Miles Christianus

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"Miles Christi" redirects here. For other uses, see Miles Christi (disambiguation).
"Militia Christi" redirects here. For the rock band, see Militia Christi (band).
seven cardinal vices
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The Christi milites to the left of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb in the Ghent Altarpiece (c. 1430)

The miles Christianus (

Latin Vulgate.[2] The plural of Latin miles (soldier) is milites or the collective militia.[3]

By the 5th century, the Church had started to develop doctrines that allowed for Christian participation in battle, though this was limited by a requirement that the fighting must be undertaken to convert infidels or spread the glory of Christ. Christians were not to fight for conquest or personal glory.[4]

Overview

The concepts of miles Christi and militia Christi can be traced back to the first century AD.[4] The phrase miles Christi, derived from a letter from Paul the Apostle and much employed by Pope Gregory VII, also appeared in the Gesta Francorum in reference to the young Prince Tancred, Bohemond, Godfrey and Count Raymond of Toulouse,[5] each of whom were Christian leaders in the First Crusade.

The metaphor has its origins in early Christianity of the Roman Empire, and gave rise to the contrasting term

paganus (hitherto used in the sense of "civilian," "one lacking discipline") for its opposite, i.e. one who was not a soldier of Christ.[6]

moral allegory in early Christian literature.[4] During the Saxon Wars, Charlemagne's Christian knights attended Mass, surrounded by relics, before battles.[4]

Fragments from 15th c. Polish chronicler

Investiture controversy and later made even more explicit with the actual military expeditions of the crusades
. Depictions of the miles christianus with the emblematic Armour of God however remained very rare in the medieval period and only became prominent after the
Protestant Reformation.[7]

In the

Salvation Army, and it is the central theme of the 18th century hymn "Soldiers of Christ, Arise" and the 19th century hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers
."

There is a Korean-American religious group called the Soldiers of Christ, which became the center of a 2023 murder case.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ephesians 6:14–17
  2. ^ Job 7:1 (Vulgate): Militia est vita hominis super terram...
  3. ^ Brian A. Catlos, "Militia Christi", Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages (Oxford, 2010), defines militia Christi as the "idea of service to the church, with military connotations derived from crusading ideology and Bernard of Clairvaux's writings."
  4. ^
    ISSN 1449-9320
    .
  5. ISBN 978-9004166653
    .
  6. ^ Ernest Weekley, Etymological Dictionary of English, s.v. "pagan".
  7. ^ "depictions of the miles christianus in emblematic armour are extremely rare before the Reformation" (Evans p. 14)
  8. ^ "6 'Soldiers of Christ' arrested for the abuse and murder of 'malnourished' South Korean woman".
  • Michael Evans, "An Illustrated Fragment of Peraldus's Summa of Vice: Harleian MS 3244", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 45 (1982), pp. 14–68.

External links

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