375 the heresy was crushed and its leaders executed. Strigolniki rejected the church hierarchy, revealed the vices of the church, refused rituals associated with death, advocated a direct connection with God, and therefore rejected churches, praying under heaven and performing the rite of confession to the earth. Some of them doubted the resurrection of the dead. Referring to the Apostle Paul, the heretics argued that even a simple person with a “pure life” could teach the faith.

At the end of the XV century. the Novgorod-Moscow heresy of the “Judaizers” appeared - anti-trinitarians who relied on the Old Testament to prove the uniqueness of God, who has no son, Christ for them is a simple man, crucified on the cross and decayed in the grave. Heretics opposed the worship of icons, against the sacraments, they rejected the Gospel, the apostles, the fathers of the church. The heresy also spread among the Moscow clergy. Heretics were engaged in astrology, mathematics, logic, studied "Six-wing" - astronomical tables of the XIV century, proved that the end of the world appointed by theologians in 1492 would not take place. In their work “Writing about Literacy” it was proved that God endowed man with “autocracy of the mind” and mankind will be saved by knowledge. By order of Archbishop Gennady (d. 1505), the heretics were burnt.

In 1553, the church condemned the boyar son Matvey Bashkin for heresy. Tortured by the suffering of the Russian forced people, Matvey "torn the papers of bondage" on his "slaves", giving them freedom. At the same time, he referred to the gospel "love your neighbor." Matthew also argued that Christ is a simple man, but at the same time he relied on the New Testament. He rejected the authority of the church fathers and ecumenical councils, temples and icons, the Eucharist and repentance, was perplexed about the discrepancy between the teachings and practices of the church, considered the lives of the saints "fables".

Especially great influence on the development of freethinking in Ancient Russia rendered the heresy of Theodosius Kosoy - a serf, one of the servants of Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584). He was condemned at the council of 1554 and fled to Lithuania. Theodosius proclaimed the "New Teaching", which had an open anti-feudal orientation: it opposed the domination of man over man. Being an anti-trinitarian, Theodosius recognized one God, for whom the “sons of God” are “internal” people, and those who are submissive to the masters are “slaves”. The heretic urged not to obey the "authorities and priests." Theodosius' anti-clericalism led to doubts about the truths of Christianity. Theodosius believed that being is not created, the self-existent world consists of four elements. Self-existent and man, and his mind. Therefore, no one but the man himself will save him, he is his own savior and redeemer.

The most important aspect of papal policy was the fight against heresies. heresy- religious teachings, to one degree or another deviating from the dogmas of the official church. Heresies accompany Christianity throughout its existence, beginning with its first steps as an independent religion. However, heretical movements gained their greatest scope and significance in the era of feudalism.

The Christian religion in medieval Europe determined the worldview of people.

In the early Middle Ages, when feudal relations were not yet formed, Europe did not yet know mass heretical movements. Their rise takes place during the period of the developed Middle Ages, which is associated with the emergence and growth of cities. The intensification of the exploitation of the peasantry created the ground for involving it in heretical movements. “Revolutionary opposition to feudalism,” wrote F. Engels, “passes through the entire Middle Ages. It appears, according to the conditions of the time, now in the form of mysticism, now in the form of open heresy, now in the form of an armed uprising.

Social essence and main ideas of medieval heresies. According to the social orientation, two types of medieval heresies can be distinguished - burgher and peasant-plebeian. The first expressed the protest of the townspeople against the feudal fetters that impeded the development of the urban economy. It provided for the elimination of the special position of the clergy, the political claims of the papacy, the land wealth of the church, sought to simplify and reduce the cost of rituals and improve the moral character of the clergy. The ideal of these heretics was the early Christian "apostolic" church - simple, "cheap" and "clean". Heresies of this type spoke only against "ecclesiastical feudalism" and did not affect the foundations of the feudal system as a whole. Therefore, whole groups of feudal lords sometimes joined them, trying to use the burgher heresy in their own interests (for the sake of secularizing church property or limiting the political influence of the papacy). So it was in the era of the Albigensian wars in southern France, the Hussite wars in Bohemia, during the time of Wyclif in England.

Much more radical were the peasant-plebeian heresies, which reflected the hostile attitude of the dispossessed lower classes of the city and countryside not only towards the church and the clergy, but also towards the nobility. Sharing all the religious demands of the burgher heresy, the peasant-plebeian heresy demanded, in addition, equality between people, thereby negating class differences. Peasant-plebeian heresies, as a rule, also demanded the abolition of serfdom and corvée, while individual extreme sects called for the establishment of property equality and the community of property. In the XIV-XV centuries. the most radical peasant-plebeian heresies were often combined with popular uprisings (apostles, Lollards, Taborites, etc.).

At the same time, throughout the Middle Ages, there were also such heresies in which the elements of both of these currents - the burghers and the peasant-plebeian - were not clearly distinguished.

The dogma of heretical teachings: a critical attitude towards the clergy of all ranks, including the pope, criticism of indulgences. A more moderate part of the heretics considered themselves true Catholics, seeking to help correct the church. Another, no less significant part openly broke with the Catholic Church, creating their own religious organizations (Cathars, Waldensians, Apostolics, Taborites); the most radical among them (especially the Apostolics, the Lollards of the 14th century) transferred their hostile attitude towards the Catholic Church to the entire feudal social system.

The vast majority of heretical teachings were also characterized by the desire to follow the Gospel, recognizing it as the only source of faith, as opposed to the writings of the "fathers of the church", decisions of councils, papal bulls, etc. One of the most popular ideas in the circles of heretics was the idea of ​​"apostolic poverty, the ideal of asceticism, Mystic.

The historical role of heresies: they undermined the authority and spiritual dictates of the Catholic Church, contributed to the spread of freethinking (although heretics themselves most often did not show freethinking, they were characterized by fanaticism and intolerance towards dissidents, and shook the feudal system.

The main heretical movements of the XI-XIII centuries. Separate sects of heretics became widespread in Western Europe already at the beginning of the 11th century. in France, Italy, Germany. In the second half of the XI century. broad popular movements unfolded in the cities of Italy (Milan, Florence). One of the first creators of an independent heretical doctrine was Arnold of Brescia, who led in the middle of the 12th century. anti-papal uprising in Rome. The sect he created (Arnoldists), representing the early burgher heresy, continued to exist even after the execution of their leader. Rise of heretical movements falls on the second half of the XII and XIII centuries. There were especially many of them in these centuries in southern France and northern Italy, where heretics made up a significant part of the population. Among the most massive heretical movements of the XII century. applies cathar heresy(from the Greek "kataros" - clean). They refused to recognize the authority of the state, rejected physical violence and the shedding of blood. They considered the Catholic Church, as well as the entire earthly world, to be the creation of Satan, and the pope to be his vicar.

Great influence among the heretics of the XII-XIII centuries. used the ideas of Joachim Florsky (or Calabrian), one of the greatest mystics of that time. The ideas of Joachimism have long enjoyed great popularity among the people.

Evangelical ideas were especially widespread in the ranks of heretics. Among the many sects that dreamed of reviving the order of the early Christian church, of particular importance in the XIII century. acquired the Waldensians. The son of a wealthy Lyon merchant, Peter Wald, who lived in the last quarter of the 12th century, began an active preaching of poverty and asceticism. His followers, the Waldenses, along with sharp criticism of the priests, put forward ideas that challenge church dogma: they denied purgatory, most of the sacraments, icons, prayers, the cult of saints, the church hierarchy, their ideal was the "poor" apostolic church. They also opposed church tithes, taxes, military service, the feudal court and denied the death penalty. Part of the Waldensians moved to Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, where in the XIV century. Waldensianism spread widely among peasants and small urban artisans.

In Italy, evangelical ideas were professed by the flagellants sect. Flagellants (“flagging”) took to the roads and streets in rags, barefoot and publicly tortured themselves, bringing their supporters to a state of ecstasy.

Heresies in the 12th and 13th centuries were widely distributed not only among the lower strata of the population, but also among the educated part of the townspeople

The struggle of the church against heretical movements. Inquisition. The church fought against heretical ideas and anti-clerical movements with cruel fanaticism and intransigence. Church cathedrals of the XII-XIII centuries. obligated not only the clergy, but also the secular authorities to take an active part in this struggle. At the cathedrals, at various times, Cathars, Patarens, Waldensians, and later Beguins were anathematized. The teachings of Joachim of Florence, Amory of Vienna, and later of Peter Olivi were recognized as heresy and banned in the 15th century. - John Wyclif and Jan Hus. Hundreds of leaders of heretical movements and sects were convicted and burned, and ordinary heretics were subjected to severe persecution. The most bloody form of reprisals against heretics were the crusades inspired by the church and the papacy: against the Albigensians (began in 1209), against the apostles (1306-1307), five crusades against the Hussites (1420-1431), etc.

The Inquisition (from the Latin inquisitio - investigation) played a special role in the fight against heresies. Emerged at the end of the XII century. as a form of ecclesiastical court, carried out at first by bishops, the inquisition was gradually withdrawn from the control of the bishops and turned in the first half of the 13th century. into an independent organization with enormous powers and subordinate directly to the pope. Gradually, the Inquisition created a special system of search and judicial investigation of heretics. She widely introduced espionage and denunciations into practice. Sophisticated torture was applied to the stubborn. The zeal of the inquisitors and their scammers was rewarded by the division between them of a part of the property confiscated from the convicts. Already in the XIII century. Along with heretics, the Inquisition began to persecute scientists and philosophers who showed free thinking. The most common punishment for heretics was burning at the stake, often in groups (the so-called auto-da-fe - from the Portuguese auto-da-fe - a matter of faith). One of the most tragic pages in the history of mankind is connected with the activities of the Inquisition.

Heretical movements of the XIV-XV centuries.

Despite the brutal persecution and the activities of mendicant orders, heretical movements did not stop. New heresies arose to replace the old ones. In the XIV-XV centuries. their center moved from southern France and Lombardy to northeastern France, the Netherlands, England, southern and western Germany, and the Czech Republic. An important feature of the heretical movements of this period was a clear demarcation between burgher and peasant-plebeian heresies, the transformation of the latter into radical heresies, which sometimes merge with peasant uprisings. So, the sect of the Apostolics, headed by Dolcino at the beginning of the XIV century. played a leading role in the peasant-plebeian uprising, led by Dolcino. The heresy of the early Lollards, like-minded John Ball, merged with the rebellion of Wat Tyler.

One of the most massive heretical movements of the late XIII-XIV centuries. - the movement of the Beguins, as well as the Beguards and Fraticelli close to them, which swept the Southern Netherlands, German lands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy and France. The views of the theologian Olivi had a great influence on the heretics.

In the XV century. the most significant heretical movements were the English Lollardism and Gusism. Lollards 15th century based on the teachings of John Wyclif. They sharply criticized the clergy, opposed the church hierarchy, most of the sacraments, icon veneration, church tithes, demanded the secularization of church property, freedom to preach for everyone, including the laity, worship in their native language, but did not encroach on the existing system.

Hussite movement. Actions against the abuses of the German clergy, opposition to the Catholic Church and the struggle for the national Czech Church resulted in a broad social movement that took on a religious form. Jan Hus (c. 1369-1415), professor of theology at the University of Prague, led this movement. He denounced the vices of the Catholic clergy, spoke out against church wealth and demanded the secularization of church property. He led the fight against the Germans who dominated the University of Prague. It ended with the transfer of the management of the university to the Czechs (1409) and the election of Jan Hus as rector of the university.

The Catholic Church and the German clergy of the Czech Republic waged a fierce struggle against Hus. At first he was excommunicated and had to leave Prague (1412), and after a while the pope summoned him to a church council in Konstanz. Here Hus was condemned for his beliefs as a heretic and burned at the stake (1415).

Hussite heresy, which arose in the Czech Republic at the beginning of the 15th century. involved in its orbit a variety of social strata. Initially, Hussism was based on the moderate burgher doctrine of Jan Hus, which also reflected the desire of all sections of Czech society to liberate themselves from German domination and the dictates of the papacy. But then the movement split into two camps: moderate - chashnikov, heretics of the burgher type, and the radical - taborist, in which in the early 20s of the XV century. revolutionary peasant-plebeian, in particular chiliastic, ideas about the imminent establishment of the kingdom of God on earth prevailed.

The social role of the Christian religion and the church in a feudal society

Christianity stood at the cradle of feudal society as an established religious ideology. Already in the last centuries of the existence of the Roman Empire, it turned from the religion of the oppressed into an instrument for the enslavement of the working masses in the hands of the ruling slave-owning class.

Christian preaching inspired the working people with a mystical belief that justice and goodness, which cannot be realized in the earthly world, will triumph in the afterlife for all followers of the new religion. With the fantastic idea of ​​the equality of all people before God, Christianity sought to cover up the yawning abyss of social contradictions of real existence. With religious consolation to the “suffering and burdened,” it sought to extinguish the social protest of the exploited, promising them retribution for their suffering in the “afterlife.” Thanks to this social and ideological function, Christianity was able to survive the collapse of the slave system and remained an important means of spiritual enslavement of the working people in feudal society as well.

The ruling class of this society, adapting Christianity to the conditions of the new feudal system throughout the Middle Ages, sought to strengthen the church in every way in economic, political and ideological terms. The church and the clergy serving it became part of the feudal system, its most important ideological support. The Christian religion in Western Europe - Catholicism - was the dominant form of ideology in the Middle Ages. It dominated all areas of social, ideological, cultural life, subjugated morality, science, culture, education, clothed in its forms and permeated all aspects of the medieval worldview.

The exceptionally large role of religion and the church in the feudal era, their strong influence on the minds of people was determined by the fact that the worldview of medieval man was predominantly theological. The ideas of all people in that era, regardless of their social affiliation, were permeated with a religious spirit.

The ideological foundations of medieval Christianity

Christian doctrine arose from the struggle and, at the same time, from the mutual influence of many philosophical and religious movements, among which the ideas of the Jewish philosopher, the Neoplatonist Philo of Alexandria and the Roman Stoic Seneca, were of particular importance. However, in the future, the philosophical foundations of Christianity, although greatly simplified, overgrown with a dense fabric of more "Primitive religious ideas, adapted to the understanding of the" barbarians "that flooded the Western Roman Empire.

The foundations of the feudal-church worldview of the Middle Ages were laid at the turn of the 4th and 5th centuries. Bishop of the city of Hippo (North Africa) Augustine (354-430). To the dogmatic provisions of Christianity, mainly approved at the Nicene and Constantinople church councils in 325 and 381, he added the doctrine developed by him "on the single-saving role of the church." Augustine waged a fierce struggle against various heretical movements, dogmatically substantiated the right to private property, and declared wealth and poverty to be "a divine institution." In his main work "On the state of God" ("De civitate Dei") Augustine gave a Christian view of world history. According to his concept, the "earthly state" - the world (civitas terrena), which is the offspring of the devil, is opposed, although intertwined with him in real life, by the "state of God" (civitas Dei). The representative of the latter is the church; its task is to overcome the "kingdom of the devil" by spreading the Christian faith, eradicating heresies and converting all mankind to the "true faith". Augustine believed that history develops according to a divine plan and, ultimately, along an ascending line - to the blissful state of mankind.

Providentialism in history, put forward by Augustine, served as the theoretical basis for all church historical literature of the Middle Ages. Declaring non-Christians and heretics victims of the devil, Augustine preached the need not only to convince, but also to force them to accept the teachings of the church. He also developed the position according to which the church is the only custodian of "divine grace", with the help of which it can give people atonement for sins and thus grant them "eternal salvation". This teaching raised the general significance of the church and dogmatically substantiated the deep difference between the clergy and the mass of believers, which is especially characteristic of the Western Christian church of the Middle Ages.

At the same time, there were many contradictions in the theological and philosophical-historical views of Augustine. This explains the fact that supporters of views hostile to the official church, in particular Wyklif, Jan Hus and others, tried to rely on some of its provisions.

Strengthening the economic base of the church and its feudalization in the VI-XI centuries.

The Church not only managed to preserve its possessions and property during the barbarian invasions and revolutionary uprisings, but also significantly increased its wealth. She actively promoted the process of feudalization and played a significant role in it. Already in the early Middle Ages in most countries Western Europe a significant part of the land area was concentrated in the hands of monasteries, bishops, cathedral chapters; the church brutally exploited the labor of dependent peasants. Church feudal lords occupied a prominent place in the emerging feudal hierarchy. Being vassals of kings and other secular sovereigns, they themselves had numerous not only spiritual, but also secular vassals. Large church feudal lords had broad immunity rights. Monasteries were of great importance in strengthening the economic and social influence of the church. Founded around 529 by Benedict of Nursia, the monastery of Montecassino (Italy) laid the foundation for the first monastic order - the Order of the Benedictines. His charter was widely used in the further organization of the early medieval monasteries, most of which belonged to the Benedictine order. Monasteries and episcopal possessions already in the 7th-8th centuries. were usually the focus of economic life - fairs were held next to them, on the lands belonging to them, dependent peasants - columns and serfs - an extensive economy was conducted. Enriching themselves, they expanded their economic activity even more widely, rounding out their possessions at the expense of the ruined community members, as well as due to the development, of course with the help of their peasants, of forests, swamps and wastelands. The largest and richest monasteries (abbeys) also influenced political life countries of Western Europe.

The Church increasingly acquired the character of a powerful centralized and at the same time hierarchical organization. The lowest cell of the church organization in the West and in the East was the parish, headed by the parish priest (presbyter). The presbyters were part of a hierarchy headed by a bishop. The bishop, who became the sole head of the "community of believers" of each diocese, acquired a special significance in the church. A number of dioceses united into a metropolis, headed by a metropolitan in the East and an archbishop in the West. In the East as early as the 5th c. church associations of a higher level arose - the patriarchate (in Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem). In the West, equal recognition with the patriarchs (and then higher than they) was received by the Roman bishop - pope.

Councils (congresses) of bishops acquired great importance in the management of the church. Bishops of a particular province or several provinces gathered at local (or local) councils; “Ecumenical councils united all the bishops of the church, they resolved issues of dogma, worship, organization of the church (until the 9th century they were convened by the Byzantine emperor).

The emergence of the papacy played a major role in strengthening the church in Western Europe. At the end of IV - beginning of V century. Roman bishops appropriated to themselves the exclusive right to be called pope, that is, the head of the church. The popes based their claims to supremacy in the church on the fact that they are “the successors of the Apostle Peter”, who, according to legend, was the first list - the vicar of Christ in Rome. Using the absence in the West, in particular in Italy, of a strong secular power, the pope in the V-VI centuries. quickly rose to become the de facto secular rulers of the Roman diocese. With the growth of church land ownership in the countries of Western Europe, various payments from the lands of the church came at the disposal of the pope. The totality of the lands that were in the hands of the pope began to be regarded as the "patrimony of St. Peter" ("patrimonium S. Petri"), and he himself - as their supreme lord. The organization of the church increasingly acquired a feudal-hierarchical structure; at its head was the pope, and at its lowest levels, the parish clergy. By the end of the VI century. the papacy in Western Europe began to put forward claims for complete supremacy in the Christian church. Pope Gregory I (590-604) vigorously opposed the Patriarch of Constantinople, denying him the right to the title of "universal" ruler.

Union between church and state

These harassment of the papacy, as well as the claims of the popes for political influence in Italy and the rest of Western Europe, encountered resistance both within the church and from secular sovereigns. Both in this and in a later period they had to reckon with the Byzantine emperors and with the Patriarch of Constantinople, with the Lombard kings, later with the Frankish, and still later with the German empires.

In general, however, there was a close alliance between church and state in Western Europe during the early Middle Ages. The Church acted "as the most general synthesis and the most general sanction of the existing feudal system." In the fight against the enemies of this system, as well as with those who encroached on the authority of the church in some way, she used a carefully developed system of church punishments: “excommunication”, which placed a person outside the church; "interdict", when any worship was prohibited in the territory of any region or even an entire country; "anathema" - a solemn public betrayal of a curse; various kinds of church repentance, etc. All these measures for the superstitious people of that time were no less terrible and effective than the punishments imposed by the secular authorities. Deprivation of church patronage, according to the ideas of that era, took away a person’s hope for “salvation” and threatened with hellish torment in the other world.

The early feudal state, in turn, protected and supported the interests of the church. Pepin the Short actively participated in the creation of the Papal State in Italy. Charlemagne legalized the church tithe (decima) as a mandatory tax, which was levied on the entire population. Its main burden fell on the peasantry, who paid the tithe in three forms: the "large tithe" - from grain; "small" - from vegetables, fruits and poultry; "tithe of blood" - from cattle.

The enormous influence of the church in early medieval society was determined not only by its wealth and alliance with the state, but also by the monopoly that it enjoyed in the intellectual life of society. At that time, elementary school education, literature, production and correspondence of books were completely concentrated in the hands of the church, the selection and preservation of those extremely curtailed elements of the ancient cultural tradition that it needed to achieve its ideological goals depended entirely on it. Mostly from the ranks of the clergy at that time all more or less educated people, poets, writers, historians, and teachers came out.

Eastern expansion of the papacy and division of churches

In the middle of the ninth century Under Pope Nicholas I (858-867), clashes between the Western and Eastern churches became especially acute. The territorial harassment of the papacy and the appearance of papal legates in Bulgaria caused a conflict between Pope Nicholas I and Patriarch Photius of Constantinople. At the church councils convened by both sides, dogmatic, canonical and ritual disagreements between the Eastern and Western churches were revealed, which have survived to our time. In the West, it was believed that the “holy spirit” emanated equally from the “God the Father” and from the “God the Son” (Latin filioque), while in the East the procession of the “Holy Spirit” was recognized only from the “God the Father”. The Western Church adhered to the doctrine of the saints' "excessive merits" before God, which created an allegedly sacred reserve of "grace", due to which the church, at its discretion, can forgive people's sins and give their souls "eternal salvation" and even sell letters of such absolution - indulgences. In the East, this teaching was rejected. The main ceremonial discrepancies were that among Catholics, clergy took communion with bread and wine, while the laity - only with bread; among the Orthodox, all believers, without distinction, received communion with both wine and bread. In the West, the sign of the cross was made with five fingers, in the East - with three. In the Western Church, services were conducted everywhere only in Latin, while in the Orthodox Church, in local languages. In the West, the church required celibacy from all clergy; in the East, celibacy was required only from monks. The Western Church, unlike the Byzantine one, did not allow exit from the clergy, forbade the laity to read and interpret Holy Scripture, asserted the primacy of the pope in the Christian Church and the institution of cardinals, not recognized in the East.

The real basis of the ongoing disputes between the churches, however, was not at all dogmatic, canonical and ritual disagreements, but quite real practical interests. The papacy strenuously sought to expand the sphere of its religious and political influence to the East. The Eastern Church resolutely opposed this expansion.

In the fight against the Eastern Church, Pope Nicholas I first used a collection of papal letters, falsely attributed to Bishop Isidore of Seville (VI-VII centuries). This collection (“False Isidore Decretals”) included over a hundred fictitious papal letters, false documents about the decisions of church councils, the Gift of Constantine and other fakes, the purpose of which was to justify the papal primacy in the church and the worldly claims of the papacy. Since then, the "False Isidore Decretals", later officially included in the code of canon law, became the generally recognized basis of papal dominion in the Middle Ages, while in the XV-XVI centuries. they have not been proven false.

In the summer of 1054, the legates of Pope Leo IX sent to Constantinople cursed the Byzantine Patriarch Michael Cerularius. The latter, in turn, convened an ecclesiastical council and cursed the papal legates. Thus, the final division of the previously formally united Christian church into the western - Roman Catholic, and the eastern - Greek Catholic, or Orthodox, took place. The division of churches and the further development of each of them was determined by the peculiarities of the socio-political development of Byzantium and Western European countries. In Byzantium, the church was completely subordinate to the imperial power; in the West, in the course of the struggle against secular power, it defended its independence and for a long time retained its claim to political supremacy.

The decline of the papacy in the IX-XI centuries. Cluniac movement

From the second half of the ninth century almost two hundred years of decline of the papacy begins. After the division of the Carolingian Empire, Italy was politically fragmented. As a feudal sovereign, the pope was far from the most powerful among the Italian feudal lords. Being unable to subordinate them to his influence, he became an instrument, and sometimes a victim, in the internecine struggle of various feudal groups. The collapse of the Frankish Empire temporarily disrupted the ties between the papacy and the clergy in other countries and regions of Europe, which had not yet been sufficiently strengthened in the previous period. This partly undermined the pan-European influence and financial base of the papacy.

Taking advantage of the decline of the papacy, the big feudal lords ceased to reckon with it and seized the lands that belonged to the popes. After the formation of the so-called Roman Empire under Otto I, proteges of the German emperors occupied the papal throne for almost a century. Locally, however, the church became more and more dependent on individual secular rulers.

The decline of the papacy contributed to the strengthening of the power of bishops and archbishops, who turned into feudal princes, subordinating general church interests to their political goals and desire for enrichment. The Church became more and more "secularized", moved further and further away from the ideal of poverty and asceticism, which undermined its authority and influence on the masses.

In this regard, a movement arose among monastics aimed at strengthening the moral prestige of the church and its independence in relation to secular authorities, at creating a strong church organization, in particular at strengthening papal power. This movement is at the beginning of the 10th century. headed the monastery of Cluny (French Burgundy), which soon became the center of a large association of monasteries (by the end of the 12th century, the Cluny congregation included about 2 thousand monasteries in France, Germany, Italy, England and Spain). The abbot of Cluny reported directly to the pope: a strict charter excluded the subordination of monasteries not only to secular authorities, but also to local bishops. He demanded from the monks the strict observance of the vow of celibacy ("celibacy"). The Cluniacs also opposed the sale of church positions ("simony") and the appointment of bishops and abbots as secular sovereigns. For the success of sermons in the monasteries, libraries and schools imbued with the church spirit were created. Monks were forbidden to engage in physical labor.

The Cluniac movement was also used by a part of the large feudal nobility as a means in the struggle against royal power and the bishops who supported it, on the one hand, and against popular performances and the heretical movements that were intensifying at that time, on the other. Many feudal lords of the X-XI centuries. generously endowed the Cluniac monasteries with lands, they themselves often went to these monasteries and energetically supported the Cluniac reform.

In 1059, at the Lateran Council in Rome, one of the main leaders of the Cluniac movement, the monk Hildebrand (later Pope Gregory VII), achieved a decision on a new procedure for electing popes: the pope was to continue to be elected by the cardinals without the intervention of emperors or other secular authorities.

Having become pope (1073-1085), Gregory VII in his treatise "The Dictate of the Pope" launched the program of papal theocracy, asserting the supremacy of papal power over the power of secular sovereigns. This resolute and adamant politician directed all his activities to the implementation of his program. He waged a bitter struggle with the German king (later emperor) Henry IV, the reason for which was a dispute over investiture. They brought him a fiery oath and gave it as a “gift of St. Peter" their lands Norman dukes of southern Italy. He demanded the same from the Hungarian king and the English king William the Conqueror. Gregory VII pursued a similar policy in Spain and the Czech Republic, Denmark and Dalmatia, Corsica and Sardinia. Taking advantage of the internecine struggle of the sons of the Russian Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise, the pope promised one of them, Izyaslav, his help, provided that he, becoming prince of Kyiv, recognizes himself as a vassal of the Roman throne.

Gregory VII achieved a significant strengthening of the authority of the papacy and the Catholic Church. However, his theocratic ideas and plans for a universal papal monarchy were not implemented. His policy was defeated in France and England, and was not crowned with complete success in Germany. At the end of his long struggle with Emperor Henry IV, the pope was even forced to leave Rome and flee to the south of Italy, where he died.

Social and political prerequisites for the rise of the papacy in the XII-XIII centuries.

In the XII-XIII centuries. there is a further strengthening of the influence of the Catholic Church and the papacy. This process was due to the fact that at that time most of the countries of Western Europe were experiencing a state of feudal fragmentation. In the absence of strong centralized states, the church, which by this time had increased its power, turned out for some time to be the only force whose authority was recognized in all countries. According to Engels, during this period the Catholic Church was "the great international center of the feudal system".

The papacy successfully used feudal fragmentation to its advantage. Its main support in certain countries of Western Europe was made up of representatives of the church hierarchy, primarily bishops and monasteries, who usually had very wide immunity privileges. However, being at the same time vassals of both the king of their country and the pope as head of the church, and being dependent in many respects on both, they occupied different positions at different periods. Many of them supported the strengthening of the central temporal power in their countries and therefore did not sympathize with the extreme theocratic pretensions of the papacy; others, on the contrary, zealously pursued the papal policy in their countries, preventing the strengthening of central power there and willingly supporting feudal-separatist actions.

Papacy in the XII-XIII centuries. used to strengthen its influence all the major political events of the time. It acted as the organizer of the crusades to the East; gave the Reconquista in Spain a religious character of "protection of the Christian world from the infidels"; under the slogan of spreading Christianity among the pagans, the church consecrated the predatory campaigns of the German knights against the Slavic and Baltic peoples. The papacy actively participated in the suppression of popular anti-feudal movements and heresies. The political influence of the church and its head - the pope - also relied on the financial power of the Roman curia. Significant sums of money flowed here from all the Catholic countries of Europe annually - income from the land holdings of the church, from church tithes, from fees for crusades and other church taxes. Possessing huge funds, often far exceeding the financial resources of the secular sovereigns of Europe, the popes had the opportunity to conduct an active foreign policy. The strengthening of the power of the church and the papacy in Western Europe was also facilitated by the fact that it continued to maintain power over the entire intellectual and ideological life of society.

In 1123, after a long break, Pope Calixtus II convened in Rome the First Ecumenical Council of the Lateran, which approved the Concordat of Worms concluded in 1122. Since then such councils have been convened regularly.

The thirteenth century was the time of the highest power and international influence of the papacy. This manifested itself already during the pontificate (reign) of Pope Innocent III (1198-1216), who, even more actively than Gregory VII, defended the idea of ​​the supremacy of church power over secular power and put forward claims to world domination. He completely restored his possessions in the Papal States and significantly expanded its borders; at one time he was even the ruler of the Sicilian kingdom. He gave the papal curia the significance of the highest judicial authority throughout the Catholic world. He managed to achieve that the English king John the Landless, the kings of Aragon and Portugal recognized themselves as his vassals. Innocent III and his successors, through their legates, constantly intervened in the internal affairs of the Western European states, claiming the role of an all-European arbiter.

In order to stop the long struggle over the election of the pope, which often dragged on for a long time, the II Council of Lyon in 1274 established that the cardinals who had gathered to elect a new pope should be in complete isolation from the outside world - “under the key” (cum clave), hence the elective session of the cardinals was called the "conclave". If within three days the cardinals have not completed the election, their meals should be limited to one course for lunch and dinner. After another five days, the cardinals were left only on bread and water, and for the entire subsequent time of the conclave they were deprived of income from their churches.

The popes sought to present themselves as fighters against the "Tatar danger" that loomed in the middle of the 13th century. over Western Europe, holding at the First Council of Lyon (1225) a decision on the need for a common struggle against the Mongols. However, in reality, the pope did not try to lead the struggle of the European peoples against this invasion. He and his successors were only looking for ways to negotiate with the Mongol khans, hoping with their help to spread Catholic influence in Russia.

Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303), in an effort to further raise the prestige of the papacy, organized in 1300 the celebration of the "anniversary of the church", on the occasion of which he announced the "absolution of sins" to all those present at this festival and issued special indulgences - letters of absolution, that were sold for money. Since that time, the very profitable sale of indulgences has become widespread in all Catholic countries.

Boniface VIII tried with all his might to put into practice the reactionary ideas of the papal theocracy. In 1302, he issued the bull "Unam sanctam", the final provision of which read: "The subordination of every human creature to the Roman high priest is an indispensable condition for salvation." Thus, papal authority was declared the highest authority on earth. The bull of Boniface VIII demanded that the pope be recognized as a substitute for God on earth, declared the power of secular sovereigns dependent on the powers of the pope, and proclaimed a universal theocratic (more precisely, hierocratic, that is, ruled by the clergy) monarchy. But the claims of Boniface VIII, as well as his predecessors - Gregory VII and Innocent III, could not be implemented in practice, since there were neither economic nor political prerequisites for this. The process of state centralization was carried out during this period by the royal power within the framework of national states - France, England, etc. The papal policy was in irreconcilable contradiction with this progressive process. move historical development showed that the idea of ​​papal supremacy over secular power has always been not only extremely reactionary, but also utopian.

Heretical movements of the Middle Ages

The most important aspect of papal policy was the fight against heresies. Heresies are religious teachings that deviate to some extent from the dogmas of the official church. Heresies accompany Christianity throughout its existence, beginning with its first steps as an independent religion. However, heretical movements gained their greatest scope and significance in the era of feudalism.

The Christian religion in medieval Western Europe determined not only the worldview of the class of feudal lords, but as the dominant ideology, in many respects, the consciousness of the masses. Their feelings, as Engels wrote, "were nourished exclusively by religious food." Under these conditions, any social doctrine and movement, even hostile to official orthodoxy, inevitably had to take a theological form. The basis of heretical movements was social protest against certain aspects of the feudal system or feudalism in general. But since the Catholic Church theoretically substantiated and affirmed the existing order, acted as their "divine sanction", insofar as "all attacks on feudalism expressed in a general form and, above all, attacks on the church, all revolutionary - social and political - doctrines should have been predominantly from themselves at the same time theological heresies. In order to be able to attack existing public relations, it was necessary to rip off the halo of holiness from them.

In the early Middle Ages, in conditions when feudal relations had not yet been formed, and feudal exploitation and the instruments for its implementation (including Catholicism as the main form of ideological influence) had not yet taken on a comprehensive character, Western Europe did not yet know mass heretical movements. But even then there was fertile ground for heretical teachings.

On the development of heresies in northern Italy and southern France X-XI centuries. The heresy of the Bogomils also had a great influence.

The rise of the heretical movement in Western Europe during the advanced Middle Ages was primarily associated with the emergence and growth of cities. The status of the incomplete position of the townspeople in a feudal society, the exploitation of the urban lower classes not only by the secular and church feudal lords, but also by the urban merchants and patriciates, the sharpness of social contradictions, and finally, relatively (in comparison with the countryside) active social life made the cities genuine centers of heresies . It is no coincidence that the areas of the earliest and most rapid urban development - Northern Italy, Southern France, the Rhineland, Flanders, North-East France, Southern Germany were at the same time the areas of the most active development of heretical movements.

The growth of cities contributed to the spread of heresies in the countryside as well. The development of commodity-money relations and the consequent worsening of the position of a significant part of the peasantry created the ground for drawing the peasant masses into heretical movements. Anti-church, heretical sentiments were intensified by the fact that church feudal lords especially zealously hindered the attempts of the cities under their rule to achieve self-government, the personal liberation of the peasants in their possessions. The religious shell permeated all forms social movement and class resistance of this era. “Revolutionary opposition to feudalism,” wrote F. Engels, “passes through the entire Middle Ages. It appears, according to the conditions of the time, now in the form of mysticism, now in the form of open heresy, now in the form of an armed uprising.

Social Essence and Main Ideas of Medieval Heresies

According to the social orientation, two main types of medieval heresies can be distinguished - burgher and peasant-plebeian. The burgher heresy expressed the protest of the townspeople against the feudal fetters that hindered the development of the urban economy, and the oppression of the burghers by feudal society. Engels called this trend "the official heresy of the Middle Ages." It was to him that most of the heretical movements of the 12th-13th centuries belonged. The demands of such heresies provided for the elimination of the special position of the clergy, the political claims of the papacy, and the land wealth of the church. They sought to simplify and reduce the cost of rituals and improve the moral character of the clergy. The ideal of these heretics was the early Christian "apostolic" church - simple, "cheap" and "clean". Heresies of this type spoke only against "ecclesiastical feudalism" and did not affect the foundations of the feudal system as a whole. Therefore, whole groups of feudal lords sometimes joined them, trying to use the burgher heresy in their own interests (for the sake of secularizing church property or limiting the political influence of the papacy). So it was in the era of the Albigensian wars in southern France, the Hussite wars in Bohemia, during the time of Wyclif in England.

Much more radical were the peasant-plebeian heresies, reflecting the hostile attitude of the dispossessed lower classes of the city and countryside not only towards the church and clergy, but also towards the feudal lords, wealthy merchants and urban patricians. Sharing all the religious demands of the burgher heresy, the peasant-plebeian heresy also demanded equality among people. Civil equality was derived from equality before God, thereby denying class differences. Peasant-plebeian heresies, as a rule, also demanded the abolition of serfdom and corvée, while individual extreme sects called for the establishment of property equality and the community of property. In the XIV-XV centuries. the most radical peasant-plebeian heresies were often combined with popular uprisings (apostles, Lollards, Taborites, etc.).

At the same time, throughout the Middle Ages, there were also such heresies in which the elements of both of these currents - the burghers and the peasant-plebeian - were not clearly distinguished.

The dogma of medieval heretical teachings was quite diverse, but the main ideas and provisions were common to many sects. These include, first of all, a sharply critical attitude towards Catholic priests of all ranks, including the pope, which is characteristic of all sects and all their members, no matter what social stratum they belong to. The main method of criticism of the clergy was the opposition of the real behavior of the priests to the ideal image of the biblical shepherd, their words and sermons to everyday practice. Indulgences, the demand for an oath on the Bible, and separate communion for the laity and for the clergy were also sharply attacked by the majority of heretics. The heretics of many sects called the church "the Babylonian harlot", the creation of Satan, and the pope - his vicar, the Antichrist. At the same time, some, more moderate part of the heretics considered themselves true Catholics, striving to help correct the church. Another, no less significant part openly broke with the Catholic Church, creating their own religious organizations (Cathars, Waldensians, Apostolics, Taborites); the most radical among them (especially the Apostolics, the Lollards of the 14th century) transferred their hostile attitude towards the Catholic Church to the entire feudal social system.

The vast majority of heretical teachings were also characterized by the desire to follow the Gospel, recognizing it as the only source of faith, as opposed to the writings of the "fathers of the church", decisions of councils, papal bulls, etc. This can be explained by the fact that of all Christian literature, only the Gospel has preserved some remnants of the original rebellious -democratic ideas of early Christianity. They served as the basis for many heretical teachings. One of the most popular ideas in heretic circles, gleaned from the gospel, was the idea of ​​"apostolic poverty", which attracted the sympathy of people belonging to various strata of society. Many of them sold or gave away their property and led an ascetic life. But the ideal of poverty was understood by heretics from various social groups in different ways: representatives of the ruling class saw it as a means of weakening the political role of the church and an opportunity to profit from its wealth; burghers - the way to create a "cheap" church that does not require large funds from the parishioners. The attitude of the broad working masses towards the ideal of poverty was contradictory. On the one hand, the idea of ​​poverty, equalizing everyone before God, asserting the dignity of ordinary poor people, was extremely popular among them; on the other hand, it did not give a way out of their difficult situation. Therefore, among the participants in the peasant-plebeian heresies, the ideas of community and equality of property, which implied profound social changes, also became widespread. Of great importance was the ideal of asceticism, closely associated with the preaching of poverty. The revolutionary asceticism of the peasant-plebeian masses of that era, which separated the poor and disenfranchised from the rest of society, was, according to Engels, a means of uniting the oppressed masses and a specific form of their self-consciousness.

Mystical ideas were also influential among the heretics. Mysticism in medieval heresies appeared in two main forms. Interpreting biblical denunciations and prophecies in their own way, in particular the visions of the Apocalypse, many heresiarchs - Joachim of Calabria, Dolcino and others - not only predicted an inevitable change in the existing order, but also called the close dates for this coup. Such prophecies were of a radical nature, responding to the revolutionary moods of the peasant-plebeian circles of heretics. They were associated with the "millennial" or "chiliastic" ideas characteristic of these circles - about the imminent onset of the "millennium kingdom" of justice, in other words, the "kingdom of God" on Earth. The burgher trend in mysticism, based on the teachings of German theologians of the 14th century, had a different character. - Eckart, Tauler, etc. They and their followers believed that the "divine truth" is contained in the person himself, who therefore has "free will" and must be creatively active. They were characterized by elements of pantheism, which led them to the idea of ​​the uselessness of the church. At the same time, this type of mysticism was characterized by a retreat into the inner world of a person, religious ecstasy, visions, etc., which sharply reduced the radicalism of such teachings and led their supporters away from real life and struggle.

The historical role of heresies in the Middle Ages was that they undermined the authority and spiritual dictates of the Catholic Church and the feudal-church worldview that it defended, exposed the greed and depravity of the clergy, and objectively contributed to the spread of freethinking (although heretics themselves most often did not show freethinking, they were characterized by fanaticism and intolerance towards dissidents).

Since heresies, albeit in a religious form, expressed the anti-feudal sentiments of the masses, they also shook the feudal system as a whole. However, the majority of sects, with the exception of pronounced peasant-plebeian sects, usually did not put forward open demands for radical social transformations, the elimination of feudal exploitation. They limited themselves to preaching more or less radical changes in church dogma or organization. They contrasted the "bad" church and the "false" faith with the "good" church and the "true" faith. Thus, heresies in most cases led the masses into the realm of fantastic inventions, diverted them from solving real problems.

The main heretical movements of the XI-XIII centuries.

Separate sects of heretics became widespread in Western Europe already at the beginning of the 11th century: in Chalons, Orleans, Arras (France), Mont-fort (Italy), Goslar (Germany). In the second half of the XI century. broad popular movements unfolded in the cities of Italy (Milan, Florence). Their participants preached poverty, asceticism, and rejected ritualism. Among these movements, the Milanese Pataria was especially famous (after the name of the quarter in Milan, inhabited by beggars, junk dealers, etc.). The Patareni, most of whom were urban poor, sharply attacked the wealth and morals of the clergy, calling, in particular, for the celibacy of the clergy. However, they opposed the rich merchants and the nobility. However, these early movements were mostly negative and did not have a developed positive program. One of the first creators of an independent heretical doctrine was Arnold of Brescia, who led in the middle of the 12th century. anti-papal uprising in Rome. Sharply criticizing the contemporary church, he turned to the Gospel, from which he deduced the demand for the transfer of power into the hands of secular persons. In the context of the struggle of the burghers with the local episcopate and the papacy that supported it, this demand expressed the political program of the emerging urban commune of Rome. The sect he created (the Arnoldists), representing the early burgher heresy, continued to exist even after the execution of their leader; only at the beginning of the thirteenth century. it dissolved into a mass of other heretical currents. The heyday of heretical movements in a number of Western European countries falls on the second half of the 12th and 13th centuries. There were especially many of them in these centuries in southern France and northern Italy, where heretics made up a significant part of the population. In Lombardy alone, Arnoldists, Cathars, Waldensians, the "Lombard poor" Fraticelli, Apostolics, Flagellants and many others acted during this period. A characteristic feature of the heretical movements of that time was that, although the overwhelming majority of these were burgher heresies, many of them also included elements of the peasant-plebeian heresy that had not yet emerged from the burgher current. Among the most massive heretical movements of the XII century. the heresy of the Cathars (from the Greek "kataros" - pure) belongs, in which, along with the burghers, the peasant-plebeian stream can be traced. The doctrine of the Cathars was anti-feudal in nature; they refused to recognize the authority of the state, rejected physical violence and the shedding of blood. They considered the Catholic Church, as well as the whole earthly world, to be the creation of Satan, and the pope to be his vicar; therefore they rejected the dogma and cult of the official church, its hierarchy, and opposed the riches and power of the church. In their teaching, dualistic ideas were strong, close to those of Bogomil, about the eternal struggle in the world of the principles of good and evil. The Cathars created their own church organization, consisting of the “perfect” (perfecti), who were obliged to lead an ascetic lifestyle, and the bulk of the “believers” (credentes), to whom severe asceticism did not apply; they were free to practice different professions. Catharism was widespread in all countries of Southern Europe, where it often merged with other heresies (with the Waldensians in Languedoc, the Patarens in Lombardy, etc.), exerting a radicalizing influence on them.

Great influence among the heretics of the XII-XIII centuries. used the ideas of Joachim Florsky (or Calabrian) (c. 1132-1202), one of the greatest mystics of that time. He interpreted the three faces of the Christian trinity as three eras of world history. At first, as Joachim taught, the power of the “God the Father” dominated, distinguished by severity, slavish submission, which was regulated by the ancient “Law of Moses”, embodied in the Old Testament. It was replaced by a second, milder era - the power of the "god-son", based on the Gospel, the New Testament. The third era, the era of the "holy spirit", the "Eternal Gospel", he interpreted as the realm of true love and complete freedom: then eternal justice will be established. According to the Joachimites, the kingdom of peace and truth on earth should come as a result of a "universal upheaval" between 1200 and 1260. The teaching of the Joachimites, although it was imbued with mysticism, had a content hostile to feudalism. In contrast to the church dogma, which taught that "heavenly life" is possible only in another world, it promised people a speedy deliverance from suffering in real earthly life, asserted the transient nature of the existing order and the inevitability of their death. This chiliastic doctrine was one of the early manifestations of the peasant-plebeian opposition to the feudal system, which linked the idea of ​​social justice with the destruction of this system. Therefore, the ideas of Joachimism enjoyed great popularity among the people for a long time and were further developed in the work of the most radical representatives of the heretical thought of the Middle Ages: the Apostolics, led by Dolcino, and others.

Evangelical ideas were especially widespread in the ranks of heretics. Among the many sects that dreamed of reviving the order of the early Christian church, of particular importance in the XIII century. purchased by the Waldensians.

The son of a wealthy Lyon merchant, Peter Wald (Waldo, Walda), who lived in the last quarter of the 12th century, having left all his property to his wife, began an active preaching of poverty and asceticism. His followers, the Waldenses, along with sharp criticism of the priests, put forward ideas that challenge church dogma: they denied purgatory, most of the sacraments, icons, prayers, the cult of saints, the church hierarchy, their ideal was the "poor" apostolic church. They also opposed church tithes, taxes, military service, the feudal court and denied the death penalty. These views brought them closer to the Cathars, and at the end of the XII century. the Cathars and the Waldensians in southern France acted together under the general name of the Albigensians. In the XIII century. the Waldenses split. Some of them became close to the Catholic Church on the condition of recognizing certain features of their cult and the right to preach (“Catholic poor”). The extreme wing of the Waldensians merged with the Cathars and went to Italy, where a number of new sects emerged from it (“the Lombard poor”, etc.). Another part of the Waldenses moved to Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, where in the XIV century. Waldensianism spread widely among peasants and small urban artisans. One of the Waldensian groups operated in backward and inaccessible places in Switzerland and Savoy. There, according to F. Engels, Waldensianism began to represent "the reaction of the patriarchal Alpine shepherds to the penetration of feudalism to them."

In Italy, evangelical ideas were professed by dozens of different sects and enjoyed exceptional popularity among both urban and rural populations. Often the preaching of asceticism and repentance took extreme forms, as was the case in the flagellant movement. Flagellants (“flagging”) took to the roads and streets in rags, barefoot and publicly tortured themselves, bringing their supporters to a state of ecstasy. This movement became especially massive in 1260, in the era of the “divine upheaval” predicted by the Joachimites; it later declined.

Heresies in the 12th and 13th centuries were widely distributed not only among the lower strata of the population, but also among the educated part of the townspeople - teachers and students of urban schools and universities. So, Arnold of Brescian was one of the students and successors of the free-thinking philosopher Abelard.

The master of the University of Paris, Amory of Vienna, spoke at the beginning of the 13th century. with a pantheistic doctrine hostile to the church and proclaimed the imminent onset of the "kingdom of God on earth." This doctrine was recognized as heretical in 1210, and its followers, the Amalricans, were captured and burned.

The struggle of the church against heretical movements. Inquisition

The church fought against heretical ideas and anti-clerical movements with cruel fanaticism and intransigence. Church cathedrals of the XII-XIII centuries. obligated not only the clergy, but also the secular authorities to take an active part in this struggle. At the cathedrals, at various times, Cathars, Patarens, Waldensians, and later Beguins were anathematized. The teachings of Joachim of Florence, Amory of Vienna, and later of Peter Olivi were recognized as heresy and banned in the 15th century. - John Wyclif and Jan Hus. Hundreds of leaders of heretical movements and sects were convicted and burned, and ordinary heretics were subjected to severe persecution. The most bloody form of reprisals against heretics were the crusades inspired by the church and the papacy: against the Albigensians (began in 1209), against the apostolics (1306-1307), five crusades against the Hussites (1420-1431), etc.

The Inquisition (from the Latin inquisitio - investigation) played a special role in the fight against heresies. Emerged at the end of the XII century. as a form of ecclesiastical court, carried out at first by bishops, the inquisition was gradually withdrawn from the control of the bishops and turned in the first half of the 13th century. in independent organization, which had enormous powers and was directly subordinate to the pope. Gradually, the Inquisition created a special system of search and judicial investigation of heretics. She widely introduced espionage and denunciations into practice. She wrested confessions from her victims by intricate sophistry, while sophisticated torture was applied to the stubborn ones. The zeal of the inquisitors and their scammers was rewarded by the division between them of a part of the property confiscated from the convicts. Already in the XIII century. Along with heretics, the Inquisition began to persecute scientists and philosophers who showed free thinking. The Inquisition hypocritically proclaimed the principle of "non-shedding of blood", so those convicted of heresy were handed over to the secular authorities for punishment. The most common punishment for heretics was burning at the stake, often in groups (the so-called auto-da-fe - from the Portuguese auto-da-fe - a matter of faith).

One of the most tragic pages in the history of mankind is connected with the activities of the Inquisition.

Mendicant orders

The Church tried to undermine the heretical movement from within as well. To this end, she legalized some sects, directing their activities in the right direction for herself and gradually turning them into ordinary monastic orders. This is how the orders of the Yeremits, Gumilia-trv and some others arose. Seeing the great popularity among heretics of the ideas of asceticism and poverty, as well as the practice of free preaching, the papacy introduced new type monasticism - the order of mendicant monks-preachers. With their help, the papacy tried to counteract the influence of heretical teachings among the masses, to keep believers in the bosom of the church.

The first of these orders - the Franciscan - arose as a result of the church's skillful use of the preaching of poverty, popular among the people, led by the Italian Francis of Assisi (1182-1226). The son of wealthy parents, under the influence of the Waldensians, he indulged in asceticism and, wandering around Italy, called for the renunciation of property and repentance, demanding from his followers (“minorites” - younger brothers) simplicity of morals and engaging in useful work. But Francis did not sharply oppose the church; he preached humility in obedience. Criticizing, for example, monasticism, he did not deny it as a whole, but only called on the monks to abandon life in the monastery and turn into itinerant preachers living in alms. The Papacy took advantage of this relatively moderate position of Francis and, seeking to control the discontent of the masses, in 1210 established the monastic order of the Franciscans (minorites), and Francis himself was later canonized. Gradually, the order moved away from its original ideals of poverty and asceticism. In a short time, the Minorites, using their popularity, turned into one of the richest monastic orders; many of their monasteries (the number of which reached 1100 in the middle of the 13th century) began to play a prominent political role. The Order was reorganized along the lines of strict discipline and hierarchy; the whole territory of Europe; was divided into "provinces" ruled by "provincials"; at the head of the order was a "general" appointed by the pope. The main goal of the order was the fight against popular heresies: acting in wide circles, the Franciscans sought to limit their influence, inclining the hesitant to their side.

Almost simultaneously with the Franciscans, the mendicant order of the Dominicans (1216), founded by the Spanish fanatic monk Dominic, arose, subordinate directly to the pope. The Dominicans attached particular importance to the art of preaching and scholastic theological disputes, which was the basis of the then "education". The “preacher brothers” (as the Dominicans were called), with the support of the pope, soon seized the theological chairs at the largest universities in Europe, famous theologians and scholastics of that time came out of their midst - Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, and others. The Dominicans soon gained enormous influence, which they used in interests of the papacy in its conflicts with monarchs, cities, universities and individual bishops. But their main goal they considered the fight against heretics. Their banner depicted a dog with a torch in his mouth, they called themselves "dogs of the Lord" (play on words: domini canes instead of dominicani). The overwhelming majority of the inquisitors consisted of Dominicans. The theological faculty of the University of Paris (Sorbonne), headed by the Dominicans, was the supreme judge in determining the degree of deviation of a particular doctrine from orthodoxy.

Being also engaged in missionary and diplomatic activities, the "mendicant orders" were an important tool for Catholic expansion to the East; Thus, the Dominicans founded their monastery near Kyiv (1233), penetrated into China (1272), Japan and other Eastern European and Asian countries.

Heretical movements of the XIV-XV centuries.

Despite the brutal persecution and the activities of mendicant orders, heretical movements did not stop. New heresies arose to replace the old ones. In the XIV-XV centuries. their center moved from southern France and Lombardy to northeastern France, the Netherlands, England, southern and western Germany, and the Czech Republic. An important feature of the heretical movements of this period was a clear delineation between the burgher and peasant-plebeian heresies, the transformation of the latter "into a sharply distinguished party view." These radical heresies now sometimes merge with open peasant uprisings. So, the sect of the apostolics, headed by Dol-chino at the beginning of the XIV century. stood out from the more moderate heretical movements and played a leading role in the peasant-plebeian uprising, led by Dolcino. The heresy of the early Lollards, like-minded John Ball, merged with the rebellion of Wat Tyler. The most radical groups in the Taborite camp were also closely associated with the anti-feudal peasant-plebeian movement.

At the same time, burgher heresies were further developed and more clearly distinguished. Deepening and shaping theoretical basis their views, especially in the teachings of John Wycliffe and his followers, Jan Hus and the “cuppers” during the Hussite wars.

However, even during this period, along with clearly expressed peasant-plebeian and burgher heresies, heretical movements develop, in which, under a common name, movements sometimes different in their social orientation are hidden. This is typical, for example, for a number of newly emerged at the end of the XIV-XV centuries. sects, in which a strong peasant-plebeian stream is noticeable, although not associated with uprisings.

In the XIV century. Significant influence among the heretics was enjoyed by the teachings of the "spirituals" - a trend that developed on the basis of the radical wing of the Franciscan order, whose representatives did not reconcile with its rebirth. Their leader was the theologian Peter Olivi, in whose views evangelism and mysticism intertwined. Sharply criticizing the established church as "carnal" and "sinful" and predicting the imminent death of the papacy, he called for the creation of a new church on the foundations of poverty and love. Olivi's teaching did not go beyond the burgher heresy. But, penetrating into the common folk environment, it was sometimes interpreted in a more radical spirit. This manifested itself in one of the most massive heretical movements of the late 13th-14th centuries. - in the movement of the Beguins, as well as the Beguards and Fraticelli close to them, which engulfed the Southern Netherlands, German lands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy and France. The heretics were greatly influenced by the views of Olivy, whom they (especially the Beguins of Southern France) considered their spiritual father. The most radical part of them interpreted Olvi's prophecies about the death of the Catholic Church and the papacy as a prediction of an imminent "divine upheaval" (even its specific dates were determined -1325, 1330, 1335); its result will be a society in which "no one will offend his neighbor" and all property will be common. At the same time, a significant part of the Beguins remained on the positions of the burgher heresy, confining themselves to criticizing the "church order." The beguins and begards of Germany, Flanders, and northern French lands were close to various mystical sects of the "free spirit", which were influenced by the teachings of the already mentioned German mystic theologians of the 14th century. Eckart and others. The supporters of these sects focused their attention on the search for a free "divine spirit" in man himself, in his inner world. These tendencies and the elements of pantheism inherent in them led them to the idea of ​​the uselessness of the church. However, they did not put forward social, anti-feudal demands; as a rule, these sects were burgher heresy.

In the XV century. the most significant heretical movements were English Lollardism and Hussism. The Lollards of the 15th century, unlike the earlier followers of John Ball, were overwhelmingly peaceful burgher-type sectarians, although among them a significant part were ordinary working people - poor urban and rural artisans and merchants, peasants, and even agricultural workers, and also poor parish priests. For the most part, the Lollards relied on the teachings of John Wyclif. They sharply criticized the clergy, opposed the church hierarchy, most of the sacraments, icon veneration, church tithes, demanded the secularization of church property, freedom to preach for everyone, including the laity, worship in their native language, but did not encroach on the existing system. The exception was a small group of Lollards who preached in the 30s of the 15th century. peasant-plebeian ideas of community and the equation of property, but organizationally not separated from the general movement.

The Hussite heresy that arose in the Czech Republic at the beginning of the 15th century. and having absorbed many heresies that were widespread there before, it drew into its orbit the most diverse social strata. Initially, Hussism was based on the moderate burgher doctrine of Jan Hus, which also reflected the desire of all sections of Czech society to liberate themselves from German domination and the dictates of the papacy. But then the movement split into two camps: the moderate one - the Chashniks, heretics of the burgher type, and the radical one - the Taborist, in which in the early 20s of the 15th century. revolutionary peasant-plebeian, in particular chiliastic, ideas about the imminent establishment of the kingdom of God on earth prevailed.

The fall of the papacy in the 14th century

Neither the cruel persecution of heretics, nor the Inquisition, nor the clever demagogy of the "mendicant" orders could, however, prevent the decline of the papacy in the 14th-15th centuries. The general course of the historical development of feudal Europe led to this. Pope Boniface VIII, who in 1302 came into conflict with the French king Philip IV the Handsome, was defeated in this area. The popes were forced to leave the "eternal city" and move their residence under the shadow of the king of France to Avignon. The "Avignon captivity" of the popes began, which lasted about 70 years (1309-1378). During this period, the papacy became an instrument for strengthening royal power in France. After the return of the pope to Rome (1378), a forty-year “great schism” (“great schism”) ensued, when two, and then even three applicants fought for the papal throne. By the end of the XIV century. the papacy lost its former authority and power, was forced to abandon both theocratic claims forever.

The decline of the papacy in the XIV-XV centuries. was determined, first of all, by the fact that the formation of nation-states and the resulting growth of national self-consciousness in a number of European countries undermined the former importance of the church and the papacy as the "international center" of feudal Europe. In this regard, in those countries where the process of state centralization was underway, the ideas of a strong royal power independent of the papacy were increasingly spreading. Based on them, the kings of these countries successfully pursued a policy aimed at further weakening their dependence on Rome. After the successful actions of Philip IV in this spirit, Beautiful Ordinances, limiting the right of popes to church exactions and forbidding appeals to the pope from decisions of royal courts, etc., are issued by the king and parliament in England (in 1343, 1351 and 1353) and in some other countries. In Germany, these new ideas were intertwined with ancient imperial claims and received practical implementation in the struggle of the German emperor Ludwig IV of Bavaria with the popes. The idea of ​​a strong secular power independent of the papacy was substantiated theoretically in the 14th century. Marsilius of Padua in the treatise "Defender of the World" and Jean Jandin, the French legist Pierre Dubois, the famous English scholastic William Oaknam, and then John Wyclif. The great Dante carried out the same idea even earlier in the treatise "On the Monarchy", in poetic form - in the "Divine Comedy". In some heretical teachings, an essential role was played by the requirement of a national church and worship in a national language understandable to the people, which anticipated the ideas of the future Reformation of the 16th century.

Cathedral movement

At the same time, inside the official church itself in the XIV and XV centuries. the “cathedral movement” is spreading more and more widely, rejecting the claims of the papacy to complete autocracy and proving the need for the subordination of the papacy in secular affairs to state power, and in religious matters - to decisions ecumenical council. The "cathedral movement" grew especially strongly with the beginning of the "great schism". In France, it led to the demand for "Gallican liberties" - the autonomy of the French Church from Rome - which was realized in the "Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges" of Charles VII (1438). This act established the relative independence of the French, Gallican church in France and proclaimed the primacy of the church council over papal decisions. The royal power was granted special rights in the appointment of the higher clergy, and the jurisdiction of the clergy to the secular court (the Parisian parliament) was also established. A similar movement developed in England. Fees to the papal curia, established since the time of Innocent III, were paid less and less, and in 1366 they were finally abolished.

In an effort to strengthen the shattered authority of the Church and, above all, to overcome the "great schism", the supporters of the "cathedral movement" demanded the convening of a new ecumenical council. Convened at the insistence of Emperor Sigismund, drink John XXIII, the council opened in 1414 in the city of Konstanz and sat until the spring of 1418. It was supposed to put an end to schism, reform the church, and destroy heresies. However, the council was unable to carry out these tasks. True, he decided that the decisions of the ecumenical council were binding on the pope, and deposed one of the three popes - John XXIII, who turned out to be a former sea pirate and counterfeiter. But the struggle for the papacy continued.

The lack of unity at the council prevented the adoption of any decisions on the reform of the church, but its participants showed complete unanimity in condemning the teachings of John Wyclif and Jan Hus. Hus, in violation of legal and moral standards, deprived of the right to protection, was burned in 1415. A number of the following cathedrals could not end the schism - in Pavia in 1423, the Basel Cathedral in 1421-1449. and the Ferrara-Florence Council, convened in opposition to the Council of Basel by Pope Eugene IV in 1438 and ended in Rome in 1445. The Schism was eliminated only in 1449 at the Council of Lausanne, where the last "antipope" Felix V refused his claims and Nicholas V was recognized by the pope.

At the Ferrara-Florence Council in 1439, after a long struggle, a union was concluded between the western and eastern churches. The signing of the agreement was attended by representatives of the Eastern Church, headed by the Byzantine emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople, as well as the Metropolitan of Kyiv. Catholic propaganda portrayed this union as the most important act of uniting the Christian world and saving Byzantium from the Turkish danger. However, in reality, the union was called upon to serve as an instrument of the traditional papal policy aimed at subordinating the weakened Byzantium and especially Russia to the papal influence. Both in Byzantium and in Russia, it was rejected by both the people and the majority of the clergy. The Catholic Church managed to impose a union on the population of only those lands of Ukraine and Belarus that were under Polish-Lithuanian rule.

The most important aspect of papal policy was the fight against heresies. Heresies are religious teachings that deviate to some extent from the dogmas of the official church. Heresies accompany Christianity throughout its existence, beginning with its first steps as an independent religion. At the same time, heretical movements received the greatest scope and significance in the era of feudalism.

The Christian religion in medieval Western Europe determined not only the worldview of the class of feudal lords, but as the dominant ideology, in many respects, the consciousness of the masses. Their feelings, as Engels wrote, were ʼʼfed exclusively on religious foodʼʼ. Under these conditions, any social doctrine and movement, even hostile to official orthodoxy, inevitably had to take a theological form. The basis of heretical movements was social protest against certain aspects of the feudal system or feudalism in general. But since the Catholic Church theoretically substantiated and affirmed the existing orders, acted as their ʼʼdivine sanctionʼʼ, insofar as ʼʼall attacks on feudalism and, above all, attacks on the church, all revolutionary - social and political - doctrines should have been predominantly represent theological heresies at the same time. In order to be able to attack existing social relations, it was necessary to rip off the halo of sanctityʼʼ from them.

In the early Middle Ages, in conditions when feudal relations had not yet been formed, and feudal exploitation and the instruments for its implementation (including Catholicism as the main form of ideological influence) had not yet taken on a comprehensive character, Western Europe did not yet know mass heretical movements. But even then there was fertile ground for heretical teachings.

The rise of the heretical movement in Western Europe during the advanced Middle Ages was primarily associated with the emergence and growth of cities. The status of the incomplete position of citizens in feudal society, the exploitation of the urban lower classes not only by the secular and church feudal lords, but also by the urban merchants and patriciates, the sharpness of social contradictions, and finally, the relatively (in comparison with the countryside) active social life made cities genuine centers of heresies . It is no coincidence that the areas of the earliest and most rapid urban development - Northern Italy, Southern France, the Rhineland, Flanders, North-East France, Southern Germany were at the same time the areas of the most active development of heretical movements.

The growth of cities contributed to the spread of heresies in the countryside as well. The development of commodity-money relations and the consequent worsening of the position of a significant part of the peasantry created the ground for drawing the peasant masses into heretical movements. Anti-church, heretical sentiments were intensified by the fact that church feudal lords especially zealously hindered the attempts of the cities under their rule to achieve self-government, the personal liberation of the peasants in their possessions. The religious shell permeated all forms of social movement and class resistance of this era. “Revolutionary opposition to feudalism,” wrote F. Engels, “passes through the entire Middle Ages. It appears, according to the conditions of the time, now in the form of mysticism, now in the form of open heresy, now in the form of an armed uprisingʼʼ.

Separate sects of heretics became widespread in Western Europe already at the beginning of the 11th century: in Chalons, Orleans, Arras (France), Mont-fort (Italy), Goslar (Germany). In the second half of the XI century. broad popular movements unfolded in the cities of Italy (Milan, Florence). Their participants preached poverty, asceticism, and rejected ritualism.

Among these movements, the Milanese Pataria was especially famous (after the name of the quarter in Milan, inhabited by beggars, junk workers, etc.). The Patareni, most of whom were urban poor, sharply attacked the wealth and morals of the clergy, calling, in particular, for the celibacy of the clergy. However, they opposed the rich merchants and the nobility. At the same time, these early movements were mostly negative in nature and did not have a developed positive program.

One of the first creators of an independent heretical doctrine was Arnold of Brescia, who led in the middle of the 12th century. anti-papal uprising in Rome. Sharply criticizing the contemporary church, he turned to the Gospel, from which he deduced the demand for the transfer of power into the hands of secular persons. In the context of the struggle of the burghers with the local episcopate and the papacy that supported it, this demand expressed the political program of the emerging urban commune of Rome.

The sect he created (the Arnoldists), representing the early burgher heresy, continued to exist even after the execution of their leader; only at the beginning of the thirteenth century.

it dissolved into a mass of other heretical currents. The heyday of heretical movements in a number of Western European countries falls on the second half of the 12th and 13th centuries. There were especially many of them in these centuries in southern France and northern Italy, where heretics constituted a significant part of the population.

In Lombardy alone, Arnoldists, Cathars, Waldensians, ʼʼpoor Lombardsʼʼ fraticelli, apostolics, flagellants and many others acted in this period. A characteristic feature of the heretical movements of that time was that, although the overwhelming majority of these were burgher heresies, many of them also included elements of the peasant-plebeian heresy that had not yet emerged from the burgher current.

Among the most massive heretical movements of the XII century. the heresy of the Cathars (from the Greek ʼʼkatarosʼʼ - pure) belongs, in which, along with the burghers, the peasant-plebeian stream can be traced. The doctrine of the Cathars was anti-feudal in nature; they refused to recognize the authority of the state, rejected physical violence and the shedding of blood.

They considered the Catholic Church, as well as the whole earthly world, to be the creation of Satan, and the pope to be his vicar; in this regard, they rejected the dogma and cult of the official church, its hierarchy and opposed the wealth and power of the church.

In their teaching, dualistic ideas were strong, close to those of Bogomil, about the eternal struggle in the world of the principles of good and evil. The Cathars created their own church organization, consisting of the ʼʼperfectʼʼ (perfecti), who were obliged to lead an ascetic lifestyle, and the bulk of the ʼʼbelieversʼʼ (credentes), to whom severe asceticism did not apply; they were free to engage in various professions. Catharism was widespread in all countries of Southern Europe, where it often merged with other heresies (with the Waldensians in Languedoc, the Patarens in Lombardy, etc.), exerting a radicalizing influence on them.

Great influence among the heretics of the XII-XIII centuries.

used the ideas of Joachim Florsky (or Calabrian) (c. 1132-1202), one of the greatest mystics of that time. He interpreted the three faces of the Christian trinity as three eras of world history. At first, as Joachim taught, the power of ʼʼGod the Fatherʼʼ dominated, characterized by severity, slavish submission, which was regulated by the ancient ʼʼlaw of Mosesʼʼ, embodied in the Old Testament.

It was replaced by a second, softer era - the power of the ʼʼgod-sonʼʼ, based on the Gospel, the New Testament. The third epoch, the era of the ʼʼholy spiritʼʼ, the ʼʼEternal Gospelʼʼ, he interpreted as the realm of true love and complete freedom: then eternal justice will be established. According to the Joachimites, the kingdom of peace and truth on earth should come as a result of the "all-female upheaval" between 1200 and 1260. The teaching of the Joachimites, although it was imbued with mysticism, had a content hostile to feudalism.

In contrast to the church dogma, which taught that "heavenly life" is possible only in another world, it promised people a speedy deliverance from suffering in real earthly life, asserted the transient nature of the existing order and the inevitability of their death. This chiliastic doctrine was one of the early manifestations of the peasant-plebeian opposition to the feudal system, which linked the idea of ​​social justice with the destruction of this system.

For this reason, the ideas of Joachimism enjoyed great popularity among the people for a long time and were further developed in the work of the most radical representatives of the heretical thought of the Middle Ages: the apostolics, led by Dolcino, and others.

Evangelical ideas were especially widespread in the ranks of heretics. Among the many sects that dreamed of reviving the order of the early Christian church, of particular importance in the XIII century.

Heretical movements of the Middle Ages

purchased by the Waldensians.

The son of a wealthy Lyon merchant, Peter Wald (Waldo, Walda), who lived in the last quarter of the 12th century, having left all his property to his wife, began an active preaching of poverty and asceticism. His followers, the Waldenses, along with sharp criticism of the priests, put forward ideas that challenge church dogma: they denied purgatory, most of the sacraments, icons, prayers, the cult of saints, the church hierarchy, their ideal was the "poor" apostolic church.

Οʜᴎ also opposed church tithes, taxes, military service, the feudal court and denied the death penalty. These views brought them closer to the Cathars, and at the end of the XII century. the Cathars and the Waldensians in southern France acted together under the general name of the Albigensians.

In the XIII century. the Waldenses split. Some of them became close to the Catholic Church on the condition of recognizing certain features of their cult and the right to preach (ʼʼCatholic poorʼʼ). The extreme wing of the Waldensians merged with the Cathars and went to Italy, where a number of new sects emerged from it (ʼʼLombard poorʼʼ, etc.).

Another part of the Waldenses moved to Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, where in the XIV century. Waldensianism spread widely among peasants and small urban artisans. One of the Waldensian groups operated in backward and inaccessible places in Switzerland and Savoy.

There, according to F. Engels, Waldensianism began to be a "reaction of the patriarchal Alpine shepherds to the penetration of feudalism" to them.

In Italy, evangelical ideas were professed by dozens of different sects and enjoyed exceptional popularity among both urban and rural populations.

Often the preaching of asceticism and repentance took extreme forms, as was the case in the flagellant movement. Flagellants (ʼʼscourgesʼʼ) took to the roads and streets in rags, barefoot and publicly tortured themselves, bringing their supporters to a state of ecstasy.

This movement became especially massive in 1260 ᴦ., in the era of the ʼʼdivine upheavalʼʼ predicted by the Joachimites; it later declined.

Heresies in the 12th and 13th centuries were widely distributed not only among the lower strata of the population, but also among the educated part of the townspeople - teachers and students of city schools and universities.

So, Arnold of Brescian was one of the students and successors of the free-thinking philosopher Abelard.

The master of the University of Paris, Amory of Vienna, spoke at the beginning of the 13th century.

with a pantheistic doctrine hostile to the church and proclaimed the imminent attack of the "kingdom of God on earth". This teaching was recognized in 1210 ᴦ.

heretical, and his followers, the Amalricans, were captured and burned.

Medieval heresies

In medieval Europe, heresy was a religious doctrine that recognized the basic ideas (dogmas) of Christianity, but understood and interpreted them differently than the dominant church.

Heresies can be conditionally divided into three types: those that were predominantly theological in nature; oppositional teachings that interpret doctrine differently and criticize church organization; politically oriented heresies that not only criticize the church, but also oppose the feudal order.

Politically oriented heresies, depending on their social base and the nature of political demands, can be divided into moderate (burgher) and radical (peasant-plebeian) heresies.

The burgher heresies expressed the interests of wealthy citizens and defended the idea of ​​a "cheap church" (the abolition of the class of priests, the elimination of their privileges and a return to early Christian foundations).

In their opinion, the hierarchical organization of the church, the concentration of great wealth in its hands, magnificent ceremonies and church services do not correspond to the New Testament. The church has deviated from the true faith and needs to be reformed.

One of the representatives of the burgher heresy was a professor at Oxford University, John Wycliffe, who spoke at the end of the 14th century. against the dependence of the English church on the papal curia, the intervention of the church in the affairs of the state, criticizing the principle of the infallibility of the popes. However, he considered the preservation of private property and class hierarchy as principles pleasing to God.

The beginning of the Reformation in the Czech Republic was laid by the speech of Jan Hus against the privileges of the clergy, tithes and church wealth.

In the Hussite movement, two currents were soon determined - the Chashniki and the Taborites.

Analysis of the socio-political aspect of the heretical movements of the Middle Ages

The cup program was moderate in nature and amounted to the elimination of the privileges of the clergy, the deprivation of the church of secular power, the secularization (transfer of secular power) of church wealth and the recognition of the independence of the Czech church.

Peasant-plebeian heresies pointed out that the existing social order was contrary to the idea of ​​equality reflected in early Christianity, and criticized the rich decoration of the church, class inequality, serfdom, noble privileges, wars, courts and oaths.

Historically, the first radical heresy was the Bulgarian Bogomil movement.

The sharp and violent transition of the Bulgarian society from the communal-patriarchal system to the estate-feudal system, the seizure of peasant lands by the tsar, the tsar's servants, the church, the burden of impoverished peasants with a mass of duties in favor of the rich gave rise to massive doubt that all this was happening by the will of God.

Confirmation was found in the New Testament, at the very beginning of which it is said that all the kingdoms of this world do not belong to a good god, but to an evil devil. The gospel about the temptation of Christ says: “And having led him to a high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the universe in a moment of time, and the devil said to him: I will give you power over all these Kingdoms and their glory, for she is devoted to me, and I, to whom I want, I give it; so if you bow down to me, then everything will be yours.”

Bulgarian heretics paid special attention to the texts of the gospels, which give grounds to identify the devil with wealth: “No one can serve two masters; for either one will be hated and the other loved; or he will be zealous for one, and neglect the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon (wealth)." From this, the Bogomils concluded that wealth is the devil. Crosses - instruments of execution - adorn themselves with the rich, especially the church, which sold itself to the devil. About church traditions, statutes and rituals, they said: "This is not written in the gospel, but established by people." Of all the rites, the Bogomils recognized only fasting, mutual confession and the prayer "Our Father".

They argued that the end of the reign of wealth and violence was near: “The prince of this world is condemned ... Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out." The Bogomils created their own organization following the early Christian model, based on equality and community of labor. Their preachers ("apostles") tirelessly proclaimed rebellious ideas and carried out communication between communities.

The Bogomil doctrine soon after its appearance spread to other countries (Byzantium, Serbia, Bosnia, Kievan Rus).

It had a particularly strong impact on the ideology of the countries of Western Europe, primarily in southern France and northern Italy (“good people”, Cathars, Patarenes, Albigensians).

To eradicate heresy, the Roman popes organized a series of crusades, established the Inquisition and mendicant orders (Dominicans and Franciscans), Pope Innocent III ordered the destruction of all books of sacred scripture translated into the vernacular, and then in 1231

New waves of heretical movements arose in the second half of the fourteenth century. In the era of the classical and late Middle Ages, the heretical idea of ​​the “millennium kingdom”, the “Kingdom of God”, proclaimed in the “Revelation of John” (Apocalypse), became widespread.

The most radical heresies of this period are the movements of the Lollards (England) and the Taborites (Czech Republic). They opposed the Catholic Church, which deviated from the true dogmas of Christianity, condemned class inequality, advocated the abolition of serfdom and class privileges.

The Lollard movement, which demanded the transfer of land to peasant communities and the abolition of serfdom, played a prominent role in the preparation of Wat Tyler's largest peasant uprising (1381), one of the leaders of which was the preacher John Ball.

Both of these movements were defeated, but subsequently had a significant impact on the ideas of the Reformation.

The most important aspect of papal policy was the fight against heresies. Heresies are religious teachings that deviate to some extent from the dogmas of the official church. Heresies accompany Christianity throughout its existence, beginning with its first steps as an independent religion. However, heretical movements gained their greatest scope and significance in the era of feudalism.

The Christian religion in medieval Western Europe determined not only the worldview of the class of feudal lords, but as the dominant ideology, in many respects, the consciousness of the masses.

Their feelings, as Engels wrote, "were nourished exclusively by religious food." Under these conditions, any social doctrine and movement, even hostile to official orthodoxy, inevitably had to take on a theological form.

The basis of heretical movements was social protest against certain aspects of the feudal system or feudalism in general. But since the Catholic Church theoretically substantiated and affirmed the existing order, acted as their "divine sanction", insofar as "all attacks on feudalism expressed in a general form and, above all, attacks on the church, all revolutionary - social and political - doctrines should have been predominantly from themselves at the same time theological heresies.

40. Heresies and heretics of Western Europe during the Middle Ages.

In order to be able to attack existing social relations, it was necessary to rip off the halo of holiness from them.

In the early Middle Ages, in conditions when feudal relations had not yet been formed, and feudal exploitation and the instruments for its implementation (including Catholicism as the main form of ideological influence) had not yet taken on a comprehensive character, Western Europe did not yet know mass heretical movements.

But even then there was fertile ground for heretical teachings.

On the development of heresies in northern Italy and southern France X-XI centuries. The heresy of the Bogomils also had a great influence.

The rise of the heretical movement in Western Europe during the advanced Middle Ages was primarily associated with the emergence and growth of cities. The status of the incomplete position of the townspeople in a feudal society, the exploitation of the urban lower classes not only by the secular and church feudal lords, but also by the urban merchants and patriciates, the sharpness of social contradictions, and finally, relatively (in comparison with the countryside) active social life made the cities genuine centers of heresies .

It is no coincidence that the areas of the earliest and most rapid urban development - Northern Italy, Southern France, the Rhineland, Flanders, North-East France, Southern Germany were at the same time the areas of the most active development of heretical movements.

The growth of cities contributed to the spread of heresies in the countryside as well.

The development of commodity-money relations and the consequent worsening of the position of a significant part of the peasantry created the ground for drawing the peasant masses into heretical movements. Anti-church, heretical sentiments were intensified by the fact that church feudal lords especially zealously hindered the attempts of the cities under their rule to achieve self-government, the personal liberation of the peasants in their possessions.

The religious shell permeated all forms of social movement and class resistance of this era. “Revolutionary opposition to feudalism,” wrote F. Engels, “passes through the entire Middle Ages. It appears, according to the conditions of the time, now in the form of mysticism, now in the form of open heresy, now in the form of an armed uprising.

During the Middle Ages, heretical movements were a form of political and legal ideology that was in opposition to feudalism. Heresies operated with the same set of theological concepts as the church; however, from St. writings they made anti-church and anti-feudal conclusions. The following argument was also of considerable importance: what is not in the Holy Scripture (church hierarchy, monasteries, papacy, etc.) is all a human invention that does not correspond to the will of God; therefore, one of the means of the Catholic Church's struggle against heresies was (1231) a ban on laymen to read the Bible. Some of the arguments rested on a logical-rationalistic basis. All the heretics considered themselves true Christians and opposed, first of all, the clergy and the church, which, in their opinion, perverted the true teaching of Christ.

The first major heretical movement began in the tenth century. In Bulgaria. The protest of the Bulgarian peasantry against enslavement by the feudal lords was expressed in the movement Bogomilov. The Bogomils (“people dear to God”, “Christians”) drew attention to the fact that already at the very beginning of the New Testament it is clearly said about two otherworldly forces: the good God Christ is opposed by the evil devil, to whom, as it is said there, all the kingdoms of the world belong. From a comparison of these ideas with the text - "no one can serve two masters.. You can not serve God and Mammon (wealth)" - it follows immutably that the devil (evil god) is wealth. The conclusions from this were quite specific: in the Bogomil legends, it is figuratively described how the devil, when Adam, expelled from paradise, began to plow the land, took from him a “bondage record” - on him and on all his offspring, since the land was appropriated by them, the devil. Since then, the peasants have been in bondage to the servants of the devil who have seized arable land. In the teachings of the Bogomils, there is also a lot of healthy peasant logic: who is pleased to see the cross on which the son of God was executed? Of course, not to God, but to the devil; therefore, the rich decorate themselves with crosses - instruments of execution, especially the church, which sold itself to the devil.

In an uncompromising struggle against the feudal church and the entire feudal system, the Bogomils created their own organization following the early Christian model. Their preachers (“apostles”) tirelessly proclaimed rebellious ideas: “They teach their own not to obey their rulers,” wrote a contemporary of the Bogomil movement, “they curse the rich, hate the king, scold the elders, blame the boyars, consider the royal servants vile to God and do not order every slave work for your master."

The Bogomil doctrine soon after its appearance spread to other countries. In the X-XI centuries. under his influence, heretical movements arose in Byzantium, Serbia, Bosnia, and Kievan Rus. This doctrine had a particularly strong impact on the ideology of the countries of Western Europe, primarily Southern France and Northern Italy, where cities flourished, culture, craft, and trade were developed. The preaching of “good people”, Cathars, Patareni, Albigensians (as heretics were called in the West), was a success among the townspeople, certain groups of the nobility and peasants; by the end of the 12th century. the Catholic Church lost influence in southern France and northern Italy. To eradicate heresy, the popes organized a series of crusades (Albigensian wars), established the Inquisition and mendicant orders (Dominicans and Franciscans).

New waves of heretical movements began in the second half of the 14th century. By that time, developed cities existed in all countries of Western Europe. The burghers, which had already become a recognized class, had enough opportunities to fight the secular feudal lords with the help of their privileges, with the help of weapons or in class meetings; therefore, the urban opposition was more opposed to the church feudal lords. Much more radical were the demands of the peasantry and the urban lower classes. In this regard, it is customary to distinguish between two main types of heresy: burgher and peasant-plebeian.

burgher heresy, expressing the interests of the townspeople and part of the lower nobility, was directed mainly against the Catholic Church and the clergy, at wealth and political position whom she attacked. This heresy required the restoration of the simple structure of the early Christian church, the abolition of monks, prelates, and the Roman curia. Peasant-plebeian heresy stood for the universal equality of people, for the abolition of feudal privileges and the estate system.

One of the first representatives of the burgher heresy was a professor at Oxford University John Wycliffe speaking at the end of the 14th century. against the dependence of the English church on the papal curia and the intervention of the church in the affairs of the state. Wycliffe condemned church hierarchy and church wealth, arguing that they were contrary to Scripture. Simultaneously with the teachings of Wycliffe, a movement arose in England Lollards, demanding the transfer of land to peasant communities and the abolition of serfdom. Their teaching played a prominent role in the preparation of Wat Tyler's largest peasant uprising (1381), one of the leaders of which was the preacher John Ball. Referring to Scripture, the Lollards condemned class inequality. “Where did their rights come from,” John Ball said of the nobles, “if they were not the fruit of usurpation? After all, in those days when Adam dug the earth, and Eve spun, there was no question of the nobles. The teaching of the Lollards, which was a peasant-plebeian heresy, was directed against the feudal system as a whole.

Soon after the suppression of the Lollard movement, the Reformation began in the Czech Republic. The Reformation began with the speech Jan Hus against the privileges of the clergy, tithes and church riches. After the perfidious execution of Hus (1415), a national-Czech peasant war broke out against the German nobility and the supreme power of the German emperor. In the Hussite movement, two currents were soon determined - Chashniki and Taborites.

Program chashnikov was reduced to the elimination of the privileges of the clergy, the deprivation of the church of secular power, the secularization (transfer of secular power) of church wealth and the recognition of the independence of the Czech church.

Much more radical were the demands Taborites, who opposed the Catholic Church and the church hierarchy; at the same time, they put forward a number of anti-feudal slogans - the destruction of the privileges of both the German and Czech nobility, the elimination of serfdom and feudal duties, etc. Reviving the ideas of early Christianity, the Taborites argued that a “thousand-year kingdom” would soon come, in which everyone would be equal and would jointly decide common affairs.

The struggle against the cups and the lack of unity in their own environment led to the defeat of the Taborites; but their slogans were soon used by Thomas Müntzer during the Reformation in Germany.