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 . . .
This issue of conflict concerned the object of the transformation of the flesh after death, and the two had strongly opposing views. After the completion of his law studies, he accepted the Prefecture of Rome, the highest civil dignity in the city. It became so severe that the Emperor himself had to intervene. 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. The Greek Emperor in the East was the said protector of the city, yet he took advantage of the devastation and conducted a “black market” in food and supplies, leaving the towns with nothing and creating further destruction in the area (Sister Cathearine). This was taken up not only by bishops of the Western world, but the Eastern world as well (Knox). Deacon Gregory was called back to Rome in 586, gladly returning to his monastery. In 578, against Gregory’s will, Pope Benedict I made him one of the seven deacons of Rome. He referred to himself as the servant of the servants of God. No heresy, however, had ever flourished at Rome. John’s friends tried to justify his stance and accused the Pope of making too much of a “mere question of words,” (Sister Catherine). Every Pope after Gregory took on the title “servant of the servants of God” and each maintained that, in descending from Peter, he was : the “Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, and Sovereign of the State of the City of the Vatican,” (Sister Catherine). In reply, Pope Gregory stated ,” A mere affair of a title, a simple question of words! That is easily said! When Antichrist calls himself God, then dare to say: A mere affair of a title, a simple question of words!” (Sister Catherine). Christ says to Peter, ”I have prayed for thee that thy faith may not fail,” (Knox).
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