CHAPTER 6 The Conversion Of The Barbarian Tribes The great evangelizers of this period were fervent in their faith in Jesus and his Church and hoped for everyone to share in the spiritual and moral treasure of Christianity.

1
CHAPTER 6The Conversion Of The Barbarian
TribesThe great evangelizers of this period
were fervent in their faith in Jesus and his
Church and hoped for everyone to share in the
spiritual and moral treasure of Christianity.
2
CHAPTER 6The Conversion Of The Barbarian Tribes

• After the Fall of the Roman Empire, the Church
  set about the task of converting the Germanic
  invaders and the different tribes surrounding the
  areas of the former Roman frontier.
• This was a long process that began in the fourth
  century and didnt end until the eleventh
  century, when the last European peoples, the
  Slavs, were converted.
• These great evangelizers were fervent in their
  faith and hoped to share with all people the
  spiritual and moral treasures of the Church.
• They worked not only for the salvation of all
  people, but also to share the benefits of a more
  civilized society and a higher human culture.
• This section examines the unique role that
  monasticism played in creating a Christian
  culture.

3
The Churchs Work of Conversion

• Although most Germanic tribes did not understand
  the subtleties of theology, they were fervent
  promoters of the Arian heresy, and often
  attempted to destroy Catholicism.
• During the fifth century, the bishops were gifted
  leaders who exhibited the roles of preacher,
  pastor, father, teacher, leader, administrator,
  liturgist, and sometimes military leader.
• Because of the chaos of the times, and the vacuum
  created by the Fall of the Roman Empire, Church
  leaders often had to take on leadership positions
  in society, as they worked to preserve the safety
  of the people.
• Monks and bishops had to build churches,
  monasteries, and Catholic institutions from
  scratch.
• Two forces were soon at work in these lands
  first, missionaries emerged from the peoples that
  were most recently evangelized and second,
  Christian queens influenced their husbands to
  convert, with the general population soon
  following.

4
PART I Conversion of France, the Churchs
Eldest Daughter

• In time the Franks would be the Churchs
  greatest defender, and this relationship resulted
  in the formation of the Papal States.

5
CONVERSION OF THE FRANKS

• A bishop introduced the Burgundian princess, St.
  Clotilda, a Christian, to the Frankish chief,
  Clovis.
• Although she worked tirelessly for his
  conversion, the death of their first child and
  the near death of a second convinced Clovis that
  the Christian God was ineffective.
• However, when faced with certain defeat by the
  Alemanni, Clovis promised God that he would
  convert and be baptized, if he was given victory.
• When the Franks emerged triumphant, Clovis kept
  his promise and was baptized, along with 3000 of
  his soldiers.

6
CONVERSION OF THE FRANKS

• By this act, the Franks became the first Germanic
  tribe to embrace the Catholic Faith, making
  France the Churchs eldest daughter.
• By the middle of the sixth century, all of France
  was Christianized.
• At this time, only France, Italy, Ireland, and a
  small part of England made up the Churchs
  faithful in the West.

7
ST. GREGORY OF TOURS

• St. Gregory was elected Bishop of Tours AD 573.
• He became one of the leading Churchmen following
  the collapse of the Roman Empire, and is
  responsible for writing the history of France.

8
PART IISpain

• According to tradition, Spain received
  Christianity from St. James the Greater and St.
  Paul, and from that time until the eighth
  century, Christianity flourished even in times of
  persecution.
• In 589, Spain was invaded by the Visogoths who
  conquered most of the Iberian peninsula.
• The Visogoths, who were nominally Arian, were
  intolerant of Christianity.
• Eventually, the monarchy embraced Catholicism,
  and, in 589, the Third Council of Toledo
  condemned Arianism, and Catholicism became the
  religion of Spain.
• However, this peace did not last long. The
  monarchies soon weakened, unity was dissolved,
  and the door was opened to a Muslim invasion in
  the eighth century.

9
The Muslim Invasion

• In 711, the Muslim invaders swept through Spain.
  Within three years they had conquered the entire
  Iberian peninsula.
• The Spaniards had to choose either to live under
  Muslim rule, or to retreat to the northern
  provinces of Spain, mainly Asturias, where they
  were protected by the Pyrenees Mountains.
• Those who chose to live under Muslim rule were
  called Mozarabs. At first they were well
  treated, but later, persecutions came.
• Years of struggle and slow re-conquest followed.
• It wasnt until 1492, more than 700 years later,
  that the Reconquista was completed and the
  Christians once again ruled Spain.

10
PART IIIThe Conversion of the Celts

• Christianity in Ireland adapted itself to the
  Celtic culture. It soon spread throughout the
  entire island, and Ireland developed a strong
  monastic tradition that would serve the Church as
  a source of great missionaries.

11
ST. PATRICK THE APOSTLE OF IRELAND

• Patricius was a Roman Briton born in Southwest
  Britain in the fourth century.
• When he was sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish
  pirates who took him to the Northwest of Ireland.
  Working as a slave, his faith gave him great
  strength until he finally escaped six years
  later.
• Back at home, he had a vision calling him to
  evangelize the Irish people.
• In 430, St. Patrick, now a priest, was on his way
  back to Ireland with several clerics. He was sent
  by Pope St. Celestine I as an aid to the Bishop
  of Ireland. However, upon the death of the
  bishop, St. Patrick was immediately consecrated
  as the new bishop.

12
ST. PATRICK THE APOSTLE OF IRELAND

• Within 15 years the entire island had heard the
  Word of God. Thousands were baptized and new
  religious communities were started. Within a
  generation, the entire island had converted to
  Christianity.
• St. Patricks most important written work, his
  Confessions, tells about his conversion and his
  faith.

13
IRISH MONKS PROTECTORS AND PROMOTERS OF WESTERN
CIVILIZATION

• Irish monasticism was inspired by both the Rule
  of St. Benedict and by the austere Eastern
  monastic tradition.
• Irish monks slept on cold stones, prayed in icy
  water, and slept in wet blankets. Anything that
  denied the body comfort was seen as a means of
  bringing the soul closer to God.
• During the sixth century, the Irish monasteries
  were the most important centers of learning in
  Europe. The scriptoria and libraries in the
  Irish monasteries saved a great deal of the
  Greco-Roman learning.

14
IRISH MONKS PROTECTORS AND PROMOTERS OF WESTERN
CIVILIZATION

• Celtic Christianity was unique in that it had no
  diocesan priests, only monastic priests. Abbots
  exercised most of the governing power in the
  Church of Ireland.
• By the eighth century, the influence of the Irish
  Church was declining, partly due to a series of
  Viking attacks on Irish monasteries.
• By the ninth century, the evangelizing mission of
  the Church was being led by the papacy.

15
ST. COLUMBA THE APOSTLE OF SCOTLAND

• St. Columba was from a royal Irish family and had
  prepared for the monastic life from an early age.
• Before arriving in Scotland, he had already
  founded several monasteries in Ireland. Being
  caught in a conflict between families, St.
  Columba left for Scotland. Some traditions
  report that he was exiled, while others say that
  leaving for Scotland was a penance imposed by his
  confessor.

16
ST. COLUMBA THE APOSTLE OF SCOTLAND

• In any event, he arrived in Scotland in 563,
  founding a monastery on the Isle of Iona, where
  he set to work converting the Picts. Successful
  in converting the Picts, he set about his
  evangelizing work throughout all of Scotland.
• A man of constant prayer and study he wrote some
  300 books.
• In 574, he anointed the new Scottish King, which
  led to the conversion of the Scottish population.

17
ST. COLUMBANUS AND THE IRISH ON THE CONTINENT

• St. Columbanus is the most famous among many
  Irish monks who helped to evangelize the northern
  coast of France as well as Switzerland.
• When leaving by boat for his missionary activity
  it is said that he would go wherever his boat
  happened to take him.
• The Celtic spirituality that St. Columbanus
  helped to spread around Europe bore many fruits.
  One was the practice of frequent confession,
  which quickly spread to the Universal Church.

18
FREQUENT CONFESSION

• By the third century, the Church had developed a
  system of austere public penance. The Penitent
  was enrolled publicly with others, and after a
  rigorous and lengthy period of penance (depending
  on the severity of the sin), marked by prayer,
  almsgiving, and fasting, the penitent was
  forgiven his sins. This was seen as a second
  Baptism and could be received only once.
  Furthermore, the penitent had to make a lifelong
  promise of continence. For these reasons many
  people postponed Penance until death approached,
  and the system was in a state of decline.
• For the Irish, the Penance remained lengthy,
  severe, and public, but the penitent was not
  enrolled with others, was not bound by a promise
  of lifelong continence, and penance could be
  received more than once.
• Eventually, absolution was granted upon
  confession, with penance to be performed
  afterwards, and the Sacrament became a matter of
  private responsibility.
• The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 officially
  taught that each individual was bound to make at
  least one Confession each year if they were
  conscious of having committed a mortal sin.

19
PART IVThe Conversion of England

• It is not known exactly how Christianity was
  first brought to England, but English bishops
  were already present at the Council of Arles (AD
  314) in France.
• However, with the invasion of the pagan Angles,
  Jutes, and Saxons, the Christian community was
  pushed back to the furtherest regions of England.

20
ST. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY THE APOSTLE OF
ENGLAND

• By the time of Pope St. Gregory, the
  evangelization of Britain had already begun.
• The Celts in the North had already converted due
  to the effort of the Irish missionaries, and St.
  Columba had already preached the gospel to the
  Picts in Scotland. However, the invading Saxons,
  Angles, and Jutes had nearly annihilated the
  Celts, and with them the Christian Faith.
• Before becoming Pope, St. Gregory saw a group of
  blond, blue-eyed slaves. He was told that they
  were Angles. St. Gregory replied, Non Angli,
  sed angeli (Not Angles, but angels).
• He never forget the Angles and when he became
  Pope he selected St. Augustine as a personal
  emissary and missionary to England.

21
ST. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY THE APOSTLE OF
ENGLAND

• In 596, St. Augustine left for England with forty
  other monks. In France they heard appalling
  stories about the brutality of the barbarians in
  England. St. Augustine wrote a frantic letter
  asking permission to return to Rome. Pope St.
  Gregory declined the request and St. Augustine
  went on to England.
• Ethelbert, the king of Kent, had married Bertha,
  a Frankish princess, and the great-granddaughter
  of King Clovis. When St. Augustine arrived, he
  was received well by Ethelbert and was given
  permission to preach the Catholic Faith and to
  make converts. Ethelbert also gave them a
  dwelling in Canterbury, his capital.

22
ST. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY THE APOSTLE OF
ENGLAND

• On Christmas Day in 597, more than ten thousand
  Saxons were baptized. Ethelbert was baptized, and
  Christianity soon spread rapidly throughout
  England. Monasteries were quickly established and
  St. Augustine was presented with a palace in
  Canterbury, which became the Episcopal see.
• St. Augustine was named Primate of England and
  was sent the pallium. He consecrated others as
  bishops and sent them to Rochester and London.
• Upon St. Augustines death, Christianity had a
  strong foundation in England.

23
THE MISSION IN ENGLAND CONTINUES

• Christianity soon spread throughout all of the
  kingdoms in England. However, there were
  occasional setbacks as the successors of
  Christian kings sometimes reverted back to
  paganism.
• Celtic Christianity, brought by the Irish monks,
  dominated the north of England, and Roman
  Christianity predominated south of the Thames.
  Soon these two traditions would clash, especially
  over the date for the observance of Easter.
• Seeking to reconcile the two traditions, a synod
  was held in Northumbria (AD 644).
• St. Wilfrid, later Bishop of York, led the party
  advocating the Roman tradition.

24
THE MISSION IN ENGLAND CONTINUES

• The synod decided that England would follow the
  Roman tradition for the observance of Easter, and
  that the monks would follow the Benedictine form
  of monasticism.
• The Celtic monks eventually withdrew to a Celtic
  monastery on the island of Iona and to other
  monasteries in Ireland.
• From this point on, of all the countries that had
  converted to Christianity, England was most
  closely identified with Rome, and became the
  strongest supporter of Benedictine monasticism.

25
ST. BEDE THE FATHER OF ENGLISH HISTORY

• St. Bede (673-735) was the most important
  Anglo-Saxon scholar of his time, and much of his
  work became the standard for the Medieval
  curriculum.
• His works included Latin grammar and poetry,
  astronomy and the tides, chronology, a biography
  of St. Cuthbert, commentaries on Scripture, and
  history. His Ecclesiastical History of the
  English People places the Catholic Church at the
  foundation of the development of English culture.
  
• His spirituality and scholarship was based on the
  biblical-patristic tradition, and he developed
  the BC / AD system of dating the years.
• Although England produced many great Saints and
  evangelizers, such as St. Boniface, the disunity
  of its kings, coupled with the invasion of the
  Vikings, caused an eventual spiritual decline,
  making England a backward country, and it
  eventually lost its momentum in deepening and
  spreading Catholic culture.

26
PART V The Conversion of Germany and the Low
Countries.

• Although some Roman cities, such as Cologne, were
  evangelized during the time of the Roman Empire,
  it wasnt until the seventh century, and the
  arrival of English missionaries, that northwest
  and central Germany was converted. Some Germanic
  tribes were still being converted as late as the
  second millennium, when the German church began
  to focus its energies on converting the Slavs.

27
ST. WILLIBRORD THE APOSTLE OF FRISIA

• St. Willibrord was one of the first Anglo-Saxon
  missionaries to evangelize Germanic lands.
• With papal support for his mission, he succeeded
  in converting the people of Frisia (Northwestern
  Germany and parts of the Netherlands). His work
  suffered a temporary setback when a pagan king
  re-conquered the territory, and St. Willibrord
  had to flee to Luxembourg.
• From there he continued his work in Denmark and
  central Germany.

28
ST. BONIFACE THE APOSTLE OF GERMANY

• St. Boniface was born with the name Winfrid in
  Wessex, England, and entered a monastery at age
  seven. He felt that God was calling him to leave
  England and to evangelize the German peoples.
• Before the arrival of St. Boniface, all of the
  conversion efforts in Germany had failed. Not
  only did St. Boniface succeed in converting the
  Germans, but he laid the foundation of a church
  based on the monastic model that would flourish
  for three centuries.
• In 716, he left to bring the Frisians fully into
  the Church, but met formidable obstacles. Feeling
  discouraged, he researched the lives of the early
  Christians and found that no Saint was exempt
  from suffering, so he struggled to be courageous
  and look upon barbarians as his brothers.

29
ST. BONIFACE THE APOSTLE OF GERMANY

• Believing that he had failed in Frisia, he
  consulted the Pope as to whether he should
  continue. The Pope was so impressed with his
  sanctity that he gave Winfrid the name
  Boniface, meaning doer of good.
• Returning to Germany he sought the conversion of
  the Hessians, and the Pope consecrated him as a
  bishop.
• After cutting down the Oak of Thor, the sacred
  tree of the pagans of Hesse, he gained so much
  moral authority among the people that he was able
  to establish several monasteries.
• He spent much time building the ecclesiastic
  structure of the Church by establishing new
  dioceses, and reforming the clergy who had become
  corrupt.
• At 76 years of age, he returned to Frisia where
  he was martyred along with his companions.

30
PART VIConversion of ScandinaviaJust as
England had supplied missionaries for the
conversion of the German people, the German
missionaries in turn led the evangelization of
Scandinavia and of the Slavs.
31
ST. ANSGAR THE APOSTLE OF THE NORTH

• St. Ansgar was born in France where he became a
  monk. He soon moved on to Denmark and Sweden
  where he built the first Christian church.
• The Pope made him Bishop of Hamburg and later of
  Bremen.
• He successfully converted Erik, king of Jutland.
  However, his missionary work crumbled when the
  converted Scandinavians returned to paganism.

32
DENMARK

• St. Ansgar was invited to Denmark by a defeated
  Danish chieftain, Harold, who sought the help of
  Louis the pious, son of Charlemagne, to regain
  his position.
• Louis the Pious and St. Ansgar agreed to help him
  on the condition that he was baptized. Harold
  was soon baptized and set off for Denmark to
  recover his kingdom, but was decisively defeated
  in battle.
• St. Ansgar had to move on to other missionary
  fields.
• A century later the Danish ruler Cnut the Great
  (1014-1035) declared Christianity the official
  religion of Denmark.

33
SWEDEN

• Christianitys progress in Sweden was as
  difficult as it had been in Denmark.
• St. Ansgars initial efforts failed as did later
  attempts.
• Finally, in about the year 1000, King Olaf III
  was baptized.
• In 1078, the Christian chieftain, Inge, defeated
  the pagan chieftain and destroyed the pagan
  temple.
• It wasnt until the twelfth century that the
  Christianization of Sweden was complete.

34
ST. OLAF PATRON SAINT OF NORWAY

• The evangelization of Norway began in the tenth
  century.
• Several kings favorable to Christianity, along
  with Anglo-Saxon monks, brought Christianity to
  the people.
• Pagan successors to the king left Christianity
  vulnerable.
• The establishment of Christianity seemed certain,
  but the reigning king used many inhumane methods
  in establishing the religion.
• In contrast, St. Olaf (king 1016-1028) used
  stern, but civil methods to spread Christianity.
  He invited missionaries to his land. He
  destroyed pagan temples and built Christian
  churches on their sites.
• Wars between the clans led to his exile, and he
  was killed in a battle against Canute the Great
  of Denmark. Within a year he was proclaimed a
  Saint.

35
ICELAND

• Missionaries reached Iceland from Norway around
  AD 980. Twenty years later the ruling tribal
  council accepted Christianity.
• The groundwork had been laid years earlier by
  Irish Christian slaves, and some of the native
  aristocracy had already accepted Christianity.
• In the year 1000 the ruling tribal council gave
  the Law Giver, Thorgeir of Ljosvatn, the
  authorization to decide which religion the island
  would follow. Thorgeir, a pagan, after spending a
  night in prayer, decided for Christianity.
• The island was united, and by 1056 had received
  its own bishop.

36
FINLAND AND ST. HENRY OF UPPSALA

• The origin of Christianity in Finland is not
  clear. It arrived in the twelfth century, later
  than in the other Scandinavian countries.
• St. Henry of Uppsala, a bishop and an Englishman,
  was the major evangelizer.
• By 1220, the Church was firmly established.

37
PART VIIThe Conversion of the SlavsCentral and
Eastern Europe were the scenes of competing
missionary interests. German missionaries
converted the rest of Germany and Poland, while
Greek missionaries evangelized much of Eastern
Europe. The conversion of the Bohemians,
Moravians, Slovenes, Croates, and Poles was
directed from Rome, while the Serbs, Bulgarians,
Ruthenians (Ukrainians), and Russians received
Christianity from Constantinople.
38
STS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS THE APOSTLES OF THE
SLAVS

• Two brothers, Sts. Cyril and Methodius were the
  first missionaries among the Slavs. Coming from a
  senatorial Greek family, both decided to enter
  the priesthood.
• St. Cyril, after becoming a priest, became part
  of the philosophy faculty in Constantinople, but
  gave up a promising career to evangelize southern
  Russia.
• Later, the emperor commissioned them both as
  missionaries to Slovakia. Before leaving, they
  developed the Glagolithic script for use with the
  Slavs.

39
STS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS THE APOSTLES OF THE
SLAVS

• The brothers used the vernacular Slavonic
  language for the liturgy, and translated the
  Bible into Slavonic. Although this was a vital
  tool for the conversion of Slovakia, German
  missionaries denounced them as heretics for not
  using Latin.
• The brothers went to Rome for guidance from the
  Pope, who granted them permission to use Slavonic
  in the liturgy. St. Cyril died while in Rome, but
  the Pope made St. Methodius Bishop of the
  Moravians and he continued his missionary
  activity.
• Arrested by German missionaries and held in
  captivity for three years, Pope John VIII
  eventually gained his release and reaffirmed the
  use of Slavonic in the liturgy.
• Later Popes who refused to recognize the use of
  Slavonic turned many of the Slovakians away from
  Rome to Constantinople.

40
STS. LUDMILA AND WENCESLAUS PATRON SAINTS OF
THE CZECH REPUBLIC

• In 871, St. Methodius baptized St. Ludmilla and
  her husband, Duke Borzwoi, the first Christian
  Duke of Bohemia. St. Ludmilla worked to spread
  the Faith among the Bohemian people.
• She replicated the model often used in Europe
  the conversion of the ruling family through the
  influence of a Christian woman, and the
  subsequent conversion of the subjects.

41
STS. LUDMILA AND WENCESLAUS PATRON SAINTS OF
THE CZECH REPUBLIC

• She had two grandsons St. Wenceslaus and
  Boleslaus. When St. Wenceslaus turned to Germany
  for political and religious support, it caused
  resentment among many Bohemians. In the
  atmosphere of political unrest, Boleslaus killed
  his brother while he was on his way to Mass.
• Boleslaus later repented and converted to
  Christianity, bringing his brothers relics to
  Prague where they became an object of veneration.
• Otto the Great of the Holy Roman Empire compelled
  him to reinstate Christianity, and his son,
  Boleslaus II, made Christianity the religion of
  the Bohemians.

42
ST. ADALBERT OF PRAGUE THE APOSTLE OF THE
PRUSSIANS

• St. Adalbert worked among the Bohemians, the
  Hungarians, and the Poles.
• Born of a noble Bohemian family, he studied in
  Germany and was later made Bishop of Prague.
• Twice he had to flee Prague due to hostility
  caused by his attempts to reform the clergy.
  Both times he went to Rome to seek counsel.
• While away from Prague, he became the confessor
  for the teenage Holy Roman Emperor Otto III,
  making a deep impact on the emperor by his
  example and teaching.

43
ST. ADALBERT OF PRAGUE THE APOSTLE OF THE
PRUSSIANS

• Fleeing Prague the second time he went to
  Hungary, where he baptized the Hungarian leader
  and his son, and later to Poland and Prussia.
• The pagan Prussians martyred him AD 997.
• When Otto III visited his grave, he granted
  ecclesiastical independence to the Polish church
  from the Germans.

44
POLAND

• Christianity arrived in Poland in the tenth
  century through Moravian refugees who fled to
  Poland from the Hungarian invasion. German monks
  also assisted in the conversion. Although there
  was no organized Church, the transition to a
  Christian nation was smooth and peaceful.
• Duke Mieszko, a Polish noble, was the first to
  encourage his subjects to become Christian.
• The duke placed his son under the care of Otto II
  for his education, and sent a locket of his sons
  hair to the Pope to show that he considered his
  son to be under the special protection of the
  Pope.
• In AD 992, the duke placed all of Poland at the
  service of the Holy See, making Poland a vassal
  land of the popes, thus beginning a unique
  relationship between the Polish people and the
  papacy.

45
ST. STEPHEN THE GREAT, KING OF HUNGARY

• The Hungarians were an Asian nomadic people
  defeated by Otto I. Afterwards they were a
  sedentary and peasant people who became open to
  the gospel.
• German missionaries obtained permission to
  evangelize the people, and St. Adalbert was
  instrumental in their conversion.
• Having been baptized with his father by St.
  Adalbert, St. Stephen became the ruler of Hungary
  and its first King.
• Opposed by pagans, St. Stephen successfully put
  down a rebellion and set about building up the
  Church in Hungary.
• He placed Hungary in the hands of the papacy and
  received a royal crown from the Pope, which was
  also recognized by the Holy Roman Emperor.

46
ST. VLADIMIR THE APOSTLE OF THE RUSSIANS AND
UKRAINIANS

• St. Olga, the wife of the pagan Prince Igor of
  Russia, converted to Christianity in
  Constantinople. However, she was not able to
  convert her husband, nor her children.
• Her grandson, St. Vladimir, became ruler of all
  Russia after defeating his brothers in battle. He
  lived a typical pagan life, having five wives and
  twelve children, and erecting many idols and
  shrines to pagan gods. He was also known as a
  ruthless ruler.

47
ST. VLADIMIR THE APOSTLE OF THE RUSSIANS AND
UKRAINIANS

• In order to solidify his rule, he looked to the
  religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
• His emissaries found Judaism and Islam
  unedifying, and while they found Latin rite
  Christianity acceptable, they were amazed at the
  Byzantine liturgy. While in the Church of Hagia
  Sophia in Constantinople they reported that they
  knew not whether they were in Heaven or on
  earth.
• St. Vladimir struck a deal with the Byzantine
  emperor, who was in need of military aid. He
  would help the emperor, if he could have the hand
  of his sister in marriage. The emperor agreed on
  the condition that Vladimir became Christian.
• St. Vladimir agreed. He dismissed his former
  wives, tore down all of the pagan idols and
  shrines that he had built, and erected churches
  in their place. He established monasteries and
  Christian schools. He threw banquets for the
  poor and focused on converting his people. By
  the time of his death, he had firmly established
  the Christian Faith throughout Russia.

48
BULGARIA A DIFFERENT PATH

• The faith reached Bulgaria when King Boris was
  baptized AD 864/5.
• He was oriented toward Constantinople but feared
  political and religious domination from the
  Byzantine emperors, and for some time both German
  and Byzantine missionaries worked in the land.
• He turned to the Pope to seek advice on the
  transition of his country from paganism to
  Christianity, and the Pope gave him counsel.
  Pagan customs that conflicted with Christian
  beliefs had to be abolished, while those not in
  conflict with Christianity could be kept as part
  of the Bulgarian culture.
• When Boris asked that Bulgaria be made a separate
  patriarchate, the Pope refused, and Boris turned
  to Constantinople. The relationship between the
  two was strained as Bulgaria asserted religious
  and political independence. Constantinople
  finally recognized the independence of the
  Bulgarian Church in the twentieth century.

49
CONCLUSION

• The Church remained focused on its mission of
  preaching and spreading the Gospel. Not until
  the evangelization of the Americas would the
  Church experience such a growth among new
  peoples. At the same time, tensions began to
  mount between Christianity in the East and the
  West. Seemingly irreconcilable differences drove
  the two traditions further apart, which would
  later lead to a great Schism.

50
The End