Western Civilization
The Struggle for Power Between the Pope and the Emperor The basis for papal claims to authority in the late 5th and early 6th centuries arose from the mighty conflict between emperor and pope, which is known as the Investiture Struggle. This struggle originated between the bishops of two world powers at this time: the Bishop of Rome in the West and the Bishop of Constantinople in the East. In this paper, I will describe how this conflict was settled and the issues that arose between the two powers. I will also make reference to the account of Pope Gregory I, who is the main source on solving the struggle. Being bishop of a prestigious city naturally brought about increases stature, and until 476 Rome had been the most powerful city in the Western world. This automatically gave the Roman bishop an extreme sense of power in the Western Mediterranean, where there were no rival cities with which Rome had to compete against. However, the East had a city to contest this prestige-Constantinople. The bishop of this city never did conform to Roman claims, and he had a power of another kind, not as prestigious, and stemming from a different source. The Bishop of Rome had been making claims to power over all other bishops an
Gregory was of the last of the old Roman families known to generations of noble and religious achievement. Surprisingly enough, the Emperor decided in favor of Gregory. Gregory found the subservience of the bishops-and in particular of the Patriarch of Constantinople-to the person of the Emperor that had begun in the days of Constantine, grown until it had reached a point of servility which offered a serious indignity to God. Three years later, Pope Pelagius fell victim to the dreaded Plague and the eyes of the Romans turned to Gregory. The Prefect Gregory disposed of his goods and dedicated himself to the service of the Lord in poverty, chastity, and obedience. Most importantly, Gregory say the desire of every Patriarch to be completely independent of the Bishop of Rome. In addition to these Biblical passages, tradition carried further prestige on to Rome. He became a Benedictine monk and converted some of his land holdings into monasteries. The Pope did not call himself the ecumenical bishop, like the proud Patriarch of Constantinople. nothing could be less to his liking than the brilliant, protocol heavy, worldly court of the Emperor Tiberius. No heresy, however, had ever flourished at Rome. He felt inadequate to fill the position of the Pope, but after much hesitation and contemplation he accepted the highest honor and became the new Pope of Rome at the age of fifty. Cities were laid to waste, towns and villages were despoiled, churches were burned, and monasteries torn down.
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