VIb. The Church of the East, the East Syrians or "Nestorians" (Excursus)

Of the Apostles it is Thomas, along with Thaddeus of Edessa and Mari, who is associated with the spread of the gospel in Mesopotamia; there were established Christian communities here by the mid-third century. The lingua franca of these areas was Syriac, closely related to the Aramaic spoken by the Lord. These churches initially came under the patriarchal see of Antioch in Syria. The political power in control of this area was first the Parthian Empire, and then, from 224, the Sasanid Empire.

From 311 Christianity was first tolerated and then officially adopted in the Roman Empire. This meant that Christians in the Sasanid Empire become politically suspect, and there were persecutions of Christians, particularly under rulers Shapur II (339-379) and Khosrau I (ending 545). 

In the fifth century, both for the above political reasons, and also in connection with the Nestorian controversy, the Christian church in the Persian empire became autonomous. In 410 the Catholicos of Ctesiphon was declared Grand Metropolitan (later Patriarch), and in 424 independent of the "western fathers". After the condemnation of Nestorius in 431, in 484 the self-styled "Church of the East", i.e. the Christian church in the Sasanid Empire, affirmed the theology of Theodore of Mopsuestia, which emphasised (some would say over-emphasised) the two distinct natures of Christ (the Nestorian tendency). In 489 the theological school at Edessa was moved to Nisibis within the borders of the Persian Empire. The theology of the Church of the East was further articulated by Babai the Great (551-628) in his work, Book of Union, which speaks of Christ's "two qnome (natures)". 

Following the Muslim conquest of Persia in 644, the Christians of the Seleucia Catholicate-Patriarchate made a major contribution to the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, translating works into Arabic, and also in the fields of philosophy, science and medicine. 

Already by the sixth century the Church of the East had expanded with missionary work into Central Asia, India and among the Mongols. By 635 the Church of the East had reached China, as commemorated by the Nestorian stele. The scrolls found at Turfan (modern-day Xinjiang province, China, dated to the eighth century) include many Christian texts in Syriac, Sogdian and Turkic (Uighur). 

A major figure in the Church of the East was Patriarch Timothy I (780-823) under whose ministry missionary work progressed further. Incidentally, Timothy I's Dialogue with Al-Mahdi demonstrates both a powerful Christian apologetic vis-à-vis Islam, and also the amicable relations which existed between the Muslim Abbasid rulers and their Christian subjects. The period from 800-1200 represents the apex of the Church of the East, embracing the Kara Khitai (in modern-day Kyrgyzstan), India (Kerala and Patna), and the Kerait, Naimans and Merkits (north of China). Navekath in modern-day Kyrgyzstan was a major episcopal see, and in this area there are remains of churches with open-air naves, arguably an architectural form later used by Muslim mosques. There are even possible Christian sites in Korea (Geongju) and Japan (Koryungi Temple). 

In 1368 the Mongol dynasty in China was overthrown and the Mongols, along with the Christians, thrown out. This was followed by the rule of Tamerlane (1370-1405), who almost completely eradicated the church. Only seven bishoprics survived.  

X. East: Ohrid (843-1204)

The end of the second iconoclasm in 842/3 heralded a new epoch of resurgence for Constantinople and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Emperor Michael III come to the throne, followed by Basil I and the Macedonian dynasty which lasted into the eleventh century. Photius the Great, a former high-ranking civil servant, served as Patriarch (860s), later followed by Nicolas Mysticus (tenth century). During this period Constantinople held her enemies at bay and expanded her influence. 

By far the greatest achievement of this time was the successful missionising of the Slavic peoples. The invitation from Moravian ruler, Rastislav, came from a nation that had already embraced Christianity, preferring to join the ecclesiastical orbit of Constantinople and specifically requesting a Slavonic liturgy. Cyril and Methodius, Enlighteners of the Slavs, were dispatched in 863. Bulgaria was Christianised about the same time, first via the medium of Greek, and then likewise adopting the Slavonic liturgy. After Cyril's death at Rome in 867, it was Methodius who continued the work. And his followers, the Five, took refuge in Bulgaria. The Cyrillic alphabet, simpler than the Glagolithic script, is probably the work of one of the Five, Clement of Ohrid. It was from Ohrid (photo - GallopAroundTheGlobe), and also Preslav, centres of Orthodox Chrisitanity in Bulgaria, that, men were sent out to teach and convert the Serbs. Bulgaria also exercised influence on Kievan Rus, whose rulers Olga and her grandson Vladimir were converted in the tenth century, followed by the whole nation. Meanwhile the Balkan areas inside the Imperial limes such as southern Greece were reclaimed and re-evangelised by many, including evangelist-monk Nikon Metanoite. 

The missionary work of the church became a bone of contention between the western Catholic church of Rome and the Eastern Orthodox church of Constantinople, each competing with the other for "spheres of influence". Many areas switched allegiance several times - with what had been the Theodosian line, dividing east and west halves of the Roman Empire, moving back and forth over time. In fact, Moravia ended up within the orbit of the western Catholic church, as did Hungary - not to mention Poland and Croatia, which had never been Eastern Orthodox. By contrast, Bulgaria and later Kievan Rus became centres of Eastern Orthodoxy. The metropolitan bishop of Ohrid in the twelfth century, Theophylact (1050-1107), was a leading Bible scholar, and produced a commentary on the whole Bible. 

Initially, Eastern Orthodoxy was a "foreign religion" in these newly converted nations, such as Kievan Rus'. However, over time, Eastern Orthodoxy became indigenised with local saints such as martyrs Boris and Gleb, homegrown bishops such as Hilarion, Christian history in the form of a Chronicle composed by Nestor, preachers such as Cyril of Turov (1130-1182), as well as a gradual accumulation of local Christian experience, particularly the humble acceptance of suffering in imitation of Christ ("Russian kenoticism"). 

The differences between east (Constantinople) and west (Rome) over the concept of the Trinity (encapsulated in the words "and from the Son" or "Filioque" used the western church) and the role of the Roman Pope (first among equals, as understood in the east, or head of the whole church, as understood in the west) led to the temporary Photian schism 863-867 and then to the permanent schism of 1054. 

Meanwhile, in 963 the first monasteries were founded on Mount Athos, and this become the centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism (replacing Studium). In Kievan Rus, the the great Kiev Pechersk Lavra founded in 1051 became the monastic centre. Having clarified the major issues of Christology by 843, the church turned its mind and attention to the mystic knowledge of God and the process of theosis (participation in the divine energies, akin to sanctification-glorification). In the words of Irenaeus, "God was "humanised", so that humans might be made be deified." A leading figure in this was Simeon the New Theologian (949-1022). By the practice of "mental prayer" he sought and attained the "vision of light", a mystical experience of knowing God in a way transcending understanding. He wrote, "... it is through death and the resurrection that God in His foresight has given us the Kingdom, incorruptibility, the totality of life eternal. Given these conditions, we unquestionably become partakers of the good things to come, that is, incorruptible, immortal, sons of God, sons of the light and of the day, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven, since we carry the Kingdom within."

A different, indeed ion some ways opposite approach, was taken by Michael and Italus Psellus, who applied reason to theology, taking a philosophical approach along the lines of Platonism. This led them to speak of the eternity of the soul and to deny a material resurrection of the body. Italus' condemnation by the church in 1076/7 and 1082 reflects Eastern Orthodoxy's different, more mystical approach to theology. 

The military defeat at Manzikert in 1071 marked a turning point in the fate of Constantinople with the rise of the Turks as the dominant power in the Middle East, eclipsing the Arabs. By 1176 Constantinople was clearly in decline and in 1204 it was sacked by the western Christian Crusaders, an event which made the schism even more permanent.  

VIII. The East: Studium (681-843)

By the seventh century the geopolitical and religious map of the Middle East had changed. In the space previously occupied by Zoroastrian Persia, and beyond, the new religion of Islam was gaining ground - both metaphorically and literally. Of the four eastern "patriarchal sees" (places where the leading bishops in the church had their official "seat"), three ended up under Islam, leading to Constantinople, already known as the "Ecumenical Patriarch", becoming even more prominent  In many ways, a trail-blazer in terms of Christian engagement and apologetics vis-a-vis Islam was Theodore Abu Qurrah (750-820), an Arab-speaking Melkite Christian in Syria. He articulated the truths of the Christian faith using the terms and concepts of Islam. In the East Syrian "Church of the East" (Nestorians) Catholicos Timothy I (d. 823) played a similar role.   

The period especially from the mid-seventh to mid-eighth century is referred to as the "Dark Age" of Constantinople due to a lack of contemporary historical sources. This was a time of divisive controversy and it is thought that, until the dust settled, historians feared "condemning saints or canonising heretics". Our only surviving source on the period is the Chronography of Theophanes the Confessor. 

Following the theology controversies over the Trinity (IV century) and Christology (IV-VII centuries), a third stage was the iconoclastic controversy. The issue was, "Is it right to reverence painted representations of the Saviour?" Those who answered Yes were called "iconodules" and those said No were called "iconoclasts". The latter view enjoyed imperial support for two extended periods, leading to division and persecution. Eventually the former won out, although Christians of the Reformation, on the whole, do not follow iconodules on this point. 

The first iconoclastic period began with the removal of the prominent icon of Christ the Saviour from a gate into the city in 726. This first phase of the controversy saw many prominent iconodules exiled and worse. It was John of Damascus, in the paradoxical "safety" of Muslim Syria, who was able to articulate the iconodule position in theological terms, viewing such images and their veneration as a necessary consequence of the incarnation. "I shall not cease to honour matter, for it was through matter that my salvation came to pass . . . Do not despise matter, for it is not despicable; nothing is despicable that God has made." The controversy raged until the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787, which canonised (gave official church approval to) the reverencing of icons, drawing a distinction between the adoration due to God alone (latria) and the lesser reverence (proskynesis) afforded to, say, an icon of Christ, whereby "whoever venerate the image venerate in it the reality of what is there represented".

A second, less aggressive phase of the iconoclastic controversy came 814-843. This time, it was Theodore of Studium (753-826) - Studium representing a key monastery in the city of Constantinople (photo - Vít Luštinec) - who rallied support for the iconodule cause. Theodore wrote, "The fact that the human person is made in the image and likeness of God means that the making of icons is in some way a divine work." The role of monks like Theodore in this controversy is reflected in his words that "monks are the sinews and foundations of the church". The first Sunday in Lent in 843 Empress Irene re-established the veneration of icons; this is celebrated as the "Triumph of Orthodoxy". 

This same period also witnessed the "reconquest" of the southern Balkan area by Constantinople. From the sixth century, Constantinople retained control only of some coastal areas, while areas further inland in what is now Greece, were dominated by the Avars and Slavs, who had remained resistant to Christianity. Starting in the seventh century, these lands were Hellenised, imperial control reasserted, and the Eastern Orthodox faith spread. It was this "internal" mission which lay the groundwork for the later missions beyond the borders of the Empire to Moravia and Bulgaria, subsequently also reaching, for example, the Serbs and the people of Kievan Rus. It is also interesting that, during this period, Emperor Constantine V (r. 741-775), an iconoclast, married Chazar Princess Tzitzak, who converted to Christianity, taking the name Irene. The same Emperor was also the sponsor at the baptism of a Bulgar ruler called Telerig.    

VI. Chalcedon (the East, 430-681)

By about 430 the Roman Empire had largely been Christianised. While the western half of the Roman Empire, with its capital at Rome, was under attack and soon to fall, the eastern half of the Empire survived and thrived as a Christianised society with Constantinople as its capital. Its most illustrious ruler was Justinian who ruled 527-565 and, during that time, was able to temporarily reclaim lands occupied by Germanic peoples, engage in a building programme (most famously reconstructing the Hagia Sophia after the Nika riot) and codify Roman law. The two-headed eagle of Constantinople represented the "harmony" of the priesthood and the kingdom, the church and state working in tandem. In the East, unlike in the west, this always meant the state had the upper hand (this is sometimes termed "Caesaropapism") with the Emperor possessing divinely ordained power and above the law. After Justinian many of the lands to the west were lost again, although the following century Emperor Heraclius (r. 610-641) was able to hold the Sassinid Empire of Persia bay until the advent of the Islamic caliphate in the seventh century.

During this whole period, the theological "hot topic" in the church was Christology, that is to say, the relationship between the divine and the human in Christ.

The 381 Council of Constantinople had already condemned the teaching of Apollinarius and affirmed that Christ had a human soul, for, as Gregory of Nazianzen had famously said, “the unassumed is the unhealed”.

For a brief period Nestorius served as Archbishop of Constantinople. Nestorius, who had been trained in the Antiochene School of Theodore of Mopsuetia, was perceived as teaching that the eternal Son of God and the man Jesus are in fact two persons joined in union. Thus, the baby in Mary's womb was just a human. This teaching was opposed by Cyril of Alexandria, who proclaimed “one incarnate nature [sic] of the Logos”. The 431 Council of Ephesus proclaimed Mary to be the Theotokos, the Bearer of God, thus affirming Christ as a single person. This decision alienated a party within the church associated with the School of Edessa, which relocated outside the borders of the Empire to Nisibis. The "Church of the East", the Christian church in the Persian Empire, had already proclaimed itself autonomous in 424 headed by a Catholicos with his seat at Seleucia-Ctesiphon. By the end of the fifth century it had adopted the theology of Nestorius. This church was very missionary minded and reached into Central Asia, India, the Mongols and China. The height of its influence was under Catholicos Timothy I (780-823).

Having resolved that Christ is a single person, the next debate surrounded the issue of "nature". Did Christ have one composite divine-human nature, as Eutyches taught? The Patriarch of Rome, Leo the Great, formulated the orthodox answer to the question, speaking of two natures united but distinct from one another. This was the ruling of the 451 Council at Chalcedon. However, the terminology of the ruling alienated the followers of Cyril of Alexandria, who had used the terminology of "one nature". Churches in Egypt (Copts) and Syria (later known as Jacobites) did not accept the ruling of the Council. They are known as the Oriental Orthodox Churches (or "Monophysites"). These churches, both Coptic and Jacobite, engaged in missionary work, covering an area comparable to the work of the Nestorians. A particularly successful Monophysite churchman and missionary was Jacob Baradaeus (578); there was a twin monophysite movement centred in Egypt. By 575 parallel structures of Oriental Orthodox Churches had been set up. The Chalcedonian church strucure remained and was known as the Melkite (i.e. Imperial) church.

While the Nestorians were outside the Empire, the ongoing presence of non-Chalcedonian Monophysites within the Empire was a major concern for the Empire and for the Church. On the one hand the Monophysites engaged in missionary work. On the other hand they represented disunity. Several attempts were made by Emperors to win over the schismatics with formulations they could accept, such as the Henotikon (482), the theological qualifications of Leontius (d. 543) in respect of “enhypostasis”, or the condemnation of the Three Chapters at the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553), but to no avail. A controversial monphysite formulation used in worship in 512, and then withdrawn, was "one of the Trinity was crucified for us". The Fifth Ecumenical Council was more careful in its language: "one of the Holy Trinity suffered in the flesh".

In the seventh century an attempt was made to speak of the "single will" in Christ. This was proclaimed in Imperial edicts, the Ekthesis (638) and the Typos (648). However, Maximus the Confessor and others perceived this compromise to undermine the full humanity and free cooperation of Christ's human nature in redemption - with implications for our participation in salvation. After Emperors and even a Pope (Honorius I) had opposed what become the orthodox position, the church finally ruled in 681 that there are two wills in Christ.

In the eastern tradition, theologians are mystics. As Gregory of Nyssa wrote, “the one who is going to associate intimately with God must go beyond all that is visible and… believe that the divine is there where the understanding does not reach.” Pseudo-Dionysius spoke of God in apophatic terms i.e. in terms of what He is not (rather than what He is); we progress in the knowledge of God as we follow the three-stage path of purification, illumination and union (theosis). Leading lights of eastern monasticism of the age, based in Palestine, were Euthymius the Great and Sabbas the Sanctified. At Sinai, a second centre of monasticism in the fifth and sixth centuries, was John Climacus (d. 649), who wrote the Ladder of Divine Ascent as a sort of 30-step road-map to ascetic growth and achievement. It was he who was one of the first to speak of the practice of inner mental prayer (hesychasm).

During this time the form of Christian public worship also continued to develop and diverge between east and west. The typical form of an eastern church was no longer the Roman-inspired rectangular basilica, but rather the square-shaped martyrium. These buildings were conceived not merely as "meeting houses", but as images of the cosmic order, places of encounter between heaven and earth. The divine liturgy, as public worship was called in the east, took the command "do this in remembrance of me" as a principle for reenacting the drama of salvation. Augustine had written, “All that is beautiful comes from the highest Beauty, which is God.” Christian worship was, correspondingly, aesthetic in character. During the course of the service first the Scriptures and then the elements for Communion were ceremonially brought into the nave. The culmination of the service is the anaphora prayer before Communion, in which the Holy Spirit is invoked (epiclesis) down upon the bread and wine before the worshippers partake. Following the basic two-part structure (liturgy of the Word followed by liturgy of the Eucharist) established in the early Christian centuries, this was further embellished with more elaborate set petitionary prayers (litanies), anaphora (see above) and songs proclaiming doctrine, such as the Trisagion (438), the creed (510) and “Only-Begotten Son” (536). Roman the Melodist (d.556), John of Damascus, Cosma the Melodist (d. 760) and Andrew of Crete were among those who contributed to the development of the divine liturgy.

IX. Aachen (the Western Catholic Church, 732-1046)

By 750 the “centre of gravity” of the western Christian world had moved from Rome in the south to the Kingdom of the Franks in the north. For centuries, since the fall of the western Roman Empire, Europe had been dominated by Arian (or former Arian) Germanic tribes (such as the Goths). By the eighth century, the Franks, also a Germanic people, but who had been Nicene Christians since the baptism of their ruler, Clovis, in 496, assumed hegemony. This was sealed with military victories, defeating Muslim forces at Poitiers in 732 and defending Rome against the Lombards in the 740s. By the mid-8th century the Pope was transferring his political allegiance from the eastern Christian Empire at Constantinople to the Frankish ruler, Peppin. Later, at Christmas 800, Pope Leo III famously crowned Charles the Great as Emperor of a renewed Roman Empire. Charles saw himself as a ruler with religious and moral responsibility. 

About the same time, following in the footsteps of Irish monks the previous century, several prominent Anglo-Saxon missionaries, such as Wilfrid (later Boniface), Willibrord and Wynfrith, bravely reached out with the gospel to the pagan Germanic peoples such as the Frisians and Thuringians. The former was appointed by Pope Zachary as missionary archbishop of Mainz. Fulda monastery was founded in 744 as a centre for learning and a base for missionary work. Later missionary work among the Saxons would be more political and coercive.

Alongside missionary achievements, the Anglo-Saxons, along with the Franks, furthered a process of “Romanisation” and raised the status of the Papacy. Just as the Pope no longer looked to the Emperor at Constantinople, so the western church also emphasised the Trinitarian theology of Filioque, not shared by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Competing missions to the Slavic peoples became a battle fro competing spheres of influence between Pope Nicolas I (d.867) and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Photius (d. 867). The two branches of the Nicene church were growing apart, divided by differences in ceremony, language, theological authorities (in the West Augustine was the chief authority), models of salvation (the western church spoke of salvation in legal terms) and the understanding of the Trinity. Controversy over the Papacy and the Filioque would lead to the temporary, Photian schism (863-7) and the permanent schism in 1054.

A major focus of the Frankish Kingdom was education; historians speak of the Carolingian Renaissance. At Aachen, the Frankish capital, was the Academy, an institution of Christian scholars, headed by an Anglo-Saxon, Alcuin (d. 804). The “General Admonition” of 791 ordered the creation of schools at monasteries (such as St. Gall) and cathedrals (such as Laon, Mainz, Reims and Orleans) throughout the realm. This is where future monks and priests, but also laymen, were educated. From the XI century some of these schools grew into the first universities in Europe. Preaching in the language of the people, who did not speak the Latin of the church services, was also encouraged, although most preaching involved reading out written sermons by authorities such as Paul the Deacon (d.799). While on the whole this was not an age of great theological thought, in the eighth century in Spain there was controversy over Adoptonist teaching (Elipandus of Toledo & Felix of Urgel), condemned by the church in 799. There was also discussion on the Eucharist (Paschasius versus Ratramnus), the doctrine of Mary (Paschasius was the first to posit Mary's immaculate conception), and also on the doctrine of predestination (Gottschalk, d.869). One of the finest minds of the age was John Scotus Eriugena (810-877). Somewhat later Benedict of Aniane (d.821) spearheaded a process of “Benedictinisation” in the monastic movement, making the monastic rule of Benedict of Nursia (6th century) almost universal and placing a major emphasis on liturgical celebration.

The Carolingian Empire declined and broke up by the mid-9th century, and was eventually replaced by multiple kingdoms throughout Europe. Paradoxically, this situation led to the church being dominated by powerful families (“Lay Domination”); during the period 850-1050 popes were typically in office for just a few years at a time. The practice of Lay Investiture integrated the clergy into the feudal structure; clerics were invested in their posts by non-church laymen. (This controversy was finally resolved in 1122.) 

In response to this, and to combat abuses such as simony (the buying and selling of church positions) and non-observance of clerical celibacy, in the tenth century monastic reform movements sprang up in multiple locations. The most famous was Cluny monastery (from 910), free of lay interference, which grew into a huge centralised network of monastic houses across Europe. By the time of Hugo, the Abbot of Cluny was the second person in the western Catholic church – and arguably more influential than the Pope himself.

By the Xth century the church was recovering strength, as reflected in renewed missionary success, converting the Scandinavians and Hungarians to Christianity, who during the eighth century had presented a military threat, as well as the Poles and other Slavic peoples. An important missionary base was the episcopal see of Magdeburg (founded in 968). An important missionary was Adalbert of Prague (d. 997), who spearheaded missionary work throughout Eastern Europe.

XI. "Chartres" (History of the Western Catholic Church 1046-1309)

After centuries of domination by laypeople (872-1046), at the Synod of Sutri in 1046 the westerm Catholic church broke free and a new Pope was installed, Clement II. After a succession of similarly reforming popes, in 1073 the Benedictine monk, Hildebrand, part of the Cluny movement for monastic reform, became Pope Gregory VII. He continued the trend towards centralisation in the name of reform, declaring the pope as universal bishop and vicar of St Peter (Dictatus Papae, 1075) and purging the church of simony (church positions being bought) and sexual immorality among the clergy. Gregory VII's face-off with western Emperor Henry IV, temporarily led to the latter's humiliation, but eventually led to the Pope spending his final years in exile. The longstanding controversy over lay investiture was finally resolved at Worms in 1122, at which it was agreed that the secular power conferred only secular benefits on clerics, while spiritual power lay with the church. The height of papal power and centralisation came under Innocent III, who presided at the 1215 Council (Lateran IV), which proclaimed the Pope to have "plenitude of power"; all power, spiritual and also secular, allegedly derived from the Pope, the "Vicar of Christ". 

Meanwhile, from the time of Pope Urban II (1098), the Western Catholic Church sponsored Crusades, successive military campaigns to reclaim the Holy Sites of Christendom from Muslim control. In 1204 the Fourth Crusade led to the sacking of Eastern Orthodox Christian Constantinople and its occupation by the western powers, established a Western Catholic Patriarch. This act finalised the schism of 1054 between the western Catholic church of Rome and the eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople. Crusades were also directed towards pagans (Northern Crusades) and heretics, such as the Cathars. Later Gregory IX set up the Inquisition (literally: "Interrogation") as means of combating heresy. An alternative, more irenic, non-coercive approach was adopted by preaching orders such as the Dominicans, and western missionaries to Muslims, such as Francis of Assisi and Raymond Lull (see also below).  

The Cistercian movement, founded in 1097, rekindled the reforming zeal of the earlier Cluny monastic reform movement begun in 910. The most famous Cistercian monk was Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), a monk, mystic, preacher and Bible scholar. Another centre of Christian mysticism at the time was the Abbey of St Victor.   

A new impetus in the western church came from various grass-roots movements aiming to get back to the "apostolic life" of the New Testament: simplicity, mission and poverty. An early example were the Poor of Lyons, began by Valdo (hence "Waldensians") from around 1173. This movement was rejected by the church and became a proto-Protestant church, which in the 16th century joined the Reformation. However, later similar movements, such as those began by Francis of Assisi and Dominic Guzman, were given papal blessing and became new mendicant monastic orders (Franciscans and Dominicans, respectively). Other mendicant orders formed somewhat later included the Carmelites (1247). 

The 13th century was also a time of architectural and academic achievement. The Cathedral of Saint Denis, Paris, completed in 1144, became a model for what was later referred to as 'Gothic' style of church architecture ("opus Francigenum"), symbolising the medieval dominance of Christianity and its striving heavenwards. Arguably one of the greatest examples of Gothic architecture is the cathedral at Chartres (picture). At the recently founded universities, following earlier thinkers such as Anselm (1033-1109), Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas and other scholastics systematised Christian thinking, inspired by ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. A motto of scholasticism was "faith seeking understanding".  

After a long period of decline following the death of Innocent III in 1216, under Pope Boniface VIII the emerging Kingdom of France, under Philip the Fair, overcame, leading to the election in 1305 of French Pope Clement V, who never stepped foot in Rome and eventually set up his residence in Avignon from 1309 - the start of the so-called Babylonian captivity of the western church (1309-1377).