Christian missions in the time of the middle ages, primarily from Roman Catholicism

1. Missions
History of Missions
Dr. Robert Patton
Missionary to Suriname,
South America

2. The Post-Nicean fathers
 Crystostom (347-407) Well trained
classically, lawyer, then monk, and then
became an ascetic. He was eventually
made Bishop of Constantinople. Ethics
and the cross go together
 Theodore (350-428) Great exegite and
opponent of allegorical interpretation.

3. Crystostom

4. Eusebius of Caesarea &
Jerome
 Great church historian during the time
of the Arian controversy – he made the
compromise accepted
 Jerome (347-420) Used original Hebrew
sources. Translated the Vulgate into
Latin. Wrote commentaries, was
somewhat ascetic

5. Jerome

6. Ambrose & Augustine
 Ambrose – great administrator, first
trained as a lawyer and became bishop,
resigning as a governor. Good preacher
 Augustine – greatest Church father;
excellent theologian, good preacher and
administrator. Saved after Monica, his
mother prayed much. His book
Confessions is a spiritual classic

7. Augustine
 Wrote the City of God after Rome was
sacked in 410. Believers in the city of
God give Him the glory and love each
other. The city of earth is based on
man’s selfish desires.
 He developed a philosophy of history
with the sovereign God moving linearly
through history to accomplish His goals.

8. Augustine of Hippo

9. Augustine
 Recognized that we must not interpret
any passage contrary to the general
tenor or scripture.
 He emphasized God’s salvation through
grace, but also the sacraments through
the church

10. Middle ages begin with Roman
Catholic outreach
 Western Europe was pagan, with most
people in the country sides
 The tendency was to look for power
encounters, miracles, etc.

11. Middle ages
 Two major problems
 Conversion of the barbarian hordes in
Europe
 Resisting the onslaught of the Muslims

12. Middle ages begin with Roman
Catholic outreach
 Often there was “conversion” of a
political leader with then military help,
and baptism of entire troops – for
example, Clovis, king of the Franks+
3000 troops
 These “mass movements” filled the
churches with nominal Christians

13. Clovis, king of the Franks
converted
 Clovis married Clotilda, a Christian
princess of Burgundy
 He believed that he received divine help
in a victory in 496 and converted.
Following his conversion, the mass of
people accepted Christianity

14. Clovis, king of the Franks

15. Charles Martel
 Took over after weak followers of Clovis
 He stopped the Muslims at the battle of
Tours in 732
 He started a line of rulers with his son
Pepin

16. Charles Martel

17. Charles Martel

18. Pepin
 Pepin received a lot of territory, and
helped the pope against the Lombards
 Pepin gave territory to the Pope, called
the donation of Pepin, which became
the papal states under pope Stephen II
 During this time, they spoke about the
donation of Constantine, but later it was
proven to be a forgery

19. Pepin the short crowned by
Boniface

20. Charlemagne
 Pepin’s son Charlemagne, was a man of
great size and ability as well as culture. He
controlled all of France and Germany and
northern Italy
 He offered to marry Irene, from the East, to
solidify the empire, but she refused
 There was great cultural development and
education

21. Charlemagne

22. Charlemagne
 The Saxons opposed the church as well
as the government. They were put
down with great force, and then
evangelized on multiple occasions.
They would then kill some Christian
priests or monks, and persecution
would begin again. Over about 20
years, the Saxons were pacified

23. Charlemagne’s empire
disintegrates
 His son divided the empire to three
sons, and the empire was divided at the
Treaty of Verdun with Charles getting
France, Louis getting Germany, and
eventually Lothair receiving northern
Italy.
 Feudalism arose as there was no strong
central government

24. Feudalism affects the church
 The church received large plots of land,
and eventually became increasingly
secularized. Many abbots were
appointed by politics rather than for
their spiritual interest.
 The church did promote the peace of
God which did away with the worst of
feudal fighting

25. History of England
 History given by the Venerable Bede
(673-735), an accurate and wise
historian
 Britain had Christianity from at least
then 3rd century
 Then the Angles and Saxons invaded
and rejected Christianity, which
retreated only to Wales

26. Augustine (missionary to
England)
 Sent by Pope Gregory the great to
England after seeing 3 white slave boys
from England being sold in 596.
Gregory himself had been a monk, and
sent a group of monks under Augustine
there.
 King Ethelbert was already married to a
Christian princess from Gaul

27. Augustine & King Ethelbert

28. Augustine (missionary to
England)
 Ethelbert received the monks well and
was impressed with their piety
 He had great success, being accepted
by King Ethelbert, an immersing 10,000
persons on Christmas day one year
after his arrival
 He contextualized the gospel

29. Augustine of Canterbury
 He became archbishop after King Ethelbert
was saved about 600 AD. He was not
successful in converting those from Wales
 The Anglo-Saxons were originally difficult as
well Aldan ministered to them in the 6th
century
 He began a monastery – eventually
considered a saint

30. There was contention between
Celtics and Rome
 They had to do with minor facts of
clothes to wear, Easter method of
celebration
 Finally the King of Northumbria favored
Rome with the assistance of Wilfred,
who evangelized the Anglo-Saxons
 Theodore of Tarsus set the
ecclesiastical pattern

31. Nestorians
 Denied Mariolotry, though had thought
Christ had two natures – human &
divine
 Very missions minded. They spread in
Persia, Turkey, Russia - made converts
from Zoroastrianism.
 They also expanded into India (Mar
Thomas churches), and in 6th century
to China, but were later driven out

32. Nestorian Christianity in China
 A-lo-pen brought it to the emperor in
635 AD. The Christian thought was
encouraged though in competition with
Buddhism
 Many monasteries and monks, who
learned Chinese and translated into it

33. Nestorian Christianity in China
 845 Emperor Wu Tsung, an ardent
Taoist, opposed all monks – Buddhist
and Christian (there were 30,000
Christian monks at that time)
 100 years later, 5 monks came and
found no trace of Christianity in China

34. Nestorian belief

35. Nestorian monument in China

36. Nestorians
 Very strong missions groups, strong in
scripture, Bible Institutes, etc.
 From Central Asia, reached China,
Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia
 In China – 200 bishops
 Eventually overwhelmed by Muslims
and Genghis Khan

37. Probable Nestorian pastor in
China

38. Columban – 6th century France
 Columban was raised in Ireland with a
good education, and was trained as a
monk. He left Ireland when he was too
much attracted to young ladies
 He left with about 12 others at age 30
to go to Gaul (France).There he
established 3 monasteries..

39. Columban
 There are a number of legends about
Columban
 Animals loving him
 Wolves not attacking him
 Beer bursting into flame when he simply
breathed on it

40. Colomban to France

41. Columban – missionary to
France

42. Columban
 Burgundy court rejected him because of
his rebuke for immorality
 He eventually moved to northern Italy

43. St. Gall
 Accompanied Columban and went to
northwest Switzerland

44. St. Gallus

45. Willebrord (657-739)
 An Englishman, went went to Friesland
after being trained as a monk
 He was supported by Pepin, the king of
the Franks
 He apparently helped the Franks win
Frisia, but the king of Frisia, Radbod,
retook the country and killed many
missionaries

46. Willibrord
 He was named archbishop of Utrecht
and started two monasteries
 He was under protection of Charles
Martel
 Later declared to be a saint, with many
miracles attributed to him

47. Willibrord statue and tomb

48. Boniface (680-755)
 Initially worked with Willibrord. Was
offered the position of Bishop of
Utrecht,
 He went to Rome for support from the
Pope. and went further south into
Saxony and Hessia (Germany)
 He was a great leader, and raised up
other missionaries

49. Boniface (680-755)
 He challenged the mixture of belief in
Christianity and paganism when he
chopped down the sacred oak of the
god Thor.
 He recruited women as well as men as
missionaries
 He received great support from Charles
Martel, who defeated the Muslims

50. Boniface chopping down the
oak of Thor

51. Boniface
 Strong proponent of Romism, no marriages,
foods off limits, etc.
 Set up organized churches under the support
of Rome & removed much corruption
 Went back to Friesland in 753 with a group of
monks, but was killed by armed bandits who
thought that his trunks were filled with gold –
but found only the bishop’s books inside

52. Boniface – baptizing, killed by
bandits, burial crypt

53. Summary
 In every age, there are true believers
 A number of key missionaries worked in
Europe from the time of Constantine to
the time of Charlemagne
 Several saw large numbers of converts,
started churches, etc.

54. The church in the middle ages
 The Roman Catholic church gained
increasing power especially after
Gregory the great – for nearly 1000
years (around 590-1500 A.D.)
 There was much paganism in the
church, and politics were rife. Positions
in the church were for sale.

55. The Roman Catholic church
 There was much immorality among the
priests who were to be celibate.
 The pope would sometimes depose or
consecrate kings and emperors
 There were, at one time, 3 popes with
some living in France – each
excommunicating the other

56. Education in the middle ages
 Much of the center of education would
be in the monasteries until the
development of the universities just at
the beginning of the enlightenment
 During the Islamic “golden age”, much
of the center of learning was with them

57. Escape to monasteries
 Those who wished to avoid the lack of
spirituality of the regular church would
go to a monastery and live as a monk,
or for a lady, to live as a nun
 Despite the general low level of
morality, there were some outstanding
examples of Christians

58. The division of Europe
 After the treaty of Verdun, Europe was
split again with France and Germany
being the two most important groups
 The German states were more divided,
but ultimately the power went to them.
Otto the great took power from Saxony
over the Viking invaders, and supported
the pope.

59. Germany and the church
 For several centuries, the popes were
weak, and the German emperors came
over the alps to help them many times.
They interfered with church business
until Innocent III humiliated the
German ruler

60. From Charlemagne to Luther
(800-1517) Anskar
 Anskar – a French monk sent to Denmark by
Emperor Louis the pious.
 In 826, King Harold of Denmark was baptized
with 400 court members trying to get military
help. After 3 years, both Anskar & King
Harold were expelled from Denmark.
 They were called to Sweden by King Bjorn,
attacked by pirates, but saw a number of
“political?” conversions

61. Charlemagne’s successes led
to Christianization
 The areas of the Saxons were divided into 6
districts and evangelized
 The Danes built a wall to protect them from
the south, which was passed by Prince Harald
(later king), who did not secure his kingdom
 King Bjorn from Sweden asked for someone
and Anskar went & succeeded in baptizing
some converts

62. From Charlemagne to Luther
(800-1517) Anskar
 He was bishop of Hamburg and Breman. He
was given an area for a school
 He located between Denmark and Germany,
where his school, church and library were
burned when the Danes overran the area
 But eventually he was accepted by King
Horic, as well as King Olaf from Sweden, and
is now considered the apostle of the north

63. Ansgar – Apostle of the north;
the statue is in Hamburg

64. Scandanavia
 Vikings the scourge of England and
Europe
 England was attacked in 793-4 and 835
with great destruction
 Northumbria was destroyed in 867
 ? All of England will become Danish?

65. Scandanavia
 Attacks on Ireland, especially churches
and monasteries with great damage
 Norwegian king made his wife queen
sitting on a church throne
 Olaf the White set up a kingdom in
Dublin which lasted 300 years

66. Scandanavia
 Alfred the Great victorious over the
Vikings 878, 30 Viking lords were
converted during the 9th century when
they were the scourge of England.
 Some kings saved after visiting England
 Northern France treaty between Viking
Rollo and Charles the Simple 911

67. Alfred the Great

68. Denmark evangelization
 King Gorm tried to eliminate
Christianity, killing priests & destroying
churches
 His son Harald Bluetooth decided to
embrace Christianity – and bishops
occurred
 King Knut conquered England and
became king of Denmark & Norway

69. King Cnut (Knut, Canute)

70. Danish evangelization
 Knut wanted his own archbishop under
his own direction – sent him to the
archbishop of Canterbury, though
conflict with the archbishop of
Hamburg, Adelbert, who felt that they
were under his juristiction.
 Archbishop eventually a Dane with a
base in Sweden

71. Evangelisation of Norway
 Norman missionaries came from
England in the 10th century. They were
opposed by the worshipers of Odin and
Thor, but missionaries broke the great
image of Thor, with snakes, mice and
lizards coming out of it.
 King Olaf later sent missionaries to
Iceland, where Norseman had been first

72. Denmark & Scandanavia
 Olaf Tryggvesson became king of
Norway after he was converted in Sicily
by a hermit. He forced the country to
accept Christianity
 This was carried on by his son Olaf, and
then his successor Harald, who
consecrated his bishops in England over
the objection of Adalbert of Hamburg

73. Iceland
 Olaf wanted to evangelize, but to avoid
a major bloodshed. They decided that
the wisest man there would decide, and
he decided Christianity was good
 They could continue infanticide and
eating horseflesh, and minor troubles
from sacrificing to old gods. Later
these were revoked as well

74. By 1000, Christianity was the state
religion of Sweden King Olaf Harald

75. Odin – god of the Norsemen

76. Evangelisation of Greenland
 Missionaries came from Iceland – most
prominent was Leif Ericson, who was
born in Iceland from a father who was a
norse outlaw – Lief the Red
 He explored and was the first European
to land on North America, finding
Vinland, probably Labrador

77. Evangelization of Greenland
 Leif returned to Greenland and brought
a priest to help evangelize the area
 No evidence that Eric the Red was
baptized but he requested a church
burial

78. Leif Erickson

79. Sweden was very resistant
 Olof Skotkonung was unsuccessful in
converting the people and destroying
the temple at Uppsala
 Inge was king 100 years later, with still
pagan resistance
 Sverker finally succeeded & brought in
Cistercian monks and an archbishop
Stephen was Cistercian

80. Finland was very resistant too
 Eric IX brought Bishop Henry with him,
but when he left, Henry was killed 1155
 Not till 1291 that Finland had its own
bishop
 They were of a different race and
speech than the Sweeds

81. Bishop Henry walking on murderer &
surrounded by assistants

82. Lithuania
 Very resistant to the gospel
 The templars fought 50 years against them,
getting the land if they would provide
Christian education for the people
 Finally a deal was made with Jagiello, king of
the Lithuanians, to marry a princess and be
baptized for getting help

83. Lithuania & Balkans
 Jagiello agreed, was baptized, and the
country came into Christian belief of the
western Christian sort

84. Jagiello

85. Cyril and Methodius (815-885)
 Brothers sent from Constantinople to
Bulgaria. Both had been working
together with the Khazars in Russia
(Muslims). Cyril was an apologist. A
number were apparently saved. Cyril,
the younger brother, was brilliant and
sent to discuss Christianity and defend
it against Islam and Judaism

86. Cyril and Methodius (815-885)
 Brothers sent from Constantinople to
Bulgaria. Methodius was an artist
whose depiction of the last judgment
led the king to accept Christ. They
developed an alphabet (Cyrillic) and
translated the scriptures in 863

87. Cyril and Methodius
 The brothers wanted to have the liturgy
in the Slavic language
 Cyril died quite young
 Methodius became bishop of Moravia
and Pannonia, but there was a lot of
controversy with the German bishops
who wanted power, and to use Latin

88. Cyril and Methodius

89. Cyril and Methodius writing &
modern celebration

90. Cyril and Methodius
 After the death of Methodius, his replacement
was deposed and his followers scattered, which
actually drove the gospel further east. Bulgaria
accepted the Orthodox faith of the east
 King Boris was baptized
 But the church struggled in Russia

91. Russia
 By 907, Bulgaria was the center of
reaching Eastern Europe.
 About 90 years later, King Vladimir was
converted, and Russia became basically
Christian.

92. Russian evangelization
 Initially rejected but later Queen Olga
was a Christian and went east to be
baptized. On her return, her son was
king and aggressively anti-Christian.
 However, his son Vladimir was
different. Later the Slavic folk accepted
Christianity after king Vladimir was
baptized 988.

93. East vs. West Christianity
 Division line was through the center of
Europe
 Gradually kings were converted (or
Queens), and although there were
pagan reactions, gradually there were
bishops who worked with the king to
result in Christianization

94. Bohemia – Christianized from
Moravia
 Vratislav nominal Christian & pagan reaction
by his death
 Vaclav was a true Christian king, but killed by
his own brother, Boleslav and the country
went pagan.
 Boleslav II became a Christian, built
monasteries. Later Adelbert worked without
great success initially but the country became
Christian

95. Monastery from Boleslav

96. Boleslav II (the generous)

97. Poland
 Duke Mieszka married a Christian. He
was under Otto I. He was baptized
 His son Boleslav made the country
move ahead and was named the King
by the Pope. After his death, there was
turmoil for about 100 years but
eventually the country became Christian

98. Hungary
 Magyars were fierce and attacked
clergy. Eventually Geisa, a prince,
married a Christian and was baptized
with his young son, later called Stephen
 Stephen was a great Christian king who
led his people and married a Christian
Gisela – the country became Christian

99. St. Stephen & wife Gisela

100. St. Stephen, King of Hungary