Christianization Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Places and practices == {{Main|Christianized sites}} Christianization has at times involved appropriation, removal and/or redesignation of aspects of native religion and former sacred spaces. This was allowed, or required, or sometimes forbidden by the missionaries involved.{{sfn|Gregory|1986|p=234}} The church adapts to its local cultural context, just as local culture and places are adapted to the church, or in other words, Christianization has always worked in both directions: Christianity absorbs from native culture as it is absorbed into it.{{sfn|Shorter|2006|pp=11-12}}{{sfn|Robert|2009|p=177}} When Christianity spread beyond Judaea, it first arrived in [[Jewish diaspora]] communities.{{sfn|Bokenkotter|2007|p=18}} The Christian church was modeled on the [[synagogue]], and Christian philosophers synthesized their Christian views with [[Ancient Semitic religion|Semitic monotheism]] and Greek thought.{{sfn|Praet|1992–1993|p=108}}{{sfn|Boatwright|Gargola|Talbert|2004|p=426}} Christianity adopted aspects of [[Platonism|Platonic thought]], names for months and days of the week – even the concept of a seven-day week – from Roman paganism.{{sfn|Rausing|1995|p=229}}{{sfn|Scourfield|2007|pp=18, 20–22}} [[File:Eucharistic bread.jpg|thumb|early depiction of Eucharist celebration found in catacombs beneath Rome|alt=catacomb art of woman with raised hands and man celebrating eucharist]] Christian art in the [[catacombs]] beneath Rome rose out of a reinterpretation of Jewish and pagan symbolism.{{sfn|Goodenough|1962|p=138}}{{sfn|Testa|1998|p=80}} While many new subjects appear for the first time in the Christian catacombs - i.e. the Good Shepherd, Baptism, and the Eucharistic meal – the Orant figures (women praying with upraised hands) probably came directly from pagan art.{{sfn|Testa|1998|p=82}}{{sfn|Goodenough|1962|p=125}}{{refn|group=note|The [[Ichthys]], Christian Fish, also known colloquially as the Jesus Fish, was an early Christian symbol. Early Christians used the Ichthys symbol to identify themselves as followers of Jesus Christ and to proclaim their commitment to Christianity. Ichthys is the Ancient Greek word for "fish", which explains why the sign resembles a fish;{{sfn|Fairchild|2021}} the Greek word ιχθυς is an [[acronym and initialism|acronym]] for the phrase transliterated as "Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter", that is, "Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Savior". There are several other possible connections with Christian tradition relating to this symbol: that it was a reference to the [[feeding of the multitude]]; that it referred to some of [[Twelve Apostles|the apostles]] having previously been fishermen; or that the word ''Christ'' was pronounced by Jews in a similar way to the Hebrew word for ''fish'' (though ''Nuna'' is the normal [[Aramaic]] word for fish, making this seem unlikely).{{sfn|Fairchild|2021}}}} [[Bruce Forbes|Bruce David Forbes]] says "Some way or another, [[Christmas]] was started to compete with rival Roman religions, or to co-opt the winter celebrations as a way to spread Christianity, or to baptize the winter festivals with Christian meaning in an effort to limit their [drunken] excesses. Most likely all three".{{sfn|Forbes|2008|p=30}} [[Michele R. Salzman|Michelle Salzman]] has shown that, in the process of converting the Roman Empire's aristocracy, Christianity absorbed the values of that aristocracy.{{sfn|Salzman|2002|pp=200–219}} Some scholars have suggested that characteristics of some pagan gods — or at least their roles — were transferred to Christian saints after the fourth century.{{sfn|Kloft|2010|p=25}} [[Demetrius of Thessaloniki]] became venerated as the patron of agriculture during the Middle Ages. According to historian Hans Kloft, that was because the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], [[Demeter|Demeter's cult]], ended in the 4th century, and the Greek rural population gradually transferred her rites and roles onto the Christian saint.{{sfn|Kloft|2010|p=25}} Several early Christian writers, including [[Justin Martyr|Justin]] (2nd century), [[Tertullian]], and [[Origen]] (3rd century) wrote of [[Mithraism|Mithraists]] copying Christian beliefs and practices yet remaining pagan.{{sfn|Abruzzi|2018|p=24}} In both Jewish and Roman tradition, genetic families were buried together, but an important cultural shift took place in the way Christians buried one another: they gathered unrelated Christians into a common burial space, as if they really were one family, "commemorated them with homogeneous memorials and expanded the commemorative audience to the entire local community of coreligionists" thereby redefining the concept of family.{{sfn|Yasin|2005|p=433}}{{sfn|Hellerman|2009|p=6}} === Temple conversion within Roman Empire === {{main|Christianization of the Roman Empire|Spread of Christianity}} {{further|Constantine I and Christianity|Persecution of paganism under Theodosius I}} [[File:Ancient Roman Temple, Évora - Apr 2011.jpg|thumb|Ancient Roman Temple, Évora. Believed to have been dedicated to the Roman goddess Diana, this 2nd or 3rd century temple survived because it was converted to a number of uses over the centuries -- such as an armory, theater and animal slaughterhouse|alt=photo of what remains of Roman temple at Évora]] [[R. P. C. Hanson]] says the direct conversion of temples into churches began in the mid-fifth century but only in a few isolated incidents.{{sfn|Hanson|1978|p=257}}{{refn|group=note|Scholarship has been divided over whether this was a general effort to demolish the pagan past, simple pragmatism, or perhaps an attempt to preserve the past's art and architecture.{{sfn|Schuddeboom|2017|pp=166–167, 177}}}} According to modern archaeology, of the thousands of temples that existed across the empire, 120 pagan temples were converted to churches with the majority dated after the fifth century. It is likely this stems from the fact that these buildings remained officially in public use, ownership could only be transferred by the emperor, and temples remained protected by law.{{sfn|Schuddeboom|2017|pp=181–182}}{{sfn|Lavan|2011|pp=xx - xxvi}}{{sfn|Lavan|Mulryan|2011|p=xxxix}}{{sfn|Markus|1990|p=142}} In the fourth century, there were no conversions of temples in the city of Rome itself.{{sfn|Schuddeboom|2017|pp=169}} It is only with the formation of the Papal State in the eighth century, (when the emperor's properties in the West came into the possession of the bishop of Rome), that the conversions of temples in Rome took off in earnest.{{sfn|Schuddeboom|2017|p=179}} According to Dutch historian Feyo L. Schuddeboom, individual temples and temple sites in the city of Rome were converted to churches primarily to preserve their exceptional architecture. They were also used pragmatically because of the importance of their location at the center of town.{{sfn|Schuddeboom|2017|pp=181–182}} === Temple and icon destruction === During his long reign (307 - 337), [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] (the first Christian emperor) both destroyed and built a few temples, plundered more, and generally neglected the rest.{{sfn|Wiemer|1994|p=523}} [[File:Constantine's conversion.jpg|thumb|left|''Constantine's conversion'', by [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]]|alt=Ruben's painting of Constantine's conversion]] In the 300 years prior to the reign of Constantine, Roman authority had confiscated various church properties. For example, Christian historians recorded that [[Hadrian]] (2nd century), when in the military colony of [[Aelia Capitolina]] ([[Jerusalem]]), had constructed a temple to [[Aphrodite]] on the site of the [[crucifixion of Jesus]] on [[Calvary|Golgotha]] hill in order to suppress veneration there.{{sfn|Loosley|2012|p=3}} Constantine was vigorous in reclaiming such properties whenever these issues were brought to his attention, and he used reclamation to justify the destruction of Aphrodite's temple. Using the vocabulary of reclamation, Constantine acquired several more sites of Christian significance in the Holy Land.{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|p=30}}{{sfn|Bradbury|1994|p=132}} In Eusebius' church history, there is a bold claim of a Constantinian campaign to destroy the temples, however, there are discrepancies in the evidence.{{sfn|Bradbury|1994|p=123}} Temple destruction is attested to in 43 cases in the written sources, but only four have been confirmed by archaeological evidence.{{sfn|Lavan|Mulryan|2011|pp=xxvii, xxiv}}{{refn|group=note|At the sacred oak and spring at [[Mamre]], a site venerated and occupied by Jews, Christians, and pagans alike, the literature says Constantine ordered the burning of the idols, the destruction of the altar, and erection of a church on the spot of the temple.{{sfn|Bradbury|1994|p=131}} The archaeology of the site shows that Constantine's church, along with its attendant buildings, only occupied a peripheral sector of the precinct, leaving the rest unhindered.{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|p=31}}{{paragraph break}} In Gaul of the fourth century, 2.4% of known temples and religious sites were destroyed, some by barbarians.{{sfn|Lavan|2011|pp=165–181}} In Africa, the city of Cyrene has good evidence of the burning of several temples; Asia Minor has produced one weak possibility; in Greece the only strong candidate may relate to a barbarian raid instead of Christians. Egypt has produced no archaeologically confirmed temple destructions from this period except the [[Serapeum of Alexandria|Serapeum]]. In Italy there is one; Britain has the highest percentage with 2 out of 40 temples.{{sfn|Lavan|2011|p=xxv}}}} Historians Frank R. Trombley and [[Ramsay MacMullen]] explain that discrepancies between literary sources and archaeological evidence exist because it is common for details in the literary sources to be ambiguous and unclear.{{sfn|Trombley|1995a|pp=166–168, 335–336}} For example, [[John Malalas|Malalas]] claimed Constantine destroyed all the temples, then he said [[Theodosius I|Theodisius]] destroyed them all, then he said Constantine converted them all to churches.{{sfn|Trombley|2001|pp=246–282}}{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|p=110}}{{refn|group=note|A number of elements coincided to end the temples, but none of them were strictly religious.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=82}} Earthquakes caused much of the destruction of this era.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=28}} Civil conflict and external invasions also destroyed many temples and shrines.{{sfn|Lavan|Mulryan|2011|p=xxvi}} Economics was also a factor.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=82}}{{sfn|Bradbury|1995|p=353}}{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=60}} {{paragraph break}} The Roman economy of the third and fourth centuries struggled, and traditional polytheism was expensive and dependent upon donations from the state and private elites.{{sfn|Jones|1986|pp=8–10;13;735}} Roger S. Bagnall reports that imperial financial support of the Temples declined markedly after Augustus.{{sfn|Bagnall|2021|pp=261–269}} Lower [[budget]]s meant the physical decline of [[Urban area|urban]] structures of all types. {{paragraph break}} This progressive decay was accompanied by an increased trade in salvaged building materials, as the practice of [[recycling]] became common in Late Antiquity.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=2}} Economic struggles meant that necessity drove much of the destruction and conversion of pagan religious monuments.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=82}}{{sfn|Bradbury|1995|p=353}}{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=60}}}} [[Image:Athena9.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Head of [[Aphrodite]], 1st century AD copy of an original by [[Praxiteles]]. The Christian cross on the chin and forehead was intended to "deconsecrate" a holy pagan artifact. Found in the [[Ancient Agora of Athens|Agora of Athens]]. [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens|National Archaeological Museum in Athens]].]] Additional calculated acts of desecration – removing the hands and feet or mutilating heads and genitals of statues, and "purging sacred precincts with fire" – were acts committed by the common people during the early centuries.{{refn|group=note|There are only a few examples of Christian officials having any involvement in the violent destruction of pagan shrines. [[Sulpicius Severus]], in his ''Vita,'' describes [[Martin of Tours]] as a dedicated destroyer of temples and sacred trees, saying "wherever he destroyed [[heathen temple]]s, there he used immediately to build either churches or monasteries".{{sfn|Severus – Vita}} There is agreement that Martin destroyed temples and shrines, but there is a discrepancy between the written text and archaeology: none of the churches attributed to Martin can be shown to have existed in Gaul in the fourth century.{{sfn|Lavan|Mulryan|2011|p=178}} {{paragraph break}} In the 380s, one eastern official (generally identified as the praetorian prefect [[Maternus Cynegius|Cynegius]]), used the army under his control and bands of [[monk]]s to destroy temples in the eastern provinces.{{sfn|Haas|2002|pp=160–162}} According to [[Alan Cameron (classicist)|Alan Cameron]], this violence was unofficial and without support from Christian clergy or state magistrates.{{sfn|Cameron|2011|p=799}}{{sfn|Salzman|2006|pp=284–285}}}} While seen as 'proving' the impotence of the gods, pagan icons were also seen as having been "polluted" by the practice of sacrifice. They were, therefore, in need of "desacralization" or "[[deconsecration]]".{{sfn|Brown|1998|pp=649–652}} Antique historian [[Peter Brown (historian)|Peter Brown]] says that, while it was in some ways studiously vindictive, it was not indiscriminate or extensive.{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=650}}{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|pp=39, 40}} Once temples, icons or statues were detached from 'the contagion' of sacrifice, they were seen as having returned to innocence. Many statues and temples were then preserved as art.{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=650}} Professor of Byzantine history Helen Saradi-Mendelovici writes that this process implies appreciation of antique art and a conscious desire to find a way to include it in Christian culture.{{sfn|Lavan|Mulryan|2011|p=303}} Aspects of paganism remained part of the [[Civic political culture|civic culture]] of the Roman Empire till its end. Public spectacles were popular and resisted Christianization: [[Gladiator|gladiatorial combats]] (''munera''), [[Venatio|animal hunts]] (''venationes''), [[Ludi|theatrical performances]] (''ludi scaenici''), and [[Chariot racing|chariot races]] (''ludi circenses'') were accommodated by Roman society even while that society disagreed and debated the definition and scope of christianization.{{sfn|Lim|2012|pp=497-498}} Historian of antiquity Richard Lim writes that it was within this process of debate that "the category of the [[secular]] was developed ... [which] helped buffer select cultural practices, including Roman spectacles, from the claims of those who advocated a more thorough christianization of Roman society."{{sfn|Lim|2012|p=498}} This produced a vigorous public culture shared by polytheists, Jews and Christians alike.{{sfn|Brown|1998|pp=652–653}}{{refn|group=note| By the time a fifth-century pope attempted to denounce the [[Lupercalia]] as 'pagan superstition', religion scholar [[Elizabeth A. Clark|Elizabeth Clark]] says "it fell on deaf ears".{{sfn|Clark|1992|pp=543–546}} In Historian [[Robert Austin Markus|R. A. Markus's]] reading of events, this marked a colonization by Christians of pagan values and practices.{{sfn|Markus|1990|pp=141–142}} For Alan Cameron, the mixed culture that included the continuation of the circuses, amphitheaters and games – sans sacrifice – on into the sixth century involved the secularization of paganism rather than appropriation by Christianity.{{sfn|Cameron|2011|pp=8–10}}}} The Roman Empire cannot be considered Christianized before [[Justinian I]] in the sixth century, though most scholars agree the Empire was never fully Christianized.{{sfn|Brown|1998|pp=652–653}}{{sfn|Lim|2012|p=497}} Archaeologist and historian [[Judith Herrin]] has written in her article on ''"Book Burning as Purification"'' that under Justinian, there was considerable destruction.{{sfn|Herrin|2009|p=213}} The decree of 528 barred pagans from state office when, decades later, Justinian ordered a "persecution of surviving Hellenes, accompanied by the burning of pagan books, pictures and statues". This took place at the ''Kynêgion''.{{sfn|Herrin|2009|p=213}} Herrin says it is difficult to assess the degree to which Christians are responsible for the losses of ancient documents in many cases, but in the mid-sixth century, active persecution in Constantinople destroyed many ancient texts.{{sfn|Herrin|2009|p=213}} === Other sacred sites === [[File:Spoleto SSalvatore Presbiterio1.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Physical Christianization: the choir of San Salvatore, [[Spoleto]], occupies the [[cella]] of a Roman temple|alt=part of a Roman temple that is now part of a church at San Salvatore]] The "Venerable Bede" was a Christian monk (672 - 735) who wrote what sociologist and anthropologist [[Hutton Webster]] describes as "the first truly historical work by an Englishman" describing the Christianization of Britain.{{sfn|Webster|1917|p=32}} [[Pope Gregory I]] had sent Augustine and several helpers as missionaries to Kent and its powerful King Ethelbert.{{sfn|Webster|1917|pp=33-34}} One of those helpers, Abbott Mellitus, received this letter from Gregory on the proper methods for converting the local people. <blockquote>I think that the temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed; but let the idols that are in them be destroyed; let holy water be made and sprinkled in the said temples, and let altars be erected and relics placed. For if those temples are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God; that the people, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may remove error from their hearts, and, knowing and adoring the true God, may the more familiarly resort to the places to which they have become accustomed.{{sfn|Bede|2008|pp= volume 1 chapter 30}}{{sfn|Webster|1917|p=36}}</blockquote> [[File:Monte Cassino - wide view.JPG|thumb|Monte Cassino Abbey now sits on top of the hill|alt=photo from a distance showing Monte Cassino Abbey on hill]] When [[Benedict of Nursia|Benedict]] moved to [[Monte Cassino]] about 530, a small temple with a sacred grove and a separate altar to Apollo stood on the hill. The population was still mostly pagan. The land was most likely granted as a gift to Benedict from one of his supporters. This would explain the authoritative way he immediately cut down the groves, removed the altar, and built an oratory before the locals were converted.{{sfn|Farmer|1995|p=26}} Christianization of the Irish landscape was a complex process that varied considerably depending on local conditions.{{sfn|Harney|2017|p=104}} Ancient sites were viewed with veneration, and were excluded or included for Christian use based largely on diverse local feeling about their nature, character, ethos and even location.{{sfn|Harney|2017|pp=120, 121}} [[File:The Parthenon in Athens.jpg|thumb|The Parthenon in Athens|alt=photo of Parthenon as it looks now]] In Greece, Byzantine scholar [[Alison Frantz]] has won consensus support of her view that, aside from a few rare instances such as the [[Parthenon]] which was converted to a church in the sixth century, temple conversions (including the [[Erechtheion]] and the [[Theseion]]) took place in and after the seventh century, after the displacements caused by the Slavic invasions.{{sfn|Gregory|1986|p=233}} In early [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon England]], non-stop religious development meant paganism and Christianity were never completely separate.{{sfn|Wood|Armstrong|2007|p=34}} Archaeologist Lorcan Harney has reported that Anglo-Saxon churches were built by pagan barrows after the 11th century.{{sfn|Harney|2017|p=107}} [[Richard A. Fletcher]] suggests that, within the British Isles and other areas of northern Europe that were formerly [[druid]]ic, there are a dense number of [[holy]] wells and holy springs that are now attributed to a [[saint]], often a highly local saint, unknown elsewhere.{{sfn|Fletcher|1999|p=254}}{{sfn|Weston|1942|p=26}} In earlier times many of these were seen as guarded by supernatural forces such as the [[melusina]], and many such pre-Christian holy wells appear to have survived as baptistries.{{sfn|Harney|2017|pp=119–121}} According to [[Willibald]]'s ''[[Saint Boniface|Life of Saint Boniface]]'', about 723, the missioner Boniface cut down the sacred [[Donar's Oak]] also called the 'Oak of Jupiter' and used the lumber to build a church dedicated to St. Peter.{{sfn|Willibald|1916|pp=63-64}}{{sfn|Hardt|2001|pp=219-232}} [[File:The Frankish kingdom under Charlemagne and his descendants, to 900.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|The Frankish kingdom under Charlemagne and his descendants to 900|alt=map of Charlemagne's kingdom]] By 771, [[Charlemagne]] had inherited the long established conflict with the [[Saxons]] who regularly specifically targeted churches and monasteries in brutal raids into Frankish territory.{{sfn|Dean|2015|pp=15–16}} In January 772, Charlemagne retaliated with an attack on the Saxon's most important holy site, a [[sacred groves|sacred grove]] in southern [[Engria]].{{sfn|Dean|2015|p=16}} "It was dominated by the [[Irminsul]] ('Great Pillar'), which was either a (wooden) pillar or an ancient tree and presumably symbolized Germanic religion's 'Universal Tree'. The Franks cut down the Irminsul, looted the accumulated sacrificial treasures (which the King distributed among his men), and torched the entire grove... Charlemagne ordered a Frankish fortress to be erected at the [[Eresburg]]".{{sfn|Dean|2015|pp=16–17}} Early historians of [[Scandinavia|Scandinavian]] Christianization wrote of dramatic events associated with Christianization in the manner of political propagandists according to {{ill|John Kousgärd Sørensen|Da}} who references the 1987 survey by the historian of medieval Scandinavia, Birgit Sawyer.{{sfn|Sørensen| 1990|p=394}} Sørensen focuses on the changes of names, both personal and place names, showing that cultic elements were not banned and are still in evidence today.{{sfn|Sørensen| 1990|pp=395–397}} Large numbers of pre-Christian names survive into the present day, and Sørensen says this demonstrates the process of Christianization in Denmark was peaceful and gradual and did not include the complete eradication of the old cultic associations.{{sfn|Sørensen| 1990|p=400}} However, there are local differences.{{sfn|Sørensen| 1990|pp=400, 402}} Outside of Scandinavia, old names did not fare as well.{{sfn|Sørensen|1990|pp=400–401}} <blockquote>The highest point in [[Paris]] was known in the pre-Christian period as the Hill of Mercury, Mons Mercuri. Evidence of the worship of this Roman god here was removed in the early Christian period and in the ninth century a sanctuary was built here, dedicated to the 10000 martyrs. The hill was then called [[Montmartre|Mons Martyrum]], the name by which it is still known (Mont Martres) (Longnon 1923, 377; Vincent 1937, 307). [[San Marino]] in northern Italy, the shrine of Saint Marino, replaced a pre-Christian cultic name for the place: [[Monte Titano]], where the Titans had been worshipped (Pfeiffer 1980, 79). [The] Monte Giove "Hill of Jupiter" came to be known as San Bernardo, in honour of St Bernhard (Pfeiffer 1980, 79). In Germany an old Wodanesberg "Hill of Ódin" was renamed Godesberg (Bach 1956, 553). Ä controversial but not unreasonable suggestion is that the locality named by Ädam of Bremen as Fosetisland "land of the god Foseti" is to be identified with Helgoland "the holy land", the island off the coast of northern Friesland which, according to Ädam, was treated with superstitious respect by all sailors, particularly pirates (Laur 1960, 360 with references).{{sfn|Sørensen| 1990|p=401}}</blockquote> The practice of replacing pagan beliefs and motifs with Christian, and purposefully not recording the pagan history (such as the names of pagan gods, or details of pagan religious practices), has been compared to the practice of ''[[damnatio memoriae]]''.{{sfn|Strzelczyk|1987|p=60}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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