Christianity in the 8th century

Caliphs

Expansion under Muhammad, 622–632/A.H. 1-11

Expansion during the Rashidun Caliphate, 632–661/A.H. 11-40

Christianity in the 8th century was much affected by the rise of Islam in the Middle East. By the late 8th century, the

Mediterranean basin

.

Though the

miaphysites and other sects that had long been persecuted by Constantinople

.

Second Council of Nicea

The

Second Council of Nicea was called under Empress Irene in 787. It affirmed the making and veneration of icons while also forbidding the worship of icons and the making of three-dimensional statuary. It reversed the declaration of the earlier Council of Hieria

that had called itself the Seventh Ecumenical Council and also nullified its status.

Sometime between 726 and 730 the Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian ordered the removal of an image of Jesus prominently placed over the Chalke gate, the ceremonial entrance to the Great Palace of Constantinople, and its replacement with a cross. This was followed by orders banning the pictorial representation of the family of Christ, subsequent Christian saints, and biblical scenes. The Council of Hieria had been held under the iconoclast Emperor Constantine V. It met with more than 340 bishops at Constantinople and Hieria in 754, declaring the making of icons of Jesus or the saints an error, mainly for Christological reasons.

Iconoclasm

heretical.^[1] This movement was later defined as heretical under the council. The group destroyed much of the Christian churches' art history, which is needed in addressing the traditional interruptions of the Christian faith and the artistic works that in the early church were devoted to Jesus Christ or God. Many works were destroyed during this period.^[2]

Two prototypes of icons would be the

Icon of the Hodegetria. In the West the tradition of icons have been seen as the veneration of "graven images" or against "no graven images" as noted in Exodus 20:4. From the Orthodox point of view graven then would be engraved or carved. Thus this restriction would include many of the ornaments that Moses was commanded to create in the passages right after the commandment was given i.e. the carving of cherubim Exodus 26:1. The commandment as understood by such out of context interpretation would mean "no carved images". This would include the cross and other holy artifacts. The commandment in the East is understood that the people of God are not to create idols and then worship them. It is "right worship" to worship which is of God, which is Holy and that alone.^[3]

Patriarch Germanus I of Constantinople
John of Damascus

Gregory the Great

John of Damascus

In the

Roman Catholic Church, St. John of Damascus, who lived in the 8th century, is generally considered to be the last of the Church Fathers and at the same time the first seed of the next period of church writers, scholasticism

.

Tensions between East and West

In the early 8th century,

Byzantine emperors forbade the creation and veneration of religious images. Other major religions in the East such as Judaism and Islam had similar prohibitions. Pope Gregory III vehemently disagreed.^[4]

Spread of Christianity

Anglo-Saxons

The

Frankish Empire was de jure

Christian.

In the 8th century, the

Boniface

, apostle of the Germans, in 723.

Eventually, the conversion was imposed by armed force and successfully completed by

Bloody Verdict of Verden

in 782 and the subjugation of this large tribe.

Frankish Empire

Charlemagne, the Frankish monarch who unified much of Western Europe and re-established the authority of the Roman Church in the West

By the 8th century, the

Frankish Kingdom, a Germanic kingdom that had originated east of the Rhine, ruled much of western Europe, particularly in what is now France and Germany. The first Frankish king, Clovis had joined the Roman Church in 496 and since that time the Franks had been part of the Church. In 768 Charles, son of King Pepin the Short, succeeded to the Frankish throne. During the 770s Charles the Great conquered the Lombards in Italy extending the Frankish realm over almost all of Italy. On Christmas Day in 800, the Roman Patriarch Leo III crowned Charles as the Roman Emperor, in essence denying the status of the Roman Empress Irene

, reigning in Constantinople. This act caused a substantial diplomatic rift between the Franks and the Eastern Romans, as well as between Rome and the other patriarchs in the East.

Christian missionaries to the Frankish Empire include:

Saint Boniface
Saint Winibald
(English siblings assisting Boniface)
Wilfrid
Willibrord
Willehad of Bremen
Lebuinus
Saint Ludger
Suitbert of Kaiserwerdt
Saint Pirmin
Saint Corbinian

Scandinavia

Although the

Eddas in Iceland

.

Netherlands and non-Frankish Germany

In 698 the

Utrecht

.

Much of Willibrord's work was wiped out when the pagan

Boniface

was sent to aid Willibrord, re-establishing churches in Frisia and continuing to preach throughout the pagan lands of Germany. Boniface was killed by pagans in 754.

China

The

Jingjing (monk), a monk of the "Luminous Religion," as well as Buddhism and the calligraphist was Huangbo Xiyun

(these two are thought to have later collaborated on some Buddhist writing). It's unclear whether they were commentators or followers of Christianity.

Christianity and Islam

Missionary expansion

Once the Christian faith had been established in the valleys of the Oxus and

Merkits, and Mongols

.

Iberian Peninsula and the Reconquista

arabesque

designs.

Between 711 and 718 the

Umayyad conquest of Hispania; between 722 and 1492 the Christian kingdoms that later would become Spain and Portugal reconquered it from the Moorish states of Al-Ándalus

. The notorious Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition were not installed until 1478 and 1536 when the Reconquista was already (mostly) completed.

The Arabs, under the command of the

Wamba (672–680). and two reasonably large armies may have been in the south for a year before the decisive battle was fought.^[7]

The rulers of Al-Andalus were granted the rank of

Abbasids came to power in the Middle East, some Umayyads fled to Muslim Spain

to establish themselves there.

Timeline

8th century Timeline

716 -
Germanic tribes^[8]

718-1492 Reconquista, Iberian Peninsula retaken by with active encouragement from Christian authorities
718
evangelize the Germans

720? Disentis Abbey of Switzerland
720 - Caliph
Berbers to convert to Islam

724 - Boniface fells pagan sacred oak of Thor at Geismar in Hesse (Germany)^[9]
730-787 First Iconoclasm, Byzantine Emperor Leo III bans Christian icons, Pope Gregory II excommunicates him
731
English Church History written by Bede

740 - Irish monks reach Iceland^[10]
750? Tower added to St Peter's Basilica at the front of the atrium
752? Donation of Constantine, granted Western Roman Empire to the Pope, later proved a forgery
756 Donation of Pepin recognizes Papal States
771 - Charlemagne becomes king and will decree that sermons be given in the vernacular. He also commissioned Bible translations.^[11]
781 -
Luminous Religion, thus providing a written record of a Christian presence in China^[12]

787 - Liudger begins missionary work among the pagans near the mouth of the Ems river (in modern day Germany)^[13]
787
ecumenical
, ends first Iconoclasm
793 Sacking of the monastery of
Viking raids on Christendom
.